Driving For Dummies
Since I began my full-time job as a cog in the machine, I've been spending more and more time in heavy, standstill traffic. I've come to a few conclusions about driving and the masses of flesh and bone that call themselves drivers. If you want to know what I'm getting at, I'll just tell you right now and you can move on: the general populace sucks at driving. If you'd like to know why, feel free to keep reading.
I feel a little uneasy about having to mention some of the obvious things one should do on a regular basis while driving but after driving on a daily basis in downtown Milwaukee, I really do feel compelled to.
- Use your god damn blinker
- Let people merge, asshole
- Stop texting
- Go; don't stop and go
Alright, so that was pretty obvious. But one of the most important factors of traffic jams isn't caused by bad driving. It is caused by being in a hurry. It's a self-perpetuating problem because as you drive faster you drive closer to other vehicles. In multi-lane highways people need to merge, change lanes, get on or off at their exits. This can't be done efficiently when cars are face-to-ass with each other.
Personally, I like to drive slow enough (during heavy traffic) that I will never catch up to the person ahead of me. This means that I do not have to stop-go, stop-go at all. It also means the people behind me can keep moving steadily. This allows for a few things to occur.
- No overhead from the stop and go
- Save your breaks and gas
- Leaves openings for lane changers
The third is the most important. Although there are a few people who want to amateurishly zoom around and get to the front of the line before anyone else, there is no reason to play their games. Let them go in front of you. When they realize that they only managed to move up one car in the line and you're still right behind them, well, they'll keep doing it because they're stupid. In all seriousness though, on a daily basis I have someone that cuts me off when trying to be in a hurry. I find myself 15 minutes later driving right next to them. I just don't get it sometimes.