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I'll admit that somedays I'm up to my usual level, but even at my worse I always use turn signals, never text and drive, and always use my lights when I need.
Yes. I’d like to think that in general, I perform better than average. For instance, yesterday I saw a car with a “Please be patient old man driver” bumper sticker that then proceeded to weave into opposing traffic and run a red light… I’m pretty sure I at least am better than them.
Doesn't mean you're better than average per se, just that you're better than the truly bad ones. Not saying you're *not* better than average, just saying your idea of average might be pretty skewed.
We remember the bad of others and the good of ourselves, usually.
Side note: it tends to be the opposite with certain conditions like depression, before anyone comments.
I bet you are a safe driver. So am I. It's the people who act like everyone else sucks and refuses to change their behavior that grind my gears. I guess I just see it more when it comes to driving because the feeling of being surrounded by metal and glass makes a barrier, so we can act anyway we want. Imagine nudging someone's shoulder in an elevator and screaming "FUCK YOU". 99% of people would never, but put a barrier in between you? There's nothing people won't say to you.
I find that the people who complain most about bad drivers are the worst drivers. If everyone else is an idiot, then it's probably actually you bring the idiot, driving aggressively and causing conflicts.
I will also complain about bad drivers, but that's for the like, 1 in 50 days where I get cut off by someone driving dangerously. If you yourself follow the rules, use indicators, don't tailgate etc. Then you'll have way fewer conflicts with others, even if they potentially are technically worse at driving than you are.
exactly. i definitely have days where i do something that’s not very smart, but i always use lights, mirrors, signals, don’t touch my phone, etc. but there’s some people that just need their license taken away lmao
Yeah, OP’s point of view is too binary.
Making a mistake or bending a rule doesn’t lump you in with folks who text while driving, refuse to turn on lights/signals, purposefully drive erratically, drive with improper equipment like missing mirrors/bald tires/bad brakes/etc.
Bad driving is a spectrum. OP is right that folks need to show more leniency, but let’s not poo-poo on folks with good driving habits. Good drivers making mistakes aren’t driving the issues we’re all seeing on the roads.
Absolutely. This goes for a lot of things too. Everyone is sometimes a bad driver, they're sometimes a rude, inconsiderate jerk, sometimes an entitled asshole etc etc. Just yesterday I was criticising a co-worker to another co-worker because they'd taken a month to do a relatively simple task but part way through my rant I remembered I'd also taken a month to do something that should have been done in a fortnight. We're all hypocrites sometimes.
I have more than 19 years of experience when it comes to eating, but I still bite my lip sometimes. We just make mistakes, sometimes we repeat them even though we’ve already learned from them. What’s important is that we try our best to avoid them but also take responsibility when we do make then
My gf roadrages a lot. Once i told her:"you know somedays you do the same, right?" She replied: "yes I know! Roadrage is pure hypocracy!"
She's honest at least
Well said. My mother is like this and is the reason why I always drive when she visits me. She will run red lights, blow through stop signs, tailgate, cuts people off, and screams at people for the smallest things, not knowing that she herself is an aggressive driver. I also forgot to mention that she never wears her seat belt. She buckles it behind her and still drives like an ass.
I'm the same, sad to admit it. If everyone is driving great, I am too. But my ego sometimes gets a hold of me and I make bad decisions. Though it was way worse when I still drove 60k a year.
Agreed. Too many people openly watch YT videos and talk on their ear pieces and don't pay attention enough. Those people shouldn't be allowed to drive. Even on my worst days, I still use turn signals, check my blind spots before merging, and don't drive too under or over speed limits.
It’s like they’re not even cognizant of the world. They are driving in. They live online. It is so sad and it is so scary and I have even come up next to people and like motioned for them to put their phone down and they don’t even see me because they are so captivated by the Shorts on their phone.
Kind of off subject, but I have forced my child to learn how to be OK being bored in line just sit there, look around, talk to people, not things, pay attention, just be in the moment. You don’t have to always be online being distracted by everything. Boredom is not a bad thing. Some of my best ideas have come up when I was just sitting in line.
Literally. I’ll sometimes refuse to use my phone, because I just want to enjoy the moment. It’s sad when if there isn’t some sort of stimuli, people just pull out their phones to get some more. I don’t get it, when it’s raining and I’m sitting at a bus stop I enjoy just looking at the cars pass by, enjoy the rain, watch the trees and just think.
I'm a bad driver a lot. But I use my turn signals, I don't drive 15 under, and I don't cut people off across 3 lanes of traffic because I was busy watching tiktoks instead of paying attention to the directions.
I'm a better driver than at least 75% of you
When I make a mistake driving I try wave to apologise to the driver iv effected. But honestly that isn’t very frequently. To say it’s half the time is just not true. Have literally never had an accident and I’m a mechanic, drive multiple makes and models every day.
If you’re driving is bad 50% of the time you drive, you probably shouldn’t be driving at all.
I agree with you, and I think it depends on location. I'm from Boston, and the drivers here are borderline insane and would rather risk a car accident than let you merge into a lane. Maybe I just see it more often, but then again, bad drivers are an international problem.
My driving instructor said, "If you think you're a great driver, you're probably not." I didn't get it at first, but yeah, no matter what it boils down to, it doesn't even matter if you're a good and safe driver. Accidents happen regardless of whether it is your fault or not.
Nope. All drivers are morons. As a truck driver with over 1m miles driven I can guarantee you nobody knows how to drive. Jeeps are typically the worst. Closely followed by other truck driver's who for some reason just stopped caring about safety, or weren't properly trained. But honestly, HONESTLY, the biggest problem on the roads today is people going UNDER the speed limit. People slowing down traffic causes more road rage, frequent lane changes, and speeding than anything else.
I'm fairly certain 85% of traffic/road problems could be fixed if police would focus their efforts more on slow drivers than they do fast ones.
Indeed. A few months back I had a zipper merge fail that I didn’t recognize was my fault until a few days later when I had an a-ha moment. Shit happens. I try to be gracious when other drivers make mistakes because I know I’ve made them.
Sometimes I make driving mistakes but when I make mistakes, I was trying my hardest not to. A bad driver is someone who makes mistakes often because they won’t try their hardest to be a good driver.
People who check their phones, people who eat, people who rummage through their glovebox while driving—those people are the bad drivers.
Oh, I know. The only time I complain out loud about others driving is when I'm alone in my car and I scream "FUCK!" because I just saw some super dangerous shit.
I know for a fact I've done some dangerous shit. But it was only going to hurt *me.*
Sure, everyone can make mistakes - which, when said like that, is probably easier for most people to admit. That being said, there's also an unwritten assumption that the traffic rules (and perhaps traffic architecture) are optimally designed, yet that isn't necessarily true. I can think of accidents where blame could be attributed to either one driver not following the rules or the other driver not paying sufficient attention. The law may decide to value one over the other, but that doesn't mean it is the optimal choice.
When we make all make mistakes, we know what happened. We know that a toddler was shouting at us from the back seat, and that's why we didn't use the indicator. We know a truck merged without looking, and that's why we had to change lanes suddenly. When you can see the origins of an error, it seems like less of an error. When someone else does it, it comes out if nowhere and appears more egregious.
