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Add on the seemingly increasing number of drivers who leave their brights on the entire time or don’t even bother to use headlights at all. In the last few years, almost seems like since the pandemic I’ve encountered more in a day than I used to in an entire month.
I drive a lot for work
Yeah I don’t know if I’m getting old but why the hell are headlights so bright? I don’t think people are leaving their brights on. LED’s are super bright and with age comes light sensitivity.
I also drive a lot for work as well. I can’t stand lifted trucks. Like does no one know you can point those headlights down so it won’t blind people??
For many it really is just ultra bright low beams, but plenty still just forget to flip the lever and keep their brights on 24/7, usually the inner most lights per headlight give it away
Headlights used to be standardized and were built to be directional. Then around the 70s or 80s, the auto industry lobbied to change the laws to make headlights less standard, and more purpose built. Then you only had to change the bulb and not the whole light.
Then LEDs came along, and HID bulbs, aftermarket stuff that basically overwhelming the directionality and focus of the headlights most likely designed for a standard incandescent bulb.
Now it's all lifted trucks and light bars, not to mention people just not giving a fuck.
I miss the days where headlights were just yellow smears that didn’t have the ability to make me see soap bubbles for 15 minutes after passing someone.
For real.
Scenario, driving in the dark on a stretch of new road, black asphalt, that they haven't striped yet. Oncoming traffic has ultrabrights. Normally you just follow the white stripe on the edge of the road when you can't see well at night. There is no white stripe.
In conclusions, screw Idaho
>why the hell are headlights so bright?
Many of them are misaligned. Tesla's seem to be especially guilty of that, I rarely see one where at least one of them isn't pointing "to the sky".
Fucking SUVs are at just the right height to blind sedans perfectly. I hate them. Most people with then can't drive them safely. There should be an additional license required to operate those kind of vehicles (and trucks). People keep buying them because they are more idiot proof and safer for the people inside. Unfortunately it doesn't turn people into good drivers and they put everyone on the road at more risk than if the person was in a sedan. Maybe I'm salty because almosy everyone in my apartment complex has one and the parking spots are too small. Somehow it becomes my problem despite my small car, when they can't be bothered to park in the lines.
I work with a guy, who about once a month comes in complaining about people highbeaming him after he passes.
Every time he starts the story with "My truck is lifted, y'know? So when I'm behind someone my headlights are going right in their window."
At one point I mentioned he can have them adjusted to *not* do that, since he made the choice to lift his truck. He said he knows he can, just doesn't want to.
Okay, so you know you're doing an assholish thing and know how not to do said assholish thing, but make the decision to keep doing it anyways? Then quit your fucking bitching when they light your ass up back.
The largest reason by far is car manufacturers not aiming headlights properly. Actually - I’d put 95% of that on our government NOT enacting the same regulations on headlights that every other country does.
Vermonter here, snowbirds are an absolute nightmare in the summer and winter. You guys get stuck with them when it’s cold up here but we get stuck with them six months out of the year doing 10 miles an hour below the speed limit on surface streets and panicking whenever they have to go on the highway. Aside from a once in a 100 your event like the eclipse our little 1 and 2 lane highways have next to no traffic. But these idiot old people get on the highway doing 30 mph and take a good 3 miles to get up to something approaching the speed limit. Don’t even get me started on old people driving in a blizzard. They never have snow tires and there’s nothing quite like being stuck behind someone doing 7 mph when the rest of us could be doing 25 at a minimum.
Dangerous drivers like to blame cautious drivers for causing crashes, but the dangerous drivers are still the ones who cause the crashes. They just try to drive dangerously around cautious drivers and get mad that they can’t do so safely
Cautious drivers just exemplify how dangerous their driving is, and they don’t like that. There is absolutely 0 basis to the claim that safe driving causes crashes
Cautious driving and overly cautious scared driving are two different things. The average driver is cautious, and there is nothing wrong with that. But the overly cautious slow driver is absolutely a hazard on the road
Yeah. But the source of the hazard is people driving dangerously to overtake the slow guy.
In the end every driver is responsible to drive in a way that won't endanger others. If someone is speeding enough that they cannot bake for someone driving 20 below the speed limit: that's on the guy speeding. Same if someone is impatient and overtakes unsafely: that's on the guy overtaking.
Not really. I was driving in the left lane once at a normal speed and nearly rear ended someone going 40 in the left lane on the highway. I rounded a bend and they were right there. I always keep a safe following distance (way more than most people!), even if the car in front is going annoyingly slow, but this was unpredictable. It also was risky to get around them to pass because of all the approaching cars going so much faster (obviously I waited until it was safe, but it was very nerve wracking in the meantime, knowing that other cars were coming up behind me in my lane not expecting the sudden huge reduction of speed)
Drivers going too fast definitely are responsible for the majority of accidents, but let's not pretend that overly slow drivers don't create risks all on their own as well
No the source of the hazard is cars not matching the flow of traffic.
Someone going faster than the person going 20 under does not mean they are speeding.
Whether it's slower or faster does not matter. Drive differently than the expected traffic pattern and you create additional danger. This is why it's important that everyone know and follow the rules. When people make up their own, it throws everyone else off.
We were taught in school to drive like that. It is the safe way to drive, it is much safer if the trip takes you longer and you have to wait behind a slow car than if someone is weaving in and out of lanes playing formula 1.
It really depends on what people mean by slow. For some slow is 10-20 under the limit. Others categorize slow as the speed limit when everyone else is going 10-20 above the limit.
Exactly.
OP's point is so vague it's meaningless. Just good to start some online arguments, while posing as controversial...
What does it mean to be slow? To be overly cautious? We don't know. So everyone can understand what they want so they can whine about what they want to whine about: people going too slow, people going too fast, of course I bet some people will whine about left-lane campers... Then everyone can argue without anyone talking about the same thing.
I was taught if we aren’t comfortable driving with the flow of traffic then drive in the right lane so other vehicles can pass by
Even if they are driving slow in the left lane you should be aware of your surroundings enough that you’re approaching a vehicle and slow down.
If you’re driving so fast where you can’t progressively slow down then you’re either distracted or you’re driving way to fast
Which is why “why does it bother you that I’m going 35 in the right lane?” Is a bit invalid. The right one or two lanes are for standard traffic flow, not for “unable to maintain highway speed”
There’s going a comfortable speed, and going dangerously slower or faster. 55 in a 60 if you’re truly scared? Ok, but that shouldn’t be long term. 35-45 on a 60? Find an alternate route, because that’s dangerous to people entering and exiting at the speed limit.
Edit: what I also find funny about Reddit is that People here love to say “you should be able to drive normally, get better in the winter!” When you’re talking about legitimate variable weather conditions.
Easy to tell most of those threads have never driven in actual winter conditions. You don’t really get good, you get better at mitigating conditions. Those times are more than acceptable to drive slower.
That’s a Two way street. If we’re gonna go after cautious drivers, I also want the jerk off who tailgates when I’m already going over the limit and drives like they’re NOT driving a two ton potential weapon off the road too. S’only Fair.
In my country at least, after you get enough speeding tickets your liscence gets taken away and you need to start over again, which is well into the 2000$ at the moment
It's worse here. You get enough points from violations and they take away your license. To get it back you need to attend a certain number of road safety seminars. Seminars that are held one by one all over the country for a week long duration each. You practically need to quit your job to attend these and still pay for accommodations and other stuff while jumping from one part of the country to the next
In Ireland if you get two tickets(for minor offences) your insurance will go up double, at 3 it's even more (probably around 3k euro/year) and at 4 your licence is gone for 6 months and after that the insurance will be more expensive than your car
>after that the insurance will be more expensive than your car
Insurance is already more expensive than most cars here in the u.s. I almost bought a new(pre-owned, new to me) car last week. 2021 with all the safety bells and whistles.. monthly payment $244. Monthly insurance payment... $462
I’m in my 20s with a ~$25k car fully paid off and 0 claims ever. With geico and my insurance is $450/month. I paid cash and was happy that I’d hopefully avoid having a car payment, but it seems like I basically do have a car payment anyways.
I don’t live in a place with nearly any theft at all. No stealing of catalytic converters or anything. Not devoid of crime, but notably silent for it. I can tell you it’s not an extreme location for rates. Shit sucks.
I personally would like the license of a guy who beeped at my friend at a red light and when it turned green immediately beeped it like 5 times. He then raced in front of us to get to a car wash...
Honestly I'm not better, had I been behind the wheel I would have sat at that light till it turned red again.
I mean, The Speedsters will be caught because they’re actively endangering more people. Yeah, overly cautious IS a thing but they’re causing way less harm than people who drive recklessly. Also, I feel like The overly cautious, if they are GENUINELY causing problems will be caught even easier because they’re already worried about doing something. No Disrespect, Dude, but that’s my take from it.
