r/driving • • 14h ago

Venting Motorcyclists should be legally required to wear protective gear

13 Upvotes

I want to say first: I am a Rider, and I also have lived in Sturgis, so I see/have seen this A LOT.

We legally require people in cars to wear seatbelts, yet in many states, adults can ride motorcycles without even wearing a helmet. How does that make sense?

Motorcycling is inherently more dangerous than driving a car. You don’t have airbags, crumple zones, or a metal frame surrounding you. In an accident, your body is taking the impact.

I’m not saying motorcycles should be banned or that riders should be covered head to toe in racing equipment. But at the very least, helmets should be mandatory, and I think there’s a reasonable argument for requiring additional protective gear.

The usual argument is that adults should be free to decide what risks they’re willing to take. But couldn’t you make that exact same argument about seatbelts?

We already accept that the government can require basic safety measures when operating a vehicle on public roads. Why should motorcycles be the exception, especially when the consequences of an accident can be so much worse?


r/driving • • 7h ago

Venting Right on red

3 Upvotes

If you are so timid that you can’t handle turning right for 30+ seconds of absolutely clear unobstructed opportunity…. Then just sit your ass until you get the official green! Hint…. When every car is stopped there will be cars coming out of the turn lane or straight in a few seconds. It’s not the time to very slowly and badly creep out and then not even be able to handle turning into the right lane. Nope you are going 2 mph and 4 people just slammed on their brakes mid intersection. You had a chance like 50 seconds ago. Not now!


r/driving • • 14h ago

Venting Pet peeve: drivers who join a road and never get up to speed “because my turn is just up ahead.”

170 Upvotes

Not everyone behind you is turning, and your turn isn’t “right up ahead,” it’s in a quarter mile. You’re forcing people to drive slower for no reason because you can’t be bothered to think of anyone other than yourself.

Have some basic awareness and courtesy and drive like there are other people on the road.


r/driving • • 3h ago

Need Advice Do yall be grunting and moaning every time yall make a turn when driving your car?

0 Upvotes

like if you have to put a lotta strength into turning the steering wheel especially if you have a big ass truck or something, isn’t it normal to moan when making turns?


r/driving • • 4h ago

Need Advice New Universal Sign?

0 Upvotes

We’ve universally accepted that flashing your high beams signals there’s a cop/speed trap ahead (or you forgot to turn your brights off and the other driver is letting you know you’re an ass).

What can we adopt as a society to signal to others they don’t have their lights on at night??? Cause boy has it gotten horrendous.


r/driving • • 4h ago

Venting Running Late

0 Upvotes

When you're running late, do you check the time every chance you get, or are you like, "Don't tell me. I don't want to know."?


r/driving • • 14h ago

Lesson 22: Understanding the 85% Speed

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1 Upvotes

I think what he's describing is what I've long understood but didn't have the words for.

People shout at you that "driving the speed limit is easy", which is a bit of an equivocation. Walking sideways is, in a literal sense, "easy", but that doesn't make it intuitive to sustain over a hike.

Even though you see non-compliance rates of well over 90% where limits don't match the road, and under 10% where they do, the only explanation normally offered is some variation of a hasty generalisation about the attitudes or recklessness of people in cars, whereas Charles Marohn from Strong Towns actually tries to offer a better explanation. It might be imperfect, but it's still better than a hasty generalisation, because the latter isn't really an explanation at all.

I also wonder whether the Pygmalion effect might be at play here, particularly when you see examples of average speeds actually going down slightly after the speed limit has been raised.


r/driving • • 10h ago

Need Advice If a car hits a person and the crosswalk was flashing hand, whos at fault?

0 Upvotes

I want to know who would be at fault in the scenario:

Man crosses street but right as he put his foot at the cross walk, the crosswalk sign was flashing red or the palm. A car comes from the mans left, so car was making a left out of a parking garage street light and hits the man and he is injured, driver had a green light to make a left or right but at the light there was a sign that said "yield to pedestrians crossing", again the man who got hit was crossing and looking at the cross walk sign.

Now this is Reddit where everyone hates whoever posts anything on here so you will come with the mindset that I am at fault, I am the driver and the passenger so you dont fall for this bias. Who is at fault here? The car did have a sign that says to yield but the crosswalk was flashing hand meaning either dont cross or finish crossing. Who would be at fault? I am leaning towards the man walking but then again I heard somewhere that most of the time if a car hits someone the car is almost always at fault.

Edit: I asked chatgpt and it does vary by state but chatgpt seems to lean towards to pedestrian for not reading/looking both ways before crossing.


r/driving • • 18h ago

Need Advice How can I become a perfect driver before driving my new car?

0 Upvotes

Hi everyone, I'm a beginner driver in Hyderabad. I've learned the basics at a driving school, but I want to improve my driving skills before using my new car.