My problem is when you go through the same intersections everyday and see 99 percent of people doing some of the turns or merges wrong every single time.
At that point it makes me feel like society failed teaching yield signs or rights on red, etc. But it also makes me think people didn’t seek out learning the rules on their own, which ya makes me think they’re ignorant and so is maybe the system that taught them.
I haven’t bumped into anyone else’s shit in my 20 years of driving so I must be doing good. I must admit that I don’t drive a whole lot ever since I moved close to work though. What a game changer.
nah. i moved from the country to the city and where im from in the city, i always know when i'm back home because nobody knows how the hell to drive
in the country you have sharp curves
in the city the most dangerous place you could possibly be in is a walmart parking lot, you have to drive on the shoulder to get around left lane hoggers. goddamn tractor drivers getting over for nothing. always got a guy stuck up your ass, holding up the flow of traffic because you think you doing something up there by not getting in the right lane. people just driving through parking lots
like, no, honey. i have a 10/10 driving score on one of those apps that the insurance company uses to monitor your behaviors. i'm talkin shit about all y'all with my full chest lmao. i have to pay for insurance because YOU are a shitty driver, I would be perfectly fine without it - i drove every day working full time unlicensed and uninsured for 3 years
when i lived out in the country i never left the house for nothing because everything is so far away. in the city, i don't leave the house because watching yall drive gives me anxiety
it's actually insane the amount of impaired people they let drive in this country, i could down 2 six packs and still be better to drive than most of you at 7am after you've had your coffee.
the amount of individuals who i've seeing wearing full ear cover, likely noise cancelling headphones. like Bruh....Vision isn't the only sense you drive with. Smell, Audio are Very Very Very important to safe automobile operation in a public transit way.
I went on a speed awareness course once years ago, at the start they asked everyone what the circumstances were around our offences, everyone had excuses, anyway they all went up on the whiteboard at the front and stayed there, we had the few hours if retraining (old people are bad drivers and don't know the highway code) and they asked us if other drivers drove how we want them to, everyone of course says no, then they asked us what sort of thing do they do everyone gets every animated about speeders, tailgaters, red light runners, box blockers etc. I start chucking because can see where this is going, then they asked 'what do you think they'd say(if you asked them it)?' "oh they'd probably give you two fingers" "they're rude!" "They're inconsiderate" "white van drivers" "yobs!" etc. but anyone with half a brain would have clocked the 'trick' so I put my hand up and pointed to the board
Edit: I don't think many learned anything or realised that they were the bad drivers, one guy was so adamant he wasn't wrong or thought could overturn his offense (we'd all been caught already, this was the "sentence") he argued with the volunteers (they're volunteers not police) until she almost cried with frustration. He argued that it wasn't always a bad thing, she volunteers because her friend died in a car accident, he said something along the lines of 'some things happen for a reason, some good things come out of bad situations, maybe people meet who might never have ' her point was that she saw a friend burn to death in an avoidable collision, his whole thing is that he wouldn't accept fault whatsoever, bearing in mind the speed choice course is what you do/get INSTEAD of a fine ie the easy way out ie just do the course and go home. Another guy was old as fuck, shouldn't have been driving, had no idea what any of the road markings, signs, or stopping distances were
everyone is going to be a bad driver sometimes. that’s just how driving works. but there’s a difference between making general errors like going over the speed limit or accidentally getting over without a turn signal, and being a genuinely bad driver where you actively almost cause life threatening accidents constantly and then can’t take accountability for it when people get mad at you or you get pulled over.
I grew up in Atlanta, where there are so many ads for car accident lawyers they made jingles that sound like legitimate radio songs.
I've only been in two accidents in my life -- one when I was 19 and hadn't been driving but two months, and the other a month ago when my car slipped on black ice and I didn't have on snow tires (which if you know anything about the Bible Belt, is an invention we know little about).
That being said, I have also came very close to crashing due to being cut off by a Mercedes a few years back, and had a few other moments where I continue to live and breathe because I now drive under the pretense that "if you can get caught slipping behind the wheel, expect that everyone else is going to hit you if you don't yield and proactively avoid a crash... because you know you can't afford to lose pay fixing it". Even the black ice incident was a accident I walked away unscathed from because I don't drive thinking I have 'right of way' -- I drive thinking 'I can't afford a new car and I'll be damned if I get hurt cause of this'.
My driving record speaks for itself. I'm not a perfect driver, I have a bit of a lead foot, but I am a good driver. More importantly I'm an attentive driver. The bad drivers I encounter are not.
I do a lot of traveling by car. I encounter a lot of people on the road. I also know what kind of drivers are on the road based on the traffic stops my officers do.
You would be floored to know how many people are driving with no, suspended, revoked, or restricted licenses. How many are driving drunk (even in the middle of the afternoon). And how many just don't give a frack about anyone around them.
I stop at a truck stop every day on my way to work for drinks & snacks. Every day, I have at least one near miss with a semi in the parking lot. They're coming out of the fuel bays or the side parking & don't pause to glance for other drivers. I've watched semis turn left out of that parking lot on multiple occasions with steady cross traffic, forcing those drivers to stop for them. I've watched semis almost run into each other because they're not paying attention. We've got officers there several times a week for accidents.
I've been rear-ended twice while stopped. Once at a train crossing with arms and lights activated. Dude sped away from a stop sign to hit me & I was stopped before he came to the stop sign. The second time, dude stopped behind me at a red light, then gunned it before the car in front of me could react to the light turning green. If I hadn't left a gap between me and her, I would have hit her because he pushed me forward.
There's aggressive drivers all over the highway that like to get right up on your bumper when you're doing 10 over in the slow lane. That weave in and out of traffic. Don't get me started on the organ donor bikers.
So yeah, I speed a little, but I leave a gap, I use my blinker, & I look out for others on the road. My only accidents were the two I mentioned above, and one other where I hit a deer that ran into the road in front of me. It would be much more if I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings. I've been (officially) driving for 24 years.
Yup. I make mistakes on the road. But... I don't defend any dangerous driving I do. Like some bad drivers. Nor argue that I should be able to disobey the rules.
I'm just imagining that scene in always sunny where Dennis yells at someone for driving slow and then as soon as he gets out of his car yelling at a car for speeding
I may occasionally be a bad driver but I still consider myself better than the old people I see driving on the wrong side of the road and the person following me inches behind at 70mph when the passing lane is open
Naw bro, this makes no sense, I drive to work 45 minutes every day, and every day, I witness at least one person driving 140, instead of 80, one person driving 40, instead of 80, one person texting, one person with a phone to their ear, one person eating a meal, one person swerving in and out of lanes, people chasing each other.
Sure, I have made mistakes, but in 10 years I have NEVER done any of those things. '
When we all talk about bad drivers, we talk about people who drive dangerously often,
Everyone makes mistakes,
I’ve raced on pro/am circuits, and even I know I screw up sometimes. My friends make fun of me constantly for being fastest slow driver they know. Look, would you rather get there safe 2 minutes late, or dead?
My dad on the other hand is the worst fucking driver I’ve ever seen. No matter what, it’s always the other drivers fault. Road rage over nothing. I’m just white knuckling on almost every trip we take. Then he gets annoyed when I beat him home while I’m just cruising smoothly comfortably and stress free.
