People’s cars and how they drive them signal a great deal about their personalities. We can learn about a person even without meeting them in person. Here, we have compiled a list of 15 things that people do to their cars that signal to other drivers that they are idiots.
Leaving more than a car length of space in between cars at a traffic light
This is more often caused by people texting or by old people who aren’t able to see over the wheel. When this happens, you are keeping cars behind you from accessing turn lanes and causing traffic to spill into intersections behind you. Don’t do this.
Lazily pulling into turn lanes
When you are turning, you get into your turn lane as soon as it’s available and then you start slowing down. Don’t start slowing down in the main lane of traffic and then get over after you’ve gone a hundred yards after the dotted line starts. A lane change doesn’t take more than 5 seconds and if it does, you are being lazy and selfish.
Stopping in the middle of a highway
If you get into a minor collision on the highway, what do you do? Don’t ever stop in the middle of the four lanes of traffic. Move over to the side of the road. There’s a shoulder for a reason and you should use it. Don’t ever stop as that causes problems for everyone and potentially more accidents.
Riding your brakes
If a car at a distance ahead of you has tapped its brakes, it doesn’t mean you need to as well. Lift off the gas and start coasting. Get ready to stop but don’t just apply brakes immediately. If you do that, everyone will follow suit, and the effect is multiplied, even to the point of people stopping.
Rubbernecking
Drivers always rubberneck everything including the things they see every day. Is there a police officer on the side of the road giving someone a ticket? Better slow down, he could be someone known and you just want to wish him. Or there may be an accident down the road and you want to indulge your curiosity.
Not utilizing on-ramps to accelerate to highway speeds
By the time you get to the highway, you better be going as fast as the people on the highway, so you can merge into the traffic immediately and safely. This means you should be doing at least 55 on any interstate by the time you get to the end of the ramp. And don’t ever stop at the end of the ramp . That’s so dangerous to do.
Waiting for a lane to completely end before merging
Roads go from three lanes to two lanes or two lanes to one lane all the time. The wrong way to handle this is to drive until the very end of the lane that’s ending and then try to merge at the last moment. That causes traffic jams. Instead, merge as soon as you can.
Straddling lane lines
Straddling the lane means you are not staying between the designated lines of your lanes. The vehicle is positioned over two lanes at once which can be dangerous with other traffic. Other drivers can’t figure out what you’re trying to do and are hesitant to pass you because they are unsure if you’ll be moving right or left.
Not handling intersections correctly
Not following the rules of the road can confuse and frustrate other drivers and possibly cause an accident, if there’s a lot of traffic on the road. You pull up to a four-way stop at almost the same time as another car that’s perpendicular to you. They got there a few instances before you but they waved you through to be nice. There may not be much trouble if it’s just you and that car. But if there are other cars there, it might cause problems.
Not letting merging drivers in on expressways during rush hours
Everyone is tense during rush hour on the road. Not letting someone in so that you can go an extra foot before you come to a dead end for the next five minutes makes it worse. Agitated drivers are less cautious and cause accidents more.
Pacing to prevent passing
It’s a frustrating experience when you go to pass someone, either by speeding up or slowing down, and that car matches your pace. They may be doing it consciously or unconsciously. Are they doing it so that you can’t pass them? Have they even noticed that you’re trying to pass them? These things flare up tempers on the road and cause accidents.
Driving under the speed limit
If you get stuck behind a horse and a carriage on the road, it would be going slower than your car. You would be OK with it as it is expected. But with other cars, there is no excuse for going below the speed limit unless it is those few moments after your car’s engine is blown away and you are looking for a safe place to pull over. Or you are just learning to drive and have a big ‘student driver’ sign or sticker on the car.
Tailgating
Tailgating is the action of a driver driving behind a vehicle while not leaving sufficient distance to stop without causing a collision if the vehicle in front stops suddenly. Tailgating can be dangerous to the tailgater especially if they are driving closely behind a large vehicle. If the leading vehicle decelerates suddenly, the tailgater has a high risk of causing a rear-end collision, for which they would be held responsible.
Not using turn signals
Turn signals are a valuable safety feature. The more obvious you make it that you are about to do something other than driving in a straight line, the less likely you are going to have an accident. It doesn’t matter whether you are driving fast or slow- your turn signals are an important safety feature and you should use them.
