Alt text:
This PSA brought to you by several would-be assassins who tried to wave me in front of speeding cars in the last month and who will have to try harder next time.
You must log in or register to comment.
When driving: Don’t be nice, be predictable.
You can be nice, just make sure you think about what you’re actually doing before doing it.
Letting a car go in front in the situation above: you’re probably causing an accident.
Letting a car go in heavy traffic when there’s one lane each way and everyone’s stopped already anyway: won’t cost you much time and you’ve allowed that person to move on with their life instead of being permanently stuck at an intersection he’s never going to be able to get out of unless someone yields.
I live close to a few intersections where if no one is nice and yields, it’s impossible to join unless you barge your way in and hope people stop. But to be fair, these aren’t designed like death traps like the one above.
think about what you’re actually doing before doing it.
That’s too much thinking for most people.
I was gonna lose my mind reading some of these comments. Thank you for being sensible.
The majority of cases where one could politely let someone through are not going to be on highways like this.
It’s also ridiculous to assume that the driver that you’re letting through would just stop checking for oncoming traffic because you waved them through.
you dont have two lane roads in your town? i sure do and this is a real issue. the driver pulling into traffic cannot see the car coming along at higher speed.
you dont have two lane roads in your town? i sure do and this is a real issue. the driver pulling into traffic cannot see the car coming along at higher speed.
Driving is one of those things where we’re supposed to be human - make choices, act sensibly, think about what we’re doing and adapt to others around us. But often people assume it’s something entirely deterministic - “if the light is green I’m going to launch forward even if there’s still traffic moving past me and I’m going to get hit or hit someone, because green means I HAVE to go”.
Being polite to others, asides from the nicety of it, is often more positive to everyone on the road than going “I have the right of way so I won’t let anyone in” and allows traffic as a whole to move with less issues. But some people go way too hard on the mentality that every road user other than them is stupid and stop acting like humans because they assume others won’t be able to cope. Which usually complicates traffic for everyone.
There’s a roundabout in my daily commute in which at the end of the afternoon 80% of drivers are coming from and going to the same direction and there’s usually heavy traffic in that specific direction that blocks the roundabout. Often, drivers who are approaching the roundabout to go to a different direction will signal their intention, and users already inside the roundabout will give way - even if they technically have the right of way and don’t have to - because those users aren’t going their direction and will only increase the number of cars stuck if they’re not allowed through. Roundabout users being polite effectively makes traffic as a whole go more smoothly and everyone benefits. Sometimes someone inside the roundabout will be an ass and not let people through - and the result is always that everyone is stuck for more time because there are now cars inside the roundabout which could’ve already vacated it which are stuck behind someone who could easily let them through.
Yeah, this had fucking better be the top comment!
When driving don’t be nice. Be predictable.
When driving, being predictable is being nice. Being nice is an accident waiting to happen.
… That sounded better in my head.
Half the people who wave you through have weird little control fetishes. They’re not being polite, they’re pursuing feelings of power. They’re the same people driving 5 mph under the speed limit in the passing lane to “keep other people from speeding”.
Well that’s certainly one of the takes of all time
I didn’t just pull it out of my ass, it’s a perspective I’ve seen espoused on this very platform, and also on Reddit.
Another thing that enrages me is people who think driving slowly is safer for whatever reason.
Getting on the highway? Let’s SLOWLY merge at 60% the speed of oncoming traffic.
Changing lanes from stationary traffic into a full speed lane? I won’t wait for the lane to clear, I’ll just turn signal and move into the lane REAL SLOW because that’s safe.
Turning right? Let’s slow down to a complete stop and force traffic to a halt so I can turn right.
As a delivery truck driver I can’t tell you how many people think that everyone else can just stop on a dime for them and they’re being safe because they move over at a snail’s Pace.
fucking hate getting stuck behind some slow driver when trying to get on a highway. like fucker we are supposed to be reaching highway speed on this ramp not when we reach the highway🤬
There is an on-ramp for the highway near me that’s pretty long. It’s long because it’s a very straight fast-moving section of highway. In other words, the on-ramp is designed to give you adequate space to get up to highway speed. The number of people who immediately merge into the first lane without getting up to speed is too damn high.
People are fucking stupid. People behind the wheel of a car are even more stupid.
I used to have a job where I drove a box truck. It was slow empty and painfully slow full. It was also speed limited to 75mph. So I would tend to hang out with the semis on the hwy. One time I was driving down the hwy and this guy in a pretty new Volvo( so the fast ones) was coming down the on ramp. I could see he was going to merge right in front of me so I slowed down to give him some space. I figured he would want to be in front of the slow box truck. As he got close to the merge he slowed down so he was even with me. I gave him a little more space to merge in front of me and slowed down again. He had plenty of room left in the on merge lane if just used the skinny pedal. Instead he waited until was almost out of room then started honking at me. I did my best to speed up my painfully slow box truck but I am sure he has to slow down to the point he was merging at 45mph as everyone was doing 75-80mph. I am sure he was cursing me too because he wasn’t willing to get up to hwy speed before merging.