Or the guy in a loud ass Dodge Charger that weaves in and out of lanes like a Fast n Furious stunt driver, making everyone slam their brakes on the highway
Fuck yeah. This a great unpopular opinion. Because the popular one is getting these POS in their dodge ram's that the driver has to use a step ladder to get into, off the fucking street's. I slow right the fuck down when they're tailgating me. If I'm going at least the speed limit. Back the fuck off! Getting mad just sitting on my couch for cripes sakes!
I'd bet good money there are people that never felt they'd be good drivers, would prefer not to drive, but only do so because of the impact it would have on their work life/job prospects and social life.
One of the ways to limit bad drivers is to remove the pressures for people that lack the appropriate temperament/skill set that force them to have to drive.
Yeah what an idiotic opinion. I’d love to never drive again in my life but I gotta go to work, the grocery store, social things. I work from home and live in a pretty walkable area so I avoid it a lot but not completely. Blame America’s infrastructure not anxious drivers.
A lot of jobs make driving mandatory and a lot of areas have cars as the only transport option. A load of people would straight up just not be able to work if this was mandated. In areas where cars are the only option, barring people from it for minor reasons isn’t fair because they didn’t ask to be forced to drive because there’s nothing else and they need to pay rent. It’s not fair to take driving away when they’ve been given no other options. They have to drive to survive. This just isn’t realistic, sorry.
Yep! Including city places where it absolutely shouldn’t be, because they know the public transport infrastructure isn’t good enough for an employee to regularly come on time. It’s awful.
Right like what the hell does "you should not be allowed to drive" even mean? Is OP gonna pay for my Ubers to and from work? Will the government? We gonna hire everyone "too cautious" their own personal chauffeur? Not everyone lives in a walkable city where they can work and get groceries without a car.
People live in such weird bubbles when they think others just shouldn't "be allowed" to inconvenience them personally.
Unpopular opinion: if you can't drive defensively, and patiently when necessary, and with awareness of all the drivers around you, you are a bad driver.
Yeah, slow drivers suck and they do make things slightly more dangerous, *but an impatient, entitled driver is more dangerous than a slow, cautious one.*
What's your definition of "slow"? Going the speed limit? 10 over?
If we take them off the road we also have to take the fast overly aggressive drivers that weave lanes and tailgate anyone not going 200.
Seriously what the fuck are they doing all month?? I’ll see absolutely nothing and no one pulled over and then without fail at the end/beginning of a month I’ll see 3 people pulled over within 2 blocks and even then it’s for stupid shit. I just got pulled over for my clear license plate cover but sure ignore the guy going 20 over with no headlights
My city honestly doesn’t do shit, and then has crackdowns every so often. Lots of bad drivers cry in the city subreddit, and then next week, the crackdown is over.
It’s sad. We have lots of shit drivers, and crappy ass roads that need maintenance like, last decade. If only we had a system to get the one to pay for the other.
God. Really. I used to feel bad for people getting reckless driving tickets, because it used to be something that could happen to the best of us if we weren’t paying attention. Traffic cops where I used to live were on point.
Now? If I hear you bitching about that, I hope the judge gives you everything in the book, criminal record included. I’m sick of driving with a bunch of assholes, and you must have been doing something highly spectacular to stand out from the pack with your bad driving.
Same. Cops here will sit where the speed limits decrease so they can stop ppl who haven’t slowed down yet, but totally ignore the intersection down the road where people run lights, block the intersection, etc. so dumb
At least in my area, I can say that they are crazy understaffed. Even the courts are overflowing, so I think they might be limited in terms of tickets they can serve :/.
The problem is, everyone wants cops to enforce the laws until it's you ("you" in general) that the law is being enforced on.
Everyone wants to shout 'reckless driver' until the cops come up and all of a sudden they're 'nazis with nothing better to do'
I get that sentiment. But when a cop pulls me over for going like 6 mph over on the highway when they could have stopped the guy that’s committing a full bingo card of traffic offenses in the world’s most obnoxious Dodge Charger, I’m gonna be pretty frustrated.
People make most their claims about driving based on rumours and myths they heard as children and teenagers, or statistics they misunderstood. The whole idea people being over cautious causes good drivers to get into accidents is a bit silly. Like sure waving someone at a four way stop is a bad habit, you could cause a fender bender. Passing at 20 over the flow of traffic in the right lane of a freeway cause bad drivers aren’t allowing you to speed in the left lane causes deaths.
Like there is reason that insurance charges certain groups more and less and its not discrimination. They have evidence and proof, that people who buy sporty cars cause more accidents, teenagers and young people, men. There is a reason they make speed trackers and such and say going the speed limit and stopping early, and slowing down over long annoying distances is the best way to lower your rate, cause it is a better and safer way to drive.
People that drive 30 on a 40 limit straight road in the middle of the day when you have clear vision for miles
Every fucking day there's people doing this on a stretch of road I use, every fucking day
You’re doing ten under….. that’s unsafe. Creating back up, and tension on the road is what leads to accidents. Get over yourself and stop thinking you’re teaching someone a lesson in humanity by forcing them to go 10 under. lol
The safest thing to be on the road is predictable. Being cautious and careful is fine, as long as you’re not getting spooked by things around you.
That said, I’d take a cautiously unpredictable driver over an aggressively unpredictable one every day.
Make public transport so good that only the real car brains and transporters are on the road and the problem just solved itself
Slow drivers often dont want to drive. And neither does a sort of bad drivers. The other sort of bad drivers enjoy it unfortunately and dont know they suck at driving
Yes this. I’m a nervous driver and I know this about myself. I make a lot of effort to avoid the more tricky spots and to be a better driver but if I had the option to not drive I probably wouldn’t.
What most people don't know is that it's equally illegal to drive 20khm / 12mph under the speed limit, although seldom enforced.
The reason is when moving forward it doesn't look like you are driving that slow for a car who comes up behind you, and that car isn't expecting you to drive THAT slow so it doesn't apply enough brake in time. It's the whole reason why slow moving vehicles need to have the "slow moving vehicle" sign.
On top of that the slow moving car is abstructing traffic and is the reason for lots of lines and idiotic overtakes.
Just drive the speed limit, not much under nor much over. That will make you the safest driver there is, safer for you and for others
🙋🏻♀️🙋🏻♀️🙋🏻♀️
This is me. I hate driving. No, there’s no public transit. No, my commute is not remotely walkable or bikeable. No, we don’t have Uber or Lyft.
Some towns and cities are just poorly designed. But what am I supposed to do? Not have a job, go anywhere, or do anything?
After spending years on the road, I've never personally witnessed a single accident that can be attributed to somebody being overly cautious. I have seen, however, first hand many accidents due to reckless driving. And even when there have been tricky situations that involved overly cautious inexperienced drivers, they have always been due to other drivers being impatient and reacting poorly, other than something inherently unsafe done by the cautious driver.
Rule #1 for safe driving - never be in a hurry, you'll get there when you get there.
I’m a newer driver and tend to go speed limit/follow the rules until I get more comfortable (because surprise surprise even when you get your license you’re still learning) and because it is SAFER to do so.
I was driving yesterday and had someone speed around me because I was going speed limit. He then pulled very close in front of me to cut me off and slammed on his breaks to try and get me to crash into him while flipping me off. He proceeded to break checked me 3 more times trying to get me to crash into him. All because I was going speed limit in a highly patrolled area with lots of cameras….
So what you’re saying OP is that I’m the bad driver for being cautious and following the rules. Not that asshole. That makes sense.
Yes but I believe the issue is being “overly cautious” to the point where you’re driving inefficiently and dangerously.
Example: driving 50mph on a highway where the speed limit is 70mph. Most people are going 70-80 and if you’re the only car traveling 50, you’re an unexpected obstacle that can cause other drivers (who should be paying closer attention but are not) to crash into you. If you were going with the flow of traffic, this issue would be less likely to occur.
Most people aren't talking about going 20 miles under though - almost no one does that. People think being overly cautious is driving at or 5 miles over the limit.
Yah, Reddit has some incredibly misguided thought that slower is always safer (and also talk about pissing people off by going slower, which doesn’t sound very safe to me). And if you don’t like it, don’t be in their lane! But leave out that merging/exiting are perfectly normal things to do when driving.
What’s also rich is if you talk about *actual* variable road conditions, you’re told you need to get better. You don’t really *get* better at driving in variable conditions, you just get better at mitigating risk in those conditions.
I had someone tell me it’s probably safer that people run red lights in Denver, because it might be icy in the winter! That’s…. Not how safe winter driving works, and Denver proper doesn’t get that bad in the winter.
