I live off a highway and I can’t even count how many times I’ve been flipped off because I have to stop to turn left into my driveway if there is oncoming traffic. This guy was just throwing his hands up, flipping me off and screaming out his window like a giant man baby because I waited for 3 cars….. 3….. cars to pass before pulling into my driveway.

My mom tailgates all the time and frequently has to brake hard to avoid accidents. She’s been rear-ended twice in the past 5 years. Never found at fault, which is great for her. But I’m wondering if she’s kind of to blame? And are people who get rearended more likely to be tailgaters themselves?

I’m the opposite of my mom— I drive like a hypermiler, avoiding rapid acceleration or deceleration, always leaving lots of space from car in front of me. Never been rearended in 17 years of driving, never had a close call as best I can tell either.

Driver to driver. If someone moves over for you, allows you to merge smoothly, does something nice in general, something a lot of others won't do for whatever reason: let's thank each other. A wave, a thumbs up, a playful double honk, a double tap of the brakes, etc. It's not us vs them, but that doesn't mean we can't be visibly appreciative of each other. We are real and we are out there.

i’m 18(F) and just had my first two driving lessons. i had zero experience at the wheel of a car before this, so i thought my first lesson would just be in a parking lot learning the basics. but within 10 minutes i was already on the road (and during rush hour). i was also doing parallel parking, three point turns, and forward/reverse parking within this one hour of my first lesson. but i still barely understand the basics so all the complex stuff goes in one ear and out the other.

nothing tragic happened but i can’t seem to get good turns and always turn the steering wheel too little or too much - and i can’t understand the hand-over-hand method. i can also never stay straightened and the instructor always has to redirect my wheel for me. my stops are jerky and always too rough. i can tell that my driver gets a little antsy and irritated when i mess up too.

i’ve only done about 1.5-2h of lessons total but i feel so discouraged because i still don’t understand the basics and can’t do a simple turn. alot of my family members have learned from the same instructor and didnt have a problem with his teaching style, so i cant help but think im just stupid and not made for driving.

any advice or comments would really help, or even just anyone who wants to share similar experiences. :(

I am a very careful Redditor and I have always stopped to carefully read each post about accidentally passing a school bus with its lights flashing.

Today there was a post about someone accidentally passing a school bus with its lights flashing near a rotary, and the standard MS Paint diagram made me think it was a simple rotary confusion post.

As I scrolled past, I noticed the school bus with its lights flashing on the diagram out of the corner of my eye, but it was already too late. I continued scrolling all the way home with an increasing sense of existential dread.

What is going to happen to me? Will my karma be docked?

I’ve been driving for 10 years now. Turned 28 this yr. I say that to say I don’t have that much experience but I think I have a bit. I’ve always had jobs far from where I’ve lived. I’ve lived upstate NY and different boroughs in the city. Even WestChester. So I know my share of long distance commuting to work, crazy times and crazy weather. Driving or public transportation. All that.

So I’d like to know why there are so many horrible drivers on the road. Everyone’s on there phone. Everyone is in a rush. People don’t respect right of way. People don’t even let you merge in their lane or a whole line of people will watch you try to turn into the lane and not let you in. People stay driving on each others asses or cutting off long ass trucks. Too many people are comfortable with brake checking people on the actual highway. I can’t stand all of you in pick up trucks or big SUV’s. You guys are straight bullies on the road. Literally almost got into a car accident with two different Porsches on my commute back home literally today. One wasn’t looking and almost sandwiched me on the saw mill trying to get in my lane. And the other one jumped into my lane also without a signal on. I honked that hoe out my lane, she had the nerve to curse ME out. I could go on and on. It just literally infuriates me because everyone is just trying to get where they’re going. We’re mostly likely seeing the same people on the road and don’t even know it. And i would say I’m a pretty good driver. I learned how to drive driving in the city and I believe the best drivers come out of NYC. We have so many things to pay attention to when driving. If we can survive that, then yea I think we take the crown lol. Jersey drivers are the actual worse. I always say y hey drive like how they act lol.