I was taught it was the responsibility of the car getting on the highway to match the speed of the cars on the highway. If you’re already on the highway, keep a constant speed so the people getting on can match you. So he kept having to slow down because you were also slowing down. Just like the assassin pretending to be nice in the diagram, I think you were technically in the wrong here.
I have a question on this. Let’s assume everyone is a perfect driver and must have at least a 2 second following distance at all times. If there’s a free flowing queue of traffic on the highway with 2-4 second gaps between, merging in is impossible without someone slowing down and letting you in. Every time I merge this situation stresses me out.
At 100 km/h (low-end highway spreed), or 1,666 m/minute, or 27.7 m per second, a 2 second gap leaves approximately 56.6 m (185.6 feet) between cars. With the average car length being ~4.9 m (~16 feet), even the absolute worst driver can merge in a space ten times the size of the average car, assuming they’re matching highway speed.
Most people have no actual concept of how long 2 seconds actually is or how much space it would leave in reality.
Yeah, obviously you “can” merge, but in doing so you insert yourself into the middle of a 2 second gap creating 2 × less than 1 second gaps. Like I said, in this hypothetical everyone is a perfect driver that always follows the rules, so that’s not an option.
For that matter, the driver behind should see that you are about to merge into a gap that’s too small and slow down to leave a space that’s at least 4 seconds big.
I’d also like to point out that your attitude to driving is terrible, the size in meters of anything on a highway is irrelevant, 2 seconds is not a lot of time to react and slow down a car at 100, and that just because you “can” do something doesn’t mean you should.
This road design seems also be done by someone completely insane. Who thought it was a good idea to cross two lanes without any kind of traffic regulations.
Luckily no every country has insane roads like that.
2x this if you’re cycling and a driver waves you through
Ugh, I hate this. I don’t care about waiting. As a cyclist, all I want is for it to be really clear what people are doing. Anything that messes with the right of way is sketchy.
People try to wave me on all the time. They refuse to move until I go. I refuse to go until I can fucking see what might fucking kill me. Twice, the guy waving me on has been rear-ended by a vehicle three times their size.
Nothing gets me closer to road rage than people waving me on when they have the right of way at a four way stop. Like yes thank you that’s very polite, but we both could’ve been through this intersection if you’d gone when you were supposed to.
In some towns, these yokels will stop in the middle of the street to wave you to jaywalk.
Like Jesus Christ, NOOO! Stop being polite!
I try to never use “the finger” when another driver is being an ass. In that case I always just give them a thumbs down and a sad face.
I save the middle finger for people who are being “nice”, especially when it is making things dangerous. I find it is the quickest way get them to just go.
I try to be coniderate while driving. Being predictable is safe. Deviating from the rules is dangerous. I think being safe more considerate than being “nice”.
The only two actual rules that apply to four way stops is everyone stops and the first person to start moving gets the right of way. All that crap about the first arrival or person to the right doesn’t get applied in real life. They’re noble ideas, but just fucking go if no one else is.
Growing up, there was a four-way stop near my house that one of my friends absolutely hated. It was a pretty busy intersection, and he hated that drivers didn’t seem to follow the rules that the person to the right goes first or whatever.
One time when I was driving, he was shocked like “what are you doing!? Its not your turn, you’re gonna cause an accident!” when I went. I was like “what are you talking about?” I had driven through that intersection hundreds of times and never really thought about it. When I payed attention to the way the intersection flowed, I figured out the unwritten understanding that I and everyone else approached it with. It was basically just “stop and wait for a car or two to go before proceeding”. There was no guaranteed order that I could come up with, it was just that everyone in the area seemed to understand.
Written rules are great if everyone is following the written rules. If you follow the written rules at that intersection you’ll be fine, but you’re likely to annoy someone for a moment. Nobody is going to be confused if you wait, just impatient.
I agree with you. More important than following rules is to pay attention and adapt as appropriate. If you’re the only one following the written rules, there’s a chance that you’re the one acting unpredictably.
Yeah the written rules seem logical. But they just don’t match with human behavior.
Found the Cali driver
That, to me, looks like an intersection I would never want to turn left on in the first place in anything but the most deserted area.
Roundabouts ftw. Best traffic invention to beat time traveling assassins.
Except the ones with two lanes that can both exit or continue
I have never seen a roundabout here in Australia that allows for these sorts of conflicting movements, that would be asinine. Are you saying there’s multiple lanes that can exit or go straight such that someone in the inside lane can turn out in front of someone continuing around in the outside lane? Is this a North American thing? Of course that would result in accidents, don’t build your bloody roundabouts like that!!
I drive through three lane (six lane road) roundabouts all the time and no one gets hurt. In fact I have to drive through two such roundabouts to get to the nearest freeway.
