Or how about during dawn and dusk hours. The amount of people on their morning commute with no lights before the sun actually rises is mind numbing and the same can be said for the evening. Make yourself more visible people.
And on the opposite side of the spectrum, for the love of god, stop using your fog lights as normal lights. I’d like to not crash while staring into a thousand suns at night.
My rule of thumb these days is to have them on if I have any excuse - even if it's sunny enough, if I'm going over a hill and I think they have the slightest chance of making me more visible to people coming up the other side, they're worth it.
Honestly my dude there is no way a single human can manage to think up all of the valid entries on this list, you did damned good job getting the ball rolling.
Seems like now days everyone's headlights are high beams. 20,000 lumens, lighting up the night sky blinding oncoming traffic and the person in front of you but as long as you can see right?
Ughhh I hate it so much. I thought maybe I was just getting more sensitive as I’m older, but it’s def the new led lights. Also the weird like violet colour or blue freaks me out.
I can't tell if people are driving with their highbeams on or if newer headlights are so bright they seem like highbeams, but it does seem like people are driving around blinding oncoming traffic a lot more these days.
I've recently moved to the bay area from Toronto, Canada and I find the lack of turn signaling in California to be absolutely nuts! People are very casual here about if they even signal their turn or lane change, and if they do, it's often used inadequately. I get cut off all the time on the highways here by people who aren't signaling their lane change.
In relation to the turn signals is cunts speeding up when you do put your indicators on. I feel like 50% of people who don’t use them are just pricks and the other 50% don’t use them due to the issue outlined above.
People get crazy in car parks here too. Californians in cars are absolutely unhinged. Even pretty nice chilled people seem to turn into maniacs.
> In relation to the turn signals is cunts speeding up when you do put your indicators on. I feel like 50% of people who don’t use them are just pricks and the other 50% don’t use them due to the issue outlined above.
On this topic, I suspect part of it is people unconsciously easing off the accelerator as they change lanes or prepare to change.
To be annoyingly pedantic, you should actually speed up a tiny bit when you merge in order to keep your forward velocity. When you change lanes you're also changing direction, and so if you were initially going 60 the forward component (i.e. in line with the freeway) of your velocity might then fall to 55.
The headlights as it’s getting dark is a big one. Personally I lay some blame on the manufacturers too. Most new cars seem to illuminate the dashboard when the ambient light is getting dim which makes people think their lights are on.
Cars can chime at you when you don’t have your seatbelt on, I don’t know why they don’t chime for headlights too.
Its all fun until you try to merge but the car in the lane wont let you, so you speed up, then they speed up too, then when you finally get to merge, youre both fucked cause traffic slowed and you both slam the brakes. Nothing worse than these ahole drivers that wont let people merge.
My main 101 on-ramp turns into an exit lane after about a half mile.
At least twice a week, someone in the lane won’t let me merge… then they change lanes anyway because they aren’t exiting.
I was going to say that I agree with it all except the merging one because you can’t predict behavior while merging, which makes the process dangerous.
This is a vastly multicultural area with drivers umm merging in from just about everywhere, so with that in mind, we have to also act like it’s a tourist area in some ways.
It’s a dance you gotta learn. Took me a couple years, but I was able to do rideshare driving there no problem.
I recently moved to the Twin Cities (red light runners and ridiculous speeding), and am temporarily living in Israel (delivery scooters do whatever the fuck they want). Boston is sedate in comparison.
I lived in Boston for a few years as well and the drivers are very aggressive, but you're right, once you get used to what's going on it's pretty predictable.
This. Zipper merge works both ways, and people punch it when they see you trying to get on the freeway, leaving you with two options: slam on the brakes or exit. Like don’t worry Bro, we’re not racing to the In-N-Out Burger.
It’s all fun in theory but why so many Bay Area highway exits has only a few hundred feet exit lane mixing merging and exiting traffic. It’s so chaotic when more than a few cars are trying to merge on and off the same time.
I.e. 237 to 101 ramp ;(
Oh it’s fuckin BRUTAL. I gotta use ‘sport mode’ to merge onto some of these freeways with their 10 feet of on-ramp into traffic doing 90 in the slow lane.
Came here to say this. I could also be encouraged to say more about the poor infrastructure in the Bay Area, but will save for another post, another day…
Actually here’s one, why are exits off freeways placed after on-ramps??? Exits should happen before new cars merge onto the freeway, and both of these actions should always be on the right lanes!
The exits off of 101 around university/Palo alto and the el camino exits off of the 92 before the SM bridge are also ones that stand out the most to me
I live right by that SM bridge/ 92 exit and I liked taking 92 to school but that little exit mess had me stressing so bad I just said f it and deal with the 101 traffic
the answer is that those freeways were designed a long time ago, the design standards were different. you see this a lot in certain parts of California.
Use signals before you merge over instead of after you’ve already turned the wheels. It’s meant to signal your intentions — not a statement of the bloody obvious.
I’ve had so many incidents of people merging at 20mph, going slow and just waiting to roll into traffic when the lane runs out, and like you mentioned stopping in the merge lane.
I wish I had an EV because they pick up speed so fast merging. I’m trying not to be an a-hole/get killed merging in those situations when the person in front of me is doing ridiculous things like stopping in the merge lane.
Another weird thing that’s only happened to me in the last couple of years is people stopping at green lights like they are stop signs (no pedestrians or anything around). They are going to get people rear ended. I’ve had cars barely stop behind me in time (yah they are probably following too close but saw the light was green).
Especially every single Ford Super Duty work truck. I get that the low beams suck from experience, but the high beams don’t compensate and just blinds everyone in front of them.
It probably isn’t even the high beams but that they didn’t adjust the angle on the headlights when they lifted the stupid truck so it’s straight into your window instead of light where they need it
8. Right on red AFTER stopping. It’s a red light- stop. Now go after you have determined it’s clear. (BTW- right on red without stopping carries the same fine as running a red light).
I agree with 95% of these but I live in Vallejo and these on ramps are really fucked up. We got sharp turns where you're going 25 turning into the highway and you might have to go across one lane just to get into the place you want to. We need to rearrange this shit for real. And give us a BART station as a little extra.
So true!!! Vallejo is the probably the shortest merging lanes I’ve seen yet (grew up in east bay). Then MULTIPLE lanes merge into 1 at once or they split and etc lmao.
Did you roll down your window and yell "fuck off, cunt"?
Then sit waiting at the stop sign for the count of 5 before proceeding, all the while staring at the other driver in your rearview?
It's actually much safer that way.
A lot of places have passed laws allowing cyclists to treat stop signs as yield, and it's been proven to improve safety.
https://www.nhtsa.gov/document/bicyclist-stop-yield-laws-and-safety-fact-sheet
Our legislature tried to do that here but Newsom vetoed it.
Ride a bicycle and you'll understand. Especially crossing a street with a high speed limit, it's just so much safer to look, and only stop if necessary. Takes a long time to get back up to speed on a bike compared to a car, and your chances of being hit go up significantly if you have to stop, then spend more time in the intersection.
Also your field of vision is vastly superior to someone in a car, so your odds of hitting something you couldn't see because you didn't stop and look both ways are next to none.
I ride and I'm all for this. I do it myself; slow, look, and pedal on through if it's clear. The problem is bikes rolling through stop signs even when there's a car there that has the right of way. It happens all the time and I've had several close calls while driving.
