xkcd #2932: Driving PSA

When driving: Don’t be nice, be predictable.

This happens to me every other day. Ffs please don't be polite, just drive by the rules. I hate it when cars stop in the middle of the road and you have to wait for them to start driving again because you often can't know i f they are being polite of if they are just adjusting google maps and continue to drive.

Another thing that enrages me is people who think driving slowly is safer for whatever reason.

Getting on the highway? Let's SLOWLY merge at 60% the speed of oncoming traffic.

Changing lanes from stationary traffic into a full speed lane? I won't wait for the lane to clear, I'll just turn signal and move into the lane REAL SLOW because that's safe.

Turning right? Let's slow down to a complete stop and force traffic to a halt so I can turn right.

As a delivery truck driver I can't tell you how many people think that everyone else can just stop on a dime for them and they're being safe because they move over at a snail's Pace.

When driving don't be nice. Be predictable.

Nothing gets me closer to road rage than people waving me on when they have the right of way at a four way stop. Like yes thank you that's very polite, but we both could've been through this intersection if you'd gone when you were supposed to.

This applies when you're a pedestrian waiting to cross too. There are always those drivers who think they're doing you a favor by stopping one of the lanes of traffic so you can walk out into the other. They smile and wave and look baffled when you don't take the bait.

Do what is expected of you, not what is polite.

2x this if you're cycling and a driver waves you through

That, to me, looks like an intersection I would never want to turn left on in the first place in anything but the most deserted area.

Watching a couple of Dashcam videos is the perfect way to explore this phenomenon in full HD colour and often colourful sound.

Roundabouts ftw. Best traffic invention to beat time traveling assassins.

Yup. Be predictable, not courteous. You'll save lives.

I'm fine with moving forward and using his car as my new stop line until the lane is clear. He's the asshole for assuming everyone waiting behind him wants to be as courteous and patient.

A selfish asshole that drives predictably is safer than a generous driver that yields the row.

As a pedestrian I had to turn my back to make a guy stop trying to "help" me get in a fatal accident. He was bound and determined to get me killed... By being a "nice guy"

This happened to me, I was the fast car. Here's the dash cam video: https://streamable.com/q98ojg

Does this intersection not have traffic lights? It seems very dangerous without, since the driver from the left can't see the fast through-traffic well. They are also crossing three streams of traffic at once.

In the comic would be space for an extra merging lane at the top, so that the driver from the left only crosses two traffic streams and then safely merges into the 45mph stream from the merging lane

If a time traveler takes the effort to travel back to 2024 and try to kill me then maybe I deserve to die

Also worst design for crossroad EVER.

wave of death

Yesterday, by an accident, I made such a "generous" gesture. Thank god they did not use it.

Happens all the time as a cyclist at 2 way stop signs. No I don't want to go through when you've stopped and are waving me on but the other direction hasn't. I usually just shrug and point at my stop sign

I was the car they were waved into a few hours ago. But the car doing the waving was from the incoming lane (left lane on this picture) so it didn't even register that they stopped. I wasn't even looking left, I was just suddenly cut off and hit the brakes as a reflex all the while wondering what happened and why my car is slowing down.

I see this and worse daily here and I rarely drive.

I've seen this exact scenario but the "polite" person is in a normal lane, not a turning lane. I hate drivers here.

do people in the middle turn lane actually try to get people on the side road to go before them? wtf is even the point of that?

This road design seems also be done by someone completely insane. Who thought it was a good idea to cross two lanes without any kind of traffic regulations.

Luckily no every country has insane roads like that.

I’ve had pedestrians try to wave me to turn. It is as if they think are the only people on the road I have to consider. One got outright angry at me for not taking his gift with gratitude…there he was yelling at me, nearly being mowed down by a truck coming from an oncoming lane at a 3 way stop. And it still didn’t register to him the danger it would have been to himself and to me and the oncoming truck.

I like the idea of calling them would-be assassins even though assumes the general public are a whole lot smarter than they actually are.

is Randall on Lemmy?

This'll sound unhinged but I think commuting by car is a lot like playing League of Legends (emotionally)

You go, no you go, no you go, you go, no you go

Runner up is the assassin that seizes the traffic circle, instigating collisions behind them, just to let someone in out of turn. Only their MO is to delay or prevent a destiny altering meeting of some kind; an advanced tactic.

https://explainxkcd.com/2932

That's just a shitty road design

It doesn't just happen when both people are trying to turn. I have a busy multi-lane road near me with a left turn lane that's just past a stoplight (the stoplight is behind me, but in front of the people whose lanes I need to cross to get to where I need to go.

I'll be stopped in the turn lane waiting for traffic to clear. The stoplight will turn red, and oncoming traffic will back up past the turn lane I'm in. Someone in one of the oncoming traffic lanes will stop before the turn lane to try to let me past, but the people in the other oncoming traffic lane (who are now in my blind spot thanks to the car that stopped to try to let me through) will keep on coming. That's just an accident waiting to happen at that point.

I'm a high school teacher and students and parents both pull this shit. Drives me nuts.

This intersection is the start of my daily commute. Drive to the median, clear of traffic in both directions, then check incoming traffic before proceeding

The very first time I drove a car on my own this happened (i.e. I was waiting to make the "left" turn) and I went and nearly hit another car lol

I was just thinking about interactions like this I've had a few times with different nice drivers, where I think they'll be trying to wave me through (no flashing brights or anything), I'm assuming to be nice, but they're far enough away that I can't see them, so I'm not entirely certain of their intent. Usually it's a busy road, so there's very little margin for error, if I misjudge what they're doing, then there's gonna be a problem. And then you both end up missing a chance to go because they screwed up the process, when, if they just hadn't tried to be nice and just went like they were supposed to, we both could've gone. Just follow the dumb traffic laws.

The exception to this though is at my kid's school. To turn into the school, there's a system that most of the parents follow and it works well, we essentially treat the entryway as a modified 3-way stop. Whoever has the easiest time to get in/get out go last in the order. So people needing to pull out and make a left turn onto the main road get first priority, then people needing to make a left turn into the school, finally people making a right-hand turn either into or out of the school go last. Anyone not going into the school just keeps going.

This system works better than when a traffic cop is occasionally posted to direct traffic (for whatever reason). With the cop, traffic gets backed up everywhere around the school and it takes everyone forever to get where they need to go. Without the cop, most people follow "the system" and traffic flows smoothly. When someone doesn't follow the system, it's not necessarily a surprise because they just don't wait, but usually a car or two later follows the system and everyone goes where they need to. You're rarely waiting for long.

Well phrased!

If one doesn't control the intersection, one doesn't get to be nice.

i always called this the "wave of death"

Rhode Island in shambles

This specific situation wouldn’t be an issue if it was left side driving.