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ed11563


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superhighways are pretty much free-for-alls
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Sad to say, superhighways are pretty much free-for-alls

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Dear Car Talk

Jul 12, 2016 (Archives)

6 Comments

safety, safety features
Dear Car Talk:

I recently took a cross-country trip, and drove on many different types of roads, from switchbacks in national parks to five- and six-lane highways. Those multilane highways were the scariest. Are there any guidelines out there for how to drive safely on these monsters? Is the topic covered in the newer drivers' manuals, or is it just the free-for-all it appears to be?

-- Virginia

It's pretty much a free-for-all, Virginia.

There are rules, but not everyone pays attention to them. You've got weavers, and pass-on-the-righters, and "Oh, #$8@, that's my exit"-ers. What makes these roads most difficult is when you drive in areas of dense population, where there are multilane feeders coming onto the highways, and multilane exits leaving the highway on all sides. You can be in one of the right lanes, minding your own business, and suddenly you're in an exit-only lane heading east to Sheboygan, Wisconsin.

So our best advice is to pick one of the lanes in the middle, move along with the speed of traffic, and try to anticipate your exit early enough to get over to the right safely. Using Google Maps or a built-in GPS can help you anticipate merges and exits. Or it can direct you to non-freeway routes if you're really uncomfortable on them and don't feel safe. But there's nothing we can do to stop people from sliding in and out of your lane on a highway as they look to get home 0.4 minutes earlier.

Looking to the future -- and even the present -- self-driving technologies probably are the ultimate answer. Even now, you can get things like adaptive cruise control, which will speed up and slow down your car to maintain a set distance from the car in front of you. You also can get lane-departure warning, to let you know when you're drifting out of your lane, and blind-spot monitoring, to help you change lanes more safely. And that trend will continue, until you'll be able to get on the highway, set the car on "drive me," and watch "The Fast and the Furious 8" on the screen that drops down from your visor.

Until then, find a spot in a middle lane, move at the speed of traffic and remember to breathe, Virginia.


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    • Roger Maris • 4 days ago

      You hit the nail on the head when you said "MOVE AT THE SPEED OF TRAFFIC". I've been commuting 30k+ miles per year for over 20 years now and I've learned that the worst and most dangerous drivers on the road are SCARED drivers. I can usually predict the actions of speeders and fast lane changers but the white-knuckled scared to death drivers going 20mph below the flow of traffic are the absolute worst and most unpredictable. These drivers often use the claim to fame that they've never been in an accident or "it's been 50 years since I had an accident". Although they haven't been involved directly in one that doesn't account for the massive pile-ups they've caused in their rear view mirror due to other drivers being forced to slam on brakes because of them. If people are too scared to continue with the speed of traffic, no matter that speed may be, perhaps they should hang up the driving gloves and call Uber.

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    Knewt • 3 days ago

    20 miles slower than the other drivers? What would that be? The speed limit? Too much trouble to obey the law? It's the jerky turkeys going 20 miles over the limit that are the real hazards to the rest of us. Or are they the perfect drivers who know what's best.
    If the limit was 100 mph they would be doing 120 mph. There is no satisfying the perfect driver.

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      Yath Knewt • 2 days ago

      While your risk of injury in a collision goes up as speed increases, dangerous interactions between vehicles occur more frequently when there is a difference in travel speed. If the mean traffic speed is 70, and you are going 55, you are putting yourself and others around you at risk. It would be nice if everyone followed the posted speed limit, but on roads where they don't, you are creating a hazardous situation - not the other drivers.

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    Lee_T Knewt • 2 days ago

    20 miles over the limit is a hazard? You've never been to Germany. The law says Slower Traffic Keep Right. The reason is, everything's relative. If slower traffic obeys the law and stays right, it doesn't matter how fast drivers in the left lane go. Case in point, in Germany it's not uncommon for drivers in the left lane to go faster than 120 mph, and everything works out fine.

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    George_San_Jose • 3 days ago

    Excellent advice about staying in a center lane for safest driving. Drivers trying to be extra cautious sometimes will drive in the right most lane on multi-lane freeways, thinking that is the slow lane, so it must be safe. But the right most lane is the one with traffic entering and exiting at every intersection, so is actually one of the most collision-prone lanes to drive. The center lanes are for thru traffic and tend to hold to a constant speed, with less weaving in and out. And if a traffic jam develops up ahead, a center lane driver can either go right or left around it. Likewise, keeping on the chosen route is easier from the center lane when a freeway split occurs, as a center lane driver can easily choose either the left or right route from that position.

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      Lee_T George_San_Jose • 2 days ago

      What you say seems logical but in fact there's a real problem with your approach. If every driver on a 3-lane (in one direction) highway stayed out of the right lane because it's more of a risk, which it is, then that 3-lane highway would in fact be utilizing only 2 lanes which would increase congestion by 1/3. It takes concentration to work with merging traffic and there are many poor drivers who don't know who has the right of way, but it can be done and done safely.



