I feel similarly, except I'm in the other vector. I'm the one getting passed at about 5 mph by everyone else. I trained myself to feel comfortable checking my rear constantly as I feel this is my most vulnerable aspect. I do all my speeding at the track and on-ramps only.

Bikers passing between cars regularly give me the thumbs up for gently moving out of the way to let them pass.

Public traffic negotiation is an entirely different discipline from car control and racing without a lot of overlap. There are many racers that feel they are safer on track than out on public and I feel the same.

The tactical posture I take in traffic is try to assure myself an escape route, an option, in case something happens, ie, never have two cars next to me, leave enough distance with the car in front when stopped in traffic to be able to move out of the way if I see imminent danger approaching my rear.

Another rule I try to live by is if I have to depend on another driver to brake unnecessarily as a result of my actions, I have failed to negotiate traffic properly.

I've seen horrible offenders and some masterful traffic threaders on both sides of the spectrum. These masters are so smooth (instead of the loser herky jerky threaders), the folks in traffic don't even know when they've lost position. Brake lights never come on for these guys.

 

I tend to avoid the "s" word Yes, I typically travel over the posted limit. But then again, I live in New England where the speed limits are set artificially low, without justification. They recently had an ad campaign against "speeders" up here, stating "did you know that even 5mph over the speed limit is seriously dangerous!?!?". To which my response is: "Really? Why is Rt 6 (http://g.co/maps/7nv2k 3 lanes each direction, on/off ramps, no lights, no corners, no cross streets) 50mph and I-295 (http://g.co/maps/mrnnu 3 lanes each direction, on/off ramps, no lights, no corners, no cross streets) 65mph. Are you saying that 55mph on Rt 6 is more dangerous than 65mph on I-295?" What about the people that travel at 10-15 UNDER the speed limit because they are terrified? I'd say that they are more dangerous than the people who are calm and clear headed at 10-15 over.

I agree with this. My personal perspective is that if I'm the one moving forward, I am not letting others dictate my surroundings. You can do this "driving backwards", but it comes off as erratic and unpredictable by anyone approaching you, and the best bet is to hold your lane at that point. But then, you are letting others close up around you and just sit there. I imagine you don't always drive at that rate, but pick it up from time to time to avoid just this situation. I do the reverse, holding higher, and drop it back time to time when I see that my forward progress would put me into a risky situation.

Exactly. This is what I rule on. If someone has to avoid ME, I screwed up.



Without calling myself a 'master', I also avoid lighting my brake lights as much as possible. When I need the person behind me to recognize I am slowing down, I certainly do at least lightly apply pressure to the brake pedal to get them to light up. However, when they do not need to take action based on what I'm doing, I don't want them to over-react and brake just because they see my brake lights. I've seen far too many zoned commuters getting blinders on and only braking because they see brake lights without pay attention to the actual rate of change of velocity of the people involved. Or for example, if I am merging into a slower lane, I brake in the lane I am in, then merge, not merge THEN brake. That's just stupid and trying to cause a pileup 5-15 cars back.

 

RIWWP, I wasn't implying speeding in a negative sense. I meant precisely that we do similar things, but as you noted, by mirror-imaging in the y-axis in the relative sense. I think our core philosophies are aligned.

As you mentioned, I do speed up, sometimes a lot if I have to, in order to gain a favorable position. As you mentioned, being slightly slower, I can be a little lazier with my control inputs (being constant and predictable as you mentioned), but I need to compensate that by becoming more wary of the rear as I'm relying on others to move around me. Going faster than traffic on the other hand, the control inputs rise but rear awareness can drop considerably.

I actually witnessed a pileup by someone merging then braking. Well, not a pileup, but a collision then dispersion involving several vehicles.

 

Understood

Just providing counterpoint for those that may be reading.