How can I practise daily and become confident in traffic, parking, reversing and clutch control?

Are there any affordable options to practise for 1–2 hours daily?

Please share your suggestions.

Thanks!


r/driving • • 6h ago

Need Advice Someone tell me I'm not cooked

1 Upvotes

I'm in drivers Ed in the driving portion and just drove on the rode for my first time and I am terrified for tomorrow now I didn't do bad I think especially for my first time on the rode my driver instructor even told my mother I did good and he'd see me tomorrow but I'm scared out of my mind not because I ran a red light stop sign I didn't get hit or ran off the rode just didn't realize he was telling me to go because I thought he was talking to himself about a car needed to go I was only today made aware I could fail the driving part of drivers Ed and now I freaking out because I think I'm gonna somehow fail also is it normal for the teacher to sometimes guide the wheel? I haven't gone off rode or anything just lightly drifting a little to far to one side and he'd correct it for me does that mean I could be in trouble too? Please someone tell me this isn't fail worth material I'm so scared of driving and of failure no one else I know that has gone has failed and I'm freaking out its only three days one alright down and I'm terrified 🥀

Sorry I'm just yapping Edit: sorry for the absolutely terrible grammar and writing this was all mainly just to vent and I didn't care enough to make it look pretty or fully understandable just wanted to get this all out


r/driving • • 9h ago

I feel like a asshole

1 Upvotes

So when writing this about 30mins ago I made my first big driving mistake and I feel like shit for it so to tell you what happened I was at a four way red light and I was turning right now I know this doesn’t excuse it but I was on the phone not like holding the phone but it was connected to my car and I was trying to figure something out about my car so I was talking thinking and not paying attention so I accidentally ran a red light almost hitting another car and I know I’m in the wrong this isn’t about if I was or wasn’t I just wanted to vent about it and how it made me feel like such a asshole (for the record I would say I’m a pretty good driver but I am still new I just got my license about 5 months ago)
(So just wanting to hear anyone’s thoughts on it anyways have a good day)


r/driving • • 6h ago

It's nice to be a passenger for once. It's usually me who ends up being the driver. 🙂

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6 Upvotes

What about you?


r/driving • • 10h ago

⚠️Complaining into the void⚠️ Why do many people say that driving a car with manual is cool?

0 Upvotes

First of all, it's not some special skill. It's just boring, inconvenient, and you get tired of it (especially in traffic jams). Secondly, the majority, the vast majority of people do not buy manual because they want 911 on manual. They buy a car because it's cheaper (in terms of maintenance, fuel, and so on). In addition, in the lower price segment, manuals are often a necessary measure to make a car with 100-120 horsepower and weight around 1600 kilos running.

I had a Renault Sanderro with the manual. I had to put it in 3rd gear to accelerate to 60kmh(40mph), and if I wanted to go even a little faster, needed 4th. That is, I needed 4th in the city speeds.

Now I have a car with a robotic gearbox (DSG-like), and I never want to drive a manual again.


r/driving • • 9h ago

Should there be tighter regulations on cell phones while driving?

19 Upvotes

EDIT: How do we better enforce the laws or regulations?


r/driving • • 14h ago

Need Advice Instructor gives contradictory instructions and that really confuses me

0 Upvotes

My driving instructor is a great guy but he often gives instructions that are contradictory to ones he gave before previously. Here im just gonna list some examples: One: 1. Always downshift to 2 before corners 2. This corner could be done in 3 3. Not everything is black or white 4. No You shouldnt rely on feeling, you must follow the procedures

So he wants me to always follow the procedures, but he also says its not all black or white. Yea what is it?

Two: 1. I drove on a busy high speed road and accelerated gently. The instructur floored the gas pedal to show me I shouldnt be afraid of accelerating faster and told me to accelerate faster. 2. Another later lesson I remembered this lesson and we got onto another busy high speed road where I had to merge so I thought he probably wants me to floor it here too so I did and then he said calm down

Three. 1. A light turned orange and I honestly thought the most appropriate reaction wad to keep drivinf because we were already so close to it. The instructor braked very hard. 2. Then a later lesson I saw a red light too late somehow, but then cotrected myself by braking maximum force and was still able to stop before the red light. Insttructor: dont brake so hard!!! Why do you always vrake so hard, traffic behind can get scared or collide with us

So a lot of his instructions seem to contradict eachother and that confuses the heck out of me. Im supposed to do something but at the same time also not supposed to do it?

How do I know what im supposed to do when the instructions randomly change like that.

Could I be the problem and misinterpreting tbings somehow?

