There is something about driving a vehicle that makes a person different; some change in our behavior akin to commenting on YouTube: a general lack of sense and respect of fellow man. Drivers get impatient, inconsiderate, irrational, and often unintelligent about their actions. Not only do decisions lead to anger and hurt, but they reduce the overall efficiency of road travel. I would examine a few manifestations of these inefficiencies now.
Certainly we've all seen or been that guy who, in haste or otherwise, thinks he can get ahead by weaving through traffic. Changing lanes, back and forth, left and right, without even getting one warm, each time cutting close to someone else who must slow down to regain a safe (sometimes merely sane) following distance. Not only are they causing many other cars on the road to slow down (thus perpetuating the problem they were trying to defeat), they still get stuck at the same red light as everyone else. They thwart themselves.
I'd like to suggest a bumper sticker most appropriate to this, it would read: "Hurry Up! or you'll miss the red light".
We have a system: slower traffic keep right, faster left. If you pass on the right, you are not just making a casual exception to this systemic convention, you are hampering the car you pass from moving over for faster traffic. Now, consider this in two lanes of traffic: You are passing a slow car by getting into the left lane and driving faster than it. As you pass, another car (or group of cars) traveling yet faster than you come up behind you. Before you reach what you consider to be a safe or courteous distance in front of the slower car, the faster cars sneak between you and start passing you. What are they doing? They are preventing you from returning to the right lane. In this, they are causing you to obstruct the flow of traffic by pinning you to the median. By preventing you from moving right, they are perpetuating the problem they were trying to defeat. They thwart themselves, again.
See above. It is one thing to get pinned in the left lane, but if you are merely cruising in the left lane, you are then inciting the kind of behavior described above. On the Highway, no one should stay in the leftmost lane; it is for passing. Some jurisdictions have laws about this. Move over.
Slowing is an important part of turning. It is essential that you slow your vehicle to a safe speed for maneuvering each turn. For this reason, many intersections feature turn lanes and center turn lanes. Please, for the love of fellow driver, use the turn lane. Move over, get in the turn lane, then slow down. When you slow down in a driving lane, then mosey on over to the turn lane you are forcing everyone behind you to slow down too, creating a compression wave in traffic; wearing everyones breaks and making them all burn more fuel to regain their previous speed.
You're not racing. If someone causes you to drive the speed limit, instead of your preferred five (or ten, or fourteen) over, just thank them for saving you from getting a ticket. If someone needs to merge, let someone merge. When you have to merge in while people are merging out (as in a clover leaf) don't assume it is best to speed up. Not only might you cause others to miss their chance to merge, you might have had an easier time merging behind that car.
Often times, while standing in line, I witness people acting kindly. While standing in line, humans will gladly let people cross through, be slow to advance, or even join their friends (that's right, get ahead). For some reason, though, when we get into our cars, we don't. Perhaps it is because face to face we can ask and that politeness is all it takes, but while in cars we are separated from fellow man. Therefore, don't forget other cars are driven by other humans. You lose little by being kind to them, but by being mean you make your city just a little bit angrier; one driver at a time.
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