Driving and Car Etiquette

[Nanny Ogg]

There are also rules for parking. 

If you see a spot reserved for disabled people: do not park there.  It does not matter if you are only going to be in the store for a minute or an hour.  You are still breaking the law and possibly inconveniencing someone who really does need the spot.

Ohh, I can add to this:

Just because it is dark or raining it doesn't give you, Mr AnyAbleBody, the right to park in the disabled people's spaces. Rain/dark/snow/whatever does not make disabled people stay indoors.

My one:

If someone is parking legally outside their house, do not leave passive agressive notes about long term parking....
[/rant]!!

[Black Delphinium]

If your car became snow covered the night before please clean it off properly.  That means clearing all the windows, not just the driver's side of the windshield.  If the passenger side of the windshield is covered in snow, you can't see what's happening on your right.  Please clean off as much of the roof of your car as possible.  Blowing snow can endanger other drivers or the snow can slide onto your windshield and block your view.

My father and I call cars that look that way "snow tanks".

And in many places(like here in PA) it is illegal to not clean off your car(it's a hefty fine if you get pulled over).

[Piratelvr1121]

1) If someone is giving yourself and others a ride somewhere in a two door car and drops the person in the back off first, get out of the car and move the seat forward so they can get out more easily. 

In high school, I was the one in the back seat of a two door car.  A friend gave myself and a guy I had a crush on a ride home after school, dropping me off first.  Crush was in the front seat and didn't even bother getting out, just leaned forward and pulled the lever to bring the seat back as forward as it could go with him still sitting in it.   It's hard enough to get out of the back seat of a 2 door, and I had a large backpack and a gym bag with me that I had to squeeze out with me.   

I no longer had a crush on the guy after this incident.   

2) (This one is for my dear husband) In the event your passenger(s) might be prone to motion sickness, for the love of all that is good and holy, if you are in traffic and the car in front of you moves up about 3 car lengths, it really is not necessary for you to hurry up and close the gap then slam on the breaks so that the car lurches forward.   And if you are asked to stop doing this, do not blame it on the car in front of you.   They are not the ones I'll want to slap when I'm trying not to vomit.

[MissRose]

I am not sure if its the law in Michigan where I live, but i wish it was.  I hate having snow flying off and hitting my car.  I do my best to clear the snow off my car before driving despite the fact I am short.

If your car became snow covered the night before please clean it off properly.  That means clearing all the windows, not just the driver's side of the windshield.  If the passenger side of the windshield is covered in snow, you can't see what's happening on your right.  Please clean off as much of the roof of your car as possible.  Blowing snow can endanger other drivers or the snow can slide onto your windshield and block your view.

My father and I call cars that look that way "snow tanks".

And in many places(like here in PA) it is illegal to not clean off your car(it's a hefty fine if you get pulled over).

[magdalena]

If a car in the lane next to you puts their turn signal on to indicate that they wish to move into your lane, do not immediately speed up to prevent them from moving over to your lane.

While I pretty much agree with anything and everything posted in this thread, I'd like to point out that this one depends on where the other car is - if there's a car right in front of me and everything's free behind me AND the car on the next lane is at my level, speeding might make it easier for everyone. I know I prefer that when I'm the one trying to change lanes 

[kitty-cat]

Be nice to the obviously new drivers. I've been doing driving lessons every weekend now since January and I have improved considerably from the first time I ever drove. That being said, the road that my parents live on is windy as a snake, and if you don't know the turns you can easily meet the trees with your car. I go the speed limit on that road so that I can learn the turns- I have had people honking at me because they want to go 15 over the speed limit, but I'm sticking to the limit of 30mph.

I'm sorry, but I have this little thing about hitting trees- I don't like to do it. I will drive at the speed I feel comfortable at- and if that is the posted speed limit, you are outta luck. The passing point in the road is just ahead. The same goes for the interstate- I'm driving at the speed of traffic, but I'm still learning how to gauge my speed and the distance between the car in front of me. Honking at me just winds me up and makes it harder for me to drive safely. Honk enough times and I won't be able to drive home, and I really need the practice...

[Shoo]

If your lane is ending and merging into another lane, it is your responsibility to signal and merge as efficiently and seamlessly as possible into the other lane.  The drivers that are already in the established lane are not really obligated to slam on their brakes to "let you in" especially when you are not signalling your intent.

Actually, when one lane is ending you are supposed to merge every other car. No one lane has the right over the other.

In this same vein, it's quite surprising to me how many people don't seem to realize that Yield and Merge are NOT the same thing.  A Yield sign means you wait until there's a safe clearing for you to pull into.  A Merge sign means you enter the lane, like a zipper, every other car.