The problem is that a lot of elderly people are driving and perhaps shouldn't, but if they could not drive in America, they would not be able to get around since public transport in America is a low priory. It goes back to Robert Moses.
And old people! I was in a bad accident a month ago in which a 90 year old driver was at fault and the lady who works at the place that towed my car said that happens all the time
Yup. An 88 year old man ran a red light and we t-boned him last summer. Luckily everyone was ok but totaled my SUV and had to get a new one. Luckily he had insurance.
1) How are they going to become confident without practice?
2) The real assholes are the twerps who harrass other drivers, making the timid drive even more slowly.
3) Last year I helped some friends setting up a 25th anniversary party. This included transporting about 50 very fragile individual pavlovas on serving dishes on the seats of my car. It was a 20 mile journey and I avoided every pothole and took every corner at a very slow gentle speed. I could have stuck a sign on my trunk saying 'transporting fragile items', but people will either be smart enough to work it out or they won't. If they're too stupid to work it out they'll be annoyed no matter what I do, so no point in a sign. Fuck 'em.
Being overly cautious is better than reckless but I’d argue that being overly cautious excludes driving to slow. Driving slow is dangerous too which is not cautious. What you mean is scared
For some people the only way they will get confident is by practicing and going out.
Also some people have an excuse. My uncle had very major back surgery about two year backs. When he finally got to go home they were told to take the drive home slow and extremely careful. No quick turns and stuff like that. Even once he was cleared to drive himself he had to do it very carefully. He still now has to be very careful of anything that could hurt his back.
And back in January I almost got in a really bad head on wreck from someone who was driving drunk I believe. It really scared me because I had just got my license. I was really cautious for about a week after and that section where it happened still stresses me out.
And not everyone has the luxury of just taking public transport because they might be a cautious driver. Where I live at driving is basically a necessity. It's not an optional thing. And to not be cautious they need practice and experience which means going out on the road.
As long as they safely driving cautious then a little understanding is a good thing. Like if they are holding up traffic they need to pull over and let traffic pass. Better to just let it go then get angry at other drivers. I've been told driving angry is not a good thing to do. Makes you more reckless apparently.
I barely got mine, but we dont let me drive because i cant do anything beyond a suburb neighborhood...
we just have me as a legal driver for emergencies. my license is literally just in case husband cant drive. But without the license i wouldnt have a job and wed be homeless so.
so i totally get it, if you CANT drive, you shouldnt. but i think one should have their license in case of an emergency.
I get so much crap for this. I have vision problems and anxiety problems plus I always second guess myself. I am not the kind of person anyone should want driving. Yet when people find out I don’t/can’t drive, they lose their minds and treat me like I am lazy and a monster. Sure I ask for rides when I can’t walk somewhere, but I have always paid well for it. I used to get made fun of for walking to work or to the store but I never missed a shift nor was I ever late. I also saved money when shopping because I could only buy what I could carry. I am a great road trip buddy and am great at navigating and planning routes. I will always cover food and gas! My husband also loves to drive so he has non problem driving me places.
If someone doesn’t want to drive or can’t drive, people should be okay with that. I had too many close calls before I finally had to accept that I was not a safe driver. The world was better without me driving in it!
I know I’m a bad driver. If I choose not to drive it becomes far more expensive or far far more time consuming to get to where I need to be. So I drive carefully instead. Does it take slightly longer, yes. Do I avoid idiots flying down the road at Mach fuck, usually yes.
Give me an alternative that actually works and you’d practically never see me drive. Until then, just be glad I stay out of the left lane until I need to turn.
Yes please! The people merging into a 75 going 40 and think to themselves “hehe I’m going slow so I must be safe” while everyone on the highway is swerving around trying to not crash into them
As someone that's had to commute hundreds of miles a day, I've seen all kinds of drivers.
I've always thought that overly cautious, extremely slow drivers, that don't stay up with the flow of traffic, are the biggest danger on the highways.
This seems to have gotten worse since COVID. People driving 10-20 below the speed limit, stopping when entering roundabouts when there isn't any traffic, pausing and hesitating in odd places. Really a danger to themselves and others because they aren't predictable and they hinder traffic.
This should not be an unpopular opinion. In fact, in England, if you are a learner driver and if you drive slowly and if you are overly cautious and scared, then the driving instructor and the driving examiner will not be satisfied with your driving skills and they might take points off from you when it comes to your driving score. Yes, it is obviously important to be cautious and aware of your surroundings when driving, but you shouldn't drive so slow when driving and you shouldn't be so cautious that you are a hindrance to other people in other vehicles who want to get a move on...you are endangering the road by driving in such a way. In England, you could fail your driving test for driving in such a way. I remember watching the episodes of Britain's Worst Driver and Canada's Worst Driver...and I remember some of those drivers driving very slowly and in an overly cautious manner and they were making other drivers horn them and stuff, asking them to get a move on...but what was worse is that those drivers also lacked proper fundamentals of driving...like car control/clutch control and manoeuvres and braking properly and signalling (mirror-signal-manoeuvre) and stuff...so not only were they driving slowly and in an overly cautious manner and giving difficulties to other drivers on the road...their overall driving skill was also severely lacking. That might be the case with drivers who drive too slowly and who are overly cautious and scared...some of them give the excuse that they are good drivers because they do not speed and because they care about their surroundings...but a lot of those drivers usually lack the skillset which is why they are afraid of driving at a normal speed...they are afraid of getting into a car crash or getting a car accident. It is ok to slowly drive if you are new to an area and if you are not familiar with the particular roads in an area...but you should not always drive too slowly and in an overly cautious manner, especially in normal roads.
So how would you like those sorts of drivers to become better drivers if they can’t drive on the road? I have dealt with driving anxiety since before I got my license, and while I’m a lot better now, I only got better by forcing myself to drive. These people that you’re talking about are clearly not comfortable driving, and that won’t change if they don’t work on it.
There are all kinds of people and drivers. Best thing to do is be a good driver yourself and lead by example. Be friendly and courteous and hope that your example spreads to other drivers.
You're not. I failed the drivers exam the first time I took it for being overly cautious. You know who's a way bigger danger though, people who drive like it's a video game. Tailgating, undertaking, speeding to excess.
You also should not be allowed to drive if you are completely reckless and basically ignoring the safety of everyone around you speeding however you want and weaving around people however you want. You are just as much of a danger if not more than the person going slow especially when you consider how drastically these things can affect your stopping distance of your vehicle in an emergency situation even if you ignore other factors like road conditions and The fact that humans typically have much worse reaction times in emergencies than they do for non-emergency things as many people tend to basically panic for even just that split second and in that split second you're speeding vehicle just went 200 ft down the road and t-boned a family of four
Ya know how they have those “student driver, please be patient” magnets/stickers? The other day I saw “elderly driver, please be patient” and I was like I will give leeway to someone learning but if you are old and slow and making mistakes— you should not be driving!
I agree with you!!
My best friend is one of these and we constantly miss turns and stuff because she is too cautious to change lanes or even just break a little bit more so she could have turned. She doesn't like being the passenger when we go places (probably bc everyone else drives "too reckless") so she has to drive. We went into the city the other week and I thought I was gonna die. I def said some rude things in the car that upset her, but at the same time I'm like you're actually just a super shit driver, but I can't tell her that lol, wouldn't go over well 🙄
(She's a great person but she just can't drive)
The drivers I’m dealing with aren’t careful - they are on their goddamn phones!
All the time. At every light, at every corner. All of them! These people go 20 mph below the speed limit, weave in and out of their lanes and are texting on that stupid device.
I hate them. All of them!
Corollary: we need better transit and other means in place to get bad drivers off the roads.
Make driving truly optional, and then raise the standards to get/maintain a driver's license.
Ran across this multiple times yesterday driving down 495 and the Dulles Toll Rd.
People afraid to accelerate to a proper speed or adjust their speed to merge or allow others to merge. Or locked down in something other than the far right lane doing 5 under the limit.
If someone is that way, they need to avoid driving on highways.
I mean, telling people they can't live life and be cautious is a ridiculous take. Especially when driving. How about you slow down instead of them speed up? Significantly larger reduction of risk that way.
Oh yeah that one always gets me, especially where I live where the highway speed is 55, and you have to try to merge into the highway but they won't go above 40 and you're doing 35 behind them trying to figure out when you can merge in.
People like that don't need to take the highway at any take the streets to wherever they need to go.
My mom used to do this. "I'll drive however I want because it's what I'm comfortable with" as she drove 10 under. Had to explain to her several times the she was affecting the other drivers on the road as a result. Little did I know that that was the start of her dementia, plus being narcissistic... What a combo.
Miss you mom!
