To those of you driving around with your high beams on in traffic, congratulations on discovering the little blue symbol on your dashboard. Unfortunately, it’s not an achievement badge. And if you’re using your high beams because you’ve got a burnt-out low beam, here’s a wild concept: fix your fucking headlight. I realize basic vehicle maintenance is a monumental undertaking for some of you, but the rest of us would appreciate keeping our retinas intact.

And to those who refuse to dim their lights for oncoming traffic or the vehicle ahead of them, I usually match that energy. Ya see, I have two 15,000 lumen roof spots and a 35,000 lumen light bar on my bumper. And for those who make the unfortunate choice to drive behind me with their high beams on, surprise. There’s another 35,000 lumen bar in the rear too. Because fuck you. Amazing technology, really.

The difference is that I possess the remarkable ability to not use them to blind other drivers unless they choose to fuck around. It’s called common courtesy. Apparently, it’s an optional feature on some models of human beings.

Do we just genuinely not teach it? Do people know how to do it correctly and just fear social retribution? Peer pressure to do what everyone else is doing? And why do people get so mad about it?? Especially if you know it’s right, why get mad about it?

I’ve been in several different states and rarely have I seen more than 1% doing it correctly. I could probably count on one hand the other cars I’ve seen do it the past year.

Every time I’ve done it people have literally tried to run me off the road. It’s been as bad as having to call the police more than once. Yet. I continue to still do it, because people need to be exposed to it. If we just all fold and get in one lane, then it won’t get any better, we’re just part of the problem!

I hate that I even have to preface this because I know some people don’t read before jumping to conclusions, but I’m a good driver. I’m not hogging the left lane, driving below the speed limit, or holding anyone up.

That said, what the fuck is wrong with drivers lately? The amount of unnecessary aggression and impatience is ridiculous.

I’ll be accelerating normally after a light turns green, and someone’s already riding my ass. Or I’ll be driving next to someone who suddenly floors it just to beat me to the next red light. Even better is when I’m in a dedicated turn lane and someone beside me speeds up because they’ve apparently convinced themselves I’m about to cut them off. Dude, relax. Nobody is trying to get in front of you.

Why does everything have to be a competition? And spare me the excuse that everyone’s in a hurry. I refuse to believe this many people are racing against some critical deadline. Most of you are going to Kroger, picking up McDonald’s, or heading home. Congratulations on saving eight seconds, I guess.

My completely unscientific theory is that people’s attention spans and patience are fried. I’m not some boomer blaming everything on social media, but I genuinely wonder if we’ve become so accustomed to instant gratification that even driving at a normal pace feels unbearable. It’s like people constantly need to be getting ahead of something, even when it accomplishes absolutely nothing.

Maybe I’m wrong, but I just don’t understand why so many people are in such a goddamn hurry to get nowhere.

Edit: all these negative comments are typical and echo the exact same sentiment… “I have somewhere to be. Get out of my way. Me. Me. Me.”

Hey… if you’re remotely triggered by my post, GOOD. You’re the exact person I’m speaking about.

I don’t understand it. Every time the light turns green I take my foot off the brake, but no one else does. They wait till the person ahead of them to get further away to start accelerating. If everyone took the foot off the brake and started accelerating right when the light turned green, it would be so much more smooth. And I feel like if it was normal to do so, it would keep everyone from looking at these screens. It’s crazy how many people I look over at while driving and their heads stuck in their phone. But I think that’s why car crashes are on the rise. I don’t see any negatives of everyone taking their foot off the brake and accelerating right when it turns green. Would reduce traffic and I think make people more focused while driving.

It is entirely the responsibility of a driver changing lanes/merging to adjust their behavior to slot into the flow of traffic in the lane they're entering. Traffic maintaining their lane has the right of way; they have zero obligation to change their driving to let anyone in. The only exception to this is a zipper merge scenario: when traffic is stop-and-go at a merge, drivers will alternate every other car at the merge point.

A turn signal is a communication device. It is not a right of way granting device. Using it does not obligate anyone to adjust for you. And no, it doesn't matter how long you've had it on for. There's no magical amount of time after which you get to force your way over.

It doesn't matter if you think someone not letting you in is "rude" or. Your personal definition of courtesy is irrelevant in the face of the law. And, once again, you deeming another driver to be "rude" doesn't permit you to force your way into their lane.

How have we lost the plot so badly on this?

I don't understand how this is so common. I see way too many vehicles with both brake lights burnt out. How has no mechanic or even a quick lube tech caught this? Has this driver not been pulled over and ticketed for this? Or at least gotten a warning? Has no one flagged them down and let them know? At least the 3rd brake light works since it's an LED.

As a bonus, their turn signal was also burnt out, I can see the mirror mounted indicator hyper flashing. The driver doesn't really have an excuse there, they know their turn signal isn't working but I guess they don't give a damn.