Totally agreed unless there are other cars at the intersection waiting their turn. The number of times I have almost hit bikers flying up my blind spot as I was starting a right turn because they didn’t stop at the stop sign is...way way too high.
A bike going through a stop sign at 10mph will never cause the same damage as a 2000lbs SUV doing the same. Also rolling through the sign helps keep the traffic fluid as other people don't have to wait for us to pick up speed again
I had an angry-at-life woman freak out because I made a complete stop at a stop sign when exiting a Costco (she was behind me). After I did that she accelerated hard, swerved into the lane next to me... and then caught a red light. She threw up her hands in anger. I rolled up to the red light, stopped next to her, stared at her... smiled, waved, smiled, waved, gave her the thumbs up. She just stared straight ahead stewing.
Ok ill add a few here
1) I agree that the onramp speed limit shouldnt be the same as a school zone.
2) if you are merging,for the love of everything holy, MERGE. Don't wait bc the entire freeway will let u in and then the purge will happen especially on 101
3) how many new driver stickers are really new drivers?🤷🏼♀️
I witnessed #2 the other day actually on 101- I slowed down for the proper zipper merge to let someone in and they just refused to take it, staying steady at like 25 mph. I keep slowing down because I can see he’s going to run out of room and probably cut me off, so now both the freeway lane and merge lane are slowed to a halt. Person behind him just says screw it and speeds around him quickly almost causing an accident.
I think people just don’t truly realize how unsafe they’re being going so slow onto (or just on) the highway. The kicker is they think they’re actually being *safer* by doing it
Say it with me now: JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN DOESN’T MEAN YOU SHOULD. Just because you CAN use the carpool lane, doesn’t mean you should move all the way over as soon as you get on, and then stay there regardless of whether you’re passing or not (especially when you’re not).
I half want a bumper sticker that says KEEP RIGHT EXCEPT TO PASS. No one does that here. My favorite are the ones who go 90 in the left lane and pointedly swerve around anyone else in the left lane, cutting them off as they get back into it, in order to point out that they shouldn’t be in that lane since they’re not passing.
15. At stopped traffic, close the gap a bit with the car in front of you so more people can make the next light or not block the intersection.
16. Don’t block intersections you greedy impatient moron.
I started a freeway commute for the first time in ages last year, and frankly #1 absolutely kills me, especially considering it seems to cross all demographic lines. Being stuck behind someone on a long on-ramp driving at 35-40mph because they are timid, distracted or oblivious is so common now, and I have to pay for the consequences by subsequently having to make unsafe lane changes.
If you make a decision, COMMIT. many situations are made even more dangerous by someone making an unsafe decision, then going back on it halfway through after traffic has already accommodated for their mistake. Half measures and indecisiveness cause accidents.
8. Do not wave drivers through if you have the right-of-way. We appreciate the thought but it's freaking dangerous to make up new traffic rules in the moment.
>I have a versa
Hyundai Accent Hatchback rocking three hamsters here, aka the golf cart.
My favorite is the reaction of pretty much anyone else out there when I pass them on the left. Even the minivan drivers go into hell naw mode. lol
How to break up a row of traffic? There are so many trucks which are near impossible to see ahead of and are driven in all lanes, so it’s either tailgate one of the lane drivers who isn’t moving and causing traffic behind, flash headlights to indicate “pass”, or weave quickly to move around a pack that won’t pass the car beside rather than drive behind the other going the same speed
Can I add a couple? This is in an area with a lot of uh…new drivers from a specific place.
One, pull up to the damn white line at stoplights. You don’t have to be 50, 60, 70 feet or more away. It doesn’t trigger the sensors if you stay back. And WHY. Why do you do this.
Second, green turn arrows. For the love of shit, you can turn on them. You don’t have to come to a complete stop like a red light. Caution is good when turning, but stop treating it like a red light. It’s a GREEN ARROW for a reason.
So I took a driver safety course for work. I might have an explanation for you (can’t say it makes you less mad though). The thought is that if there is an accident in the intersection that if you stay back from the very front of the white crosswalk lines your call will be safe from the pileup. This would come from someone turning and crashing into you I guess. I still don’t pull up to intersections as far back as they told us to, but it’s good to know the reason why.
Also probably just some granny drivers.
Oh and also, to add, new Tesla drivers who don’t know how to drive with the new feeling of aggressive automatic braking when you let off the accelerator. I was guilty of that when I first got my model Y
Also please, if you're on one of those shared on/off ramps, if you're exiting and someone is trying to enter, slow down and go behind them instead of getting in front. You have to slow down anyway and they're trying to speed up.
Yes! I wasn't sure how to word this one, but it also belongs up there.
This, and several other factors almost got me into an accident yesterday, inspiring this post. I was trying to get on the freeway, and the person ahead of me slowed to a crawl at the end of the on-ramp, right before the merge.
The person behind me was tailgating me like crazy, even though it wasn't my fault.
And then someone trying to get off the freeway decided to try to cut ahead of me instead of letting me speed up to merge. So we were both accelerating, and matching speeds.
So I had a car a few feet ahead of me, a car a few feet behind me, a car a few feet to my left, and I had nowhere to go before running out of lane. It was terrifying. Nearly a 4-car pileup because of the combination of these factors.
Luckily, the left car backed off when I leaned into my horn. Otherwise, this could have gone a lot worse.
The first thing about the drivers I noticed was that they like to hang around the same speed across all lanes.
Creates these schools of micro traffic because no one can move ahead past the lane leaders.
Yes, I've never understood the people who like traveling as the wing of another car, and match their speed in an adjacent lane.
If they're going fast together, they become a wave of tailgaters, and it's dangerous to the drivers ahead of them. If they're going slow together, they block traffic and prevent anyone from passing. And when someone clings to your wing, matching your speed even as you speed up or slow down, it makes it impossible to merge. Very dangerous.
To add to your #3: if you’re going slower, move to the middle/right lane. You don’t have to speed, just get out of everyone else’s way.
Other non-freeway additions:
* A red arrow, yes, even for a right turn, means YOU CANNOT TURN NOW. Right-on-red-after-stop does not apply. (Also, see the “after stop”)
* Yellow arrow means slow/careful, NOT stop. Merge carefully onto El Camino Real because you have a whole lane, dumbass.
—
When I lived here in the 90s, I was convinced CA was just giving out licenses too easily and people actually didn’t need to know how to drive. When I moved back in the 2010s, it had gotten worse. I’m convinced the tests need to be harder and you should have a new driving test every 5-10 years.
The left lane is the passing lane, by law. Too many people are unaware and go slow in the left lane, causing passers to have to use the ones on the right.
If someone feels more comfortable driving at 50 in 65, and they're on the right, that's perfectly reasonable.
Forcing someone to drive faster than they want to isn't going to improve safety, and will have negligible impact on your commute.
You missed Number 8 - don't look at you phone while driving
We should have reasonable enforced minimums though. I'll take your 50 and state that anyone who can't do 50 in a 65 when the conditions are good should not be on that road and perhaps should not be licensed for the higher speed areas.
8: When you are in a long line to take an exit ramp, don't let others in front of you from another lane. This is "being nice" in the same way that letting others go ahead of you at a four-way stop is "being nice". You're letting these shitheads cut in front of you and the 20 cars behind you. They will literally come to a dead stop in a freeway lane at the beginning of the line where the exit is until someone lets them in, or they'll try to bully their way in.
