Have people forgotten how to drive? *RANT*

[dazzleman]

Society pays the cost of having shitty drivers in the form of accidents, injuries, deaths, and being unnecessarily slowed down in the left lane. I think it's cheaper to test!

Testing is the final point in the process, and if the test is too easy, it serves no purpose.  I think better training requirements at the outset are more of an answer.  I learned to drive well because I took a 6-week driver's education program at my local high school during the summer.  The road test itself was nothing - It was basically a drive around the block, with little to no traffic.  I had to parallel park with one car, no curbs, and the U-turn was on a wide street with no curbs.  And on the basis of that nothing test, I have been driving for 41 years.

I don't think testing can measure whether people will pay attention when they drive, and they don't test for highway skills, which are a big part of the problems we are talking about here.

[dazzleman]

The issue that causes many scared drivers to left lane camp is people don't know how to accelerate and merge. So you have idiots doing 10-20mph too slow when they try to merge.

Years ago Montana ran tv ads that explained how to do it. Supposedly it helped a lot!

I think signs at the bottom of the ramp "Speed limit X" and "Accelerate Now" could help?

Yes, it's true that people don't get up to highway speed quickly enough when they get on.  They get on and go 2 mph, fouling up traffic flows.

[CaminoRacer]

Testing is the final point in the process, and if the test is too easy, it serves no purpose.  I think better training requirements at the outset are more of an answer.  I learned to drive well because I took a 6-week driver's education program at my local high school during the summer.  The road test itself was nothing - It was basically a drive around the block, with little to no traffic.  I had to parallel park with one car, no curbs, and the U-turn was on a wide street with no curbs.  And on the basis of that nothing test, I have been driving for 41 years.

I don't think testing can measure whether people will pay attention when they drive, and they don't test for highway skills, which are a big part of the problems we are talking about here.

I think the threat of a test would help a little bit to trigger people to think about their driving more.

[dazzleman]

I think the threat of a test would help a little bit to trigger people to think about their driving more.

You may be right about that.  Maybe drivers should be retested about every 20 years until they reach a certain age, and then more often after that.  But I still think the initial training and testing requirements should be more rigorous.  People's driving skills generally don't improve as they age, after the initial few years of driving.

Possibly driving record could be used to determine frequency of testing, and those with bad driving records could be retested more often or sooner.

Connecticut has driver "retraining" for those with too many tickets, but I don't think they retrain for multiple accidents, which is a big loophole. The retraining is all classroom though, nothing on the road.  People with crappy driving records should have to pay for retraining that goes beyond watching a few videos.

[CaminoRacer]

You may be right about that.  Maybe drivers should be retested about every 20 years until they reach a certain age, and then more often after that.  But I still think the initial training and testing requirements should be more rigorous.  People's driving skills generally don't improve as they age, after the initial few years of driving.

Possibly driving record could be used to determine frequency of testing, and those with bad driving records could be retested more often or sooner.

Connecticut has driver "retraining" for those with too many tickets, but I don't think they retrain for multiple accidents, which is a big loophole. The retraining is all classroom though, nothing on the road.  People with crappy driving records should have to pay for retraining that goes beyond watching a few videos.

Agreed

[veeman]

Wouldn't that mean though a speeder, who is an excellent driver, but has a history of a lot of points on his/her record would require to be retested every few years whereas a left lane camper who has no points on their record but is a crappy driver would not be required to be retested?

Retesting for rudimentary driving skills every two years at let's say age 65 makes sense but, senior citizens are the ones that turn up at the voting booth...  also there's just no funding for this and any sort of significant cost for the person taking the test would not fly either.  Financially poor old people would be priced out of being able to drive and then that becomes a big political issue. 

[dazzleman]

Wouldn't that mean though a speeder, who is an excellent driver, but has a history of a lot of points on his/her record would require to be retested every few years whereas a left lane camper who has no points on their record but is a crappy driver would not be required to be retested?

Retesting for rudimentary driving skills every two years at let's say age 65 makes sense but, senior citizens are the ones that turn up at the voting booth...  also there's just no funding for this and any sort of significant cost for the person taking the test would not fly either.  Financially poor old people would be priced out of being able to drive and then that becomes a big political issue.

This is a totally academic discussion.  None of this will ever happen because it's politically unpalatable, as you say.  Your first point is probably correct, since there's enforcement against speeding but not left lane camping, for the most part.  That's partly why I say accident record should be taken into account, but of course there are bad drivers who cause other people to have accidents but don't seem to have any accidents themselves.  Enforcement patterns would have to change to make the idea really work.

[Speed_Racer]

Lots of metered on-ramps here in SLC which are basically legal drag strips. They may as well install some christmas trees.