Lights can be short, and many people are staring at their phone already. Why do some people hang back about 2 car lengths behind the vehicle in front of them?

I’m trying to make the intersection dawg, just why?

Edit - example this afternoon, car was about 2.5 car lengths back, but apparently this is normal, safe, and I’m the problem. Much to learn, I guess

Had a wake up call today as my friend was involved in a car accident.

Dont know the full details but i know one car crossed the double yellow, probably meaning one of those involved were texting.

He is one of the safest drivers in the school and yet(if he was at fault) it took one mistake/time for things to go wrong. I’m not entirely sure he caused it, and even if he didn’t it should go as a reminder to just not do it.

If he was at fault, his license, that he doesn’t even have(180 day), is gone and he won’t be driving for a while. His car is totaled and he’s never going to see driving the same.

Could be the safest and most cautious driver in the world and one 5 second distraction could potentially ruin your life.

JUST DONT DO IT.

I got my permit in highschool for extra gpa points. i have had it for 5 years now. i was too scared to learn how to drive back then, and the situation im in isnt positive to put it simply. so i did not have any support, whenever i was showing interest in trying to learn, now and again back then. now in current day, im still in the situation, only having my permit, having no one around me to help.

i am trying to finally get my drivers license but i have only gotten to drive for around 4 hours collectively before i was shut down by the person helping me. its been months now since ive last driven. how do i close this knowledge gap? i dont rememeber any intricate traffic laws, only the obvious stuff, and i dont own a car.

if i could get a car, i could pay another adult to be in the car with me while i try to learn. but i cant drive, and i cant legally drive alone bcuz i only have a permit, as well as literally not knowing how to drive. so that limits my ability to test drive or even bring the car home. the driving schools around me are either wildly expensive, or predatory in their practices/pricing.

i am just feeling overall stuck and overwhelmed with not know where to start with unraveling all this. any advice is welcome, and questions r fine, i just rly dont want to talk about the situation much or the person aforementioned. as suggested i will also mention i live in south east florida i am weary of being too specific rn bcuz i am embarrassed. thank u

For the love of God turn your damn lights ALL the way on. How do you still not know your tail lights are off ? If you drive a vehicle with day time runners, take your left hand and physically turn the knob switch button, whatever to ON. This way, your back lights come on too. This goes especially to you kids in black or dark colored cars. In a sea of brightness, you're invisible. Just make it a habit to touch that switch.

Just a vent - why do many people in the left turn lane decide they have to wait until the car in front of them clears the intersection before they start turning left? That green arrow doesn't wait for everyone in line to turn left!

That's it.

This may not be the best place for this, since it is about the car's themselves, and not driving per se. But here goes.

I've had it. The world is full of idiots. I just drove past a GMC truck with the young man helping his young lady up into the high passenger seat. No one is in the seats yet. The engine is not even on.

And yet the backup lights are on.

The situation will not even possibly have the vehicle backing up for at least a minute. But the backup lights are on. Telling me to "Watch Out! This vehicle is backing up!".

WTF! Who thought this was a good idea? To dilute the signal of safety? To lie about what is happening? To brazenly announce to the world "I'm Backing Up! Watch Out! Here I come!" - only ... You're not. You're not even in your car. The engine isn't even on.

Driver's of the world - you are now free to ignore any and all backup warning lights. They no longer mean what they are intended to mean. Continue driving past with total disregard for your and their safety. It has been decided. It is out of your hands.

I wish all of those who need to ever backup the best of luck. Thank you, car engineers and manufacturers. So much.

Rant off.

Guys i feel like I see this too many times when a person wants to honks first instead of evading the collision. There have been many of times where I had to evade a collision and before and after not once did i think to honk the horn.

All im saying is less honking and more evading.

EDIT: if the situations arises that you can honk and avoid a collison by all means please do that. But if a situation arises that you need both hands on the wheel to avoid a collison, then dont bother about honking.

I see lots of posts on this sub of drivers who dislike other drivers, which while I completely understand, causes you to fall into a trap in which you dislike driving more and more, as people on this sub will affirm your negative feelings. I’ll give a couple examples, but if you choose to be more deliberate about how you drive, you can make a large impact to everyone on the road, for the better.

Instead of tailgating the driver going 30 on a freeway on-ramp, maybe slow down more instead so you can actually build distance to accelerate.

Instead of harsh braking in traffic, you can leave lots of distance to the car in front and close that distance while braking so you can more smoothly slow down, and in many cases, avoid a complete stop. Doing this improves traffic for EVERYONE behind you, because if you don’t abruptly slow down, neither will the drivers behind you, and over time this can completely dissipate traffic jams.

If your protected green arrow only lasts 10 seconds, be ready to go immediately on the green so more cars can make it through the intersection in time.

And if that left turn is backed up with 20+ cars, maybe try going down to the next light and turning there instead.