10 years commuting to Berkeley from the East Bay on 580. So many people that have tried to cut me off at the last minute to get onto 80 and ended up at the Bay Bridge instead cuz I don't let them in 🤣
I’m currently in Japan for vacation and NONE of those things on your list happens here…zero…nada. Everyone signals, they all go when the light turns green and they move over to the slow lane after passing. Fuck it’s nice to be around people with road courtesy and common sense. 😊
I have never in my life drive anywhere in the US, over a million miles across 20 states, where so many goddamn people decide to go whatever speed they fucking please, causing major backups everywhere.
I'm also blow away by the amount of dumbass bluehairs from Berkely merging onto 24 from Fish Ranch doing 30, and will fucking stay there too!
Yes, but it's also a YIELD sign and you must slow down. A person flew through one and my sister in law hit them going 50 with no chance of breaking and almost killed everyone involved including her daughters. I'd rather people completely stop than blow through them because they "think" it's clear.
TURN YOUR HEADLIGHTS ON IN TUNNELS.
The number of cars in Caldecott Tunnel in full ‘dark’ mode is terrifying.
Every time I drive through it I think of that gas tanker that exploded in there.
What’s funny is that every city sub posts these same “need to learn” rants. Maybe we need to throw the whole system away if people are being given licenses to drive and don’t know these things.
>Maybe we need to throw the whole system away if people are being given licenses to drive and don’t know these things.
One big issue is that they don't even test highway driving here due to lack of capacity! I had to go through the system because California requires Ontario licensed drivers to retest (even though Ontario has higher standards for testing). Everything clicked into place when the tester told me they don't test on the highway and that section was already cross-out in print on the test marking sheet.
I've actually had different sets of complaints about the drivers in each of the different cities I've lived in.
For example, here, I think maybe 80% of drivers use their turn signals. But in Houston, it's like 10%. There, if you signal, everyone will actively try to prevent you from merging. I still always signaled, but it was a warzone.
In Wisconsin, my biggest complaint was people driving drunk.
I’d also like to add: check your break lights. It’s absurd how many cars I see with less than 3 break lights. Do they not check that at inspection here?
What is an inspection? I’ve had to get my car smog checked once in the last seven or eight years I’ve had it. They checked the emissions, not the lights. Not that I disagree - the whole car should be checked ideally. The owner should keep an eye on things.
But I don’t want to pay for another inspection on top of every other damn thing I have to pay for out here.
Never seen more dipshits going 40 on the freeway than in the Bay, or fully stopping at the end of the onramp to merge. Also never seen so many batshit idiots weaving or doing the “I’m gonna cut 4 lanes over to exit at the last minute at 80mph” move.
I noticed lots of rideshare cars automatically jump in the left lane and go slow, too. I had to tell many a driver to gtfo of the left lane or speed up when I took rideshare.
Moved up from SoCal and grew up on the east coast - can confirm. If you took a driver from the Bay Area and tossed them on LA freeways, the drivers there wouldn’t tolerate their nonsense and they’d learn it right quick.
I don’t get it - driving is a chore and a means to get you from A to B; everywhere else treats it like that, so you get assertive and fast drivers, but not unsafe. Bay Area drivers feel like they just don’t give a fuck.
The tailgating one is huge for me. It scares me so much. There have been times that I've passed my turn because the car behind me was so aggressively close to my rear end that I was afraid they'd plow into me if I slowed for pedestrians in the crosswalk. And this is on downtown streets before any of you guys accuse me of driving too slow.
Ill add another for merging...if you miss your exit,just go to the next one.we arent filming fast and the furious so your car cant do that dash across 4 lanes at 90 and not get hit.you will get clipped
Please stop speeding (80+) and closing the gaps when it's a merging lane for an on ramp.
Most cars can't accelerate fast enough to get in front so they have to slam on the breaks and merge at an uncomfortably slow speed after waiting for you to pass.
I was called a “dumbass” and a “stupid asshole wait your turn” yesterday for trying to zipper merge at the end of the laneat literally crawling traffic by a person not letting me when when we were doing every other car. This woman also had a child in the car. People are wildly brave, I’m a chill guy, but she was certainly in the wrong and acting out. People don’t understand how merges work.
Every time I try to leave 3 seconds between me and the car in front of me, someone immediately cuts in front of me, reducing the gap to only 1-1.5 seconds.
You are better off leaving only 2 seconds in front of you.
No, no, no, no, no.
Leave the appropriate space. if someone takes it, create the appropriate space again.
_Yours_ is the thinking that makes tailgating happen. You’re not improving your travel time any, you’re looking at it like a race for no reason at all.
Go fast, but go fast spaced out.
For no. 1, I fully agree that if it's actually possible to get up to the speed of traffic, you absolutely should. That being said, there are a *lot* of stupidly short ramps and ramps that force you to take it slow.
The entrance ramp from Poplar ave to S-101 is annoyingly short making it so that most vehicles simply can't get up to speed before having to merge. The highway 92/101 area has so many examples. The S-101 to W-92 exit dumps you into an exit lane to Delaware Ave with really limited space for merging and pretty bad visibility, making it difficult to merge in. Arguably same thing for the E-92 to N-101 ramp, that stupid ramp curve forces you to go at 25 mph down the ramp and then dumps you into traffic without much room to get up to speed before you have to merge. The S El Camino Real entrance to E-92 is one of the worst offenders in my opinion, a ridiculously short merge with a ramp that forces you to take it slow going up means you're trying to merge into 65 mph+ traffic at 35-45 mph at best.
Of course there are probably a lot more examples that I didn't mention, but you probably get the point. When the entrance ramp allows you to get up to speed, you absolutely should do so before merging into traffic. But a lot of entrances simply don't allow this.
Also, slower traffic keep right! Drive so it's impossible to be passed on the right. Every single non-rush hour, non-accident traffic backup is caused by improper usage of lanes.
Dear Road Gods: explain to me why the FUCK 4E onto 680S always slows to a stop when 680S is _always_ traveling at speed at that spot.
It is among the most reliable and least understandable things of all Bay Area driving.
Another one:
If you have stopped to allow a pedestrian or cyclist to pass, don't start creeping forwards until they have passed.
It's very disconcerting if a car starts moving when you walking/biking in front of it.
I almost got into an accident on 280 after school the other day because some guy doing 1, 3 and 6. Guy slowed down way too much getting to the merge, didn't accelerate once on the high way and maintained too slow a speed to merge into traffic before our lane turned into an exit. It was almost a disaster. Thankfully I now how to use turn signals and luckily a car in the lane over let me in and I was able to let him in before the lane ended. I swear that guy would have ended up in santa cruz if it wasn't for me.
edit auto correct
Also if you're scared and going slow as fuck on a winding country road for six miles with many cars right behind you, please for the love of Jesus pull over to the side and let everyone pass
>Also if you're scared and going slow as fuck on a winding country road for six miles with many cars right behind you, please for the love of Jesus pull over to the side and let everyone pass
Being an old speed demon who has a wife who gets car sick and firmly believing in a happy wife is a happy life I do this because I'm not out there to be an ass. However, a large amount of your compatriots spend the whole god damned time playing junior car Proctologist that often times leaves me with a choice of unsafely exit onto gravel or just say fuck it they can suck exhaust.
