Observations on Driving Behaviors

Among a long list of driver behaviors, I've noticed through imperical research two types in particular when it comes to lane discipline.
The first type of driver focuses on maintaining a constant speed, and will change lanes in order to accomplish that. The other type of driver focuses on not changing lanes and will adjust speed in order to do that.
I've tested this theory by observing the first kind, and by testing the second. I do this when someone comes up behind me and then slows and stays behind me. They will stay there seemingly forever, but the moment I change lanes they suddenly speed up and pass me. Now I'm not talking about a situation where I'm blocking a lane - That's not the case. This is when I'm not in the passing lane. They may tailgate or not, but they'll just stay there unless I move over. Lately I've tested this theory on about 20 drivers, and every single one of them has done the same thing. Does this agree with your experience?

I change it up. If someone is going TOO slow, I will go around if safe and possible. Sometimes coming up on a driver helps me realize that I'm going too fast. If the speed is within about mph of what I would prefer o be doing, I just may hang out behind them.

as long as people are at least doing the speed limit, I am happy. I prefer 5 over myself. (no, I am not a fast driver when on the road) What I can't stand are people who can't even get up to the limit or those that do not have the guts to speed at all unless there is somebody in front of them going faster.

But if you are really going to get into annoying driving habits. Over the past 5 years or so, I have noticed a lot of people driving their cars with their body right over the middle of the lane. Not the body of the car, but the body of the driver. This puts the car with it's passengerside wheels just kissing the white shoulder line.

A lot of people have been doing it the last couple of years and it was something you rarely saw before that. I have begun to wonder if it is something they are teaching the kids in driver's ed as the younger drivers seem to be the ones doing it the most

I've noticed gravity drivers. It's like the cars around them suck their car in with the gravity that the surrounding cars produce. The gravity drive has no speed of it's own.

Example. You're driving down a 4 lane highway in the middle of the day. Not much traffic. You can see the gravity driver ahead and you've been slowly gaining on them. By the time you move into the passing lane to get around them they matched your speed because of the gravity produced by your car sucked them into an orbit. Until you come upon a larger vehicle, at which point the stronger gravity field of the larger vehicle strips them from the orbit around you and they are left with the larger vehicle. I see it all the time. It really has to do with the mass of the surrounding cars; a gravity driver will never get into an orbit around a motorcycle.

^I tend to drive in the right-side of the right lane too at 2-3 over the speed limit. I notice far too many people who see the dotted the line as a suggestion rather than the rule, so I give myself extra space.

Well, people are stupid.

Also, most people are "followers" and not "leaders". Sorry to be so politically incorrect but most of what you described seems to be the norm for women drivers, they pull out to change lanes and don't increase their speed so they drive along side whomever their passing for miles.

But the most typical behavior is they tailgate you (even if there are 10 cars in front of you), but if you are the only car in line, and you pull over, they inevitably do one of two things, they either A) panic because they got what they want, and fall in line behind you only to tailgate more, especially when you come up again on traffic uphead, or B) they pass, move over in front of you and slow back down.

Apropos of nothing but certainly a face palm moment.

Driving home last week on the 401 (75 mph is about the flow of this highway) I come across a brand new Viper sitting in the fast lane done about 65. (legal speed limit) I could not help myself, I had to tag along right behind to see if he would either move over or get tired of a Scion sitting on his tail. Nope, happy as a clam on his cruise control. Eventually got bored and pulled around.

mad_machine wrote: But if you are really going to get into annoying driving habits. Over the past 5 years or so, I have noticed a lot of people driving their cars with their body right over the middle of the lane. Not the body of the car, but the body of the driver. This puts the car with it's passengerside wheels just kissing the white shoulder line.

I'm convinced driving with my outside wheel near the white line has saved me from countless sideswipes over the years. Try driving to work with near the Honda Marysville complex every day with thousands of hondroids meandering about. It rained yesterday, so of course there were about 10 cars in the ditches along US-33 and accidents on both Honda Pkwy exit ramps.