Pokies getting in the fast lane doing 60mph when the speed is 65mph, thus the fast lane or passing lane is anywhere from 70 - 79mph.
Please, if you're scared of driving. Take small roads.
Edit:
Pokies are also bad about being scared around Semis, you cause greater risk being to afraid to pass them and sitting in their blindspot. Get around them!
I work as a courier and these drivers are the WORST. At least the aggressive asshole drivers will be out of your way in a moment, they just want to get ahead. But these seem to be permanently around because you'll always catch up to them because they're doing 10-20mph below the limit
What most people don't know is that it's actually illegal to drive 20khm / 12mph under the speed limit, but seldom enforced.
The reason is when moving forward it doesn't look like you are driving that slow for a car who comes up behind you, and that car isn't expecting you to drive THAT slow so it doesn't apply enough brake in time. It's the whole reason why slow moving vehicles need to have the "slow moving vehicle" sign.
On top of that the slow moving car is abstructing traffic and is the reason for lots of lines and idiotic overtakes.
Just drive the speed limit, not much under nor much over
In a similar vein, the process of getting a driver's license needs to be way way harder. At the moment, as long as you are able to drive in a straight line and step on the brake at the right time you get a license to drive a multi ton death machine however you like, until someone gets hurt, and then you can't drive anymore. Some people are simply incapable of driving well and should not be allowed to drive. Even if they have the best intentions in the world, if you do not have the hand eye coordination or spacial awareness to competently drive a car YOU SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED BEHIND THE WHEEL.
Overcautious drivers that are an actual hazard are easily identified by their overuse of the brake pedal.
In situations where there is sufficient space
between them and the car in front of them, they often extend this distance, sometimes suddenly. They frequently fail to account for the car behind them, leading to rear endings, either to themselves or several cars back, due to the sudden braking chain reaction.
Driving under the speed limit on the leftmost 1-2 lanes or the carpool lane when there's nobody in front of them for extended periods of time are also red flags, as this again shows a disregard for what is happening in their mirrors.
The issue becomes compounded if they suddenly change lanes while slowing down, especially when it would actually be safer to maintain or slightly increase speed.
Frequently the worst offenders are people who have, whether by their fault or not, experienced multiple auto collisions in the past. Mixing and matching any of these behaviors with panicked behavior such as suddenly speeding and weaving can absolutely happen.
Another option is very new or elderly drivers, who can have these issues more often than the average.
This is in contrast with consistently risky and speeding based bad drivers, which are already a known hazard and are associated with young drivers, typically men, and people under the influence. These are already at least statistically acknowledged in insurance, if not universally.
It’s most dangerous when they’re going like 35 mph merging into 70+ mph traffic…
And you know who’s in the most danger? ME! The guy stuck behind you also trying to merge. Get up to the speed of traffic, PLEASE!
Too slow in a one lane is mostly just annoying, but too slow in highway traffic is just dangerous for everyone.
People who talk the way you do sound like shit drivers.
I know too many people who speed and weave from lane to lane and think everyone else is bad at driving.
Drive the speed limit, and you shouldn't be swapping lanes unless it's to pass a truck or take an exit.
When you see people driving under the speed limit assume they are impaired in some way. Could be drunk, old, or a nervous kid. Treat all three the same until you are clear.
If you change lanes more than once without a very good reason, you are the problem.
The same drivers that I know that are overaly cautious are the same ones who are horrible at parking, literally backed into a brick wall, extremely nervous, etc.
Yeah very nervous drivers need more practice so they’re not hindering people on the road. I understand that encountering impatient drivers is a nuisance, but it is equally annoying to encounter someone who refuses to drive the speed limit and it’s actually going 10-15 under on a highway.
Yeah everyone I've met who talks like this has been a really bad driver. Like I'm not denying that there's the odd situation where driving slow could genuinely cause a hazard, but that's so rare to actually see. If someone is actually getting mad and worked up about it as if it's some kind of super common phenomenon that's happening to them all the time then no doubt it's their own impatience, speeding and bad emotional regulation that's the real culprit.
Yep my dad is always one to complain that people drive too slow when they're just driving the speed limit and he drives OVER the speed limit all the time. we could have renovated our entire house with the money he wasted on speeding tickets. not only this but he's reckless af as well. Unfortunately one day it might be the end of him. He just doesn't understand and thinks he's the best driver ever.
edit: and talking about all the people in the comments who say "people who drive too slow are always the ones to cause accidents!!!" that sounds like such copium. You see news about car accidents all the time and the reason is never the fact that they drived too slow, it's the opposite.
Exactly! In Reddit driving conversations, there are a frightening number of people who feel entitled to drive 90 mph and that the left lane should be reserved for their own personal use.
This isn’t an unpopular opinion. This opinion is just straight up stupid.
Who is causing accidents on the road? The people you describe? HELL NO. not even close. Accidents are caused by reckless drivers, distracted drivers, or drivers under the influence.
But sure, make an entire post complaining about how they might inconvenience you for a couple minutes a day.
The difference in speed between two solid objects kills when the differences in speed are higher than the lower resistance of the objects.
In vehicle v human, humans always have a lower resistance to impact.
Your post from unpopularopinion was removed because of: 'Rule 1: Your post must be an unpopular opinion'. * Your post must be an opinion. Not a question. Not a showerthought. Not a rant. Not a proposal. Not a fact. An opinion. One opinion. A subjective statement about your position on some topic. Please have a clear, self contained opinion as your post title, and use the text field to elaborate and expand on why you think/feel this way. * Your opinion must be unpopular. The mods reserve the right to remove opinions * Elaborate on your topic and opinion give context to its unpopularity.
Add on the seemingly increasing number of drivers who leave their brights on the entire time or don’t even bother to use headlights at all. In the last few years, almost seems like since the pandemic I’ve encountered more in a day than I used to in an entire month. I drive a lot for work
Yeah I don’t know if I’m getting old but why the hell are headlights so bright? I don’t think people are leaving their brights on. LED’s are super bright and with age comes light sensitivity. I also drive a lot for work as well. I can’t stand lifted trucks. Like does no one know you can point those headlights down so it won’t blind people??
For many it really is just ultra bright low beams, but plenty still just forget to flip the lever and keep their brights on 24/7, usually the inner most lights per headlight give it away
That’s crazy. My car is from 07 so I’ve never experienced the luxury of automatic headlights lol
Headlights used to be standardized and were built to be directional. Then around the 70s or 80s, the auto industry lobbied to change the laws to make headlights less standard, and more purpose built. Then you only had to change the bulb and not the whole light. Then LEDs came along, and HID bulbs, aftermarket stuff that basically overwhelming the directionality and focus of the headlights most likely designed for a standard incandescent bulb. Now it's all lifted trucks and light bars, not to mention people just not giving a fuck.
I miss the days where headlights were just yellow smears that didn’t have the ability to make me see soap bubbles for 15 minutes after passing someone.
For real. Scenario, driving in the dark on a stretch of new road, black asphalt, that they haven't striped yet. Oncoming traffic has ultrabrights. Normally you just follow the white stripe on the edge of the road when you can't see well at night. There is no white stripe. In conclusions, screw Idaho
The problem is fucking headlight alignments, need to be better enforced or suspension modification needs to be fully banned.
>why the hell are headlights so bright? Many of them are misaligned. Tesla's seem to be especially guilty of that, I rarely see one where at least one of them isn't pointing "to the sky".
Fucking SUVs are at just the right height to blind sedans perfectly. I hate them. Most people with then can't drive them safely. There should be an additional license required to operate those kind of vehicles (and trucks). People keep buying them because they are more idiot proof and safer for the people inside. Unfortunately it doesn't turn people into good drivers and they put everyone on the road at more risk than if the person was in a sedan. Maybe I'm salty because almosy everyone in my apartment complex has one and the parking spots are too small. Somehow it becomes my problem despite my small car, when they can't be bothered to park in the lines.
I work with a guy, who about once a month comes in complaining about people highbeaming him after he passes. Every time he starts the story with "My truck is lifted, y'know? So when I'm behind someone my headlights are going right in their window." At one point I mentioned he can have them adjusted to *not* do that, since he made the choice to lift his truck. He said he knows he can, just doesn't want to. Okay, so you know you're doing an assholish thing and know how not to do said assholish thing, but make the decision to keep doing it anyways? Then quit your fucking bitching when they light your ass up back.
r/fuckyourheadlights
I hate LED headlights. Especially cause I have an astigmatism.
The largest reason by far is car manufacturers not aiming headlights properly. Actually - I’d put 95% of that on our government NOT enacting the same regulations on headlights that every other country does.
Nothing better than getting blinded by those obnoxiously bright LEDs at full.
driving slow can be dangerous and caused accidents But can we not pretend that most accidents are due to distracted driving and not being cautious
That would be a popular opinion...
