Driving

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I quit driving a trailer truck a year and a half ago.

Drove 48 states and Ontario Canada for over 10 years,plus local delivery jobs in small trucks and trailer trucks.
Not a truck terminal to truck terminal operation,I went to where ever my freight was going,Manhatten/New York City, Chicago, Los Angles, Miami and any other place it was going.

Matresses straight to a Hotel in Manhatten 3pm on a friday afternoon

So if I have AS, having AS has nothing to do with driving. It's just some people can drive and others are barely capable of driving and some people shouldn't be allowed on the road.

The worst drivers according to some study are doctors & lawyers.

People with no fear are not with reality,people get hurt and killed daily driving,if somebody has no fear of driving they aren't right. It's got to be a balance between be worried about making a mistake and so worried about making a mistake that you are a menace because you are so unsure of yourself.

A decent driving instructor will let somebody get used to the car in low traffic areas and than slowly progress to more congested areas.

Number one rule is don't let people get under your skin. Some people gets their jollies out of agrivating people on the road and if they see they aren't bothing you,they go find somebody else to bother. If somebody is annoying you,get away from them, turn off,pull off or get off the highway if you are on one.Don't get baited into their stupid games.

Always assume they have no brakes lights and turn signals than you won't be surprised it they don't have them or don't use them.

Half the people on the road have an IQ lower than average,so figure every other car on the road and most trucks are driven by lower the average IQ people and about 10% of them are driven by people in the lowest 10% IQ bracket.

for some reason I always feel like I'm going to hit someone like a pedestrian, so I drive very slow I hate driving at night I can't see people walking along the road.

Sometimes I get scared, like once I redlined the car while in a school zone. But for the most part I'm a very aggressive driver.

I don't like to drive because I'm always afraid that I'll hit someone or someone else will hit me. I am a cautious driver, although there are times when I've been laid back.

I am a very "by the rules" driver when I'm behind the wheel. I tend to try and drive an automobile devoting the same mental attention as I would if I were driving an airplane. After all, I am operating a dangerous piece of machinery. Automobiles kill close to 37,000 people a year, and chances are we all know of someone who's had their life completely ruined by an automotive related injury. Not only do I not talk on the phone while driving, I also don't listen to the radio too often either, but when I do, it's usually light music that's not distracting. I keep constant watch over everything around me, keeping track of every vehicle and object that is within view of me, constantly checking, and re-checking blind spots, rear-view, instrument panel, up ahead, etc

The thing that bothers me and really makes me angry are the drivers out there that just don't care. Many drivers think too casually about driving, and just don't seem to think that they will get into a wreck, and if they do, they will survive. In my city, many of the drivers conduct themselves like they are the only person that is using the road. These type of drivers don't signal, drive over the stop lines at traffic signals (blocking oncoming traffic) drive at any speed over or under the posted limit, in any lane of their choosing, and worst of all, they don't look up the street before pulling out.

One of the most totalyl annoying ones are people that seem to like to "hover" or ride driectly beside you on a multi-lane road. That person is in a very dangrous location because the driver beside them may need to swerve to get out of the way of a hazard, or in the very least may change lanes without looking. Vehicles that don't have rear windows (like trucks and vans) can completely loose smaller vehicles that ride beside them in a blind spot! For some reason, drivers LOVE to ride in clusters beside each other around here, and in fact get angry when you speed up or slow down to separate yourself from them!

Overly cautious drivers drive me nuts too, primarliy because they make mistakes that actually put themselves, and other drivers at more risk, rather than less due to their short-sighted actions. One of the worst, and most common around here is the over-cautious driver that puts on brakes in the merge lane when entering a freeway. This action causes all the traffic that is already on the freeway and up to speed to slam on brakes and swerve out the way of the unusually slow driver that just pulled on. I frequently see drivers put on brakes at green lights, and drop their speed 10-15 mph before crossing an intersection. This is an easy way to get rear-ended. or in the very least, cause a side-swipe colission as drivers behind you change lanes, swerve and try and get out of your way! (while yes, a crash between two vehicles not involving you is technically not your fault, you should be courteous enough to minimize the potiental for something like this to occur!! !)