Right near my old house, dubbed the “Suicide Circle” for how everyone drives through it seemingly unaware of any other drivers on the road.I don’t see any conflicting movements here. I have a roundabout almost exactly like this just around the corner. It’s not complicated.
It’s more the amount of choke points that turn to gridlock at rush hour. That plus it’s the Midwest so 85% of the population doesn’t understand how they work.I think it’s probably got more to do with the drivers. There are plenty of roundabouts like this where I am in Aus, and they get used just fine. Over here they have a far lower rate of accidents than other types of intersections. We never have 4 way stops either, we just put a roundabout there.
Imagine a roundabout where most of the traffic flows straight on only one of the streets. Things would improve a lot of you gave that street the right of way and cut a shortcut on the middle of the roundabout, wouldn’t them?
(/s by the way, but a lot of transit engineers to really believe in this. Unironically.)
You jest, but we do kind of have something like this in Melbourne, Australia. Except the vehicles that get to cut through the middle of the roundabout are Trams. Plus while they’re trundling through, everyone else has to stop and wait for them.
I was not joking when I said a lot of transit engineers believe on it.
That one is one of the least bad I’ve seen. Try imagine it on the cross of two roads (actual high-speed roads, country-side). I’ve seen many of those.
I’m bloody sorry but did you just say this is one of the least bad you’ve seen?? Let me give you a different view:
Trams traverse the traffic lanes at three points, as well as one making an immediate left turn exit. There are four traffic lanes. Royal Parade has inside lanes and service lanes.
But I also don’t have to imagine that at all, those are common here too and I’ve never had a problem at them:
Notice how the approaching lane at the bottom left has an artificial curve added to it? It’s traffic calming to help slow down cars before they get to the roundabout itself.
That second picture of yours is just a normal roundabout. Try making one of the roads pass directly through it. And don’t change the signaling.
I’ve noticed that the tram line cuts the traffic in 3 points. What is the speed of that street? Anyway, the tram line is clearly signed in a way that can be noticed on the photo. And every car there is making a weird curve, nobody is speeding anyway.
Yesterday, by an accident, I made such a “generous” gesture. Thank god they did not use it.
This happens to me every other day. Ffs please don’t be polite, just drive by the rules. I hate it when cars stop in the middle of the road and you have to wait for them to start driving again because you often can’t know i f they are being polite of if they are just adjusting google maps and continue to drive.
It doesn’t just happen when both people are trying to turn. I have a busy multi-lane road near me with a left turn lane that’s just past a stoplight (the stoplight is behind me, but in front of the people whose lanes I need to cross to get to where I need to go.
I’ll be stopped in the turn lane waiting for traffic to clear. The stoplight will turn red, and oncoming traffic will back up past the turn lane I’m in. Someone in one of the oncoming traffic lanes will stop before the turn lane to try to let me past, but the people in the other oncoming traffic lane (who are now in my blind spot thanks to the car that stopped to try to let me through) will keep on coming. That’s just an accident waiting to happen at that point.
You go, no you go, no you go, you go, no you go
Yeah if this happens I’m just turning right and doing a U-turn. I would rather take 5 extra minutes to get where I’m going than play a game of polite chicken where the stakes are human lives.
i always called this the “wave of death”
This applies when you’re a pedestrian waiting to cross too. There are always those drivers who think they’re doing you a favor by stopping one of the lanes of traffic so you can walk out into the other. They smile and wave and look baffled when you don’t take the bait.
Feels like at least part of the issue is multi-lane pedestrian crossings. Most of the time that should either be single-lane, a traffic light or a tunnel/bridge.
In an uncontrolled crossing the pedestrian always has the right of way (North America and Europe at least). They should almost never ‘wait’ to cross
Also worst design for crossroad EVER.
I grew up in Michigan and this traffic pattern is insane to me. In intersections like that in Michigan, there is no left turn. You drive past the intersection, after which there will be an immediate turnaround. You get into the turnaround lane, go back towards the intersection, then approach the intersection from the opposite side so that you can turn right.
It’s so common that it blows my mind how it isn’t more normal nationwide. Michigan left
Even this intersection is not a good design if you ask me as it still forces you to cut who knows how many lanes, but at least it’s a bit safer. Best would be overpass, but that’s more expensive.
it sucks that is a common revision in most cities I’ve been in. Let’s just have a highway with 8 lanes and have a tiny turn lane in the middle into a major road without lights at the turn it’ll be great. Not to mention it splitting the city in half and pedestrians who don’t want to walk a mile to the next crossing cross this 8 lane highway splitting the city in half.
When I saw this sketch I immediately recollected all those traffic accident compilations from YouTube. Who in the right mind designs a road such that is cuts 8 lanes and thinks it’s safe enough.
Yes. The future serial killer is clearly the person that designed this shit. The one waving is just a useful idiot.
Indeed.