 

IMO speeders are less of a danger to others than stragglers. The quintessential old fart in the middle/left lane doing 10/15 under causes way more stress and aggrevation than the 10/15 over driver. (not including reckless manouvres to overtake) I also drive at higher/different speeds in my cars around people because I simply don't trust them. Not ridiculously faster but enough to clear a vehicle in a few seconds.

 

My philosophy of driving is simple:


















Really though, i'm generally aggressive, but it's spawn from being defensive. It also changes with what i drive. I leave far more space during maneuvers if i'm in the winter beater or the wife's car than I do in the 8. In the 8 i know that i can out brake and out turn 95% or more of the traffic around me. The other two cars are average at best (taking driver out of the equation). I'm not a lane weaver really, but I do when i have to. I call it creative driving. I only change lanes if i have a gap ahead to continue my forward progress without drastically changing speed. By this, I'm looking well ahead of the current gap and judging what my next two move are or will be. I never make a move that requires anyone else to use their brakes on my account. I tend to drive about 5-10 over the speed limit and rarely break that pace unless it's really necessary. I'm a big fan of cruise control and try to never turn it off. I check my mirrors often. I want to know who and what is around me at all times.

I too always have an out when on the road. I hate being boxed in and hate boxing people in. I tend to stay in the middle or right lane as much as possible. A state trooper friend of my father's gave me 4 pieces of advice.

1. if you're going to speed, do it in the right lane or center, but always pass on the left when possible. You are further from the radar and less assuming this way. You are also showing some respect for the laws of the road even when speeding.

2. 9 your fine, 10 your mine. Basically saying that less than 10 over and you'll mostly be ok.

3. Never spike your brakes when you see a patrol car in the median. If you're way over, gradually slow down. If he/she wants to get you, they will. Slamming on the brakes is simply an admission of guilt. Simply slowing down is a sign of respect.

4. Always signal a lane change. Especially if you're speeding. They like to see that you're still be courteous of the traffic around you.

I've only been pulled over once on a highway. I broke rule 4. Trooper said that the 20 over i was doing wasn't really an issue for him. It was because i didn't signal a change while doing that speed. He did however drop my ticket to 14 over (no points in ohio at the time) and got rid of the failure to signal violation. It's always been 2 lane roads other than that.


The 3 things i hate most on the highway are:
1. Left lane campers
2. People that can't keep a constant speed and are always passing you then slowing down requiring you to pass them again.
3. Being boxed in.

 

This just reminds me of why our mirrors say objects in mirror are closer than they appear

GL

 

ditto, especially 1 and 2 with a passion

 

So much great advice in the last page. I wish more people would use their brakes less on the highway or just in general, it would help traffic congestion a lot.

I was always taught to try and look far ahead in traffic to see whats going on. I'm usually the first guy to switch lanes when theres a blocked lane coming up and just watch everyone else wait til the last second or almost hit the cones(sometimes they do.. lol.) Most people out on the road today cant drive at all and it is kind of scary to watch sometimes.

 

The guy speeding through traffic, if he's competent, does all the work and he's gone. The old fart makes everyone else maneuver to get by.

Ken

 

If an officer is using readings from a radar gun to write tickets then legally-wise its probably better to slam on your brakes. A 5-mph difference on the radar gun can save you save you $100+ not to mention DL points. Safety-wise, its probably not the smartest thing to do, but I blame that on the system.

 

Rear end is never your fault unless you hit them ... Then id have to take your keys

I was rear ended last year (not in this car)
But she tried to blame me said I went into her lane to fast
Cop said its still her fault cause there was room for me to stop . So she should have also.
Now freeway is different .... I would have spedup or moved.. Aviod getting hit at all cost even if its their fault..

 

LOL serious! +1

 

I really appreciate this. I understand that sometimes there isn't much of a warning so people get stuck trying to merge at the last second, but I hate those ******** that ignore 3 miles worth of warnings to jump ahead of everyone at the last second. I swear they slow things down more than the lane reductions. After a certain point, I don't let anyone over and do my best to make it as difficult as possible for them to get into the proper lane.