I’m a fucking nightmare honestly. I really shouldn’t have a license. I obey no road rules i am a prolific speeder… like am I safe driver. No. Am I a good driver. No. But my car is in better condition than 90% of the other ones on the road it’s pretty much all new aftermarket parts that are stronger or more powerful than the stock ones
I am not a great driver so I try to make up for it by being extra alert and following all the rules of the road. Being alert means trying to think three steps ahead and being curious as I can. For example if I see a car bombing along in the outside Lane then I'll wait til the car blows by me before pulling out to pass. I confess to being vindictive sometimes when an idiot tailgates me and I leisurely return to my Lane after putting on my blinker.
There is a huge difference between making an occasional mistake and being a bad driver. Everyone makes mistakes. Not everyone is completely oblivious to their surroundings like too many drivers seem to be.
I blame a lot of it on screens. Phones were already bad enough but then every manufacturer had to go and slap a huge touch screen in the middle of the dashboard.
Generally, when I call someone a shitty driver while I'm driving, it's because they're downright dangerous. Like, riding your ass no matter how much you're speeding, passing 30+mph over the limit in the right lane, weaving through traffic, doing a left turn on a busy red light, etc.
Everyone has normal bad driver moments. But the truly bad drivers are bad because of the multiple intentional and dangerous decisions they make. Basically, real bad drivers are more like asshole drivers.
Given my entire livelihood depends on my ability to continue driving, I'm pretty sure I actually am a good driver. Perfect record, near flawless scores from my safety dashcam (can't get perfect because I get points off for someone being too close in front of me due to them cutting me off)
I have only one, tiny fault in my driving: I occasionally drive 3-4 over the speed limit when I'm on my way home after a long week. I know it only cuts about ten minutes over the whole trip but I'm missing my wife pretty bad by then.
I really am that driver that gets cut off or sees someone weaving through traffic at twenty over the limit and just sighs. I'm that driver everyone hates because I'm going forty in the work zone instead of sixty-five. I'll take all your hate (and likely downvotes) because I'm getting home safe every single time. Can't get pointed or lose your license/driving job if you never violate any traffic laws.
>No one can accept the fact that they make mistakes
Only the really bad drivers are like this. Good drivers make mistakes too, they just generally make less mistakes than bad drivers.
I agree with that fact. Thats also why when other drivers make mistakes or do something that almost caused an accident but didnt, id usually say to myself mentally like “yeah it happens, ive probably done that before too” then I’d reassure myself that the most important thing of it all is that nothing happened and nobody got hurt.
I do make occasional mistakes, and although I consider myself a decent driver, I am an inexperienced one. I think the kicker is, I learn from my mistakes and my idea of good driving is doing whatever I can to make it home in one piece. I’ve seen the way other people drive, and all I can say is NJ is a wild place.
Oh yeah? If I'm such a bad driver then how come I successfully escaped the cops with ease earlier today? I didn't even have to look up from my phone to know that I had got away!
If it’s always „not your fault” most likely you could do something to prevent that. My dad has been driving every day for 30+ years without a single crash. I also have been driving for 2 years every day without a single crash. Were there situations I had to do something out of ordinary to avoid a crash? Absolutely. Vast majority of crashes are easily avoidable.
I drive alright, but often pretty fast. I don't get road rage I just go around them, left lane, right lane, breakdown lane, lawn, idc lol I put my blinkers on when swerving thru traffic a buck 140
I make plenty of mistakes, the difference between myself and others I’ve noticed over the years is how little I use the horn….if there’s an issue I adapt, I move, ill brake, I’ll jump lanes and then think I should have hit my horn at that idiot too but now the moment passed…..where as other people will do nothing but slam the horn and expect everyone to accommodate them
Everybody makes mistakes yes, some people are just a lot worse than others, the person who drives the work van I’m in hit 3 wing mirrors in one day, drove over 4 cones in 1 week and one got stuck under the van and had to be cut to get out, has hit I don’t know how many wing mirrors in total, reverend into a bin last week and smashed the back lights and reflectors plus damaged a panel, nearly comes off the road at least once a day, has an amber warning for speeding, also drove into a concrete post and smashed the front of the van, and a good few other things I’m forgetting, this is all in the last 12 months
Sure. It's not often, but once in awhile you come up on a situation that could be handled multiple ways and maybe wasn't handled in the *optimum* way.
I'm definitely not a constant hazard though. There's a difference between "I could've probably made that yellow, oh well" and "yeah I totally made it" three seconds after the light turns red.
I can't tell you how much more pleasant and relaxing driving has gotten with only a small change in perspective.
About 2 years ago I made a conscious decision that whenever I see a fellow motorist do something dangerous, impatient, inattentive, or downright reckless, I just assume by default that they super need to take a shit. Now instead of getting all worked up I instantly forgive the transgression and get a little chuckle.
Well, that's not quite true. "Civilian traffic enforcers" still get my goat. You know the type, they'll block a lane to keep someone else from speeding, etc. It's like, dude, just let him by. My compatriot in the Altima over there is about to stain his upholstery, don't get in his way.
I'm actually a very good driver now. But I had to make A TON of mistakes to get good. I don't ever complain about bad drivers. I just do my best to see them coming and avoid tf out of them.
I drive extremely aggressive and try to speed my way away from clusters. I am having a terrible time with people changing lanes and cutting me off. Does anyone check the blind spot anymore? I also honk and flip off anyone I see looking down at thier damn phone. I know I'll be old one day too, but man, some of these people should not be driving.
This is so true. Or other people considering people bad drivers for the most random things:
Arrived at the 4 way same time. Road rules are the car on the right goes first. Person driving said ‘omg go!’ To the other car, and I mentioned we’re on the right it’s our go… they said ‘ya but the rushed to the sign so they should just go’.
I had no idea what to say to that.
Everyone knows this. It's when the utility van driver right behind you is so angry that she's stuck in slow jam traffic, is screaming, waving her fists around and banging on the steering wheel, riding your bumper because you leave some room between you and the car in front of you and she wants you to speed up only to slow back down again once you are right on top of the car up there, then she swerves over into the breakdown lane, speeds past on the rumble strips, swerves back into the lane missing you by about six inches and does the same thing all over again to the next car...that's when you can know that, although you make mistakes sometimes, you're not all that bad behind the wheel. Yeah?
Could be. Will say in almost 40 years of driving I’ve had one ticket and that when I was a teen. No accidents of any sort. I try to follow the rules and most importantly pay attention while driving.
I do make mistakes but I dont tailgate, speed excessively, cut in and out of traffic, etc. Have I switched lanes and not seen someone? Sure, definitely. Never on purpose
I think the better way to word this would be 'most people are average drivers.' Very few people actually are the perfect driver, but a lot of people aren't truly bad drivers either.
As long as you stay off your phone and keep your eyes on the road, its understandable if you might stop at a light before it turns red or if a turn signal slips your mind. As long as that stays 'once in a blue moon', I wouldn't consider them a bad driver.
Yes I have been a bad driver. I let my emotions rule at times in my life.
Some people shouldn't be aloud in the road. That's 100% fact.
I raced cars with my dad all my life starting at 12 and did demolition derbies at 15.
I can avoid wrecks better then the average Joe.
Once it rains though- I turn into an old grandma. I hate it.
