Originally Posted by Phanuthier
Everyone needs to read this part.
Turning light - if you are sitting at a traffic light, watch the other direction. If you can't see it, watch the traffic flow. You can do your makeup or text while sitting at a red if you want, but glance up every 5 seconds. Don't just zone out then go "Holy shat!" when someone honks you to go.
Merging - biggest diff between traffic in Calif and Alberta. Albertans just simply don't know how to merge or drive highway. Even a poster in this thread (I believe its this one), not naming names, but bitching that someone "cut them off" but switching into their following distance. Guess what, thats because they wanted to change lanes.
General rules of driving highway :
- merge when you get an opportunity and you are up to speed. If you merge early, make sure you are up to speed and not going 50 when everyone else is going 100. I merge early a lot, but I'm always up to speed and the car behind me doesn't need to slow down.
- right lane drivers - get the F out of the way so people can merge and exit. I don't know why this is so difficult (or why nobody mentions it), if you have another 3km before you exit, get the F out of the right lane.
- switching lanes - watch the traffic flow. What are the cars behind you going? Is there someone who is gunning it? Who are the slow drivers? Watch for those who arn't paying attention or are too stupid and hit gas, break, gas, break on the highway and arn't following the flow of traffic. If you break, the guy behind you breaks, the guy behind him breaks... so on and traffic gets backed up. General rule (that is never followed), NEVER USE YOUR F***ING BREAKS ON THE HIGHWAY unless you are about to KevanGuy a deer. If you gotta slow down on your exit, slow down at the exit or signal well in advance so cars behind you don't have to break. In bigger cities, this is what turns highways into parking lots.
- don't tell getting cut off so god damn personally. And let people into your lane, they don't *always* have to switch into your lane after you. Accomidate. Watch other drivers tendencies, their car will usually change speed (little faster or slower) or maybe tend a little towards your direction if they want to change lanes. Be aware that they are going to change lanes, and accommodate.
- if you are changing lanes, watch the car 2 lanes away and see what their tendencies are. So you don't both merge into the same lane.
- cars that merge onto the highway change 2, 3, sometimes 4 lanes. Don't act shocked, you've seen it hundreads of times. If they are making a sharp lane change when merging, don't act so surprised if they are taking a couple lanes to merge.
- don't try and "police the highway" you're just doing more harm then good
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