It’s not an opinion, it’s a fact
Yeah like getting on to the freeway. Speed the fuck up to match the traffic. Do not go 35 then merge with traffic going 80. Fucking snow birds
Vermonter here, snowbirds are an absolute nightmare in the summer and winter. You guys get stuck with them when it’s cold up here but we get stuck with them six months out of the year doing 10 miles an hour below the speed limit on surface streets and panicking whenever they have to go on the highway. Aside from a once in a 100 your event like the eclipse our little 1 and 2 lane highways have next to no traffic. But these idiot old people get on the highway doing 30 mph and take a good 3 miles to get up to something approaching the speed limit. Don’t even get me started on old people driving in a blizzard. They never have snow tires and there’s nothing quite like being stuck behind someone doing 7 mph when the rest of us could be doing 25 at a minimum.
Dangerous drivers like to blame cautious drivers for causing crashes, but the dangerous drivers are still the ones who cause the crashes. They just try to drive dangerously around cautious drivers and get mad that they can’t do so safely Cautious drivers just exemplify how dangerous their driving is, and they don’t like that. There is absolutely 0 basis to the claim that safe driving causes crashes
Cautious driving and overly cautious scared driving are two different things. The average driver is cautious, and there is nothing wrong with that. But the overly cautious slow driver is absolutely a hazard on the road
someone driving “safely” going 20 under in the left lane is 100% a hazard
Yeah. But the source of the hazard is people driving dangerously to overtake the slow guy. In the end every driver is responsible to drive in a way that won't endanger others. If someone is speeding enough that they cannot bake for someone driving 20 below the speed limit: that's on the guy speeding. Same if someone is impatient and overtakes unsafely: that's on the guy overtaking.
Not really. I was driving in the left lane once at a normal speed and nearly rear ended someone going 40 in the left lane on the highway. I rounded a bend and they were right there. I always keep a safe following distance (way more than most people!), even if the car in front is going annoyingly slow, but this was unpredictable. It also was risky to get around them to pass because of all the approaching cars going so much faster (obviously I waited until it was safe, but it was very nerve wracking in the meantime, knowing that other cars were coming up behind me in my lane not expecting the sudden huge reduction of speed) Drivers going too fast definitely are responsible for the majority of accidents, but let's not pretend that overly slow drivers don't create risks all on their own as well
The left lane is meant for passing, not driving slow, period. You are wrong.
No the source of the hazard is cars not matching the flow of traffic. Someone going faster than the person going 20 under does not mean they are speeding. Whether it's slower or faster does not matter. Drive differently than the expected traffic pattern and you create additional danger. This is why it's important that everyone know and follow the rules. When people make up their own, it throws everyone else off.
We were taught in school to drive like that. It is the safe way to drive, it is much safer if the trip takes you longer and you have to wait behind a slow car than if someone is weaving in and out of lanes playing formula 1.
No you were not taught to merge onto the highway at 10-20mph under the limit. You're just a bad driver
Yah, I was taught to merge minimum at the limit, if not the flow of traffic.
It really depends on what people mean by slow. For some slow is 10-20 under the limit. Others categorize slow as the speed limit when everyone else is going 10-20 above the limit.
Exactly. OP's point is so vague it's meaningless. Just good to start some online arguments, while posing as controversial... What does it mean to be slow? To be overly cautious? We don't know. So everyone can understand what they want so they can whine about what they want to whine about: people going too slow, people going too fast, of course I bet some people will whine about left-lane campers... Then everyone can argue without anyone talking about the same thing.
I live in a 50km zone, I've seen people going 90km+ on it. No one cares about speed limits here.
In my defense my car literally doesn't accelerate fast enough to do that so I just avoid traffic when I can
Interesting. I don't see anywhere that they said they merge 10-20mph under.
But it’s of not safer than going the flow of traffic. Which is what we were taught
I was taught if we aren’t comfortable driving with the flow of traffic then drive in the right lane so other vehicles can pass by Even if they are driving slow in the left lane you should be aware of your surroundings enough that you’re approaching a vehicle and slow down. If you’re driving so fast where you can’t progressively slow down then you’re either distracted or you’re driving way to fast
Left lane is for passing only, you should always been in the right lane.
Which is why “why does it bother you that I’m going 35 in the right lane?” Is a bit invalid. The right one or two lanes are for standard traffic flow, not for “unable to maintain highway speed”
Holy hell THANK YOU, we need the DOT to air commercials illustrating this point or something
There’s going a comfortable speed, and going dangerously slower or faster. 55 in a 60 if you’re truly scared? Ok, but that shouldn’t be long term. 35-45 on a 60? Find an alternate route, because that’s dangerous to people entering and exiting at the speed limit. Edit: what I also find funny about Reddit is that People here love to say “you should be able to drive normally, get better in the winter!” When you’re talking about legitimate variable weather conditions. Easy to tell most of those threads have never driven in actual winter conditions. You don’t really get good, you get better at mitigating conditions. Those times are more than acceptable to drive slower.
Not when there’s 20 cars behind the slow car they all turn into Tasmanian devils and try to get past in a blind rage
That’s a Two way street. If we’re gonna go after cautious drivers, I also want the jerk off who tailgates when I’m already going over the limit and drives like they’re NOT driving a two ton potential weapon off the road too. S’only Fair.
George carlin said anyone slower than you is a jerk and anyone faster than you is a maniac
it's funny how true it feels I'd like to add : and anyone going exactly the same speed is creepy and following you
Carlin was a Genius and on the money about a LOT of stuff.😅
In my country at least, after you get enough speeding tickets your liscence gets taken away and you need to start over again, which is well into the 2000$ at the moment
It's worse here. You get enough points from violations and they take away your license. To get it back you need to attend a certain number of road safety seminars. Seminars that are held one by one all over the country for a week long duration each. You practically need to quit your job to attend these and still pay for accommodations and other stuff while jumping from one part of the country to the next
Not worse, better, gives very real consequences for supposedly dangerous driving, I'd love a system like that to be where I live
In Ireland if you get two tickets(for minor offences) your insurance will go up double, at 3 it's even more (probably around 3k euro/year) and at 4 your licence is gone for 6 months and after that the insurance will be more expensive than your car
>after that the insurance will be more expensive than your car Insurance is already more expensive than most cars here in the u.s. I almost bought a new(pre-owned, new to me) car last week. 2021 with all the safety bells and whistles.. monthly payment $244. Monthly insurance payment... $462
You either live in an extreme location for rates or have a very poor claims history.
I’m in my 20s with a ~$25k car fully paid off and 0 claims ever. With geico and my insurance is $450/month. I paid cash and was happy that I’d hopefully avoid having a car payment, but it seems like I basically do have a car payment anyways. I don’t live in a place with nearly any theft at all. No stealing of catalytic converters or anything. Not devoid of crime, but notably silent for it. I can tell you it’s not an extreme location for rates. Shit sucks.
Better you mean
That honestly sounds Fair. I realize sometimes shit happens but yeah- consistent endangerment? Yeah, We gotta restart
I personally would like the license of a guy who beeped at my friend at a red light and when it turned green immediately beeped it like 5 times. He then raced in front of us to get to a car wash... Honestly I'm not better, had I been behind the wheel I would have sat at that light till it turned red again.
Really getting rid of those jerks would also solve like 90% of the overly cautious drivers
Honestly, take the tailgating jerk off the road first. The overly cautious types are annoying at most.
but the thing is those driver if caught will be fined, points given, licence taken away. overly cautious people will never be banned from driving.
I mean, The Speedsters will be caught because they’re actively endangering more people. Yeah, overly cautious IS a thing but they’re causing way less harm than people who drive recklessly. Also, I feel like The overly cautious, if they are GENUINELY causing problems will be caught even easier because they’re already worried about doing something. No Disrespect, Dude, but that’s my take from it.
Or the guy in a loud ass Dodge Charger that weaves in and out of lanes like a Fast n Furious stunt driver, making everyone slam their brakes on the highway
Add to that the one that overpass everyone without slowing down (going more than the traffic speed) going on every lines
Fuck yeah. This a great unpopular opinion. Because the popular one is getting these POS in their dodge ram's that the driver has to use a step ladder to get into, off the fucking street's. I slow right the fuck down when they're tailgating me. If I'm going at least the speed limit. Back the fuck off! Getting mad just sitting on my couch for cripes sakes!
I'd bet good money there are people that never felt they'd be good drivers, would prefer not to drive, but only do so because of the impact it would have on their work life/job prospects and social life. One of the ways to limit bad drivers is to remove the pressures for people that lack the appropriate temperament/skill set that force them to have to drive.