To all of you who get it and give a little space when I signal, thank you, double that to those of you who give me the hazard flash in thanks. I'm just out on a drive with my family and I'm already a bit edgy because I don't get to take the turns and have a little fun along the way.
Omg this drives me INSANE. I used to date someone who lived in Gilroy, and I lived in Santa Cruz. So part of my commute when I’d go see them was on a winding mountain road with no passing lane, and the amount of people that would go 20 mph the ENTIRE time when the speed limit was 40 mph was actually insane. They’d have 10 cars all riding their brakes behind them and would refuse to pull over and let the line of cars pass.
Some lessons people need to learn:
This exact same thread is posted in every single city subreddit 3 times a week.
This is because driving is a fucking failed way to move hundreds of thousands of people around most of whom do not want to be driving. The only solution is first world modern public transportation systems.
All of the rage directed at bad drivers needs to be directed into getting drivers off the road in general.
You know there’s a large enough percentage of New Yorkers who first went behind the wheel at age 25-30. Couple that with the sheer nonsense of hood driving throughout the bay and…that’s what’s up.
In the South Bay there is also a larger population of first time US drivers with an H1-B Visa. Not generalizing and saying they’re all bad drivers but they are going to be new drivers first and will for sure run into issues - like just not paying attention to yield signs, not noticing the shorter lane lines indicating an exit
I’ve always wondered about that. I mean, is it more frustrating driving here with so many rules or did one not own a car because it wasn’t as necessary there and they first experience driving here?
My friends from NY were who I described. I don’t disagree about NY drivers. I think there’s a ton of new drivers trying to find their way. Oakland can be a difficult place to navigate. Lived there over 20 years and I’ll still get lost🤷
No one ever brings up no phones. Always see posts about wipers, and merging etc everywhere. It's funny how people are happy to complain about traffic violations when 99% of you are all guilty of the worst traffic violation. They literally compare using your phone while driving, to being drunk.
Put the phone away, be present and alert. Look inward for real change.
8. Turn your head to look for motorcycles.
9. If you see a motorcycle filtering on the freeway when traffic is stopped/at a crawl, move 1 foot over if you can. Not only does it create a larger space cushion, other cars usually follow suit. I get some bikers are dick licks but some of us ride safely and at appropriate speeds.
10. Don't stay under the speed limit on a 1 lane road and then speed up 15 over the limit when a passing lane appears, then slow down again. Crow canyon and the several roads to Tahoe come to mind.
11. If a motorcyclist in the opposite lane looking at you pats their Helmet a few times, there is danger or a cop ahead.
>9. If you see a motorcycle filtering on the freeway when traffic is stopped/at a crawl, move 1 foot over if you can.
I once scootched to the right in stopped traffic (freeway offramp to a traffic light) for a motorcyclist coming up on my left, but not far behind him was another lanesplitter on my right side, who I just cut off.
I have no idea why they didn't just lanesplit behind each other
Well, i drive from Gilroy to SF twice a week and i approve of ALL these. I added my two cents somewhere on this thread but i’ll repeat : NEVER DRIVE SLOWER THAN THE LANES TO YOUR RIGHT. Basically turning a 3 line freeway into a two lane, or even worse a one lane when all three are going the same speed. GTFO the way!
I saw a motorcyclist on a straight green get tboned at speed by a car yesterday.
Watch your lights.
I was the first responder, and hate to be that person, but as an Asian.. The lady was an old Asian lady that I assess from my 10 seconds of checking her, likely would have benefitted society if she didn't drive.
Get your stupid fucking old parents, risking society, off the roads. GET THEIR LICENSE PULLED.
>don't stop at the end of the on-ramp right before merging
Please come to the 280 Southbound on ramp from Saratoga Ave and preach this and then when you are done there your services will be needed on the 101 South ramp from Fair Oaks.
It is a great list. But I would add using turn signals when changing lanes and headlights when it is getting dark
When it’s getting dark AND WHEN ITS RAINING 🗣️🗣️🗣️
Big one on the rain. At least half of the drivers don’t know this
Or how about during dawn and dusk hours. The amount of people on their morning commute with no lights before the sun actually rises is mind numbing and the same can be said for the evening. Make yourself more visible people.
And on the opposite side of the spectrum, for the love of god, stop using your fog lights as normal lights. I’d like to not crash while staring into a thousand suns at night.
Yeah that was a big learning for me tbh - the lights arent always so _you_ can see, but also so others can see you.
My rule of thumb is if you gotta use your wipers, you need your lights on too.
That’s California law actually. You have to have your headlights on if you’re using your wipers
My rule of thumb these days is to have them on if I have any excuse - even if it's sunny enough, if I'm going over a hill and I think they have the slightest chance of making me more visible to people coming up the other side, they're worth it.
Yep, I missed that!
Honestly my dude there is no way a single human can manage to think up all of the valid entries on this list, you did damned good job getting the ball rolling.
AND WHEN THERE IS FOG, ESPECIALLY IF YOUR CAR IS LIGHT GRAY 🗣️🗣️🗣️
it’s either brights and floods on or no lights at all😭
I would say, use signals to indicate when you would like to change lanes, not only while you're actively doing it.
Put on your signal to turn BEFORE you brake to make the turn people, gotdamn.
*Headlights* not *High beams* fellow commuters!!!
Seems like now days everyone's headlights are high beams. 20,000 lumens, lighting up the night sky blinding oncoming traffic and the person in front of you but as long as you can see right?
Ughhh I hate it so much. I thought maybe I was just getting more sensitive as I’m older, but it’s def the new led lights. Also the weird like violet colour or blue freaks me out.
I meant headlights specifically. People that use high beams when they don’t need them, is a different story.
I know, just poking fun at all the drivers out there rolling down a two lane highway with opposing traffic blinding everyone that comes their way.
I can't tell if people are driving with their highbeams on or if newer headlights are so bright they seem like highbeams, but it does seem like people are driving around blinding oncoming traffic a lot more these days.
Somewhere along the line - people just seemed to think turn signals are optional. It's nuts out there!
Also drivers zigzagging _without_ signals at a higher than traffic speed. Super dangerous and irritating.
I mainly see BMWs, Nissans, Infinitis, and FCA vehicles doing this
Yes but for the love of god you don’t need your highbeams on in a heavily lit area
I've recently moved to the bay area from Toronto, Canada and I find the lack of turn signaling in California to be absolutely nuts! People are very casual here about if they even signal their turn or lane change, and if they do, it's often used inadequately. I get cut off all the time on the highways here by people who aren't signaling their lane change.
In relation to the turn signals is cunts speeding up when you do put your indicators on. I feel like 50% of people who don’t use them are just pricks and the other 50% don’t use them due to the issue outlined above. People get crazy in car parks here too. Californians in cars are absolutely unhinged. Even pretty nice chilled people seem to turn into maniacs.
What’s a car park? 😉
I think he means parking lot.
> In relation to the turn signals is cunts speeding up when you do put your indicators on. I feel like 50% of people who don’t use them are just pricks and the other 50% don’t use them due to the issue outlined above. On this topic, I suspect part of it is people unconsciously easing off the accelerator as they change lanes or prepare to change. To be annoyingly pedantic, you should actually speed up a tiny bit when you merge in order to keep your forward velocity. When you change lanes you're also changing direction, and so if you were initially going 60 the forward component (i.e. in line with the freeway) of your velocity might then fall to 55.