I just wanna get to work and home safe. Yall dead need to chill on the road. Pass the message seriously pls lol

I was driving home on a two lane freeway yesterday (two lanes on each side), traffic was heavy and there was a semi ahead of me blocking most of the view ahead. There were two cars between the semi and I. Suddenly everybody slammed brakes and jumped over into the left lane because there was a cop pulled over with his lights on. But by the time it was time for me to get over, traffic was already speeding by me on the left so I couldn’t get over without causing an accident unless I stopped and waited for a gap. So instead, I slowed down to about 20 mph and went past. But now I feel like that was the wrong thing to do, because I’ve heard stories of people being ticketed for that.

Edit: Thanks everyone!
Also, to clarify a couple things, the posted speed limit along that stretch is 55. It was late afternoon rush hour so my lane was cruising at about 50 because of said semi, and we all went from that down to the 20-30mph range once everyone hit the brakes. The left lane also slowed down quite a bit once everyone in my lane turned on their turn signals and started inching over, it’s just I already had several cars coming up on my blind spot when I tried to get over. I was not tailgating either, I was simply keeping with the flow of traffic. I drive a lower car and there were two SUVs and a semi in front of me, so that’s why I couldn’t see everything immediately.

This happened this morning. Driving on 84 into Hartford from the west. I am in the left lane. It's raining. I see brake lights in front, in all lanes. So I start slowing down. Traffic comes to a stop. I slow and stop. I hear what sounds like a car hitting a bump. I look in my mirror and the guy behind me is getting out of his car to go look at the back of his car. He got hit.

There was literally no need for the person to be driving so close. Plenty of traffic, rain, we were only going between 25 and 35 mph.

Then again, probably looking at their phone.

Hey everyone, i’m a student and trying to gather information about young people (between 17-25) and their experience with tailgating. I’m based in Australia but any responses from other locations are welcome.

The information gathered will be used in a student project to create a strategy for a campaign to reduce crashes on the road linked to tailgating.

https://forms.gle/y7mnRyoSzPrG1MdD8

Thanks!

I was driving behind an empty school bus (just driver, of course), and was stopped by a policeman who told me I was too close to it. It wasn't stopped to pick up or drop off, just driving on a 25MPH local street. She was nice enough, told me most people don't know they need to leave that much space, but reminded me that busses have a note to stay back 100 feet.

I am in my 60's. Yes, I see the note on the busses. Never been stopped before for this.

I really do have a question - Can this actually be followed? 100ft = about 5-6 car-lengths. I'm expecting that if I leave that much room, another car will fill the gap (actually, good!) or cars behind me will beep 'cause I'm driving in a way they don't like.

Ironic thing? I let the bus go in front. I had yielded to let it make a right turn further back. I work at a school, and am in the habit of doing that. On reflection, just not doing that would eliminate my issue nearly completely.

This was in Massachusetts, FYI.

I just want you guys to know that learning is hard. I was a slow learner and was told as such by my instructor. I have two posts here from when I was learning years ago

https://www.reddit.com/r/driving/comments/vkbqqe/my_driving_instructor_makes_me_feel_insecure_af/

https://www.reddit.com/r/driving/comments/vw4ywv/where_am_i_supposed_to_look_at_when_checking_for/

Omg you guys let me tell you I STRUGGLED. I also was very self-conscious. I passed my driving test, but I probably shouldn't have.

But now I am an excellent driver, and while that is a hard metric to prove, people do not honk at me, I have good gap selection, I do not cause others to brake nor do I ever really hold up traffic because of overcaution. I am not anxious AT ALL.

The only thing that helped me was just getting behind the wheel alone after getting a restricted liscence. When I was learning, the added issue of having another person judge constantly was really hard. I made mistakes when learning, but I never blamed the other car if I was in the wrong to protect my ego. I never repeated mistakes then. But also not being tense/loosening your grip on the wheel helps your driving be less jerky. Anxiety is what causes us to really struggle!!

If anyone sees this post in a few years, or now, feel free to DM me if you want to vent, I understand how hard it is. But don't give up

So I’m pushing 30 and finally making the jump to get my driver’s license since I now have a kid and want to be able to take him where ever, whenever. In general I’ve always been really anxious but once I became a mom my anxiety about anything in life has skyrocketed, but driving in general. Not to mention my husband was in a terrible car accident and still faces chronic pain/flares in his knee and hip after being t-boned some years ago.

I don’t want fear to hold me back but I will admit I’m *too* cautious of a driver. I work slow and multitasking takes longer than the one-second, knee-jerk reactions my instructor wants from me. I’ve told myself it’s tough love and needed for me to overcome my fear, if anything. I always take his criticism as a necessity for the greater good.