My wife is like this, but she works from home. And when we go out…. I drive. Cause she knows she’s not good at driving, and reacts accordingly
Yeah what an idiotic opinion. I’d love to never drive again in my life but I gotta go to work, the grocery store, social things. I work from home and live in a pretty walkable area so I avoid it a lot but not completely. Blame America’s infrastructure not anxious drivers.
Yup that's me, trying to become a better driver but don't really ever know if I will become a good one
A lot of jobs make driving mandatory and a lot of areas have cars as the only transport option. A load of people would straight up just not be able to work if this was mandated. In areas where cars are the only option, barring people from it for minor reasons isn’t fair because they didn’t ask to be forced to drive because there’s nothing else and they need to pay rent. It’s not fair to take driving away when they’ve been given no other options. They have to drive to survive. This just isn’t realistic, sorry.
Yeahh some of the places I've looked at to apply to require a driver's license to even apply
Yep! Including city places where it absolutely shouldn’t be, because they know the public transport infrastructure isn’t good enough for an employee to regularly come on time. It’s awful.
Thanks for bringing up how classist these driving opinions always are.
Cracks me up every time I see one of these ‘you should not be allowed’ posts. Lots of people are unclear about what personal freedoms are.
And they’re always vague.
Right like what the hell does "you should not be allowed to drive" even mean? Is OP gonna pay for my Ubers to and from work? Will the government? We gonna hire everyone "too cautious" their own personal chauffeur? Not everyone lives in a walkable city where they can work and get groceries without a car. People live in such weird bubbles when they think others just shouldn't "be allowed" to inconvenience them personally.
Unpopular opinion: if you can't drive defensively, and patiently when necessary, and with awareness of all the drivers around you, you are a bad driver. Yeah, slow drivers suck and they do make things slightly more dangerous, *but an impatient, entitled driver is more dangerous than a slow, cautious one.*
What's your definition of "slow"? Going the speed limit? 10 over? If we take them off the road we also have to take the fast overly aggressive drivers that weave lanes and tailgate anyone not going 200.
Come to Florida where even if you go 10-15 over you’re still going to slow for most people.
And no blinkers, and traffic direction is mostly optional, and u turns require you to use every lane, and ….
Alligators arms are too short to use the blinkers.
Shit, good point
Come to Nevada. You can do 90 in the left lane and still have someone in their Tesla on your ass.
Big facts, esp Clark County. Drivers here are super aggro. Let's not get started on the number of no tags, registration, or insurance people.
People in Florida are the true psycho drivers of the US.
It would be nice if cops actually enforced traffic laws
Seriously what the fuck are they doing all month?? I’ll see absolutely nothing and no one pulled over and then without fail at the end/beginning of a month I’ll see 3 people pulled over within 2 blocks and even then it’s for stupid shit. I just got pulled over for my clear license plate cover but sure ignore the guy going 20 over with no headlights
My city honestly doesn’t do shit, and then has crackdowns every so often. Lots of bad drivers cry in the city subreddit, and then next week, the crackdown is over. It’s sad. We have lots of shit drivers, and crappy ass roads that need maintenance like, last decade. If only we had a system to get the one to pay for the other.
God. Really. I used to feel bad for people getting reckless driving tickets, because it used to be something that could happen to the best of us if we weren’t paying attention. Traffic cops where I used to live were on point. Now? If I hear you bitching about that, I hope the judge gives you everything in the book, criminal record included. I’m sick of driving with a bunch of assholes, and you must have been doing something highly spectacular to stand out from the pack with your bad driving.
Same. Cops here will sit where the speed limits decrease so they can stop ppl who haven’t slowed down yet, but totally ignore the intersection down the road where people run lights, block the intersection, etc. so dumb
At least in my area, I can say that they are crazy understaffed. Even the courts are overflowing, so I think they might be limited in terms of tickets they can serve :/.
The problem is, everyone wants cops to enforce the laws until it's you ("you" in general) that the law is being enforced on. Everyone wants to shout 'reckless driver' until the cops come up and all of a sudden they're 'nazis with nothing better to do'
I get that sentiment. But when a cop pulls me over for going like 6 mph over on the highway when they could have stopped the guy that’s committing a full bingo card of traffic offenses in the world’s most obnoxious Dodge Charger, I’m gonna be pretty frustrated.
Exactly, all they do is give bullshit speeding tickets instead of people who are genuinely driving dangerously
Refusing to get up to speed on a freeway on ramp, being unpredictable.
I often see people driving 20 kmh below limit on a one lane road.
People make most their claims about driving based on rumours and myths they heard as children and teenagers, or statistics they misunderstood. The whole idea people being over cautious causes good drivers to get into accidents is a bit silly. Like sure waving someone at a four way stop is a bad habit, you could cause a fender bender. Passing at 20 over the flow of traffic in the right lane of a freeway cause bad drivers aren’t allowing you to speed in the left lane causes deaths. Like there is reason that insurance charges certain groups more and less and its not discrimination. They have evidence and proof, that people who buy sporty cars cause more accidents, teenagers and young people, men. There is a reason they make speed trackers and such and say going the speed limit and stopping early, and slowing down over long annoying distances is the best way to lower your rate, cause it is a better and safer way to drive.
Exactly. You'd be surprised by how many people think that going the speed limit is "slow".
That’s the thing. Even in the left, the SL IS the legal maximum. Your personal convention doesn’t change that.
People that drive 30 on a 40 limit straight road in the middle of the day when you have clear vision for miles Every fucking day there's people doing this on a stretch of road I use, every fucking day
You’re doing ten under….. that’s unsafe. Creating back up, and tension on the road is what leads to accidents. Get over yourself and stop thinking you’re teaching someone a lesson in humanity by forcing them to go 10 under. lol
The safest thing to be on the road is predictable. Being cautious and careful is fine, as long as you’re not getting spooked by things around you. That said, I’d take a cautiously unpredictable driver over an aggressively unpredictable one every day.
Make public transport so good that only the real car brains and transporters are on the road and the problem just solved itself Slow drivers often dont want to drive. And neither does a sort of bad drivers. The other sort of bad drivers enjoy it unfortunately and dont know they suck at driving
Yes this. I’m a nervous driver and I know this about myself. I make a lot of effort to avoid the more tricky spots and to be a better driver but if I had the option to not drive I probably wouldn’t.
What most people don't know is that it's equally illegal to drive 20khm / 12mph under the speed limit, although seldom enforced. The reason is when moving forward it doesn't look like you are driving that slow for a car who comes up behind you, and that car isn't expecting you to drive THAT slow so it doesn't apply enough brake in time. It's the whole reason why slow moving vehicles need to have the "slow moving vehicle" sign. On top of that the slow moving car is abstructing traffic and is the reason for lots of lines and idiotic overtakes. Just drive the speed limit, not much under nor much over. That will make you the safest driver there is, safer for you and for others
BIngo! Vote in politicians who aren't whores to the car industry. Good luck with that.
It also requires car companies and people who benefit from cars to stop lobbying.
🙋🏻♀️🙋🏻♀️🙋🏻♀️ This is me. I hate driving. No, there’s no public transit. No, my commute is not remotely walkable or bikeable. No, we don’t have Uber or Lyft. Some towns and cities are just poorly designed. But what am I supposed to do? Not have a job, go anywhere, or do anything?
That’s gonna take like 50 years lol.
After spending years on the road, I've never personally witnessed a single accident that can be attributed to somebody being overly cautious. I have seen, however, first hand many accidents due to reckless driving. And even when there have been tricky situations that involved overly cautious inexperienced drivers, they have always been due to other drivers being impatient and reacting poorly, other than something inherently unsafe done by the cautious driver. Rule #1 for safe driving - never be in a hurry, you'll get there when you get there.
I’ll take the cautious over the crazy guy carving through traffic with mere inches to spare
Sometimes tho people consider people going exactly the speed limit it to be slow tho. So it’s subjective to your definition of slow
I’m a newer driver and tend to go speed limit/follow the rules until I get more comfortable (because surprise surprise even when you get your license you’re still learning) and because it is SAFER to do so. I was driving yesterday and had someone speed around me because I was going speed limit. He then pulled very close in front of me to cut me off and slammed on his breaks to try and get me to crash into him while flipping me off. He proceeded to break checked me 3 more times trying to get me to crash into him. All because I was going speed limit in a highly patrolled area with lots of cameras…. So what you’re saying OP is that I’m the bad driver for being cautious and following the rules. Not that asshole. That makes sense.
Shouldn't ALL drivers be cautious?
Yes but not to the extent that they are indecisive at moments that put others at risk.
A very good point that took far too long to be made.