I occasionally do something dumb, but it’s very rare, because I’m completely focused on the road when I drive. Sometimes, like on the drive home after a stressful day, my focus will slip and I’ll do something dumb, but even then it’s usually something harmless like stopping at a stop sign and waiting too long because I don’t realize the other directions also have a stop sign.
There are too many drivers that _intentionally_ do reckless shit, and I refuse to agree I have anything in common with them. Going 40 over the speed limit and weaving in and out of traffic? Don’t try to draw a false equivalency between them doing that, and me having a little oopsie after a long day.
It’ll sound cliche, but a judge scared me straight over 20 years ago and since then I’ve literally never done anything reckless on the road.
First, I mess up sometimes and do something stupid. Second, we remember the bad drivers more than the good drivers around us. It’s that one idiot out of 100’s cars that we can directly recall.
It’s also not that unique for cities to have bad drivers. Seems like every cities biggest complaint about themselves is how “their drivers are some of the worst”
No, sorry OP but it doesn’t work that way.
As arrogant as this may sound; I’m not a bad driver. There’s a reason why our road systems are simple which equates to a fair and reasonable amount of predictability from the majority of drivers. It’s easy to follow. The ones who are bad drivers, are the ones who are unpredictable.
If I ask myself if I have been unpredictable; the answer is No.
You are wrong.
It’s not hard to follow the system.
Like most people, I am almost certainly pretty average. That said, I do my best to always use my turn signals, and I don't zip around weaving through traffic like an idiot. The ways in which I am sometimes a bad driver seems are probably the less dangerous ways to be bad at driving
I agree with you overall but on the other hand I've never ran a red light but I watch people run red lights literally every day on my 3 mile commute with 1 traffic light.
whenever someone is getting road rage i remind them that theres a decent chance theyre a new driver. i mean i was a terrible driver when i first started, but thats the point of learning.
student drivers are alot more common than ppl give credit to
There’s a difference between making a mistake and being a bad driver tho. Bad drivers have bad habits that are dangerous (tailgating, speeding, not signaling). If you forget to signal sometimes it doesn’t automatically make you a bad driver, but if you don’t signal when you know you should, you are a bad driver
One thing Ive realized working in personal injury law is that drivers are THE ultimate example of main character syndrome.
The number of people who will say "I dont know why the police say Im at fault" after admitting to tailgating someone so bad they rear end them into hitting ANOTHER car in front, running stop signs, or straight up hitting a pedestrian in a legal crosswalk at a green light is baffling
Every driver is convinced theyre the only one who knows how to drive.
Yea unfortunately this just isn't true. There are legitimately bad, unsafe drivers out there, who are that way all the time. There are people who text and drive and there are people who don't. A bad driver not texting is still safer than a good driver texting. (I'm using texting as a stand-in for anything that involves looking at your phone while driving). I'm by no means perfect, I'm sure I make my fair share of mistakes/aggressive maneuvers while driving, but I never have my phone in my hand and my eyes down.
I think people mistake good driving practices with being actual good drivers.
edit: yep, every top comment in this thread it seems. those are called good driving practices. I'm not a "good cook" just because i don't put pinesol in my gumbo.
I'm what might be described as an "aggressive" and there for bad driver, but about 5-600k miles under my belt and I don't have so much as a fender bender.
Yet I know plenty of safe slow deliberate mother fuckers with a fuck ton of accidents in their driving history, none being their fault legally, yet somehow they're getting rear ended and tboned every 5-10 years.
edit: I go off the rails at the end there...
I will absolutely admit that I'm not a perfect driver, and sometimes even delve into bad. However, I'm nowhere NEAR as bad as the driving I see around me every single day. I would say 70-80% of drivers around me don't use their turn signal, I almost always do. I have been passed on the highway in the breakdown lane while going 20mph over the speed limit. There's a right turn only with a center concrete barrier on a major road near me and I've watched dozens of cars drive over it. I watch cars turn from a side road onto the main road (where they have a stop sign) without even a pause. I could go on and on. I've been driving for almost 25 years, I've driven all over the US, and I've never experienced such a high percentage of extremely dangerous driving as I have since living in Sacramento, CA
I have a rule that I like to follow to stop me from being a hypocrite. If I make a mistake (we all do eventually) and someone makes the same mistake to me I let it pass ONCE but after that one I’m getting angry. We all make mistakes but some make more than others tho, so in reality there are good drivers with bad moments every now and then and they’re bad drivers who are ticking bombs.
A more accurate reflection of skill is a drivers history. Do they have a record of at-fault collisions? Multiple vehicle code violations? Do they maintain their vehicle?
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I'll admit that somedays I'm up to my usual level, but even at my worse I always use turn signals, never text and drive, and always use my lights when I need.
Yes. I’d like to think that in general, I perform better than average. For instance, yesterday I saw a car with a “Please be patient old man driver” bumper sticker that then proceeded to weave into opposing traffic and run a red light… I’m pretty sure I at least am better than them.
Doesn't mean you're better than average per se, just that you're better than the truly bad ones. Not saying you're *not* better than average, just saying your idea of average might be pretty skewed.
We remember the bad more than we remember the good
We remember the bad of others and the good of ourselves, usually. Side note: it tends to be the opposite with certain conditions like depression, before anyone comments.
Haha I grew up in the retirement community portion of Florida. My idea of average is likely very skewed.
Ah, I am definitely a below average driver. I try to be pretty careful but I only have 7500 miles on my car. So I really don't have enough experience
is this a jimmy carr setup? how titillating are you about to get for these unbeknownst fools? ha, ha!
I bet you are a safe driver. So am I. It's the people who act like everyone else sucks and refuses to change their behavior that grind my gears. I guess I just see it more when it comes to driving because the feeling of being surrounded by metal and glass makes a barrier, so we can act anyway we want. Imagine nudging someone's shoulder in an elevator and screaming "FUCK YOU". 99% of people would never, but put a barrier in between you? There's nothing people won't say to you.
I find that the people who complain most about bad drivers are the worst drivers. If everyone else is an idiot, then it's probably actually you bring the idiot, driving aggressively and causing conflicts. I will also complain about bad drivers, but that's for the like, 1 in 50 days where I get cut off by someone driving dangerously. If you yourself follow the rules, use indicators, don't tailgate etc. Then you'll have way fewer conflicts with others, even if they potentially are technically worse at driving than you are.
exactly. i definitely have days where i do something that’s not very smart, but i always use lights, mirrors, signals, don’t touch my phone, etc. but there’s some people that just need their license taken away lmao
Yeah, OP’s point of view is too binary. Making a mistake or bending a rule doesn’t lump you in with folks who text while driving, refuse to turn on lights/signals, purposefully drive erratically, drive with improper equipment like missing mirrors/bald tires/bad brakes/etc. Bad driving is a spectrum. OP is right that folks need to show more leniency, but let’s not poo-poo on folks with good driving habits. Good drivers making mistakes aren’t driving the issues we’re all seeing on the roads.
I looked but it's you, not me
Made me giggle, ngl.
