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.

 

[sm1ke]

Here's a good one: Don't be "nice", be predictable! I've seen a few dashcam clips of people on the highway with the right of way, slowing down to a near stop to let a car at a yield sign merge in. The intention is good, execution is dangerous. They would be better off moving one lane over if clear, or just continuing at speed.

 

[sm1ke]

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.

My wife is bad for this. She'll hop out of the car and pull her phone out as soon as the door closes, checking for messages or group chat notifications, completely distracted as we walk through the parking lot. It's so important to maintain situational awareness in a parking lot because you have to stay vigilant for other threats in addition to not getting run over.

 

[SparkYellow]

A few times a week I would be in slow moving traffic on 237W when the army of Amazon vans join in from the McCarthy station. It reminds me of some war scenes in LOTR. I always make room for them.

 

[Lazy2.5]

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.

It is annoying indeed, but we can't control them.

In such a situation, we can only control how we adapt to the road conditions.