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lilyofcourse


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This is kind of what I was talking about on the road rage thread.

There is a difference between road rage and offensive driving.

Road rage is anger and instant venting, causing more of a problem than helping.

Offensive driving is being completely aware of, or as aware as possible, of what is going on around you. Being ready to react properly and quickly, keeping your car under control, getting out of the way, keeping up with traffic, getting where you are going.



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Charley Harper
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It's called defensive driving. Offensive driving is, well, offensive.

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lilyofcourse


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No.

Defensive is reacting.

Offensive is acting first.



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Charley Harper
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The names of all of those classes must be wrong and you must be right. Sigh. I give up.



-- Edited by Mellow Momma on Saturday 16th of July 2016 02:55:17 PM

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So there's that.



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lilyofcourse


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Ok. Well.

THE POINT was, don't be an A hole. Drive like you mean it.

Get out of the way, don't be all over the road.

Drive like you mean it.

You get hung up on terminology all you want.

Just get the H-E-DOUBLE HOCKEY STICKS out of the way.

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Charley Harper
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And that.

Like I said. It's called defensive driving.

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lilyofcourse


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Ok. You want a gold star or something?



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ed11563


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Road Rage includes things like

*deliberately bumping another car

*cutting off other cars

*changing lanes when there's a car next to you

*stopping in front of another car, then getting out with a baseball bat (or a gun)



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lilyofcourse wrote:

Ok. You want a gold star or something?

 Kind of thought maybe you would say "oh I was wrong" but I guess that's not in your wheelhouse. It's ok. Just shows your character. 



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Gold Stars for Everyone !



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lilyofcourse


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Mellow Momma wrote:
lilyofcourse wrote:

Ok. You want a gold star or something?

 Kind of thought maybe you would say "oh I was wrong" but I guess that's not in your wheelhouse. It's ok. Just shows your character. 

 My character? 

I don give a wet willie about what you think about my character.

 



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Mellow Momma wrote:
lilyofcourse wrote:

Ok. You want a gold star or something?

 Kind of thought maybe you would say "oh I was wrong" but I guess that's not in your wheelhouse. It's ok. Just shows your character. 

 I want to live in a lighthouse!

flan



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ed11563


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Parts of this conversation remind me of road rage ...

or is it Internet Rage?

I don't think insulting each other is helpful at all !

 



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ed11563


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When the weightlifter in the Corvette

boxed in the little guy in the Altima

a few years ago in Long Beach ,

got out of his Corvette and

was screaming threats

and banging on the front of the Altima

and the driver of the Altima drove over the bully ...

THAT was Road Rage.



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The Principle of Least Interest: He who cares least about a relationship, controls it.

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lilyofcourse


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Most road rage is caused by idiots not driving like they know what they are doing.

Slow poke driving, not getting out of the way, taking their turns in a timely manner, sitting after lights turn green, riding their breaks.



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A flock of flirting flamingos is pure, passionate, pink pandemonium-a frenetic flamingle-mangle-a discordant discotheque of delirious dancing, flamboyant feathers, and flamingo lingo.

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lilyofcourse wrote:
Mellow Momma wrote:
lilyofcourse wrote:

Ok. You want a gold star or something?

 Kind of thought maybe you would say "oh I was wrong" but I guess that's not in your wheelhouse. It's ok. Just shows your character. 

 My character? 

I don give a wet willie about what you think about my character.

 

 It's clear you don't think much about it at all. Trust me. 



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lilyofcourse


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Mellow Momma wrote:
lilyofcourse wrote:
Mellow Momma wrote:
lilyofcourse wrote:

Ok. You want a gold star or something?

 Kind of thought maybe you would say "oh I was wrong" but I guess that's not in your wheelhouse. It's ok. Just shows your character. 

 My character? 

I don give a wet willie about what you think about my character.

 

 It's clear you don't think much about it at all. Trust me. 

 You're right. Your opinion of me means less than zero.

So you have a nice day.

 



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A flock of flirting flamingos is pure, passionate, pink pandemonium-a frenetic flamingle-mangle-a discordant discotheque of delirious dancing, flamboyant feathers, and flamingo lingo.

Charley Harper
lilyofcourse


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And you have yet to comment on the OP.

I was talking about the OP and used a wrong word.

You've made 8 posts criticizing me and a word I used.

Yet you want to attempt to throw shade on me?

Yeah.

Knock yourself out.

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lilyofcourse wrote:
Mellow Momma wrote:
lilyofcourse wrote:
Mellow Momma wrote:
lilyofcourse wrote:

Ok. You want a gold star or something?

 Kind of thought maybe you would say "oh I was wrong" but I guess that's not in your wheelhouse. It's ok. Just shows your character. 

 My character? 

I don give a wet willie about what you think about my character.

 

 It's clear you don't think much about it at all. Trust me. 

 You're right. Your opinion of me means less than zero.

So you have a nice day.

 

Mellow Momma, here is your warning.

Stop insulting Lily.

We are done with this.

Have a good evening, everyone.

Thank you. 



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