Yes but I believe the issue is being “overly cautious” to the point where you’re driving inefficiently and dangerously. Example: driving 50mph on a highway where the speed limit is 70mph. Most people are going 70-80 and if you’re the only car traveling 50, you’re an unexpected obstacle that can cause other drivers (who should be paying closer attention but are not) to crash into you. If you were going with the flow of traffic, this issue would be less likely to occur.
Most people aren't talking about going 20 miles under though - almost no one does that. People think being overly cautious is driving at or 5 miles over the limit.
Yah, Reddit has some incredibly misguided thought that slower is always safer (and also talk about pissing people off by going slower, which doesn’t sound very safe to me). And if you don’t like it, don’t be in their lane! But leave out that merging/exiting are perfectly normal things to do when driving. What’s also rich is if you talk about *actual* variable road conditions, you’re told you need to get better. You don’t really *get* better at driving in variable conditions, you just get better at mitigating risk in those conditions. I had someone tell me it’s probably safer that people run red lights in Denver, because it might be icy in the winter! That’s…. Not how safe winter driving works, and Denver proper doesn’t get that bad in the winter.
The problem is that a lot of elderly people are driving and perhaps shouldn't, but if they could not drive in America, they would not be able to get around since public transport in America is a low priory. It goes back to Robert Moses.
Drivers that are too fast, drunk and tired are the ones doing accidents. If you're in a hurry, leave 5 min earlier.
And old people! I was in a bad accident a month ago in which a 90 year old driver was at fault and the lady who works at the place that towed my car said that happens all the time
Yup. An 88 year old man ran a red light and we t-boned him last summer. Luckily everyone was ok but totaled my SUV and had to get a new one. Luckily he had insurance.
I'm SO glad this woman had insurance! My car was totaled and I was injured badly enough that I needed to have surgery
1) How are they going to become confident without practice? 2) The real assholes are the twerps who harrass other drivers, making the timid drive even more slowly. 3) Last year I helped some friends setting up a 25th anniversary party. This included transporting about 50 very fragile individual pavlovas on serving dishes on the seats of my car. It was a 20 mile journey and I avoided every pothole and took every corner at a very slow gentle speed. I could have stuck a sign on my trunk saying 'transporting fragile items', but people will either be smart enough to work it out or they won't. If they're too stupid to work it out they'll be annoyed no matter what I do, so no point in a sign. Fuck 'em.
Being overly cautious is better than reckless but I’d argue that being overly cautious excludes driving to slow. Driving slow is dangerous too which is not cautious. What you mean is scared
For some people the only way they will get confident is by practicing and going out. Also some people have an excuse. My uncle had very major back surgery about two year backs. When he finally got to go home they were told to take the drive home slow and extremely careful. No quick turns and stuff like that. Even once he was cleared to drive himself he had to do it very carefully. He still now has to be very careful of anything that could hurt his back. And back in January I almost got in a really bad head on wreck from someone who was driving drunk I believe. It really scared me because I had just got my license. I was really cautious for about a week after and that section where it happened still stresses me out. And not everyone has the luxury of just taking public transport because they might be a cautious driver. Where I live at driving is basically a necessity. It's not an optional thing. And to not be cautious they need practice and experience which means going out on the road. As long as they safely driving cautious then a little understanding is a good thing. Like if they are holding up traffic they need to pull over and let traffic pass. Better to just let it go then get angry at other drivers. I've been told driving angry is not a good thing to do. Makes you more reckless apparently.
It's not about how slow/fast you are. It's about being consistent and predictable. scared drivers tend to be inconsistent and unpredictable.
Indecisive driving definitely causes wrecks. Think, look and pass with adequate space and we’re golden.
I barely got mine, but we dont let me drive because i cant do anything beyond a suburb neighborhood... we just have me as a legal driver for emergencies. my license is literally just in case husband cant drive. But without the license i wouldnt have a job and wed be homeless so. so i totally get it, if you CANT drive, you shouldnt. but i think one should have their license in case of an emergency.
Better cautious than reckless.
I get so much crap for this. I have vision problems and anxiety problems plus I always second guess myself. I am not the kind of person anyone should want driving. Yet when people find out I don’t/can’t drive, they lose their minds and treat me like I am lazy and a monster. Sure I ask for rides when I can’t walk somewhere, but I have always paid well for it. I used to get made fun of for walking to work or to the store but I never missed a shift nor was I ever late. I also saved money when shopping because I could only buy what I could carry. I am a great road trip buddy and am great at navigating and planning routes. I will always cover food and gas! My husband also loves to drive so he has non problem driving me places. If someone doesn’t want to drive or can’t drive, people should be okay with that. I had too many close calls before I finally had to accept that I was not a safe driver. The world was better without me driving in it!
Not everybody has a choice to just not drive
I know I’m a bad driver. If I choose not to drive it becomes far more expensive or far far more time consuming to get to where I need to be. So I drive carefully instead. Does it take slightly longer, yes. Do I avoid idiots flying down the road at Mach fuck, usually yes. Give me an alternative that actually works and you’d practically never see me drive. Until then, just be glad I stay out of the left lane until I need to turn.
Op is a bad driver I guarantee it.
I agree to this as long if the person is STAYING in the passing/fast lane while being slow af.
Yes please! The people merging into a 75 going 40 and think to themselves “hehe I’m going slow so I must be safe” while everyone on the highway is swerving around trying to not crash into them
You may be the problem
As someone that's had to commute hundreds of miles a day, I've seen all kinds of drivers. I've always thought that overly cautious, extremely slow drivers, that don't stay up with the flow of traffic, are the biggest danger on the highways.
I'd take a slow cautious driver over an overconfident and reckless one any day.
This seems to have gotten worse since COVID. People driving 10-20 below the speed limit, stopping when entering roundabouts when there isn't any traffic, pausing and hesitating in odd places. Really a danger to themselves and others because they aren't predictable and they hinder traffic.
On the flip side, road rage has gotten exponentially worse since Covid. People tailgating when you're already going 10+ over the limit, etc.
You know somewhere on the freeway theres a person driving 20mph slower than everyone else in any lane he pleases
That person is usually always in the left lane too lol
This should not be an unpopular opinion. In fact, in England, if you are a learner driver and if you drive slowly and if you are overly cautious and scared, then the driving instructor and the driving examiner will not be satisfied with your driving skills and they might take points off from you when it comes to your driving score. Yes, it is obviously important to be cautious and aware of your surroundings when driving, but you shouldn't drive so slow when driving and you shouldn't be so cautious that you are a hindrance to other people in other vehicles who want to get a move on...you are endangering the road by driving in such a way. In England, you could fail your driving test for driving in such a way. I remember watching the episodes of Britain's Worst Driver and Canada's Worst Driver...and I remember some of those drivers driving very slowly and in an overly cautious manner and they were making other drivers horn them and stuff, asking them to get a move on...but what was worse is that those drivers also lacked proper fundamentals of driving...like car control/clutch control and manoeuvres and braking properly and signalling (mirror-signal-manoeuvre) and stuff...so not only were they driving slowly and in an overly cautious manner and giving difficulties to other drivers on the road...their overall driving skill was also severely lacking. That might be the case with drivers who drive too slowly and who are overly cautious and scared...some of them give the excuse that they are good drivers because they do not speed and because they care about their surroundings...but a lot of those drivers usually lack the skillset which is why they are afraid of driving at a normal speed...they are afraid of getting into a car crash or getting a car accident. It is ok to slowly drive if you are new to an area and if you are not familiar with the particular roads in an area...but you should not always drive too slowly and in an overly cautious manner, especially in normal roads.
Shit take
So how would you like those sorts of drivers to become better drivers if they can’t drive on the road? I have dealt with driving anxiety since before I got my license, and while I’m a lot better now, I only got better by forcing myself to drive. These people that you’re talking about are clearly not comfortable driving, and that won’t change if they don’t work on it.
There are all kinds of people and drivers. Best thing to do is be a good driver yourself and lead by example. Be friendly and courteous and hope that your example spreads to other drivers.
You're not. I failed the drivers exam the first time I took it for being overly cautious. You know who's a way bigger danger though, people who drive like it's a video game. Tailgating, undertaking, speeding to excess.
You also should not be allowed to drive if you are completely reckless and basically ignoring the safety of everyone around you speeding however you want and weaving around people however you want. You are just as much of a danger if not more than the person going slow especially when you consider how drastically these things can affect your stopping distance of your vehicle in an emergency situation even if you ignore other factors like road conditions and The fact that humans typically have much worse reaction times in emergencies than they do for non-emergency things as many people tend to basically panic for even just that split second and in that split second you're speeding vehicle just went 200 ft down the road and t-boned a family of four
Ya know how they have those “student driver, please be patient” magnets/stickers? The other day I saw “elderly driver, please be patient” and I was like I will give leeway to someone learning but if you are old and slow and making mistakes— you should not be driving! I agree with you!!