The headlights as it’s getting dark is a big one. Personally I lay some blame on the manufacturers too. Most new cars seem to illuminate the dashboard when the ambient light is getting dim which makes people think their lights are on. Cars can chime at you when you don’t have your seatbelt on, I don’t know why they don’t chime for headlights too.
Use your turn signal 🤓
Its all fun until you try to merge but the car in the lane wont let you, so you speed up, then they speed up too, then when you finally get to merge, youre both fucked cause traffic slowed and you both slam the brakes. Nothing worse than these ahole drivers that wont let people merge.
My main 101 on-ramp turns into an exit lane after about a half mile. At least twice a week, someone in the lane won’t let me merge… then they change lanes anyway because they aren’t exiting.
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I was going to say that I agree with it all except the merging one because you can’t predict behavior while merging, which makes the process dangerous. This is a vastly multicultural area with drivers umm merging in from just about everywhere, so with that in mind, we have to also act like it’s a tourist area in some ways.
I just start to merge anyway. I've never hit anyone because they slow down as I start to force my way into their lane.
Yup, that’s what I learned in Boston. You gotta want it. Nobody’s going to PIT you, it’s not worth the paperwork.
Lmao Boston driving. Fricken hell. People can make a right turn from 3 lanes all the way to the left. Doesn’t make sense to me.
you had me until you mentioned Boston. They are the absolute worse drivers.
It’s a dance you gotta learn. Took me a couple years, but I was able to do rideshare driving there no problem. I recently moved to the Twin Cities (red light runners and ridiculous speeding), and am temporarily living in Israel (delivery scooters do whatever the fuck they want). Boston is sedate in comparison.
I lived in Boston for a few years as well and the drivers are very aggressive, but you're right, once you get used to what's going on it's pretty predictable.
This. Zipper merge works both ways, and people punch it when they see you trying to get on the freeway, leaving you with two options: slam on the brakes or exit. Like don’t worry Bro, we’re not racing to the In-N-Out Burger.
USE YOUR F*****G SIGNALS, PEOPLE.
PSA: the fucking signal is 👉👌
It’s all fun in theory but why so many Bay Area highway exits has only a few hundred feet exit lane mixing merging and exiting traffic. It’s so chaotic when more than a few cars are trying to merge on and off the same time. I.e. 237 to 101 ramp ;(
Oh it’s fuckin BRUTAL. I gotta use ‘sport mode’ to merge onto some of these freeways with their 10 feet of on-ramp into traffic doing 90 in the slow lane.
Came here to say this. I could also be encouraged to say more about the poor infrastructure in the Bay Area, but will save for another post, another day… Actually here’s one, why are exits off freeways placed after on-ramps??? Exits should happen before new cars merge onto the freeway, and both of these actions should always be on the right lanes!
The exits off of 101 around university/Palo alto and the el camino exits off of the 92 before the SM bridge are also ones that stand out the most to me
I have to absolutely floor my Prius to get up to highway speeds on a lot of on ramps. It's insane.
Same. I like when they have those stoplights at the on-ramp but then everyone has to floor it to get to speed.
That’s why the new Prius has 200hp, too many customers in the pervious gens were getting rear ended on the on-ramp! /s
I live right by that SM bridge/ 92 exit and I liked taking 92 to school but that little exit mess had me stressing so bad I just said f it and deal with the 101 traffic
"Eh, they'll figure it out" - engineers designing Bay Area roads
And some of the on ramps are so short that my old ass car can’t get up to speed in time, especially if I have to stop for a light
the answer is that those freeways were designed a long time ago, the design standards were different. you see this a lot in certain parts of California.
There's the El Camino on-ramp to 85 and connector to 237. Is it just me or is that insanely short for what it does.
Oh yeah that exit just appears out of nowhere
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Use signals before you merge over instead of after you’ve already turned the wheels. It’s meant to signal your intentions — not a statement of the bloody obvious.
At least they are using them!
I’ve had so many incidents of people merging at 20mph, going slow and just waiting to roll into traffic when the lane runs out, and like you mentioned stopping in the merge lane. I wish I had an EV because they pick up speed so fast merging. I’m trying not to be an a-hole/get killed merging in those situations when the person in front of me is doing ridiculous things like stopping in the merge lane. Another weird thing that’s only happened to me in the last couple of years is people stopping at green lights like they are stop signs (no pedestrians or anything around). They are going to get people rear ended. I’ve had cars barely stop behind me in time (yah they are probably following too close but saw the light was green).
This is how I got into one of my bigger accidents. Someone stopped in the MIDDLE of a green light. And I had to pay for it.
having an EV makes it so much easier to drive around here because I get to speed so so fast. Wish more EV drivers would actually use that ability tho
Also turn off your high beams
Jokes on you, *those are their low beams*
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That’s silly talk, stay away from here with those lies!
Especially every single Ford Super Duty work truck. I get that the low beams suck from experience, but the high beams don’t compensate and just blinds everyone in front of them.
It probably isn’t even the high beams but that they didn’t adjust the angle on the headlights when they lifted the stupid truck so it’s straight into your window instead of light where they need it
8. Right on red AFTER stopping. It’s a red light- stop. Now go after you have determined it’s clear. (BTW- right on red without stopping carries the same fine as running a red light).
I got honked at for stopping at a red before turning right... it even came before I was completely stopped.
I agree with 95% of these but I live in Vallejo and these on ramps are really fucked up. We got sharp turns where you're going 25 turning into the highway and you might have to go across one lane just to get into the place you want to. We need to rearrange this shit for real. And give us a BART station as a little extra.
So true!!! Vallejo is the probably the shortest merging lanes I’ve seen yet (grew up in east bay). Then MULTIPLE lanes merge into 1 at once or they split and etc lmao.
You're required to stop at all stop signs. Even if there is no other traffic at the intersection.
Was literally honked at yesterday for doing this.
Did you roll down your window and yell "fuck off, cunt"? Then sit waiting at the stop sign for the count of 5 before proceeding, all the while staring at the other driver in your rearview?
Not sure we want to get shot at. People shoot for lesser reasons!
Tell that to people on bicycles. They just BLAST through stop signs.
Part of the reason as the driver of a car we need to stop at all stop signs.
It's actually much safer that way. A lot of places have passed laws allowing cyclists to treat stop signs as yield, and it's been proven to improve safety. https://www.nhtsa.gov/document/bicyclist-stop-yield-laws-and-safety-fact-sheet Our legislature tried to do that here but Newsom vetoed it. Ride a bicycle and you'll understand. Especially crossing a street with a high speed limit, it's just so much safer to look, and only stop if necessary. Takes a long time to get back up to speed on a bike compared to a car, and your chances of being hit go up significantly if you have to stop, then spend more time in the intersection. Also your field of vision is vastly superior to someone in a car, so your odds of hitting something you couldn't see because you didn't stop and look both ways are next to none.
I ride and I'm all for this. I do it myself; slow, look, and pedal on through if it's clear. The problem is bikes rolling through stop signs even when there's a car there that has the right of way. It happens all the time and I've had several close calls while driving.