Hondroids tend to fit into 2 categories: gravity drivers and passive aggressive shiny happy people. The passive aggressive shiny happy person will follow whatever object is clogging up the right lane until a string of cars comes up behind him/her, usually with me leading the string of wheel suckers. The passive aggressive happy person will then get over causing me to turn off cruise control and/or brake. They will proceed to pass whatever object they were trailing at no more than 1mph faster, until a sufficient number of cars have been held up. At this point they have been pacing the object in the right lane for at least 2-3 miles. Once there is just about enough room to pass them on the right to get around them, they will hammer down and accelerate to 75-80mph and quickly move over to the right lane. They will hold this speed until they come up on the next object clogging up the right lane, where they will slow down and repeat from step one. Your only choice is to blow past them before they slow down and move over again or you will be stuck behind them forever and begin plotting their demise.

I was driving a State E350 van in the right-most lane and had a woman tailgate me for miles. Almost no other vehicles on the highway. I fantasized about slamming on my brakes or dropping 1mph every 1/4 mile or so to see how slow I could drive until she finally passed. Or sped up at the same rate to see how fast I could drag her.

But alas, State van hoonery is ill-advised!

In reply to ebonyandivory:

A long, long time ago I had an unintentional tailgater behind me. Older driver that was just transfixed on my back bumper on a 2-lane each way state road. I slowly reduced speed until we were doing 5 MPH. We were the only 2 cars on the road, and he absolutely refused to pass. It was funny/curious more than anything.

In reply to Javelin:

That's incredible. And I'll bet if you had switched lanes (assuming there were other lanes) he would have sped up and passed you.

Gah, my wife is a follower. Drives me crazy when she drives since there can be open lanes around her, but she'll follow along behind someone for miles.

However, if they slow down enough, she will go around, but her inability to monitor the space around her is concerning.

Her idea of emergency maneuvers is to honk her horn at someone who might hit her. Mine is to first avoid the accident and maybe use the horn if I have the cycles.

That said, she is one of the better drivers among her peers and certainly among the mouth-breathers I encounter on a daily basis.

So who's the guy that finally moves out of the fast lane, only to wick it up 6 mph and pace you for five exits?

914Driver wrote: So who's the guy that finally moves out of the fast lane, only to wick it up 6 mph and pace you for five exits?

I believe that would be a shiny happy person, sir.

We had unmarked construction that necked two lanes down to one in a 35 mph zone. I was in the right lane and there was a car about 100 feet back in the left lane. We had been holding this pattern for the better part of a mile. When I saw the construction and that the right lane was closed ahead I put on my turn signal, checked my mirror and glanced over to make sure nobody had snuck into my blind spot. The jackass in the left lane takes this as his cue to speed up and try to force me to tuck in behind him. He's driving a nice, new sedan and I'm driving my beat to E36 M3 Impreza.

I chuckle to myself then glide on over as he frantically accelerates. He flies up on my bumper and is so close I can't see his headlights. I glance in the rear view and smile. "Congratulations, shiny happy person!"

I'm usually very kind and courteous but I can't stand this "I intimidate you! Me first!" kind of driving that is encountered all too frequently in this area. The older I get the less patience I have.

In 35 mph zones I usually putter along in 5th gear turning about 1,500 rpm. So when I see he has no intention of backing off and driving like he has more than a two-digit I.Q., I plop it into 4th. Engine braking; 35mph...34mph...33mph...32mph...31mph and so forth down to about 20mph in 3rd through the whole construction zone.

When the lanes opened up again I was expecting the mean-mug fly-by but as he passed he was staring straight ahead.

Sometimes there's an advantage to driving a haggard pos.

The_Jed wrote: We had unmarked construction that necked two lanes down to one in a 35 mph zone. I was in the right lane and there was a car about 100 feet back in the left lane. We had been holding this pattern for the better part of a mile. When I saw the construction and that the right lane was closed ahead I put on my turn signal, checked my mirror and glanced over to make sure nobody had snuck into my blind spot. The jackass in the left lane takes this as his cue to speed up and try to force me to tuck in behind him. He's driving a nice, new sedan and I'm driving my beat to E36 M3 Impreza. I chuckle to myself then glide on over as he frantically accelerates. He flies up on my bumper and is so close I can't see his headlights. I glance in the rear view and smile. "Congratulations, shiny happy person!" I'm usually very kind and courteous but I can't stand this "I intimidate you! Me first!" kind of driving that is encountered all too frequently in this area. The older I get the less patience I have. In 35 mph zones I usually putter along in 5th gear turning about 1,500 rpm. So when I see he has no intention of backing off and driving like he has more than a two-digit I.Q., I plop it into 4th. Engine braking; 35mph...34mph...33mph...32mph...31mph and so forth down to about 20mph in 3rd through the whole construction zone. When the lanes opened up again I was expecting the mean-mug fly-by but as he passed he was staring straight ahead. Sometimes there's an advantage to driving a haggard pos.