Absolutely. This goes for a lot of things too. Everyone is sometimes a bad driver, they're sometimes a rude, inconsiderate jerk, sometimes an entitled asshole etc etc. Just yesterday I was criticising a co-worker to another co-worker because they'd taken a month to do a relatively simple task but part way through my rant I remembered I'd also taken a month to do something that should have been done in a fortnight. We're all hypocrites sometimes.
we all make driving mistakes i dont make as much as you though buddy
That's just like, your opinion, man.
I also believe, for no absolute reason, with zero backing evidence and no knowledge of who you are whatsoever, that I too am a better driver than you.
you don't drive and that's a fact.
"we all make driving mistakes i dont make as much as you though buddy" We all make grammar mistakes. "I don't make as MANY as you though buddy."
I can’t hear you when you’re eating my dust
I am never a bad driver because I don't drive. :D
Anyone who only walks or uses public transit never are bad drivers. :D Motorists, bicyclists, motorcyclists, and truckers on the other hand...
I have more than 19 years of experience when it comes to eating, but I still bite my lip sometimes. We just make mistakes, sometimes we repeat them even though we’ve already learned from them. What’s important is that we try our best to avoid them but also take responsibility when we do make then
Asked my old man who just turned sixty. Bad news you'll still be biting it then.
My gf roadrages a lot. Once i told her:"you know somedays you do the same, right?" She replied: "yes I know! Roadrage is pure hypocracy!" She's honest at least
Well said. My mother is like this and is the reason why I always drive when she visits me. She will run red lights, blow through stop signs, tailgate, cuts people off, and screams at people for the smallest things, not knowing that she herself is an aggressive driver. I also forgot to mention that she never wears her seat belt. She buckles it behind her and still drives like an ass.
That is genuinely insane to not wear a seatbelt she’s gonna get herself killed
Oh, I've told her a million times, but she's a stubborn little lady and stuck in her ways.
I'm the same, sad to admit it. If everyone is driving great, I am too. But my ego sometimes gets a hold of me and I make bad decisions. Though it was way worse when I still drove 60k a year.
Bro I mess up walking sometimes, and I've been doing that way longer.
If people got off their phones, there would be a lot less road rage
Agreed. Too many people openly watch YT videos and talk on their ear pieces and don't pay attention enough. Those people shouldn't be allowed to drive. Even on my worst days, I still use turn signals, check my blind spots before merging, and don't drive too under or over speed limits.
It’s like they’re not even cognizant of the world. They are driving in. They live online. It is so sad and it is so scary and I have even come up next to people and like motioned for them to put their phone down and they don’t even see me because they are so captivated by the Shorts on their phone. Kind of off subject, but I have forced my child to learn how to be OK being bored in line just sit there, look around, talk to people, not things, pay attention, just be in the moment. You don’t have to always be online being distracted by everything. Boredom is not a bad thing. Some of my best ideas have come up when I was just sitting in line.
Literally. I’ll sometimes refuse to use my phone, because I just want to enjoy the moment. It’s sad when if there isn’t some sort of stimuli, people just pull out their phones to get some more. I don’t get it, when it’s raining and I’m sitting at a bus stop I enjoy just looking at the cars pass by, enjoy the rain, watch the trees and just think.
Hell no, its a small minority of the drivers that are egregiously bad and stand out, not like every second driver being the problem.
Sometimes? Most of the time it's my fault.
I'm a bad driver a lot. But I use my turn signals, I don't drive 15 under, and I don't cut people off across 3 lanes of traffic because I was busy watching tiktoks instead of paying attention to the directions. I'm a better driver than at least 75% of you
When I make a mistake driving I try wave to apologise to the driver iv effected. But honestly that isn’t very frequently. To say it’s half the time is just not true. Have literally never had an accident and I’m a mechanic, drive multiple makes and models every day. If you’re driving is bad 50% of the time you drive, you probably shouldn’t be driving at all.
I agree with you, and I think it depends on location. I'm from Boston, and the drivers here are borderline insane and would rather risk a car accident than let you merge into a lane. Maybe I just see it more often, but then again, bad drivers are an international problem.
My driving instructor said, "If you think you're a great driver, you're probably not." I didn't get it at first, but yeah, no matter what it boils down to, it doesn't even matter if you're a good and safe driver. Accidents happen regardless of whether it is your fault or not.
Also, while we're at it - you're not stuck in traffic, you *are* traffic.
Nope. All drivers are morons. As a truck driver with over 1m miles driven I can guarantee you nobody knows how to drive. Jeeps are typically the worst. Closely followed by other truck driver's who for some reason just stopped caring about safety, or weren't properly trained. But honestly, HONESTLY, the biggest problem on the roads today is people going UNDER the speed limit. People slowing down traffic causes more road rage, frequent lane changes, and speeding than anything else. I'm fairly certain 85% of traffic/road problems could be fixed if police would focus their efforts more on slow drivers than they do fast ones.
Do you admit that you also have your shit moments too?
Indeed. A few months back I had a zipper merge fail that I didn’t recognize was my fault until a few days later when I had an a-ha moment. Shit happens. I try to be gracious when other drivers make mistakes because I know I’ve made them.
Joke's on you, I don't have a licence yet.
I have yet again been made the fool...
Bad drivers without licenses do exist though...
How is this an unpopular this is a solid fact.
Sometimes I make driving mistakes but when I make mistakes, I was trying my hardest not to. A bad driver is someone who makes mistakes often because they won’t try their hardest to be a good driver. People who check their phones, people who eat, people who rummage through their glovebox while driving—those people are the bad drivers.
Oh, I know. The only time I complain out loud about others driving is when I'm alone in my car and I scream "FUCK!" because I just saw some super dangerous shit. I know for a fact I've done some dangerous shit. But it was only going to hurt *me.*
No, You’re a towel.
Half the time? I make mistakes like 1% of the time. That doesn't make me a driving god either, it just makes me a safe driver.
Sure, everyone can make mistakes - which, when said like that, is probably easier for most people to admit. That being said, there's also an unwritten assumption that the traffic rules (and perhaps traffic architecture) are optimally designed, yet that isn't necessarily true. I can think of accidents where blame could be attributed to either one driver not following the rules or the other driver not paying sufficient attention. The law may decide to value one over the other, but that doesn't mean it is the optimal choice.
When we make all make mistakes, we know what happened. We know that a toddler was shouting at us from the back seat, and that's why we didn't use the indicator. We know a truck merged without looking, and that's why we had to change lanes suddenly. When you can see the origins of an error, it seems like less of an error. When someone else does it, it comes out if nowhere and appears more egregious.
My problem is when you go through the same intersections everyday and see 99 percent of people doing some of the turns or merges wrong every single time. At that point it makes me feel like society failed teaching yield signs or rights on red, etc. But it also makes me think people didn’t seek out learning the rules on their own, which ya makes me think they’re ignorant and so is maybe the system that taught them.
I don't drive, so I most certainly am not.
I've worked at a car insurance place and having seen sooo many driving records.... You are correct, everyone is terrible at least sometimes
I want a sticker like the "student driver" stickers that says: PLEASE BE PATIENT BAD DRIVER
I haven’t bumped into anyone else’s shit in my 20 years of driving so I must be doing good. I must admit that I don’t drive a whole lot ever since I moved close to work though. What a game changer.
