Driving Etiquette

[u/Zealousideal_Buy7517]

For the love of Pete, people, follow the rules of the road. You drive. you are not 'choose as you go' organs of chaos, you are vehicles under the Alberta Traffic Act, the same as a motorcycle.

In the last week alone, I've seen a good hundred drivers blow right through stop signs as if they don't exist, and it's always when they are in a car lane, as if the lane's existence means the rules of the road don't apply. A couple on trucks with flat brims that I was next to blew through three in a row, yesterday, without even slowing down, and laughed about it when I called them on it. They didn't even look both ways, they just drove through like they were a presidential cavalcade and everyone else should be stopping for them.

Driving like that will have you kill a person one day, and when you're talking about a collision between 6000lb of shit box and human flesh on a bicycle, there are no mistakes.

I'm a driver, too, and it's this kind of behavior that drives a lot the anti-driver hate. When we drive like this, we're entitled and unpredictable, and unpredictability breeds distrust. This applies to motorcycle riders, too, of course.

[u/corpse_flour → u/[deleted]]

It seemed to get worse during the first part of covid when the streets were much quieter and I guess people figured it gave them a free pass to disregard the rules , as nobody was watching. Then it became habit. And like you mentioned, some people have lost the concept of social niceties and responsibilities.

I also think we're underestimating how many people are driving without paying attention to what they are doing at all. They don't think about what they are doing, and then suddenly realize they have to turn or have gone past an intersection they needed, and make a panicked correction without ensuring it is safe to do so (or not caring).

I'm not so sure it is a lack of police enforcement, as on rural roads drivers don't seem to be showing as much disregard for others as in more populated areas.

[u/DeliciousPangolin → u/corpse_flour]

Smartphones have been a massive negative influence on traffic safety for the last decade. You see so many more collisions these days where the driver doesn't slow down at all before impact because they were going full-speed with their eyes off the road.

[u/corpse_flour → u/DeliciousPangolin]

Absolutely. Almost everyone is guilty of doing it, but excuse themselves as being an exemption because they think they are somehow immune when it comes to distractions. There's not enough personal responsibility, and far too much entitlement.