What’s some good driving advice the men of Reddit can give me, a soon to be licensed person ?

30 comments

1. Don’t drink and drive at any age. All it takes is one event to be life changing.

2. 2 seconds behind the car in front of you. Look for developing situations around you.

3. Use your god damn turn signals

4. Everyone is a tough guy behind the wheel. Don’t conflate that with how tough you really are, and just remember that there are some absolute lunatics out there.

5. Just be fucking careful. Seriously, you know how to be careful. Young people just don’t usually want to for whatever reason. Just go really slow when you’re not going straight in a high speed limit area. It’s so easy.

6. Don’t drive drunk or fucked up seriously. It sounded corny when I was young like what if I’m not that drunk. Your parents or family or anyone are better off mad at you for having to come get you.

7. The fast lane is exactly that, get over after you overtake the vehicle you’re passing.

8. I’ll just share the best advice I ever received when I started riding motorcycles. It works just fine for 4-wheelers too.

   Drive like everyone is trying to kill you.

   You will soon begin to see a lot of dangerous situations before you drive into them.

9. The single most important thing to do when driving is pay attention at ALL times. Treat driving like a job.. and what it is; a dangerous thing to do. It quite literally can kill you and others.

   And never drink or get high and drive.

10. Be predictable on the road and watch others and learn to predict their moves. In most cases people are very predictable and tend to do the same BS and mistakes over and over again.

    Driving with chatty/attractive/annoying passenger can be very distracting. Pay attention to the road.

    Also- When in doubt-don’t do it.

11. Assume nobody else can drive. Because all it takes is one asshole that can’t to ruin everything, and being ready for it helps you avoid it.

12. Driving fast doesn’t make you cool. Having a loud-ass car that can be heard on the other side of the damn county doesn’t make you cool.

13. Pass in the passing lane, with expedience.

14. When someone merges in front of you, you should not take it as a challenge to your manhood and then attempt to exact revenge. Be mature. Let it go.

15. when it happens, go limp.

16. Keep your gaze distant. If you look well ahead of your path you will always stay in your lane. Look at where you want to go, you will unconsciously drive there.

    Pay attention to everyone else. You’ll pass thousands of cars a day, and the odds of someone else making a mistake are much higher than yours alone.

17. Always signal!

18. Assume everyone else on the road is in a competition for the title of Dumbest Moron to Ever Live.

    You will get significantly better gas mileage by setting your cruise control to the speed limit.

    Not all dickheads drive BMWs, but all BMW drivers are dickheads.

19. Never trust another driver’s blinker, make sure to use yours.

    When you think about drinking and driving or texting and driving, don’t forget the life you may take might not be your own. Don’t put other people’s lives at risk over a couple of beers or a damn text message. If you run off the road and hit a tree because of booze or texting, you deserve it. If you blow through a stop sign and plow a minivan full of kids? That’s a different story.

    If you’re stopped and waiting for traffic to pass so you can make a turn across oncoming lanes, keep your wheels straight until you actually start moving. Otherwise if you get rear ended it can knock you into oncoming traffic.

    If you turn on your turn signal and the light on your dash starts flashing really fast, you have a blinker bulb out.

    Scan ahead. Don’t just keep track of what’s going on right in front of you, always keep scanning in the distance.

    Check your mirrors frequently. Very frequently.

    Don’t change lanes excessively. What’s excessive? If your changing lanes back and forth to try and get ahead of traffic, you’re likely changing lanes too much. Be patient.

    Speeding really doesn’t save you that much time. It won’t slow down the clock, but it can stop yours.
    If you overslept and you’re late for work or school, it’s better to be late and alive than to have your family attending your funeral.

    People are stupid and will piss you the hell off, don’t act stupid in return.

20. – Adjust infotainment and climate controls prior to operating the vehicle (ie while in park)
    – do not pick up your phone while driving
    – Watch Tedward’s videos on driving technique in particular his commentary on highway driving.
    – when you are taking an exit or a corner, I think it is most efficient to brake BEFORE the turn rather than in the turn. If you brake while turning, you aren’t getting the full benefit of braking since the direction in which your speed is declining is split
    – invest in good tires. Don’t just buy whatever they have in stock at sears or Firestone
    – document the shit out of everything maintenance wise. Have a spreadsheet or Apple notes going, scan or screenshot the receipts, etc.
    – almost all automotive advice you get on Reddit assumes cheap is equivalent to frugal. That is often not the case. There may be situations where something is cheaper but also way less reliable, or such a significant hit to quality of life that it’s worth it to spend a little more. Just understand that a used car isn’t *always* a good financial decision, a lease isn’t *always* the worst move, etc. A local third party repair shop is often not the best idea. The point is, do your diligence and don’t just take advice from one group of people, and process what you hear to see if it makes sense in your life or not.
    – start watching something like Chris Fix or ANMONYC to learn about the cosmetic and in some sense “dermatological” maintenance of a car. Once you see swirls you can’t unsee them. Once you get a chip or a dent it’s going to annoy the shit out of you. Once your interior starts to smell like sweat it will bother you. Once you get a few scuffs from shoes and such on the plastic trim it’ll annoy you. These channels will help you learn how to *care* for your possessions, which is a good general sign of maturity, do you have respect for what you own.
    – if you have the opportunity to get a new car, make sure it has safety tech, that peace of mind is nice
    – if you pass and then move back to a more right lane, that’s usually a decent way to ensure you’ll never get pulled over since you won’t be permanently blasting through the fast lane

21. Don’t fret over it.

    The asshole cutting you off on the right is an asshole to everyone, you’re not special.

22. Be cautious, but not scared. In general, everyone else on the road wants to avoid a wreck as much as you do.

23. The only way to learn is behind the wheel, the driving education system sucks. You spend 12 years teaching a kid to use a pencil, which has no moving parts, won’t go more than 1mph and won’t burst in to flames if you flip it and then in 2 weeks have him qualified to operate a 2 ton pile of metal that will do 100mph and is full of distractions.

    Ok. First thing, take your phone and throw it in the backseat where you can’t reach it, that sounds over the top but trust me, you want that distraction out of the way. Plan your routes ahead of time, be ready for turns and stops. Assume that NOBODY else on the road is a competant driver, especially in winter or times of reduced visibility. Keep your speed reasonable, act in a way the other drivers can predict and remember that senior citizens take forever to cross a street but can jump out from behind a parked car with the speed of an electron.

24. When you make eye contact with someone at a red light you are legally required to race them.

25. Be aware of cars coming up and get out of the way of faster cars if you’re in the left lane. This is especially annoying for when you can’t just go around

26. Don’t be a maniac but don’t be a pussy either. Be a confident and decisive driver.

27. Be ready to see idiots on the road

28. Learn what the passing is and stay out of it

29. If you gonna break the speed limit you break it with full power be a hit and runner be a champ

30. Drive within the speed limit and focus on getting from A-B in one piece than rushing like you are late for an appointment.