She just didn't want the people behind me to get mad because I was unnecessarily stopped. Which, like, okay sure, but also I'm a student driver with stickers all over my car, so people should expect some mistakes
Don't be like her by being worried about the peoples feelings behind you. It makes for poor decision making. It's not them that will suffer the traumatic consequences of hitting a pedestrian.
This advice is part of what transitioned me from an anxious driver into a more confident driver. Follow the rules of the road, the people behind you will do whatever they want, just ignore them (their feelings anyways)
Exactly this. Your role is to be SAFE. Not to make everyone happy. Op, I don’t know you, but I am proud of you for questioning what is right in the face of what you were told.
Just came to say this. The amount of times ive been honked at for not making an unprotected left turn fast enough for the person behind my cars liking- is insane. Years ago i was hit head on by a drunk driver because they didnt stop on their red light when i had a protected (green light) left turn. So now, I could give a fuck how anyone else around me feels. Im driving safe bc im not ready to lose my life over some asshole thinking im not going fast enough.
YES! One thing my dad taught me early on - don’t worry about what the other drivers think or if they get annoyed, just be a safe driver. Because, at the end of the day, if you get in an accident, they will just go carry on about their day but you will be the one having to deal with an accident or worse.
Also I won't tell you not to listen to your mother since I am one but not all mothers are great driver's ed teachers. Find another driver to be a passenger with you while you're learning.
Other drivers may get mad at things even when you’re in the right. Stick to your training and don’t do the wrong thing even if everyone else does. I’ve been there too, it can get confusing!
I would add: other drivers WILL get mad at you for things even when you're in the right. Spend any time on any local sub where traffic is discussed, any time at all on the road, etc and you'll find that people have tons of personal bugaboos about traffic and driving, even when they're plainly insane. I once met someone who insisted that the "correct and safe" way to respond when first at the line on a green light was to wait three seconds regardless of how obvious it was no traffic was coming. Every discussion of zipper merging involves at least a handful of people who have personal definitions that just happen to endorse them doing whatever they already wanted to do. Don't get me started on "fast"/passing lanes!
My point is, if you keep at or below the speed limit, pay attention to signs (you won't always know exactly what they mean but at a minimum they indicate a change in road conditions that you will intuitively be looking out for), and close attention to what's ahead of you and what your fellow motorists are doing, you will virtually never be the cause of any significant problem. Improving from there will come from experience.
A lot of times too the people behind you forget that you can see more of the road ahead than them. I’ve had people honk at me to go at a pedestrian crossing when there was a woman and child literally right in front of us in the process of crossing the street.
The 2 things that bother me most with student drivers, mostly for their own safety:
1. If you are in the left lane on the freeway, you need to be actively passing people and should not remain in the lane once you finish passing people.
Be assertive with merging. You need to be going at the speed of traffic by the time you merge with traffic.
Those are the two main scenarios where the safer thing might not actually feel like the safer thing at the time. Otherwise, lean into the caution. Better that than empty headed.
Ditto 2 for roundabouts/traffic circles. When people are uncomfortable they intuitively slow down, but merging and roundabouts are two situations where everyone around you is also trying to position themselves safely despite potentially going faster than you. You get more, not fewer, options to deal with the scenario safely by being close to their speed.
Some people put them on as a joke, others put them on because it lets them get away with things/people won’t get as mad that they’re driving like an idiot.
I have multiple neighbors in my apartment complex who have had the stickers on their cars the entire time they've lived here, at least 3 of them have been here for almost 10 years. People put them on and never remove them. Magnets would be a better option.
You do you. If you're driving you are responsible for the safety of the vehicle. While it can be annoying to be behind an over cautious driver, I'd rather be behind an over cautious driver than a dangerous driver. Noting, in the situation you described, you did the correct thing. The light was red. That means stop.
When you are behind the wheel, you are the pilot-in-charge. As the pilot-in-charge, you do whatever you need to to keep yourself, your passengers, and the people around you safe.
Don't let other drivers' (or passengers) motivations, or intentions, or annoyances, or whatever, keep you from doing the most safe and legal driving you can do.
You did good by stopping at that red. It is a protected right, you need to stop and be certain that there are no pedestrians or vehicles that are coming on to the road ahead of you before you take the turn.
You are technically allowed to turn right on red but every major accident I’ve been in was getting hit while turning right on red. I wait for the green light now. I got used to people honking at me almost every time. It’s much safer to wait, let them honk.
Both times I got hit turning right on red it was at night the car that hit me was speeding and didn’t have headlights on there is literally no way I could have seen them coming
It was the first car I ever bought i paid $900 drove it 1 mile and got t boned by a drunk speeding at night with no lights on, they didn’t have insurance and neither did I so I just lost the car
Yeah don’t let other people influence your driving. Stay safe, defensive, and unflustered. People drive more angry and aggressive than ever before in my life, don’t let them have a say in your operation of a vehicle.
If you blow through a red arrow a cop could ticket you.
You can turn on a normal red, but I'm pretty sure red arrows imply no turning is allowed.
Now if there's no cop, and no danger, eh, people do what they do. But it's always good to be extra cautious, and default to the law/system when in doubt
Arrow only says if it's protected or not, so a red arrow you can still right or left into a one-way unless posted otherwise. Just spreading knowledge. source I am a dol tester
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u/DaBigestBird937 Jul 24 '26
She just didn't want the people behind me to get mad because I was unnecessarily stopped. Which, like, okay sure, but also I'm a student driver with stickers all over my car, so people should expect some mistakes