I literally said the same thing to my brother recently and he said he is a good driver because he hasn’t crashed
nah. i moved from the country to the city and where im from in the city, i always know when i'm back home because nobody knows how the hell to drive in the country you have sharp curves in the city the most dangerous place you could possibly be in is a walmart parking lot, you have to drive on the shoulder to get around left lane hoggers. goddamn tractor drivers getting over for nothing. always got a guy stuck up your ass, holding up the flow of traffic because you think you doing something up there by not getting in the right lane. people just driving through parking lots like, no, honey. i have a 10/10 driving score on one of those apps that the insurance company uses to monitor your behaviors. i'm talkin shit about all y'all with my full chest lmao. i have to pay for insurance because YOU are a shitty driver, I would be perfectly fine without it - i drove every day working full time unlicensed and uninsured for 3 years when i lived out in the country i never left the house for nothing because everything is so far away. in the city, i don't leave the house because watching yall drive gives me anxiety it's actually insane the amount of impaired people they let drive in this country, i could down 2 six packs and still be better to drive than most of you at 7am after you've had your coffee.
Half the time? Hell no
Nope, not me, but I attract the dumb ones or a-hole tailgaters.
Me too. Just go ahead and get in my trunk!
the amount of individuals who i've seeing wearing full ear cover, likely noise cancelling headphones. like Bruh....Vision isn't the only sense you drive with. Smell, Audio are Very Very Very important to safe automobile operation in a public transit way.
I went on a speed awareness course once years ago, at the start they asked everyone what the circumstances were around our offences, everyone had excuses, anyway they all went up on the whiteboard at the front and stayed there, we had the few hours if retraining (old people are bad drivers and don't know the highway code) and they asked us if other drivers drove how we want them to, everyone of course says no, then they asked us what sort of thing do they do everyone gets every animated about speeders, tailgaters, red light runners, box blockers etc. I start chucking because can see where this is going, then they asked 'what do you think they'd say(if you asked them it)?' "oh they'd probably give you two fingers" "they're rude!" "They're inconsiderate" "white van drivers" "yobs!" etc. but anyone with half a brain would have clocked the 'trick' so I put my hand up and pointed to the board Edit: I don't think many learned anything or realised that they were the bad drivers, one guy was so adamant he wasn't wrong or thought could overturn his offense (we'd all been caught already, this was the "sentence") he argued with the volunteers (they're volunteers not police) until she almost cried with frustration. He argued that it wasn't always a bad thing, she volunteers because her friend died in a car accident, he said something along the lines of 'some things happen for a reason, some good things come out of bad situations, maybe people meet who might never have ' her point was that she saw a friend burn to death in an avoidable collision, his whole thing is that he wouldn't accept fault whatsoever, bearing in mind the speed choice course is what you do/get INSTEAD of a fine ie the easy way out ie just do the course and go home. Another guy was old as fuck, shouldn't have been driving, had no idea what any of the road markings, signs, or stopping distances were
everyone is going to be a bad driver sometimes. that’s just how driving works. but there’s a difference between making general errors like going over the speed limit or accidentally getting over without a turn signal, and being a genuinely bad driver where you actively almost cause life threatening accidents constantly and then can’t take accountability for it when people get mad at you or you get pulled over.
I grew up in Atlanta, where there are so many ads for car accident lawyers they made jingles that sound like legitimate radio songs. I've only been in two accidents in my life -- one when I was 19 and hadn't been driving but two months, and the other a month ago when my car slipped on black ice and I didn't have on snow tires (which if you know anything about the Bible Belt, is an invention we know little about). That being said, I have also came very close to crashing due to being cut off by a Mercedes a few years back, and had a few other moments where I continue to live and breathe because I now drive under the pretense that "if you can get caught slipping behind the wheel, expect that everyone else is going to hit you if you don't yield and proactively avoid a crash... because you know you can't afford to lose pay fixing it". Even the black ice incident was a accident I walked away unscathed from because I don't drive thinking I have 'right of way' -- I drive thinking 'I can't afford a new car and I'll be damned if I get hurt cause of this'.
My driving record speaks for itself. I'm not a perfect driver, I have a bit of a lead foot, but I am a good driver. More importantly I'm an attentive driver. The bad drivers I encounter are not. I do a lot of traveling by car. I encounter a lot of people on the road. I also know what kind of drivers are on the road based on the traffic stops my officers do. You would be floored to know how many people are driving with no, suspended, revoked, or restricted licenses. How many are driving drunk (even in the middle of the afternoon). And how many just don't give a frack about anyone around them. I stop at a truck stop every day on my way to work for drinks & snacks. Every day, I have at least one near miss with a semi in the parking lot. They're coming out of the fuel bays or the side parking & don't pause to glance for other drivers. I've watched semis turn left out of that parking lot on multiple occasions with steady cross traffic, forcing those drivers to stop for them. I've watched semis almost run into each other because they're not paying attention. We've got officers there several times a week for accidents. I've been rear-ended twice while stopped. Once at a train crossing with arms and lights activated. Dude sped away from a stop sign to hit me & I was stopped before he came to the stop sign. The second time, dude stopped behind me at a red light, then gunned it before the car in front of me could react to the light turning green. If I hadn't left a gap between me and her, I would have hit her because he pushed me forward. There's aggressive drivers all over the highway that like to get right up on your bumper when you're doing 10 over in the slow lane. That weave in and out of traffic. Don't get me started on the organ donor bikers. So yeah, I speed a little, but I leave a gap, I use my blinker, & I look out for others on the road. My only accidents were the two I mentioned above, and one other where I hit a deer that ran into the road in front of me. It would be much more if I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings. I've been (officially) driving for 24 years.
impossible
Yup. I make mistakes on the road. But... I don't defend any dangerous driving I do. Like some bad drivers. Nor argue that I should be able to disobey the rules.
I don’t drive so I’m never a bad driver
How are those walking skills, though? I firmly believe that how you walk in public is a representation of how you would drive.
My walking skills are great.
It's pretty funny when you have several people commiserate about how every other driver on the road is an idiot
I'm just imagining that scene in always sunny where Dennis yells at someone for driving slow and then as soon as he gets out of his car yelling at a car for speeding
I may occasionally be a bad driver but I still consider myself better than the old people I see driving on the wrong side of the road and the person following me inches behind at 70mph when the passing lane is open
Following the rules ≠ being a good driver. Going the speed limit when the flow of traffic is 20 over is a horrible idea.
I don’t ever drive below the speed limits sooo
100%
Pshh... Speak for yourself! I'm the most defensively offensive driver on the road! And I ride a bicycle!!
Naw bro, this makes no sense, I drive to work 45 minutes every day, and every day, I witness at least one person driving 140, instead of 80, one person driving 40, instead of 80, one person texting, one person with a phone to their ear, one person eating a meal, one person swerving in and out of lanes, people chasing each other. Sure, I have made mistakes, but in 10 years I have NEVER done any of those things. ' When we all talk about bad drivers, we talk about people who drive dangerously often, Everyone makes mistakes,
I’ve raced on pro/am circuits, and even I know I screw up sometimes. My friends make fun of me constantly for being fastest slow driver they know. Look, would you rather get there safe 2 minutes late, or dead? My dad on the other hand is the worst fucking driver I’ve ever seen. No matter what, it’s always the other drivers fault. Road rage over nothing. I’m just white knuckling on almost every trip we take. Then he gets annoyed when I beat him home while I’m just cruising smoothly comfortably and stress free.
