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Another thread on people not making right turns on red, along with stopping at speed bumps and a few other odds and ends got me to thinking about this. Is there such thing as being *too* cautious of a driver, or in the end, scared to the point where you shouldn't be driving?
Examples that come to mind (this is in the Northern VA area). Driving 40mph on the Beltway when there's no traffic, the speed limit is 55. Traffic around you is moving at the speed limit or 5-10 higher is the norm. Hanging out of your lane into the next one when you're driving next to a jersey wall because you either can't judge the space or are afraid of hitting it.
Slowing down to 30-35mph on I95 because you realize at the last minute you're in the wrong lane and are afraid to miss your exit. Opposite of this, slowing down to a crawl in the merge lane trying to find a space instead of getting up to highway speed to merge with traffic.
Other examples I've seen are not making a right on red when you have the room, or stopping on a turn when the turn lane continues onto the next road (An example is making the right from Minnieville Rd onto the Prince William County Parkway. The turning lane from Minnieville turns into the right lane of the Parkway - the lane doesn't end and there's no yield).
I know a woman who works in DC, but is scared senseless to drive in the city. She won't do it. If VRE isn't running (local commuter train), she doesn't go to work. She's admitted to being too scared to drive anywhere around the city.
I'm sure there are others, but this is what comes to mind after an everyday commute.
Are you making a hinder of yourself?
Is saying your "cautious" just an excuse to go slow?
Is saying your "cautious" just an excuse for indecision?
(indecision kills)
Are you making a hinder of yourself?
Is saying your "cautious" just an excuse to go slow?
Is saying your "cautious" just an excuse for indecision?
(indecision kills)
Anything but, farmer.
Read what the OP posted in a different thread, and it will give you some insight into how this person acts on the road, and what his/her attitude is like:
"My general thought is, if you're driving a car smaller than me and taking the turn slower than I would, you're causing a hazard. If I had to lay into my brakes to slow down because you're slowing down to 5mph to take a curve, you need to learn how to drive your car. Just an opinion of course, as there are certainly turns I have to slow down for. I drive an SUV, and have never squealed a tire coming around a curve too quick.
Same goes for people who stop before speedbumps. If I rear end you, I'm coming after you for stopping in a roadway. Speedbumps are to slow you down, they're not stop signs."
Anything but, farmer.
Read what the OP posted in a different thread, and it will give you some insight into how this person acts on the road, and what his/her attitude is like:
"My general thought is, if you're driving a car smaller than me and taking the turn slower than I would, you're causing a hazard. If I had to lay into my brakes to slow down because you're slowing down to 5mph to take a curve, you need to learn how to drive your car. Just an opinion of course, as there are certainly turns I have to slow down for. I drive an SUV, and have never squealed a tire coming around a curve too quick.
Same goes for people who stop before speedbumps. If I rear end you, I'm coming after you for stopping in a roadway. Speedbumps are to slow you down, they're not stop signs."
To me, it looks like the OP started this thread in an attempt at justifying his/her aggressive driving style.
Depends on what you consider aggressive. I'll drive with the flow of traffic even if it's over the limit, and it does indeed drive me nuts when people hold up traffic. If you're going to do the speed limit, that's fine, but don't go 10 under it if it's clear sailing. Traffic is bad enough around this area, one person holding up the show can affect people a mile back. If you slow down or stop on an interstate (or any other road), everyone behind is going to slow down and stop and you wind up with a nice traffic jam. I95/395 and 495 are prime examples of this (minus the construction).
FWIW - in the 13 years I've been driving, I have one speeding ticket from when I was 17. One ticket for being stopped on a shoulder with posted signs head of where I got on the road. For a $30 ticket, it wasn't worth my time to fight it. Rear ended 3 times from people not paying attention, one falling asleep at the wheel. Oh, and one motorcycle accident where I flipped over the handlebars because, wait for it, someone slowed down too fast on HOV for no reason that 3 witnesses and a state trooper could come up with. Traffic was running around 50, everyone agreed I wasn't tailgating, I wasn't charged with anything. The other driver kept on going, I haven't heard whether anyone got a plate number. Landed me in the hospital for two days and no memory of the day of the accident. So yes, I have a little bit of a reason to be annoyed with "cautious" drivers.
Actually, refusing to turn left is something that I have encountered with older drivers in my own family, and it was because in many cities, there were not/are not dedicated left turn lanes, on the East Coast. So, because the city has a grid pattern, on a two-way street, they would make three rights and then be able to drive straight across the road on which they were previously traveling, without the need to try to get across the oncoming travel lanes without benefit of a left turn signal. In areas with a grid pattern, that's an easy way around making a left turn, that is not all that uncommon. There are intersections in Manhattan, for example, where it's still very difficult to make a left turn, as there is no room for a dedicated turn lane, so it can take a few cycles of the light to do so, and you have to time it correctly, lest you get a ticket for being in the intersection when the light turned red. Thus, it can be easier to bypass that intersection, and make the right turns to get on the avenue.
I think that's a smart means of adapting to one's driving environment to be able to work around something like a left turn across oncoming traffic. Some people also don't want to change lanes to get to the left turn lane, even if it's offered, so working around that difficulty, yet still getting to places you want/need to go, is a means to cautiously apply oneself to driving. And, if it works for someone who does this, so much the better as it's within the comfort zone of the driver.