If im not replying seemingly, its because this subreddit behaves weirdly in the way that after some comments it shadowbans the rest of my comments in the thread so if that happens I will reply further to comments by editing the post or commenting tomyself there then.


r/driving • • 13h ago

How to react to potential danger/increase awareness?

0 Upvotes

Today I had my 3rd driving test and I performed worse than my actual lessons. My problem is that I can't look ahead. And now I do not how to. I take my lessons very seriously, am always punctual to my classes, try my utter best to not make any mistake. Is spending on more lessons the only solution? Does anyone have tips on how to be more aware of their surroundings? To be present and see potential danger. This is where I lack and apparently the only solution is to buy more hours on the road.

I have tried saying things out loud but it also kind of doesn't work because I don't keep up with it.

Thanks in advance!


r/driving • • 9h ago

Why are there 4 signals for 2 lanes of traffic?

1 Upvotes

From what I gather, the 3 on the right are for the right lane and the 1 on the left is for the left lane, and it's split for a unprotected left and a protected left. Why would you need 3 lights for the right lane though?


r/driving • • 10h ago

⚠️Complaining into the void⚠️ Annoying new trend?

150 Upvotes

What’s with people actively not accelerating on the on-ramp to the highway? This seems to be a new phenomena. People are getting in front of me anywhere between 25 miles an hour, and 40 miles an hour, as though they are on a local street and then once they’re actually in a lane of traffic on the highway they might takeoff and hit 80 or they might gradually accelerate like a grandpa. Most of these people appear to be 40 years older or less.


r/driving • • 8h ago

What was the ‘breaking point’ or reason that made you replace your last car?

26 Upvotes

r/driving • • 17h ago

How do I form better driving habits

2 Upvotes

I’m a new driver and I’ve noticed myself driving more and more recklessly (not intentionally of course). Today I was driving my sister and me to school and we were about five feet away from getting t boned by a bus and I would definitely have been killed and she might have been killed. I know what I need to do (pay more attention to the vehicles around me, keep my head in a swivel, always double check if I’m clear) but I don’t know how to form these habits. On top of that I have adhd and I get lost in my own head sometimes when driving (which makes it even MORE dangerous)

Tl;DR: I have adhd and am trying to form better driving habits for my and my family’s safety, any tips?


r/driving • • 1h ago

⚠️Complaining into the void⚠️ What do you do when police itself drives the wrong way?

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• Upvotes

This was a particularly jammed road,one way, police decided to just randomly get into the wrong side while staring people.


r/driving • • 12h ago

⚠️Complaining into the void⚠️ Stupid turns

3 Upvotes

I was approaching an intersection northbound behind traffic three seconds after the light turned green, and some jerk driving southbound made a U-Turn to cut off all lanes and nearly hit me in the process. Aren’t you supposed to wait for traffic to clear up before you attempt to turn left or make a U-Turn, not gamble on seizing a twenty foot opening when there are oncoming cars approaching at 35 miles per hour? For more context, there was a solid line of cars behind me and two cars ahead of me in both lanes, the gap was a little over two car lengths between each northbound car.


r/driving • • 10h ago

Venting Are school drop off/pick up lines insane where you live, and do you know if your district has a bus driver shortage?

7 Upvotes

When I see people complaining about the traffic nightmares created by school lines, so many comments just say people need to put their kids on the bus. Comments that say the bus isn't an option, seem to get downvoted into oblivion. What is the school traffic and bus situation like where you live? Do you think most of the parents sitting in the lines are there because they want to be, or because there's no bus for their kid?

That's the question but here's why I'm asking. I sympathize with the people complaining about the traffic and hate that I'm part of it, but have no realistic other choice. Average pay for bus drivers in my state is $17 an hour and my district has starting pay of $22 but still can't get enough drivers so many of the buses the district owns are unused. Routes are so limited that anyone who lives within 2 miles of a school is not eligible to ride a bus. Unless something changes my kid can't take the bus until he's in 9th grade and by 11th he can use the high school parking garage. This sucks!


r/driving • • 16h ago

Need Advice Changing lane advice

5 Upvotes

Moved from a small town to the big city. It seems normal here for people turning left and right to just turn into whichever lane they want. This is bizarre to me, because I turn into the "correct" lane when I go right or left, and then merge over. Normally, the lane I'm merging into should be clear, because at a red light there should no through traffic. But here, when I start my merge the person who was behind me quickly turns into my lane, cutting me off. It's scary af. I then miss turns because I don't have space to merge over, because everyone is doing it.

In Canada, can you go from a one lane turn into a1ny lane you want? I've seen people turn into the lane three lanes over in one go. This happens to me multiple times a day, and I'm starting to wonder if I'm the problem and if I should just turn into whichever lane I want to be in too, without doing any merges. There's no road sign or traffic lines indicating this is expected. I'm very much confused.