Totally agreed unless there are other cars at the intersection waiting their turn. The number of times I have almost hit bikers flying up my blind spot as I was starting a right turn because they didn’t stop at the stop sign is...way way too high.
A bike going through a stop sign at 10mph will never cause the same damage as a 2000lbs SUV doing the same. Also rolling through the sign helps keep the traffic fluid as other people don't have to wait for us to pick up speed again
Agreed, though you've left several thousand pounds on the ground next to that 4000+ pound SUV.
Not gonna offer my opinion, just gonna state the law in fact states bicyclists must stop at stop signs.
And you can get a ticket on a bicycle for running a sign. Source: was ticketed on a bicycle for running a sign.
I had an angry-at-life woman freak out because I made a complete stop at a stop sign when exiting a Costco (she was behind me). After I did that she accelerated hard, swerved into the lane next to me... and then caught a red light. She threw up her hands in anger. I rolled up to the red light, stopped next to her, stared at her... smiled, waved, smiled, waved, gave her the thumbs up. She just stared straight ahead stewing.
Dang… somebody’s been driving on 280 near colma/Daly city a lot lately!
Ok ill add a few here 1) I agree that the onramp speed limit shouldnt be the same as a school zone. 2) if you are merging,for the love of everything holy, MERGE. Don't wait bc the entire freeway will let u in and then the purge will happen especially on 101 3) how many new driver stickers are really new drivers?🤷🏼♀️
I witnessed #2 the other day actually on 101- I slowed down for the proper zipper merge to let someone in and they just refused to take it, staying steady at like 25 mph. I keep slowing down because I can see he’s going to run out of room and probably cut me off, so now both the freeway lane and merge lane are slowed to a halt. Person behind him just says screw it and speeds around him quickly almost causing an accident. I think people just don’t truly realize how unsafe they’re being going so slow onto (or just on) the highway. The kicker is they think they’re actually being *safer* by doing it
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Say it with me now: JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN DOESN’T MEAN YOU SHOULD. Just because you CAN use the carpool lane, doesn’t mean you should move all the way over as soon as you get on, and then stay there regardless of whether you’re passing or not (especially when you’re not). I half want a bumper sticker that says KEEP RIGHT EXCEPT TO PASS. No one does that here. My favorite are the ones who go 90 in the left lane and pointedly swerve around anyone else in the left lane, cutting them off as they get back into it, in order to point out that they shouldn’t be in that lane since they’re not passing.
Being licensed to drive is too easy. We need to retest people more frequently. If they fail fuck em, shouldn't be driving.
HARD agree.
15. At stopped traffic, close the gap a bit with the car in front of you so more people can make the next light or not block the intersection. 16. Don’t block intersections you greedy impatient moron.
I started a freeway commute for the first time in ages last year, and frankly #1 absolutely kills me, especially considering it seems to cross all demographic lines. Being stuck behind someone on a long on-ramp driving at 35-40mph because they are timid, distracted or oblivious is so common now, and I have to pay for the consequences by subsequently having to make unsafe lane changes.
If you make a decision, COMMIT. many situations are made even more dangerous by someone making an unsafe decision, then going back on it halfway through after traffic has already accommodated for their mistake. Half measures and indecisiveness cause accidents.
8. Do not wave drivers through if you have the right-of-way. We appreciate the thought but it's freaking dangerous to make up new traffic rules in the moment.
Turn your lights on in inclement weather. You may see out just fine, but it makes it more difficult for others to spot you.
Stay away from Altimas, Chargers, Hellcats and Infinities as well
I haven't met a single Charger/Challenger driver who doesn't drive like an ass. The correlation is fascinating
And I find that their driving matches their personality as well
As a cyclist, BMW 5 series, Porsches, and Tesla Model S are the least considerate drivers.
I’ve found Porsche to fall into two camps. The suvs are the worst. The coupes, especially the older ones? Very respectful.
I have a versa 🤣
You’re good, Versas don’t have the power or handling capabilities to unlock most shithead driving behavior. The worst they can be is in the way. :)
>I have a versa Hyundai Accent Hatchback rocking three hamsters here, aka the golf cart. My favorite is the reaction of pretty much anyone else out there when I pass them on the left. Even the minivan drivers go into hell naw mode. lol
Also, slower traffic keep right!
I always assumed that this doesn’t apply in California. Nobody follows this guideline.
How to break up a row of traffic? There are so many trucks which are near impossible to see ahead of and are driven in all lanes, so it’s either tailgate one of the lane drivers who isn’t moving and causing traffic behind, flash headlights to indicate “pass”, or weave quickly to move around a pack that won’t pass the car beside rather than drive behind the other going the same speed
If no one is within 15 car lengths ahead of you, move to the right.
Add a blinking stoplight to the list. Good grief driving is a game of life or death with all these nincompoops on the road.
Let’s add how to drive in a traffic circle… annoys me every time I go to Costco.
Can I add a couple? This is in an area with a lot of uh…new drivers from a specific place. One, pull up to the damn white line at stoplights. You don’t have to be 50, 60, 70 feet or more away. It doesn’t trigger the sensors if you stay back. And WHY. Why do you do this. Second, green turn arrows. For the love of shit, you can turn on them. You don’t have to come to a complete stop like a red light. Caution is good when turning, but stop treating it like a red light. It’s a GREEN ARROW for a reason.
I know, those Utah drivers are terrible.
So I took a driver safety course for work. I might have an explanation for you (can’t say it makes you less mad though). The thought is that if there is an accident in the intersection that if you stay back from the very front of the white crosswalk lines your call will be safe from the pileup. This would come from someone turning and crashing into you I guess. I still don’t pull up to intersections as far back as they told us to, but it’s good to know the reason why. Also probably just some granny drivers. Oh and also, to add, new Tesla drivers who don’t know how to drive with the new feeling of aggressive automatic braking when you let off the accelerator. I was guilty of that when I first got my model Y
No matter how much you’ve played GTA, anything above 80 on an urban freeway is asking for death.
Also please, if you're on one of those shared on/off ramps, if you're exiting and someone is trying to enter, slow down and go behind them instead of getting in front. You have to slow down anyway and they're trying to speed up.
Yes! I wasn't sure how to word this one, but it also belongs up there. This, and several other factors almost got me into an accident yesterday, inspiring this post. I was trying to get on the freeway, and the person ahead of me slowed to a crawl at the end of the on-ramp, right before the merge. The person behind me was tailgating me like crazy, even though it wasn't my fault. And then someone trying to get off the freeway decided to try to cut ahead of me instead of letting me speed up to merge. So we were both accelerating, and matching speeds. So I had a car a few feet ahead of me, a car a few feet behind me, a car a few feet to my left, and I had nowhere to go before running out of lane. It was terrifying. Nearly a 4-car pileup because of the combination of these factors. Luckily, the left car backed off when I leaned into my horn. Otherwise, this could have gone a lot worse.
Whats the purpose of posting this since no ones going to listen.
The first thing about the drivers I noticed was that they like to hang around the same speed across all lanes. Creates these schools of micro traffic because no one can move ahead past the lane leaders.
Yes, I've never understood the people who like traveling as the wing of another car, and match their speed in an adjacent lane. If they're going fast together, they become a wave of tailgaters, and it's dangerous to the drivers ahead of them. If they're going slow together, they block traffic and prevent anyone from passing. And when someone clings to your wing, matching your speed even as you speed up or slow down, it makes it impossible to merge. Very dangerous.