[CaminoRacer]

Lots of metered on-ramps here in SLC which are basically legal drag strips. They may as well install some christmas trees.

[RomanChariot]

Unfortunately, they are often a race from 0-60-20.

[NomisR]

Lots of metered on-ramps here in SLC which are basically legal drag strips. They may as well install some christmas trees.

I wish it was like that.. i would get stuck behind someone that is still going 45mph by the time they hit the end of the on ramp.  At least being in an EV, the instant torque makes it really easy to change lanes and pass, in any other car, it would annoy the hell out of me.  Then there's times where i would be going 70+ by the times I hit the freeway only needing to slow down because there's assholes driving less than 55mph on the right most lanes.. with semis honking at them, while dragging a full containers going uphill.

[AutobahnSHO]

I think the threat of a test would help a little bit to trigger people to think about their driving more.

+1

[AutobahnSHO]

There is a total different mentality in Germany than here. There it's expensive so not everyone has a car, they MUST take REAL driver's ed, and people are held super-accountable for accidents.

Thus the reason 20years ago German cars still didn't have many (if any) cupholders- people used cars to DRIVE.

[Morris Minor]

Society pays the cost of having shitty drivers in the form of accidents, injuries, deaths, and being unnecessarily slowed down in the left lane. I think it's cheaper to test!

I went through misery when I was a kid in the UK getting my license. And it got a lot tougher after I left; I don't think I could pass the test there now without going through driving school again. In the US you just need to be able to walk upright.

It's pathetic and I agree with you. Test, and require periodic recertification.

[r0tor]

I saw a new wall of shame moment on the way home from work...

Going down the interstate... On ramp from an exit merging on the right.... Car in front of me going down the interstate slams on the brakes, comes to a complete stop, throws it in reverse, and starts backing up the on ramp

[Laconian]

A guy turned sharply left onto a two way street. Meaning he was driving on the wrong side of the road. This lasted about a block or a block and a half until he saw some headlights ahead and thought "oh shit".

[MX793]

Entrance to my neighborhood is off of a 4-lane (2 each way) divided boulevard with a 45 mph speed limit (that everyone does 55 on).  About 150 or 200 yards past the entry road, I see some idiot on the shoulder backing up against.  Clearly they missed the turn into the neighborhood.  This despite there being a traffic-light controlled intersection where they would have been able to make a U turn at (or turn onto a side road and turn around in a driveway or parking lot or something) about 1/4 mile ahead and clearly visible from where they were at.  Had half a mind to pull up behind them and block them from backing up further.  Seriously can't fathom what goes through people's heads on the road.

If you miss your turn, keep driving ahead until you find a driveway, parking lot, or side street to turn around in.  If you're on a highway, get off at the next exit and turn around.  Especially in the northeast, there are exits every few miles, perhaps every mile in an urban area.  You're not going to be driving for half an hour before an opportunity to turn around presents itself.

If you realize you are in the wrong lane at a light (you want to go straight but put yourself in a turn lane, you want to turn left but are in the right turn lane, or vice versa), just go with the flow and turn around at your first safe opportunity.  Don't make a turn from the thru-traffic lane.  Don't hold up the turn lane so you can go straight.  Don't make a turn from the opposite turn lane. 

A couple of weeks ago, I watched somebody pull into the left-only turn lane, then when the arrow turned green, they suddenly switched to their right blinker and made a right turn from the left lane, while oncoming traffic was turning left.  Same intersection I've watched multiple people get into the left turn lane and then decide they want to go straight and slice through oncoming traffic on the green arrow (red light for thru traffic) so as not to hold up cars behind them who actually want to turn left.  Also seen cars get into a left turn lane, realize they wanted to go straight, and just sit and block traffic through the duration of the left turn arrow so they can go straight when the light for thru-traffic turns green, which is infuriating but at least safer than threading the needle through oncoming cars turning left in front of you.  All of this witnessed during "rush" hour traffic times, not like it's 10PM and nobody's on the road.

[FoMoJo]

We live in a world where we should realize that, at least, 20% of the people are not going to behave rationally in whatever they're doing.  At best, we can shrug it off and try to avoid them.  At worst, we get pissed off and ruin our day.

[CaminoRacer]

I saw a new wall of shame moment on the way home from work...

Going down the interstate... On ramp from an exit merging on the right.... Car in front of me going down the interstate slams on the brakes, comes to a complete stop, throws it in reverse, and starts backing up the on ramp

https://www.reddit.com/r/IdiotsInCars/comments/f4bn5d/this_idiot_that_decided_it_was_a_good_idea_to/