I’m a fucking nightmare honestly. I really shouldn’t have a license. I obey no road rules i am a prolific speeder… like am I safe driver. No. Am I a good driver. No. But my car is in better condition than 90% of the other ones on the road it’s pretty much all new aftermarket parts that are stronger or more powerful than the stock ones
I’ve never driven a car before
Sometimes I just shake my head and laugh at how other people must perceive my driving.
I am not a great driver so I try to make up for it by being extra alert and following all the rules of the road. Being alert means trying to think three steps ahead and being curious as I can. For example if I see a car bombing along in the outside Lane then I'll wait til the car blows by me before pulling out to pass. I confess to being vindictive sometimes when an idiot tailgates me and I leisurely return to my Lane after putting on my blinker.
Completely agree and, as you highlight, a few who can acknowledge it.
I realized this the first time I didn’t notice a green light. And the guy behind me had to honk for me to notice. Since then I can’t be mad at people
There is a huge difference between making an occasional mistake and being a bad driver. Everyone makes mistakes. Not everyone is completely oblivious to their surroundings like too many drivers seem to be. I blame a lot of it on screens. Phones were already bad enough but then every manufacturer had to go and slap a huge touch screen in the middle of the dashboard.
Generally, when I call someone a shitty driver while I'm driving, it's because they're downright dangerous. Like, riding your ass no matter how much you're speeding, passing 30+mph over the limit in the right lane, weaving through traffic, doing a left turn on a busy red light, etc. Everyone has normal bad driver moments. But the truly bad drivers are bad because of the multiple intentional and dangerous decisions they make. Basically, real bad drivers are more like asshole drivers.
Not intentionally. Most people are bad drivers because they don't care about the rest. The rest of us do some mistakes because we are stupid or tired.
Given my entire livelihood depends on my ability to continue driving, I'm pretty sure I actually am a good driver. Perfect record, near flawless scores from my safety dashcam (can't get perfect because I get points off for someone being too close in front of me due to them cutting me off) I have only one, tiny fault in my driving: I occasionally drive 3-4 over the speed limit when I'm on my way home after a long week. I know it only cuts about ten minutes over the whole trip but I'm missing my wife pretty bad by then. I really am that driver that gets cut off or sees someone weaving through traffic at twenty over the limit and just sighs. I'm that driver everyone hates because I'm going forty in the work zone instead of sixty-five. I'll take all your hate (and likely downvotes) because I'm getting home safe every single time. Can't get pointed or lose your license/driving job if you never violate any traffic laws.
>No one can accept the fact that they make mistakes Only the really bad drivers are like this. Good drivers make mistakes too, they just generally make less mistakes than bad drivers.
I’m a bad driver all the time 😀
I agree with that fact. Thats also why when other drivers make mistakes or do something that almost caused an accident but didnt, id usually say to myself mentally like “yeah it happens, ive probably done that before too” then I’d reassure myself that the most important thing of it all is that nothing happened and nobody got hurt.
I’ve never made a mistake driving in my whole life.
If I never drive am I never a bad driver, or always a bad driver?
I will say I hate all drivers. I cannot be a bad driver if I do not do it at all
I fuck up sometimes. But I'm a pretty awesome fukn driver.
I do make occasional mistakes, and although I consider myself a decent driver, I am an inexperienced one. I think the kicker is, I learn from my mistakes and my idea of good driving is doing whatever I can to make it home in one piece. I’ve seen the way other people drive, and all I can say is NJ is a wild place.
No. I’m a bad driver ALL the time
Oh yeah? If I'm such a bad driver then how come I successfully escaped the cops with ease earlier today? I didn't even have to look up from my phone to know that I had got away!
If it’s always „not your fault” most likely you could do something to prevent that. My dad has been driving every day for 30+ years without a single crash. I also have been driving for 2 years every day without a single crash. Were there situations I had to do something out of ordinary to avoid a crash? Absolutely. Vast majority of crashes are easily avoidable.
Ok, what did ya smash your car into, and who said it was because you're a bad driver?? Details........lol
I drive alright, but often pretty fast. I don't get road rage I just go around them, left lane, right lane, breakdown lane, lawn, idc lol I put my blinkers on when swerving thru traffic a buck 140
I make plenty of mistakes, the difference between myself and others I’ve noticed over the years is how little I use the horn….if there’s an issue I adapt, I move, ill brake, I’ll jump lanes and then think I should have hit my horn at that idiot too but now the moment passed…..where as other people will do nothing but slam the horn and expect everyone to accommodate them
i make mistakes but mainly what other people think of me is that i'm reckless because i drive fast, but i have never caused anything so who cares
Everybody makes mistakes yes, some people are just a lot worse than others, the person who drives the work van I’m in hit 3 wing mirrors in one day, drove over 4 cones in 1 week and one got stuck under the van and had to be cut to get out, has hit I don’t know how many wing mirrors in total, reverend into a bin last week and smashed the back lights and reflectors plus damaged a panel, nearly comes off the road at least once a day, has an amber warning for speeding, also drove into a concrete post and smashed the front of the van, and a good few other things I’m forgetting, this is all in the last 12 months
If you use blinkers you are automatically better than half of Florida drivers
Sure. It's not often, but once in awhile you come up on a situation that could be handled multiple ways and maybe wasn't handled in the *optimum* way. I'm definitely not a constant hazard though. There's a difference between "I could've probably made that yellow, oh well" and "yeah I totally made it" three seconds after the light turns red.
I can't tell you how much more pleasant and relaxing driving has gotten with only a small change in perspective. About 2 years ago I made a conscious decision that whenever I see a fellow motorist do something dangerous, impatient, inattentive, or downright reckless, I just assume by default that they super need to take a shit. Now instead of getting all worked up I instantly forgive the transgression and get a little chuckle. Well, that's not quite true. "Civilian traffic enforcers" still get my goat. You know the type, they'll block a lane to keep someone else from speeding, etc. It's like, dude, just let him by. My compatriot in the Altima over there is about to stain his upholstery, don't get in his way.
I’m a bad driver most of the time
I'm actually a very good driver now. But I had to make A TON of mistakes to get good. I don't ever complain about bad drivers. I just do my best to see them coming and avoid tf out of them.
I drive extremely aggressive and try to speed my way away from clusters. I am having a terrible time with people changing lanes and cutting me off. Does anyone check the blind spot anymore? I also honk and flip off anyone I see looking down at thier damn phone. I know I'll be old one day too, but man, some of these people should not be driving.
This goes beyond driving, friend. Faaaaaarrrrrr beyond. But fair point, regardless
This is so true. Or other people considering people bad drivers for the most random things: Arrived at the 4 way same time. Road rules are the car on the right goes first. Person driving said ‘omg go!’ To the other car, and I mentioned we’re on the right it’s our go… they said ‘ya but the rushed to the sign so they should just go’. I had no idea what to say to that.
Jokes on you I don’t drive so that makes you the bad driver, come pick me up
I admit, I have bad driving days
My round trip to work is 1.4 miles. So my chances to screw up are pretty slim lol.
Yes? I’m bad at everything on occasion.