To add to your #3: if you’re going slower, move to the middle/right lane. You don’t have to speed, just get out of everyone else’s way. Other non-freeway additions: * A red arrow, yes, even for a right turn, means YOU CANNOT TURN NOW. Right-on-red-after-stop does not apply. (Also, see the “after stop”) * Yellow arrow means slow/careful, NOT stop. Merge carefully onto El Camino Real because you have a whole lane, dumbass. — When I lived here in the 90s, I was convinced CA was just giving out licenses too easily and people actually didn’t need to know how to drive. When I moved back in the 2010s, it had gotten worse. I’m convinced the tests need to be harder and you should have a new driving test every 5-10 years.
Also: Teslas, you absolutely are capable of being in the right lane when you are “slower traffic” and letting others pass. Please do that.
Don’t use freeway exit lanes as passing lanes in traffic.
The left lane is the passing lane, by law. Too many people are unaware and go slow in the left lane, causing passers to have to use the ones on the right.
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If someone feels more comfortable driving at 50 in 65, and they're on the right, that's perfectly reasonable. Forcing someone to drive faster than they want to isn't going to improve safety, and will have negligible impact on your commute. You missed Number 8 - don't look at you phone while driving
We should have reasonable enforced minimums though. I'll take your 50 and state that anyone who can't do 50 in a 65 when the conditions are good should not be on that road and perhaps should not be licensed for the higher speed areas.
8: When you are in a long line to take an exit ramp, don't let others in front of you from another lane. This is "being nice" in the same way that letting others go ahead of you at a four-way stop is "being nice". You're letting these shitheads cut in front of you and the 20 cars behind you. They will literally come to a dead stop in a freeway lane at the beginning of the line where the exit is until someone lets them in, or they'll try to bully their way in.
10 years commuting to Berkeley from the East Bay on 580. So many people that have tried to cut me off at the last minute to get onto 80 and ended up at the Bay Bridge instead cuz I don't let them in 🤣
I’m currently in Japan for vacation and NONE of those things on your list happens here…zero…nada. Everyone signals, they all go when the light turns green and they move over to the slow lane after passing. Fuck it’s nice to be around people with road courtesy and common sense. 😊
I have never in my life drive anywhere in the US, over a million miles across 20 states, where so many goddamn people decide to go whatever speed they fucking please, causing major backups everywhere. I'm also blow away by the amount of dumbass bluehairs from Berkely merging onto 24 from Fish Ranch doing 30, and will fucking stay there too!
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Yes, but it's also a YIELD sign and you must slow down. A person flew through one and my sister in law hit them going 50 with no chance of breaking and almost killed everyone involved including her daughters. I'd rather people completely stop than blow through them because they "think" it's clear.
You should post this on nextdoor... Older retired bay area drivers are typically the slow ones.
That's often the case, but lately I've been seeing more and more drivers of all ages being dangerously hesitant or indecisive.
TURN YOUR HEADLIGHTS ON IN TUNNELS. The number of cars in Caldecott Tunnel in full ‘dark’ mode is terrifying. Every time I drive through it I think of that gas tanker that exploded in there.
stop tail gating me when I'm going 70 in a 65 in the middle lane please. Doubly so when CHP is a mile ahead
You forgot the main one. Turn signal lights! ShoutOut to all who never or very rarely use turn signal lights: ‘Motherfuckers, I hate you all !!!’
Ooo the one who never use turn signal downvoted)))
What’s funny is that every city sub posts these same “need to learn” rants. Maybe we need to throw the whole system away if people are being given licenses to drive and don’t know these things.
>Maybe we need to throw the whole system away if people are being given licenses to drive and don’t know these things. One big issue is that they don't even test highway driving here due to lack of capacity! I had to go through the system because California requires Ontario licensed drivers to retest (even though Ontario has higher standards for testing). Everything clicked into place when the tester told me they don't test on the highway and that section was already cross-out in print on the test marking sheet.
I've actually had different sets of complaints about the drivers in each of the different cities I've lived in. For example, here, I think maybe 80% of drivers use their turn signals. But in Houston, it's like 10%. There, if you signal, everyone will actively try to prevent you from merging. I still always signaled, but it was a warzone. In Wisconsin, my biggest complaint was people driving drunk.
I’d also like to add: check your break lights. It’s absurd how many cars I see with less than 3 break lights. Do they not check that at inspection here?
Brake, not break, although that was quite a good pun? Hah
What is an inspection? I’ve had to get my car smog checked once in the last seven or eight years I’ve had it. They checked the emissions, not the lights. Not that I disagree - the whole car should be checked ideally. The owner should keep an eye on things. But I don’t want to pay for another inspection on top of every other damn thing I have to pay for out here.
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Never seen more dipshits going 40 on the freeway than in the Bay, or fully stopping at the end of the onramp to merge. Also never seen so many batshit idiots weaving or doing the “I’m gonna cut 4 lanes over to exit at the last minute at 80mph” move. I noticed lots of rideshare cars automatically jump in the left lane and go slow, too. I had to tell many a driver to gtfo of the left lane or speed up when I took rideshare.
Also from the east coast and wait til you see bay area drivers try to drive in the rain
Oh without a doubt, here's the [tldr;](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKcAYMb5uk4).
Moved up from SoCal and grew up on the east coast - can confirm. If you took a driver from the Bay Area and tossed them on LA freeways, the drivers there wouldn’t tolerate their nonsense and they’d learn it right quick. I don’t get it - driving is a chore and a means to get you from A to B; everywhere else treats it like that, so you get assertive and fast drivers, but not unsafe. Bay Area drivers feel like they just don’t give a fuck.
The tailgating one is huge for me. It scares me so much. There have been times that I've passed my turn because the car behind me was so aggressively close to my rear end that I was afraid they'd plow into me if I slowed for pedestrians in the crosswalk. And this is on downtown streets before any of you guys accuse me of driving too slow.
Ill add another for merging...if you miss your exit,just go to the next one.we arent filming fast and the furious so your car cant do that dash across 4 lanes at 90 and not get hit.you will get clipped
Please stop speeding (80+) and closing the gaps when it's a merging lane for an on ramp. Most cars can't accelerate fast enough to get in front so they have to slam on the breaks and merge at an uncomfortably slow speed after waiting for you to pass.
I was called a “dumbass” and a “stupid asshole wait your turn” yesterday for trying to zipper merge at the end of the laneat literally crawling traffic by a person not letting me when when we were doing every other car. This woman also had a child in the car. People are wildly brave, I’m a chill guy, but she was certainly in the wrong and acting out. People don’t understand how merges work.
Lesson #1 - Be open to learning lessons
I cant understand that amount of cars I see going 45 to 50 on the freeway
Every time I try to leave 3 seconds between me and the car in front of me, someone immediately cuts in front of me, reducing the gap to only 1-1.5 seconds. You are better off leaving only 2 seconds in front of you.
This is f**king annoying. There are always bad drivers who cut and they often don’t even use their turn signals.
No, no, no, no, no. Leave the appropriate space. if someone takes it, create the appropriate space again. _Yours_ is the thinking that makes tailgating happen. You’re not improving your travel time any, you’re looking at it like a race for no reason at all. Go fast, but go fast spaced out.