I'm not a legal expert, so I'm just basing this off of what I would expect to be the case...

Generally speaking, the reason why someone rear ending another car is almost always at fault is because there is an assumption that the person should be using a safe following distance. I would assume they would not be at fault if they were not responsible for the unsafe following distance. If a car randomly changes lanes 3 feet in front of another car and immediately slams on the brakes, I see no logical reason why the car in the rear should be faulted.

In your case, just because there was room for you to stop doesn't mean that the room available after your lane change was safe for her to follow. If you did change lanes in front of her and there wasn't a safe distance between the two of you, I would say you should have been faulted unless she had sufficient time to adjust her distance from you. I'm not sure if that's how it legally works, but that's how it reasonably should work.

 

I've heard stories of folks intentionally reversing at an intersection into the car behind and win settlement of sorts for being rear-ended. Without some sort of black box or witness, I think the law makes it difficult for the victim (in this case) to win.

Not sure if these are true.

 

As stated earlier in the thread, if the trailing vehicle is a truck, the "rear vehicle at fault" rule of thumb is frequently ignored. Cops and judges know that trucks can't stop all that fast, and they know that people often forget and get crushed for their lack of attention.

Like this lady almost did. If the truck had hit her, SHE would have been at fault:

 

I had someone back into me while stopped at an intesection, hit the side of my car. Not deliberate, just a moron who was lost and decided he needed to change lanes while the light was red.

He then lied to the insurance company (we were both with the same company) and claimed I had hit him. After a lot of acrimonious discussion, the accident did not count against me, but I was out my deductable and did not get paid for a rental car while mine was in the body shop.

My sister in law once stopped to help someone who had run off the road. By the time the smoke cleared, the f***er claimed she had run him off the road and filed a claim against her insurance.

Ken

 

That's a "boulevard rule" situation. Which IMHO (though I'm not a lawyer or expert and thus not entitled to an O) also applies the the OP's accident.

Ken

 

Oh wow. That is so wrong.

I have this in my cars. Pretty decent loop recorder with GPS logging (speed and coords). Also doubles as a motorsports camera. It creates bad MOV files occasionally due to write speed into the SD card (1%), but it's one of the best I've tried. The video quality is very good.

http://dod-tec.us/dod-gs600-car-came...-with-gps.html

 

if someone is rear ended after an incorrect lane change it's hard to prove that person
is at fault if they state they were already in the lane in which they were hit.
the only way to prove that they were not in that lane from the start is a witness.
as for on ramps one of the reasons people speed up when they are already on the
fwy is because they feel like they own the space in front of them and no one can take
it unless they give it to them..

 

Not at fault if T-boned though, right?

 

This video is something that cannot even be compared to my accident. The highway I merged onto has a speed limit from 35-45. Multiple stop lights down it. When I merged onto the ramp, I merged into a safe space that I felt comfortable with while maintaining the speed limit. And this was after seeing the truck and merging. The trucker told the cop that he hit me while I was merging into the lane. I was FAR down the road after the merging ramp. He also told the cop that I merged "over the no merge line". There WAS NO "no merge line". It went merge and then run off the road. And I know I didn't run off the road. Like it has been said, maybe this could have been prevented on both sides. But posting videos like that and saying it was like my situation is wrong to assume.

 

I was simply providing a counter-point to the comments that "person following is always at fault".

The rule of thumb isn't universal, especially when applied to trucks. I didn't state it was your situation.

 

Just want to make sure "my situation" isn't being compared to that. The person driving the vehicle was at a stop. I was already up to speed. By the way. Update. Still trying to talk to the other parties insurance company. They aren't returning calls. Tail light is still busted out. Put some serane wrap over it with duct tape yeeeehawwww tenneseee!

 

Would you feel better if she had rolled the stop sign? The rule applies either way: a vehicle on the highway has right of way over one entering.

I still do not understand how you could have been rear ended by a truck that you claim was going slower than you were.

Ken