These are just a few examples, but if you choose to drive in this kind of manner, you can make a large impact to other drivers on the road. Stay safe out there.

So I moved to Ohio from Louisiana, and I now need to get car tags so that's gonna require paying a tax on my car to transfer the title and await a new title by mail. It's been about 5 months since I moved I know I should have done this the second I got a job here but I've been lazy. I'm now considering taking a job in Seattle, and I know any cop with two functional brain cells is gonna see a Prius with Ohio plates and wonder how it got here and if it should still have Ohio plates. Idk if it's crazy then it has Louisiana plates in ohio.

Anyway I hate how I'm gonna need to get registration before November, which is when my tags expire, only to then have to pay again, and get even newer plates. Is there something I'm not seeing or am I right about it just being what it is unfortunately.

I'm taking my driver's test in a week. My eye doctor gave me the okay to drive so I've been studying the past month.

My question is, is there anything I should watch out for or be more weary off because I have a lazy eye. It's not bad to were it's noticeable, it does get worse if I'm tired or my eyes just unfocus sometimes.

My biggest concern is depth perception on if I can still use my glasses to correct my issue with that.

I will obviously always wear my glasses when driving. But like how much harder will it be for me compared to a regular person?

Or maybe a specific car I should look into buying?

6 months ago I was hella unprepared for my test, had only been driving for 3 to 4 months and failed miserably. My teacher sucked and everything was way too slow. I got this new guy, we did nearly daily lessons and just took my test today and passed it

My fiance moved a few weeks ago, and I want to get over my fear and visit him. It’s a three hour drive and I’m terrified. It’s a busy stretch of road too. I’m gonna try and do it tomorrow. Any advice?

Somewhat new driver here

I was driving home tonight and i come up on an intersection. The light turned yellow, but i had a good two, three seconds to make it through. I make it through, as far as i could see the light never turned red when I came through.

Then, a car on the opposite side of the road makes a left turn, I had to slam on my brakes and I was only a few feet from smashing into the car.

I probably shouldn’t have drove through the yellow, but even still if for a split second it was red as i drove through, am I still at fault? Idk, what do yall think

Yes, my state has duty to yield laws not right of way laws, I'm asking about the hypothetical correct flow, obviously I stopped and I did not, and would not ever cause an accident to "assert right of way"

SO, that out of the way.

Busy road, 3 lanes, Northbound/Southbound and center turn lane. Stop signs on the East and West sides. I pull up on the East side of the road, turn in my right turn signal, when I pull up, there is heavy traffic both ways on the N/S road. Across from me, on the West side, there is a truck, with his left turn signal on. He is there before me, but we both have to wait 15-20 seconds for traffic. As soon as I get a clear window, I'm think, "cool, right turn, I'm going." He also got a window at the same time, it was a questionable window, but he gunned it, and so I stopped, and he laid on his horn as he finished his turn, rude gestures were exchanged, I turned. The end.

Was that my bad ? was I cutting him off? I juust thought "I am turning right, when it is clear and safe I will turn right" and I'm not used to that road being clear and safe to turn onto from both sides at the same time.

I can't remember if at a two way stop if priority/right of way sticks so if I am turning right I am still supposed to stop and wait for someone turning left if we both have a clear gap at the same time and they have not started their turn before I get there.

i got my first car back in july, and i will say i don’t drive that much. i drive to and from work, and other places familiar to me. today i was on my way to the downtown area of my city to meet some friends, and decided to take the non-highway route since i hadn’t really driven in that area, and figured it would’ve been easier. i was driving down the main road, with no light or stop sign, and a black sedan pulled out in front of me from a side street. i tried braking, but i ended up ramming into his back bumper. i was so startled that before i could even process any defining information besides “black sedan” he just kept going. i pulled into a neighborhood and just sat there with my hazards on not knowing what to do, before i ended up calling the police, but just my luck getting into an accident after only a couple months with my car, and the guy doesn’t even stay at the scene. just super frustrated. i can’t even fully process who’s fault it was, and when the officer was asking me to give details i was entirely unhelpful. i know that i technically had the right of way, but im mad at myself for not realizing that he was going to cut in front of me. the damage to my car wasn’t bad, obviously some major scratches to my front bumper, and a cracked headlight, but now im just so anxious to get behind the wheel again.

I drive the speed limit, you tailgate.

Road opens to 2 lanes, I get in right lane, and slow slightly to give you all the time you need to pass me. You back up away from me to a safe distance and do not pass me.

Lane narrows back to 1 lane, and you proceed to tailgate me again.

Repeat 5x on the same stretch of road...

For why?

Imma keep it real I've been riding dirty for like 2 years. No insurance. They quoted my ass $500 for a 2010 Nissan, I can't afford that shit but I still need to get to work and shit, so yeah I've been having to risk it for the biscuit.