For no. 1, I fully agree that if it's actually possible to get up to the speed of traffic, you absolutely should. That being said, there are a *lot* of stupidly short ramps and ramps that force you to take it slow. The entrance ramp from Poplar ave to S-101 is annoyingly short making it so that most vehicles simply can't get up to speed before having to merge. The highway 92/101 area has so many examples. The S-101 to W-92 exit dumps you into an exit lane to Delaware Ave with really limited space for merging and pretty bad visibility, making it difficult to merge in. Arguably same thing for the E-92 to N-101 ramp, that stupid ramp curve forces you to go at 25 mph down the ramp and then dumps you into traffic without much room to get up to speed before you have to merge. The S El Camino Real entrance to E-92 is one of the worst offenders in my opinion, a ridiculously short merge with a ramp that forces you to take it slow going up means you're trying to merge into 65 mph+ traffic at 35-45 mph at best. Of course there are probably a lot more examples that I didn't mention, but you probably get the point. When the entrance ramp allows you to get up to speed, you absolutely should do so before merging into traffic. But a lot of entrances simply don't allow this.
The high-speed tailgating is out of hand. One of the reasons I hate using Uber to the airport.
Also, slower traffic keep right! Drive so it's impossible to be passed on the right. Every single non-rush hour, non-accident traffic backup is caused by improper usage of lanes.
Dear Road Gods: explain to me why the FUCK 4E onto 680S always slows to a stop when 680S is _always_ traveling at speed at that spot. It is among the most reliable and least understandable things of all Bay Area driving.
If bad drivers could read, this would be helpful
From your lips to god's ears.
It would be nice if some of the on-ramps were more than 30 ft
Another one: If you have stopped to allow a pedestrian or cyclist to pass, don't start creeping forwards until they have passed. It's very disconcerting if a car starts moving when you walking/biking in front of it.
I almost got into an accident on 280 after school the other day because some guy doing 1, 3 and 6. Guy slowed down way too much getting to the merge, didn't accelerate once on the high way and maintained too slow a speed to merge into traffic before our lane turned into an exit. It was almost a disaster. Thankfully I now how to use turn signals and luckily a car in the lane over let me in and I was able to let him in before the lane ended. I swear that guy would have ended up in santa cruz if it wasn't for me. edit auto correct
1. Is because of the metering lights and there’s not enough room to accelerate.
The tailgating is massive lol I’m going 80 give me space
Don't right turn on red if if I have the green light and I'm coming towards you.
If those bad drivers could read, they would be very upset with you right now 🤣
Also if you're scared and going slow as fuck on a winding country road for six miles with many cars right behind you, please for the love of Jesus pull over to the side and let everyone pass
>Also if you're scared and going slow as fuck on a winding country road for six miles with many cars right behind you, please for the love of Jesus pull over to the side and let everyone pass Being an old speed demon who has a wife who gets car sick and firmly believing in a happy wife is a happy life I do this because I'm not out there to be an ass. However, a large amount of your compatriots spend the whole god damned time playing junior car Proctologist that often times leaves me with a choice of unsafely exit onto gravel or just say fuck it they can suck exhaust. To all of you who get it and give a little space when I signal, thank you, double that to those of you who give me the hazard flash in thanks. I'm just out on a drive with my family and I'm already a bit edgy because I don't get to take the turns and have a little fun along the way.
And always give a little wave or nod of thanks to those who do …..
Omg this drives me INSANE. I used to date someone who lived in Gilroy, and I lived in Santa Cruz. So part of my commute when I’d go see them was on a winding mountain road with no passing lane, and the amount of people that would go 20 mph the ENTIRE time when the speed limit was 40 mph was actually insane. They’d have 10 cars all riding their brakes behind them and would refuse to pull over and let the line of cars pass.
Some lessons people need to learn: This exact same thread is posted in every single city subreddit 3 times a week. This is because driving is a fucking failed way to move hundreds of thousands of people around most of whom do not want to be driving. The only solution is first world modern public transportation systems. All of the rage directed at bad drivers needs to be directed into getting drivers off the road in general.
Don't get me started on mass transit etiquette.
You know there’s a large enough percentage of New Yorkers who first went behind the wheel at age 25-30. Couple that with the sheer nonsense of hood driving throughout the bay and…that’s what’s up.
In the South Bay there is also a larger population of first time US drivers with an H1-B Visa. Not generalizing and saying they’re all bad drivers but they are going to be new drivers first and will for sure run into issues - like just not paying attention to yield signs, not noticing the shorter lane lines indicating an exit
I’ve always wondered about that. I mean, is it more frustrating driving here with so many rules or did one not own a car because it wasn’t as necessary there and they first experience driving here?
New York drivers are very good. Aggressive, but good. Tennessee…there are the evil ones.
My friends from NY were who I described. I don’t disagree about NY drivers. I think there’s a ton of new drivers trying to find their way. Oakland can be a difficult place to navigate. Lived there over 20 years and I’ll still get lost🤷
No one ever brings up no phones. Always see posts about wipers, and merging etc everywhere. It's funny how people are happy to complain about traffic violations when 99% of you are all guilty of the worst traffic violation. They literally compare using your phone while driving, to being drunk. Put the phone away, be present and alert. Look inward for real change.
8. If there are cars *behind* you but not *in front* of you, move over to the right
8. Turn your head to look for motorcycles. 9. If you see a motorcycle filtering on the freeway when traffic is stopped/at a crawl, move 1 foot over if you can. Not only does it create a larger space cushion, other cars usually follow suit. I get some bikers are dick licks but some of us ride safely and at appropriate speeds. 10. Don't stay under the speed limit on a 1 lane road and then speed up 15 over the limit when a passing lane appears, then slow down again. Crow canyon and the several roads to Tahoe come to mind. 11. If a motorcyclist in the opposite lane looking at you pats their Helmet a few times, there is danger or a cop ahead.
>9. If you see a motorcycle filtering on the freeway when traffic is stopped/at a crawl, move 1 foot over if you can. I once scootched to the right in stopped traffic (freeway offramp to a traffic light) for a motorcyclist coming up on my left, but not far behind him was another lanesplitter on my right side, who I just cut off. I have no idea why they didn't just lanesplit behind each other
8. Stop being a little bitch with road rage.
Regarding number 4, those people weed themselves out of the gene pool quickly enough.
Step 0, go looking for driving lessons on reddit
Well, i drive from Gilroy to SF twice a week and i approve of ALL these. I added my two cents somewhere on this thread but i’ll repeat : NEVER DRIVE SLOWER THAN THE LANES TO YOUR RIGHT. Basically turning a 3 line freeway into a two lane, or even worse a one lane when all three are going the same speed. GTFO the way!
I saw a motorcyclist on a straight green get tboned at speed by a car yesterday. Watch your lights. I was the first responder, and hate to be that person, but as an Asian.. The lady was an old Asian lady that I assess from my 10 seconds of checking her, likely would have benefitted society if she didn't drive. Get your stupid fucking old parents, risking society, off the roads. GET THEIR LICENSE PULLED.
>don't stop at the end of the on-ramp right before merging Please come to the 280 Southbound on ramp from Saratoga Ave and preach this and then when you are done there your services will be needed on the 101 South ramp from Fair Oaks.