If someone has too much anxiety behind the wheel, they can become a hazard in certain situations, such as driving on DC's highways at 40mph when there is no traffic. There are workarounds whereby someone who does not want to drive on the highway can get where they need to go via secondary roads, and that's where someone who is comfortable traveling at that speed needs to be, I agree, even if they have to leave earlier to get to their destination. However, someone driving at the speed limit is not creating a hazard, regardless of the prevailing speed of the traffic, as they are within the law.
I, too, have witnessed the slow down to 30-40 in the number four lane to dart across three lanes of traffic to get to the next exit, and that does create a road hazard, though I would not ascribe that to a cautious driver. Rather, that's a reckless driver who has no consideration for anyone else on the roadway, and it should be treated as such by law enforcement. If there is no valid reason to slow from 55 or 65 (depending upon the roadway and lane as some lanes close to the city are 65), other than the selfishness of a driver who had been traveling at prevailing speed only to get over to not miss an exit at the last second, that's appalling. If you miss the exit, miss the exit, but please don't put the lives of others in jeopardy because you cannot be bothered to merge prior to the upcoming exit. Last time I checked, we had these marvelous inventions on highways and Interstates called signs, that astonshingly give advance notice of upcoming exits. Then again, any driver who would do that probably does not bother to read anything, except the latest tweets that arrived since they merged onto the highway.
__________________
All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.
~William Shakespeare (As You Like It Act II, Scene VII)
Another thread on people not making right turns on red, along with stopping at speed bumps and a few other odds and ends got me to thinking about this. Is there such thing as being *too* cautious of a driver, or in the end, scared to the point where you shouldn't be driving?
Examples that come to mind (this is in the Northern VA area). Driving 40mph on the Beltway when there's no traffic, the speed limit is 55. Traffic around you is moving at the speed limit or 5-10 higher is the norm. Hanging out of your lane into the next one when you're driving next to a jersey wall because you either can't judge the space or are afraid of hitting it.
Slowing down to 30-35mph on I95 because you realize at the last minute you're in the wrong lane and are afraid to miss your exit. Opposite of this, slowing down to a crawl in the merge lane trying to find a space instead of getting up to highway speed to merge with traffic.
Other examples I've seen are not making a right on red when you have the room, or stopping on a turn when the turn lane continues onto the next road (An example is making the right from Minnieville Rd onto the Prince William County Parkway. The turning lane from Minnieville turns into the right lane of the Parkway - the lane doesn't end and there's no yield).
I know a woman who works in DC, but is scared senseless to drive in the city. She won't do it. If VRE isn't running (local commuter train), she doesn't go to work. She's admitted to being too scared to drive anywhere around the city.
I'm sure there are others, but this is what comes to mind after an everyday commute.
Absolutely. People that are too hesitant to abide the traffic laws cause traffic accidents. (But, even more so, people that don't abide the laws at all, not due to fear, but due to foolishness, cause the majority of the issues on the road.)
As for your speed limit scenario above, it is possible to get a ticket for going too slow. My great uncle got one. And rightly so. That's a safety concern for all involved.
I, too, have witnessed the slow down to 30-40 in the number four lane to dart across three lanes of traffic to get to the next exit, and that does create a road hazard, though I would not ascribe that to a cautious driver. Rather, that's a reckless driver who has no consideration for anyone else on the roadway, and it should be treated as such by law enforcement. If there is no valid reason to slow from 55 or 65 (depending upon the roadway and lane as some lanes close to the city are 65), other than the selfishness of a driver who had been traveling at prevailing speed only to get over to not miss an exit at the last second, that's appalling. If you miss the exit, miss the exit, but please don't put the lives of others in jeopardy because you cannot be bothered to merge prior to the upcoming exit. Last time I checked, we had these marvelous inventions on highways and Interstates called signs, that astonshingly give advance notice of upcoming exits. Then again, any driver who would do that probably does not bother to read anything, except the latest tweets that arrived since they merged onto the highway.
Goes along with being in the right lane and slowing down to 30-40 because they don't know where their exit is or they don't know where they're going (another annoyance). Either get a GPS or have directions, exits aren't that hard to find and there are nice big green signs over them. I don't care if I miss an exit, I can get off at the next one and double back. Same if I'm driving in the city - if I miss my turn, I'll just make the next turn and come around the block.
Goes along with being in the right lane and slowing down to 30-40 because they don't know where their exit is or they don't know where they're going (another annoyance). Either get a GPS or have directions, exits aren't that hard to find and there are nice big green signs over them. I don't care if I miss an exit, I can get off at the next one and double back. Same if I'm driving in the city - if I miss my turn, I'll just make the next turn and come around the block.
If people in my city were that logical, there'd be far less accidents here. I can't tell you how many jokers have made a right turn from the left-most lane, cutting off traffic to do so. Or make U-Turns over a double yellow in the middle of city rush hour because they changed their mind on their direction. Who does that? Honestly. (Then, when you get hit, some joker on C-D tells you it's your fault, even though the insurance companies didn't think it was and you were stopped when you got hit. lol)
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