The biggest issue I have is when when I encounter these 'don't care", or "overly cautious" drivers that I don't try and let them know how I feel about their actions, and cause an even more dangrous situation. There are many activities out there on the road that cause my blood to boil, and I must make sure I keep the agression under control. or I am will be just as bad as these other drivers.

Driving is a precarious situation because communication is limited between vehicles. When walking on foot, we can speak directly to another person before running into them. Same holds true with aircraft, boats, and even trains...there is efficient communications using these transit methods through radios between the vessels, and a central command . Unfortunatley, this doesn't exist with automotive travel. I think with the increase of automotive traffic that we will need to design some sort of central command control of vehicles on the road, and a vehicle-to-vehicle communication system to notify intent.

We will also need to really screen people for their driver's licenses and truly test them on how effectively they are at handling the vehicle in critical situations (like aircraft pilots are) Around here, anybody who can steer a car around a block, and remember a few drunk-driving statistics can get a permit!...you don't even need to speak English or be a citizen!! !

It's that way everywhere,many people find somebody to follow. They let the lead vehicle do the driving,they don't have to watch their speed,let the guy out front do it,they don't have to watch where they are going, the guy out front is doing it. If the leader brakes they brake.

Staying between the packs most of the time is possable to some extent.

People who try and make time in heavy traffic are funny as hell.Most of the trucks have CB's I heard a trucker ask another trucker if he got paid extra for working that hard at getting down the road,the guy was clueless what the guy was getting at so he spelled it out. He had been watching the guy for 30 miles jump from lane to lane and riding peoples bumpers and he hasn't gotten anywhere

One of the worst things to get involved in is getting the mentality that you are going to teach somebody a lesson,get real they have been driving like idiots for years and thousands have tried before to teach them a lesson and failed, so why bother just let them go find somebody else to annoy.

People are driving while suffering from all sorts of state's of mental illiness, depression, PMS and everything else.just let them go and take out their fustration with life on somebody else. They are looking to pick a fight with somebody or to make somebody mad, don't let them bait you and drag you into their misery.

I’ve been driving for over 25 years with no accidents and no speeding convictions, so I consider myself a competent driver. I don’t drive with fear, but I assess risk when I’m on the road by watching other drivers and trying to anticipate their actions.
I do take corners quickly (slow in, fast out) and I find it annoying when people creep slowly around a corner in first gear. Also, when traffic lights change from red to green, some drivers react so slowly that by the time they engage gear and drop the clutch, the lights have changed back to red. It’s massively frustrating if you’re behind such a person.

There does seem to be a hierarchy of cars on the roads and people driving older, more modest cars are lower down the pecking order than drivers of higher-spec machines. Some people who drive nice cars get a sense of entitlement and think that the road belongs to them. Having said that, I’ve often found that drivers of premium cars (e.g. Porsche, Aston-Martin, Lamborghini) to be considerate and disciplined drivers. If you’ve got such a car, you don’t need to bully other drivers.

I've decided a long time ago, that I wasn't going to drive. There are so many Idiots who drive, in my Town. I've decided to put my Money in a Travel Account. It's really my Savings, but I call it a Travel Account. I'd rather use Public Transit, than drive. I know I'm cheap.

i have noticed Fiat Lux that the type of vehicle is very much consistent with the person's attitude towards driving.

Drivers of flashy vehicles (especially the "rice rockets") are notoriously bad drivers when it comes to speeding, blowing lights & signs, blalantly ignoring rules, etc. It doesn't matter if the flashy vehicle is expensive or not either! One of the other vehicles frequented by bad drivers too that I've noticed are the "expendible" cars. These are cars from the 3rd rate manufacturers, like Hyundai, Kia, Daihatsu, etc. I guess the drivers think that they don't have anything to loose, since they bought an inexpensive vehicle!

Like you noticed, I too noticed the best drivers seem to drive the high end, yet understated vehicles. I've noticed the Mercedes S-class cars, along with lexus EX400 seem to be driven by some of the most well-mannered, considerate people on the road.