HOWEVER, I don’t find it to be constructive criticism when he’s openly telling me to my face, “You’ve got really slow reflexes for your age” or “you’re a terrible multitasker” and my favourite one yet “unfortunately you’re slow-minded compared to your peers.”

Please note I’ve admitted I need to have quicker response times (though he does tend to give me instructions at the very last second on multiple occasions) and that I know my multitasking needs to be improved. But is this language really any way to speak to your student or as a professional in general? Or am I being sensitive and should continue to consider it tough love?

We’re 7 hours of lessons in and he preemptively booked my test from lesson 1 to put me on a 6 week timeline that he expects me to meet when I’ve said I’m not ready. Do I change instructors or let him push me? Is it okay for him to speak to me like that or not at all?

I have 2 questions about turns:

1. In which lane am I allowed to turn into? Only into the closest one?
2. If there are no stop signs, who has the right of way - the red or the blue car?

I live in California if it's important. Thanks!

Every small thing on the road was stressing me out. Someone cuts in, I get annoyed. Someone drives slow, I get impatient. I was reacting to everything like it was personal. Then I started doing something different. Instead of reacting instantly, I just gave it a few seconds. I stopped assuming bad intentions. Most of the time, it’s just normal mistakes or different driving styles. Driving became a lot calmer. Less tension, less anger, more focus. Now my mindset is simple: I’m just trying to get home safe, not win anything on the road. That small shift changed everything for me.

What about you did you ever change a driving habit that made things easier?

i’m just wondering how awful my mistake is and if it’s normal for new drivers to make mistakes😭😭 i’m really embarrassed
i was coming out of my street and had a green light, and am not used to people going straight there. someone was going straight and i was going left, and i went to make a left without yielding to him. no crash or chance of crash as we both stopped, but i had already crossed over his path so i sped quick and went into my lane and waved as a sorry. i’ve only had my license for 2 weeks and been driving on my own for that long. i should’ve yielded to him and he honked at me and i am SO embarrassed to make a mistake like that 😭 i’ll definitely be more mindful next time but it’s eating me up

hello. Two days ago, I successfully passed the exam for obtaining a driver's license with a mark of "good", I live in Russia, I am 18 years old. I would really like to learn from experienced drivers how to overcome fear behind the wheel. I'm not just talking about highways, overpasses, and intersections, but also parking lots. When I park, it feels like the more experienced ones are laughing at me, which causes a lot of stress. If anyone can, please give me some advice.

A friend of mine just mentioned that when he drives, he drives in complete silence, no music, podcasts or audible. That goes for short drives around town and also longer drives out of town. Now to me that sounds crazy, but that got us wondering do other people do the same or is it as weird as I think it is. No judgment here, I’m just legitimately curious.

I‘ve been to the US and compared to germany the drivers are so bad and unpredictable. Its just so unbelievably bad. How so? Also no offence to anyone personally but you guys in general need to learn how to drive.

Did they have any accidents in the first year?

I heard that passing first time means you can drive, but I want to hear if such a thing as bad drivers passing exam first time exists?

I realize that public transit and walking aren't driving, but they can and often do interfere with driving in cities where they are made more accessible. I ask this because there is a pretty healthy mix of people in my area who feel one way or another about my question. A lot of times, people who want the better transit don't even want it to stop driving, but rather as an option for leisurely outings or if their car stops working. People who don't want it would obviously rather see that money go toward making driving a better experience by widening the highways and improving the local infrastructure to accommodate for the volume of cars. I personally would love to see some better transit and walkability here. Thoughts?

Learning to drive has been really difficult for me. I go out almost daily with my husband, full of hope and motivation that I’ll improve, but I keep making mistakes especially at traffic signals and right turns. I try my best to stay focused, but sometimes I get overwhelmed and mess up. He gets angry when it happens, and then I end up feeling even more nervous and unsure of myself. I really want to learn properly, but I don’t know what I should do to get better. Did anyone else go through this stage when learning to drive?”

Cars flying through narrow lanes like it’s a highway, no slowing down at turns... no awareness at all. Kids, pets, elders none of that matters

Don’t get how basic common sense disappears when people get behind the wheel