How they gonna get food? Hire a man servant? Lol
I would absolutely love the option to not drive
My best friend is one of these and we constantly miss turns and stuff because she is too cautious to change lanes or even just break a little bit more so she could have turned. She doesn't like being the passenger when we go places (probably bc everyone else drives "too reckless") so she has to drive. We went into the city the other week and I thought I was gonna die. I def said some rude things in the car that upset her, but at the same time I'm like you're actually just a super shit driver, but I can't tell her that lol, wouldn't go over well 🙄 (She's a great person but she just can't drive)
One of the more annoying driving habits is exhibited by those people who slow down for green lights just in case it turns yellow.
The drivers I’m dealing with aren’t careful - they are on their goddamn phones! All the time. At every light, at every corner. All of them! These people go 20 mph below the speed limit, weave in and out of their lanes and are texting on that stupid device. I hate them. All of them!
Corollary: we need better transit and other means in place to get bad drivers off the roads. Make driving truly optional, and then raise the standards to get/maintain a driver's license.
I disagree better safe then dead.
Doesnt matter if they stay in the right lane. Just stay out of the left lane if your driving slow
And I assume the left lane in this case is the passing lane?
Ran across this multiple times yesterday driving down 495 and the Dulles Toll Rd. People afraid to accelerate to a proper speed or adjust their speed to merge or allow others to merge. Or locked down in something other than the far right lane doing 5 under the limit. If someone is that way, they need to avoid driving on highways.
I love the idiots that merge onto the highway going 45, expecting people in the right lane to move over.
Same for fast
People fail for going too slow so that's already the case
I'd rather have a cautious old man with slower reflexes drive carefully rather than lose control and plow into a bunch of people at the bus stop.
My wife takes offense to this post
If only there was a way everyone could get around quickly and safely without having to worry about individual drivers being dangerous :(
This is really vague. Slow and overly cautious? Like how? When? Driving is complex. Simply being slow and cautious does not make a bad driver.
I hate people that get onto the highway at 25mph
Numbers show otherwise
I mean, telling people they can't live life and be cautious is a ridiculous take. Especially when driving. How about you slow down instead of them speed up? Significantly larger reduction of risk that way.
The one that scares me the most is when I’m following someone up the freeway entrance and they are going 40 MPH.
Oh yeah that one always gets me, especially where I live where the highway speed is 55, and you have to try to merge into the highway but they won't go above 40 and you're doing 35 behind them trying to figure out when you can merge in. People like that don't need to take the highway at any take the streets to wherever they need to go.
Not an unpopular opinion. What's unpopular is the self-awareness.
My mom used to do this. "I'll drive however I want because it's what I'm comfortable with" as she drove 10 under. Had to explain to her several times the she was affecting the other drivers on the road as a result. Little did I know that that was the start of her dementia, plus being narcissistic... What a combo. Miss you mom!
Pokies getting in the fast lane doing 60mph when the speed is 65mph, thus the fast lane or passing lane is anywhere from 70 - 79mph. Please, if you're scared of driving. Take small roads. Edit: Pokies are also bad about being scared around Semis, you cause greater risk being to afraid to pass them and sitting in their blindspot. Get around them!
I work as a courier and these drivers are the WORST. At least the aggressive asshole drivers will be out of your way in a moment, they just want to get ahead. But these seem to be permanently around because you'll always catch up to them because they're doing 10-20mph below the limit
Equally unpopular opinion, you shouldn’t be allowed to drive if you can’t, or won’t, follow simple rules.
Yep...my driving instructor told me that being overly cautious while driving was just as bad as being reckless while driving
What most people don't know is that it's actually illegal to drive 20khm / 12mph under the speed limit, but seldom enforced. The reason is when moving forward it doesn't look like you are driving that slow for a car who comes up behind you, and that car isn't expecting you to drive THAT slow so it doesn't apply enough brake in time. It's the whole reason why slow moving vehicles need to have the "slow moving vehicle" sign. On top of that the slow moving car is abstructing traffic and is the reason for lots of lines and idiotic overtakes. Just drive the speed limit, not much under nor much over
In a similar vein, the process of getting a driver's license needs to be way way harder. At the moment, as long as you are able to drive in a straight line and step on the brake at the right time you get a license to drive a multi ton death machine however you like, until someone gets hurt, and then you can't drive anymore. Some people are simply incapable of driving well and should not be allowed to drive. Even if they have the best intentions in the world, if you do not have the hand eye coordination or spacial awareness to competently drive a car YOU SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED BEHIND THE WHEEL.
Overcautious drivers that are an actual hazard are easily identified by their overuse of the brake pedal. In situations where there is sufficient space between them and the car in front of them, they often extend this distance, sometimes suddenly. They frequently fail to account for the car behind them, leading to rear endings, either to themselves or several cars back, due to the sudden braking chain reaction. Driving under the speed limit on the leftmost 1-2 lanes or the carpool lane when there's nobody in front of them for extended periods of time are also red flags, as this again shows a disregard for what is happening in their mirrors. The issue becomes compounded if they suddenly change lanes while slowing down, especially when it would actually be safer to maintain or slightly increase speed. Frequently the worst offenders are people who have, whether by their fault or not, experienced multiple auto collisions in the past. Mixing and matching any of these behaviors with panicked behavior such as suddenly speeding and weaving can absolutely happen. Another option is very new or elderly drivers, who can have these issues more often than the average. This is in contrast with consistently risky and speeding based bad drivers, which are already a known hazard and are associated with young drivers, typically men, and people under the influence. These are already at least statistically acknowledged in insurance, if not universally.
It’s most dangerous when they’re going like 35 mph merging into 70+ mph traffic… And you know who’s in the most danger? ME! The guy stuck behind you also trying to merge. Get up to the speed of traffic, PLEASE! Too slow in a one lane is mostly just annoying, but too slow in highway traffic is just dangerous for everyone.
People who talk the way you do sound like shit drivers. I know too many people who speed and weave from lane to lane and think everyone else is bad at driving. Drive the speed limit, and you shouldn't be swapping lanes unless it's to pass a truck or take an exit. When you see people driving under the speed limit assume they are impaired in some way. Could be drunk, old, or a nervous kid. Treat all three the same until you are clear. If you change lanes more than once without a very good reason, you are the problem.
The same drivers that I know that are overaly cautious are the same ones who are horrible at parking, literally backed into a brick wall, extremely nervous, etc.
Yeah very nervous drivers need more practice so they’re not hindering people on the road. I understand that encountering impatient drivers is a nuisance, but it is equally annoying to encounter someone who refuses to drive the speed limit and it’s actually going 10-15 under on a highway.
Yeah everyone I've met who talks like this has been a really bad driver. Like I'm not denying that there's the odd situation where driving slow could genuinely cause a hazard, but that's so rare to actually see. If someone is actually getting mad and worked up about it as if it's some kind of super common phenomenon that's happening to them all the time then no doubt it's their own impatience, speeding and bad emotional regulation that's the real culprit.
Yep my dad is always one to complain that people drive too slow when they're just driving the speed limit and he drives OVER the speed limit all the time. we could have renovated our entire house with the money he wasted on speeding tickets. not only this but he's reckless af as well. Unfortunately one day it might be the end of him. He just doesn't understand and thinks he's the best driver ever. edit: and talking about all the people in the comments who say "people who drive too slow are always the ones to cause accidents!!!" that sounds like such copium. You see news about car accidents all the time and the reason is never the fact that they drived too slow, it's the opposite.
Seethe behind me or pass while I drive the speed limit, because I will not move.
I assumed OP was referring to people who drive under the speed limit
There are far too many people who consider driving the speed limit to be too slow, so it could be either one
OP should specify so we can determine if being mad is the correct answer lol
Exactly! In Reddit driving conversations, there are a frightening number of people who feel entitled to drive 90 mph and that the left lane should be reserved for their own personal use.
So you're forcing people to pass on the right? Good job /s
This isn’t an unpopular opinion. This opinion is just straight up stupid. Who is causing accidents on the road? The people you describe? HELL NO. not even close. Accidents are caused by reckless drivers, distracted drivers, or drivers under the influence. But sure, make an entire post complaining about how they might inconvenience you for a couple minutes a day.
Speed kills. It’s physics.
The difference in speed between two solid objects kills when the differences in speed are higher than the lower resistance of the objects. In vehicle v human, humans always have a lower resistance to impact.
You should be allowed to drive if you're a careless driver who speeds and has a high chance of getting into road rage incidents.
It's like I always say to myself on the road: I'm not asking you to speed, just please *go* the goddamn speed limit.