Drivers of older vehicles seem to come in a variety of flavors. On one side, you got the overly cautious elderly driver going 45 in the passing lane in an old beat-up Fairlane or something, and then there's the maniacs driving an old beat-up junker that seem to follow (or disobey) the same rules as the 3rd rate car driver. The last element of drivers in older vehicles are the best ones, they own well-maintained older vehicles that look like they rolled off the showroom floor, even though they are 20 years old. These people want to keep their vehicles looking and running good for years, so they treat their vehicle, and the drivers around them, the best they can!

Johnnie, I LOVE listening to the CB radio out on I-95 when I make my runs to Washington DC. We get a lot of the trash haulers coming down from New York trying to get to Virginia to dump their loads before their 10 hours runs out. Generally, the truckers are pretty good out there, but the trash haulers are the WORST drivers The other truck drivers out there give them heck about driving so fast and recklessly. I one time heard over the CB " I gues you're hurryin so you can deliver all that (explicitve) garbage before it goes bad!!" The fun one is when the truck drivers act as vigalantes, and will block the road and play with some of the high speed mainiacs in cars out there! You'll hear " hey, let's have a little fun with that little kid in the Civic" or something like that.

CockneyRebel...I think you've got the best solution to the problem, I LOVE taking the train. Subways are fun! and one of my infactuations too! ...don't ask me about the NYC subway system It's nice just to sit back, relax and let someone else do the driving!! !

trash haulers
maggot wagons
idiots

The best kind of car to drive is a junker, everyone knows you can care less about making driving a contact sport

I don't go by the car in most cases,the type of person behind the wheel is more what I notice. I don't want to offened anyone, so I won't touch that subject.

The rice boys are dead meat, I got a 1994 Z28 motor and 6 speed trans for my 1985 Buick Regal. I just got started on the project last fall, it's to cold to work in my garage,but as soon as it warms up I got to get this thing back together.

People are good at acting stupid while driving,most of them know exactly what they are doing and get their jollies out of screwing with people. Nothing would make their day more than seeing the car behind them at a traffic light get a ticket for running the light because they sat through half of the green.

Don't let the miserable people bait you into their stupid games by getting frustrated. Their day will come, they will annoy some under cover cop who will find some reason to give them a ticket for whatever he/she can dream up.

Reminds me of a Greyhound (travelling bus) driver who would do this until his radar detector went off. Then he'd change to the right (slow, in the US) lane and let drivers speed past, primed for anger. One of them would almost invariably get pulled over by Mr./Ms. Law.

Good advice & observations in this thread... reminding me it's not necessarily about ego, but about getting from point A to B with all parts intact.

I've been driving for almost 30 years and to this day I still fear backing up. I'm afraid I'll hit somebody or something. So when I back up I swivel my head around alot. I've never hit anybody backing up, but I still live in fear of it.

I put a big, huge dent in my door backing up, but that was due to my stupidity.

Going to get it fixed this summer, maybe.

I don't have excessive fear, or lack of it when driving, but I was very late learning to drive fopr otyher reasons. Living in Central London it was hardly a necessity, but when I moved out to Cambridge, and a job with a company car, it was difficult to avoid.

I found learning to drive very difficult as it involved much more in the way of parallel processing than I could easily cope with: If I was paying attention to the controls, awareness of what was happening outside the car was drastically curtailed. It came eventually, and I passed my test at the third attempt, having got a little lucky. I made a mistake, assumed I'd failed, and relaxed about the rest of the test, since it didn't matter, by which means of course, my driving improved. It turned out that th emistake wasn't that bad.

Sheer practice has helped, though I don't consider myself an above average driver. I compensate by driving very consciously, and planning and reading the road ahead more than most drivers seem to. At times I give myself a running commentary of the situation (I don't normally have any passengers to be disturbed by this).

The partial reassurance about my driving is regularly seeing much worse drivers.
It's only a partial reassurance because I have to share the road with them.

Not sure what to put. I have a fear of driving. That hasnt stopped me from putting my car in a ditch at 75mph or coming real close to a few other accidents. I'm both. Sometimes I am too careful others care free. Probably the worst type of driver.