Stop Risking My Life When You Drive

Driving is hazardous to your health no matter how you lookat it, traveling at speeds faster than we were ever meant to go. Think whatpeople just 100 years ago would say if they saw the cars we have now…Amazing! Iam not talking about cars equipped with superchargers, turbochargers and nitro’d out race carsno I am talking about your Honda. For thousands of years humans have gotten bywith foot travel known as walking or running only recently have people begun todrive. This mode of transport is brand new in the great scheme of things andstill many people don’t take it seriously.

Everyday modern humans do things that would be considered tobe magic or the work of a higher power. Imagine how someone would have reactedto your 50” LED TV 200 years ago, they would have called you a witch and burnedyou for summoning demons. Cars are a device that has been designed to movepeople from one place to another more quickly than horseback and the car has revolutionizedthe human race.

There are a few key factors that should be followed whendriving a car, the first and certainly not least important is to pay attention.Today on the freeway there was a woman in an Audi driving at 55 – 60 MPH andhad her laptop mounted on the steering wheel. This is not only illegal but sostupid it cannot be over exaggerated how dumb and dangerous this is. There is aban on cell phone use in cars but this just takes the cake for distracteddriving, using a laptop while driving…sheesh. Another failure that people makeis failing to realize what on-ramps and off-ramps are. These stretches of roadare here for accelerating to highway speeds and slowing from them. In otherwords you can exit the highway without braking in traffic and causing a slowdown. On ramps, even the ones in Cali withlights on them are meant to give the driver a chance to get to highway speed sothey can merge. Too many people ignore this and cause accidents or congestionjust because they failed to use the provided facilities correctly. One thing toremember is that roads and highways are government property not yours so followthe rules.

How to Communicate With Other Drivers on the Road

Many times there are situations on the road where we mayfeel that we need to tell another driver something. No I am not talking aboutwhen someone cuts you off making you test your brake disc and brake calipers. What this is about is good communication that will help or just showcommon courtesy when on the road.

Over the road communication is something truckers have usedfor years, not just with CB radios but with lots of other techniques as well.There are ways to say thank you, your welcome, go ahead and much more butknowing them is the best way to make driving a nicer experience.

Anyone who has let a Semi truck merge onto the highway hasseen the flashing lights. Not the turn signal but what look like the hazardsfor 3 distinct flashes. This 3 flash process is actually them saying thank younot trying to warn other drivers, truckers have been using this for years butmost “4 wheelers” don’t know the signs. The name “4 wheeler” is also truck slangfor small civilian vehicles such as cars and small trucks.

There are many messages that the average driver should knowthat can help make driving smoother. The double flash of the high beams can leta driver know they are safe to come into our lane. The triple flash is more to alertoncoming drivers of a hazard…or a hiding cop. Three flashes of your hazardlights tell the driver behind “thank you”, While 3 flashes of your headlightssays “hey you just cut me off”.  Evencabbies have signals that they use, the slight honk while driving is to letpeople know they are available. Knowing these few signals can make driving mucheasier and also save a lot of stress as well. True there will always be people whospeed up to block other drivers from merging and others that cut in line at atraffic jam. These signals can’t help with them but maybe they can make thedaily commute a little less  stressful.

We All Know How to Merge...or Do We?

So many factors to count for what shall we do? That may be the way some of us are looking at merging into traffic. When it comes to merging it is still up to us to determine if it can be done safely, our car stereo or in-dash navigation screen cannot tell us how to do it. Because many of us rely on a nav system to get us anywhere, regular driving techniques have become a bit lax.

Merging is a important part of everyday driving an its one that many people are really really bad at doing. The idea is to seamlessly move from one lane to another in traffic and keep the flow of cars uninterrupted. It seems that many a driver believes that merging their vehicle is everyone else's problem. Just start moving over and everyone else should get out of their way. This is not true, you are the one who has to take responsibility for your driving.

When merging the main idea is to look using your mirrors and actually turning your head to make sure you can make the gap you are trying to enter. Driving along any freeway merging is needed when ever getting on the highway and usually when highways intersect not to mention anytime you want to pass. Merging is very common and one of the most used driving maneuvers that we use without thinking about it. So if we all use it so often why is it that day after day and night after night we sit in traffic for no reason? The answer is clear it bad drivers! Drivers who slam on the brakes after the merge, push their way on, other drivers who don't let people in or even worse the ones who speed up to block people from getting in. If all the drivers at an intersection were to allow one other driver to merge then the speed of a highway should only drop by a few miles an hour due to the fact that the merging car can meet the required speed with the on ramp. If it comes down to merging being the cause of many traffic jams...which it does, the "Smart guy" is the cause of many of them. This is the guy that sees a long line for an exit off the freeway and waits to the last second to cut over. They risk hitting the person who is already waiting in that line and also they slow down their lane by making people behind them panic break. It's a rude and obnoxious maneuver and it is also down right dangerous. To the driver who does this "you are not smarter than the rest of us, your just much more rude".

A drivers action on the road are going to dictate how the traffic flows on the freeway so think before you make your merge. If we all do it right, the drive will be smoother and nicer for all of us. If you are one of those people who thinks it is ok to cut the line of traffic, you should try it at the grocery store when waiting to check out and see what everyone around you has to say about that.