There's a hwy near me where I just know there's going to be a horrific accident one of these days.  The Yield sign entering the highway is ignored by a lot of drivers.  People on the hwy don't have to slow to allow them to "merge" but if you aren't aware of the Special Snowflakes who don't believe the Yield sign actually applies to them, you may be putting yourself into a very dangerous situation if you don't.  How I wish they'd put a patrol car there sometime.

[MDefarge]

In this same vein, it's quite surprising to me how many people don't seem to realize that Yield and Merge are NOT the same thing.  A Yield sign means you wait until there's a safe clearing for you to pull into.  A Merge sign means you enter the lane, like a zipper, every other car.

Yes! There is one highway near me that is always sluggish at the time I would be using it, so I drive on the service roads instead (amazing how much faster it is) but I always, always stay in the right hand lane until it is time for me to make my left hand turn because people do NOT know what yield means & I've seen more than one near miss.

Also I saw the hat trick of bad driving the other day.  Illegal left U-turn, from the RIGHT lane, at a RED light. (before anyone asks, no this isn't an area where it is ok to make a turn left OR right on red)

[VorFemme]

In this same vein, it's quite surprising to me how many people don't seem to realize that Yield and Merge are NOT the same thing.  A Yield sign means you wait until there's a safe clearing for you to pull into.  A Merge sign means you enter the lane, like a zipper, every other car.

Yes! There is one highway near me that is always sluggish at the time I would be using it, so I drive on the service roads instead (amazing how much faster it is) but I always, always stay in the right hand lane until it is time for me to make my left hand turn because people do NOT know what yield means & I've seen more than one near miss.

Also I saw the hat trick of bad driving the other day.  Illegal left U-turn, from the RIGHT lane, at a RED light. (before anyone asks, no this isn't an area where it is ok to make a turn left OR right on red)

It's been a while - but I have had someone turn RIGHT in front of me from the lane to my left....and left from the far right lane while crossing four lanes of traffic (thank the universe that we were the only two cars at the intersection at that moment).  I am still flabbergasted at the degree of SSiness that this takes............but having driven a while since then - I think that there are more SS in the universe.

[Piratelvr1121]

The new drivers one reminded me of another thing I experienced years ago.  Be nice to new drivers and anyone who is obviously driving a manual for the first time.   I learned to drive one when I was about 23-24 and I was half tempted to stick a sign on my bumper that would say: "Driver is learning to drive stick shift.   Tailgate at your own risk!"

I had a particularly hard time starting off.   It took me a while to get the feel of how much I needed to let up on the clutch while giving the car gas.   I was always stalling out at lights, and one particular day I was at an intersection, in the right of the two lanes turning left.  No cars in the lane on my left, and only one car behind me.   I stalled right when trying to get going when the light went green.

The driver behind me, instead of just going around me like he had the room to do, instead laid on the horn repeatedly, then went around me with another irritated honk of the horn.   Leaving me to wonder "Well why didn't you do that in the first place?"

[Miss March]

When you drop a friend off at their car, pause a moment and make sure their car starts without any issue before you drive away. There's nothing worse then waving goodbye to a friend and driving off just as they realize their battery is dead.

[MissRose]

Not sure if this was mentioned or not, don't give people dirty looks if they choose to drive slower if there is snow coming down, and the roads aren't cleared properly.

I would prefer to keep myself and my new car in 1 piece when I go to and from work, thank you (looks at the special snowflakes who give me looks when they think they can drive as if its 80 degrees & sun is out & dry pavement!)

[sparklestar]

If you are on single lane country roads with minimal overtaking opportunities and have created a queue behind you, slow down and indicate right when it's safe for them to overtake you.  Don't speed up on the only straight bit of road therefore nixxing the only chance they have to overtake you for another 67 miles...

[kherbert05]

I agree that clear and simple directions are important.  Give the real street names and do not use nicknames for streets.

But that can backfire if your driver doesn't know the real street name.
"Take Highway 49."
"What?"
"You know. The Downtown Expressway."
"Oh, right."

Give both especially to out of towners. Houston has official names for different sections of highway http://www.houstonareaweb.com/freeways/ . It can be confusing to an out of towner because the city signs on street level will say Katy Freeway and the TexDOT signs on the actual highway is I10.  (This is west of the city I10 east of town is either BEAUMONT HIGHWAY or East Freeway.

[VorFemme]

I moved to Houston in 2006 - I am still learning which sections of which NUMBERED highways & streets are called by other names during traffic reports or when friends are giving me instructions on how to get somewhere.

It can be *interesting* (as well as confusing) to realize how many names one "street" has as it goes across town..............or around town, in the case of some of the loops.