Mastodawn

Aug 21, 2024

I need a sanity check from the fediverse. After all, I'm a mere Illinois driver. I was just informed my dad and his friends have this deep pet peeve while driving that I have absolutely never been aware of or concerned by on safe roads in America.

Imagine you are driving on a multi-lane highway. Yes, I get the "right lane is the slow lane, left lane is the passing lane" thing. But imagine it's like pretty empty road, out in the country, and you're driving the speed you want to go in the right or middle lane.

Another car is along side you in the left lane. There's nobody behind them who wants to go faster. They just hang out at the same-ish speed as you. So you have a car kind of driving next to you.

This makes my dad deeply uncomfortable and he finds it incredibly rude. Fediverse, if the driver is doing nothing else objectionable, is it him, or me?

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KeithTheEE Aug 21, 2024

@hacks4pancakes absolutely dislike when this happens.

When Driving I think about where can I quickly put my car in an emergency to get out of the way of something, if someone is sitting next to me in a lane, that eliminates half of my 'escape' routes.

Deer, trash, potholes in the road, etc--how easily I can maneuver or break if something comes out of the blue impacts how I drive.

It's similar to why I don't tailgate-if something happens to the car in front of me I might not have time to stop.

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KeithTheEE Aug 21, 2024

@hacks4pancakes There's also the question of ice, hydroplaning, popped tires. Things that aren't about avoidance but something going wrong in a way that means your car, or their car, doesn't continue driving straight. If we're right next to one another it's more likely I get hit or hit them, if we're not I have a better chance of braking or something to avoid a collision

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KeithTheEE

@hacks4pancakes

It's like a question of minimizing risk's surface area.

Especially in the midwest, where a 3 to 8 hour drive is pretty common to visit folks, why have extended periods of time of unnecessary risk when a bit faster or slower gets you to the same place, but with lower risk.