Your Best Defensive Driving Tips?

[AL Cx5]

X2 all the above!

Down here a middle finger means let's stop and fight. I gave a guy the finger many years ago. He tried to run me off the road, tail end him. I stopped, he ran to my car, I took off, he caught up with me. He finally cooled down and sped off. He didn't know the guy in the big truck following me was my friend. He was about 68, and all muscle...

That incident cooled my middle finger!

When someone cuts me off, flies by speeding and so forth, I say to myself, I've done that too. Say to myself, not my circus, not my monkey and smile!

Being transparent, with the T2 ECU tune from DRTuned, this CX5 is like a racehorse, ready to leap. It takes considerable constraint NOT to let her FLY!

 

[BoomerZoomr]

Everyone driving slower than you is an idiot, and everyone driving faster than you is a maniac!
- George Carlin

 

[morgantruce]

Everyone driving slower than you is an idiot, and everyone driving faster than you is a maniac!
- George Carlin

I'd like to watch a video tape of every encounter between George Carlin and a toll-taker.

Gen Z: What's a toll-taker?

 

[Lazy2.5]

I didn't realize that this thread is now active again, nearly a year later!

1. Following distance. More than you think. Aim for at least 6 car lengths at higher speeds. It shouldn't matter if the car in front is going too slow, try your best to maintain it. This is the essence of "adaptability" to road and traffic conditions
2. Be patient. It's much more rewarding to exploit an opening and pass when you've been patient and it's actually safe to do so.
3. Be smooth, predictable and gradual with all of your inputs.
4. Brake early and linearly. Downshift and use engine braking. Try to pay attention to what the cars up ahead are doing, not the one immediately in front of you.

Since we are on the topic of road rage, ignore, avoid, de-escalate, be calm.

 

[SparkYellow]

I have a hard time ignoring left lane cruisers. On my weekend drive via I-5, commercial vehicles take up a good portion of the right lane, so most of us use the left lane to pass. If the driver behind me appears eager, I move back into the right lane as soon as it is safe, even between two semis. Some drivers though, keep a steady speed in the left lane without considering the vehicles around them. Folks who get stuck behind would go crazy when an opening becomes available on the right. Many times I have to make room for them to get out. I believe that drivers who are oblivious to their surroundings should stay in the slow lane.

 

[BoomerZoomr]

Situational awareness is in short supply these days.
People driving while using their phones are doing good to look out the front windshield periodically.
It’s common to have someone walk in front of my moving vehicle in a parking lot, and they’re completely oblivious while glued to their phone.
My policy is… I basically don’t use my phone while driving. I will take a phone call, but no texting.