Those are also the kind of guys that will pass on the right IMMEDIATELY as soon as that lane opens back up again, giving no chance for you to move back over in the slow lane even if you wanted to.

Though, usually, they'll mean-mug you, so that's curious.

I actually enjoy those guys in a perverse kind of way. My exhaust exits the right side of my front bumper. No cat. No muffler. Just a 3" straight pipe off the turbo.

I may or may not be able to spew large flames with loud reports out of said exhaust on command. Guaranteed to make one in five douchebags E36 M3 themselves.

If I was a writer, and I most definitely am not, I'd write a book on the psychology of driving behavior. There are many, many things going on out there on the roads....

In reply to Swank Force One:

I was a bit puzzled too. I was fully expecting the Macho Man Randy Savage stare. I always look over with a big perverted grin when this sort of thing happens so he may have found that a bit off-putting, I'm not sure.

bravenrace wrote: If I was a writer, and I most definitely am not, I'd write a book on the psychology of driving behavior. There are many, many things going on out there on the roads....

you could likely write an entire library's worth....

I try to drive a 1/4, or at least an 1/8 mile in front... so I don't usually come up on a slow driver and then change lanes... I've likely changed lanes long before.

Another odd driving behavior - hitting the brakes to change lanes. I don't get it.

Check your mirrors. No one coming? Hit your turn signal and change lanes maintaining speed.

No need to hit the brakes before looking around...

'Spacers' really piss me off.

The berkeleying idiot that feels it is necessary to have 1/4 mile of space between them and the rest of the world driving away way up in front of them. They sit there doing below speed limit when everyone else in the world is trying to do speed limit and get the berkeley around their dumb asses so they can get to work on time.

Cars back up for miles behind these people...

bravenrace wrote: Among a long list of driver behaviors, I've noticed through imperical research two types in particular when it comes to lane discipline. The first type of driver focuses on maintaining a constant speed, and will change lanes in order to accomplish that. The other type of driver focuses on not changing lanes and will adjust speed in order to do that. I've tested this theory by observing the first kind, and by testing the second. I do this when someone comes up behind me and then slows and stays behind me. They will stay there seemingly forever, but the moment I change lanes they suddenly speed up and pass me. Now I'm not talking about a situation where I'm blocking a lane - That's not the case. This is when I'm not in the passing lane. They may tailgate or not, but they'll just stay there unless I move over. Lately I've tested this theory on about 20 drivers, and every single one of them has done the same thing. Does this agree with your experience?

LOL. Me, Type A. Wife, Type B.

I do something that i think probably bothers a lot of people and has probably been characterized in a bunch of ways that are highly likely to be wrong.

I dont like sitting behind things i cant see around.

Assuming traffic is moving fast enough for it to matter, i will get out from behind things i cant see around. If they're not going faster than me, i'll pass them, even if they're going the speed limit. I'm sure tons of people have come up with all sorts of theories to explain my behavior and how it is somehow bad or makes me an shiny happy person. I'd be REALLY surprised if any of them guessed right about my motivations. I just dont trust the people in front of me. So far it's working out. I havent had any kind of incident on the highway in the 14 years ive been driving and my driving is HORRIBLY UNSAFE according to a lot of people. And i also just pass people because im a shiny happy person, right?

amg_rx7 wrote: 'Spacers' really piss me off. The berkeleying idiot that feels it is necessary to have 1/4 mile of space between them and the rest of the world driving away way up in front of them.

There's nothing wrong with the two second rule. It is recommended behavior for driving.

amg_rx7 wrote: They sit there doing below speed limit when everyone else in the world is trying to do speed limit and get the berkeley around their dumb asses so they can get to work on time.

if they're below the speed limit, that's mildly annoying, but certainly not illegal. It would be best if they were at the speed limit. I suspect, though, that even this would cause you consternation.

I have a couple to ad to the list,

Those who accelerate right up until 100 feet from the red light then brake hard.

Truckers who move into the left lane to allow another truck on the on ramp into the traffic stream, even if you happen to be in that space already.

Truckers who wait until you are 50 feet behind in the passing lane, then move over to pass the truck in front at 1 mph faster.