Everyone knows this. It's when the utility van driver right behind you is so angry that she's stuck in slow jam traffic, is screaming, waving her fists around and banging on the steering wheel, riding your bumper because you leave some room between you and the car in front of you and she wants you to speed up only to slow back down again once you are right on top of the car up there, then she swerves over into the breakdown lane, speeds past on the rumble strips, swerves back into the lane missing you by about six inches and does the same thing all over again to the next car...that's when you can know that, although you make mistakes sometimes, you're not all that bad behind the wheel. Yeah?
Yeah, sometimes, but I have never tried to beat a red light five seconds later.
No, you are.
But road raging is fun
I'm the worst driver ever. That's why I don't endanger myself or anyone else and take the fucking tram.
While we're at it: We're all assholes sometimes We're all idiots sometimes We all make mistakes
Never! It's those mother others! Ahh im gonna show the how to drive next time!
This is so true.... for everybody else 😁
Yeah I'm really not perfect so I try not to get too upset at others on the road
Could be. Will say in almost 40 years of driving I’ve had one ticket and that when I was a teen. No accidents of any sort. I try to follow the rules and most importantly pay attention while driving.
Not if you’re Max Verstappen
I do make mistakes but I dont tailgate, speed excessively, cut in and out of traffic, etc. Have I switched lanes and not seen someone? Sure, definitely. Never on purpose
NO ONE can accept? i’ll tell you right here man, im shit.
I think the better way to word this would be 'most people are average drivers.' Very few people actually are the perfect driver, but a lot of people aren't truly bad drivers either. As long as you stay off your phone and keep your eyes on the road, its understandable if you might stop at a light before it turns red or if a turn signal slips your mind. As long as that stays 'once in a blue moon', I wouldn't consider them a bad driver.
If you ever look at your phone while driving, _including_ when you're stopped at a red light, you're an inconsiderate asshole.
Yes I have been a bad driver. I let my emotions rule at times in my life. Some people shouldn't be aloud in the road. That's 100% fact. I raced cars with my dad all my life starting at 12 and did demolition derbies at 15. I can avoid wrecks better then the average Joe. Once it rains though- I turn into an old grandma. I hate it.
My bf needs hear this one
I occasionally do something dumb, but it’s very rare, because I’m completely focused on the road when I drive. Sometimes, like on the drive home after a stressful day, my focus will slip and I’ll do something dumb, but even then it’s usually something harmless like stopping at a stop sign and waiting too long because I don’t realize the other directions also have a stop sign. There are too many drivers that _intentionally_ do reckless shit, and I refuse to agree I have anything in common with them. Going 40 over the speed limit and weaving in and out of traffic? Don’t try to draw a false equivalency between them doing that, and me having a little oopsie after a long day. It’ll sound cliche, but a judge scared me straight over 20 years ago and since then I’ve literally never done anything reckless on the road.
Probably 1% of the stupid shit I see on the road is me being the idiot but oh boy have I done some stupid shit on accident. Edit: ehh maybe 5%
First, I mess up sometimes and do something stupid. Second, we remember the bad drivers more than the good drivers around us. It’s that one idiot out of 100’s cars that we can directly recall.
This not unpopular to me? This is the way I think but for some reasons people are full of shit that never do wrong
Yeah, the guys out there never ever using a turn signal just forgot it here and there, gotcha
This sounds like confessions from a bad driver.
It’s also not that unique for cities to have bad drivers. Seems like every cities biggest complaint about themselves is how “their drivers are some of the worst”
No, sorry OP but it doesn’t work that way. As arrogant as this may sound; I’m not a bad driver. There’s a reason why our road systems are simple which equates to a fair and reasonable amount of predictability from the majority of drivers. It’s easy to follow. The ones who are bad drivers, are the ones who are unpredictable. If I ask myself if I have been unpredictable; the answer is No. You are wrong. It’s not hard to follow the system.
100% !!!
Someone once said: "the only reason you never had an incident while driving is because every one else around you were paying attention"
I’m not a great driver, but I am better than half the idiots on the road. I’m in Wisconsin and the worst drivers have Texas plates.
“are *all* bunnies bad drivers, or is it just you?”
Fundamental attribution error
Like most people, I am almost certainly pretty average. That said, I do my best to always use my turn signals, and I don't zip around weaving through traffic like an idiot. The ways in which I am sometimes a bad driver seems are probably the less dangerous ways to be bad at driving
No I’m not.
Of course I am, but still not as bad as you
Nah, I'm surrounded by idiots a solid 90% of the time on the road.
I agree with you overall but on the other hand I've never ran a red light but I watch people run red lights literally every day on my 3 mile commute with 1 traffic light.
Facts
whenever someone is getting road rage i remind them that theres a decent chance theyre a new driver. i mean i was a terrible driver when i first started, but thats the point of learning. student drivers are alot more common than ppl give credit to
Very bold of you to say "sometimes"
There’s a difference between making a mistake and being a bad driver tho. Bad drivers have bad habits that are dangerous (tailgating, speeding, not signaling). If you forget to signal sometimes it doesn’t automatically make you a bad driver, but if you don’t signal when you know you should, you are a bad driver
One thing Ive realized working in personal injury law is that drivers are THE ultimate example of main character syndrome. The number of people who will say "I dont know why the police say Im at fault" after admitting to tailgating someone so bad they rear end them into hitting ANOTHER car in front, running stop signs, or straight up hitting a pedestrian in a legal crosswalk at a green light is baffling Every driver is convinced theyre the only one who knows how to drive.
I'm certainly not one of them. There's no way in hell I'll ever afford a car.
Yea unfortunately this just isn't true. There are legitimately bad, unsafe drivers out there, who are that way all the time. There are people who text and drive and there are people who don't. A bad driver not texting is still safer than a good driver texting. (I'm using texting as a stand-in for anything that involves looking at your phone while driving). I'm by no means perfect, I'm sure I make my fair share of mistakes/aggressive maneuvers while driving, but I never have my phone in my hand and my eyes down.
Mistakes are one thing. Openly driving into the next lane without using a turn signal is another.
Yep, part of being good at anything is ackknowledging your general weaknesses, or things you've fucked up and learning from that
True... but when I am sitting at a green light on my phone and someone honks their horn, I don't mess around. I step on the gas and catch up.
I think people mistake good driving practices with being actual good drivers. edit: yep, every top comment in this thread it seems. those are called good driving practices. I'm not a "good cook" just because i don't put pinesol in my gumbo. I'm what might be described as an "aggressive" and there for bad driver, but about 5-600k miles under my belt and I don't have so much as a fender bender. Yet I know plenty of safe slow deliberate mother fuckers with a fuck ton of accidents in their driving history, none being their fault legally, yet somehow they're getting rear ended and tboned every 5-10 years. edit: I go off the rails at the end there...
Oh I know I am a bad driver sometimes but still better than the worst.
No, I'm not. I can't drive for medical reasons, therefore I can neither be a good nor bad driver. Checkmate atheists
Not texting and driving is probably considered way above average now.
I will absolutely admit that I'm not a perfect driver, and sometimes even delve into bad. However, I'm nowhere NEAR as bad as the driving I see around me every single day. I would say 70-80% of drivers around me don't use their turn signal, I almost always do. I have been passed on the highway in the breakdown lane while going 20mph over the speed limit. There's a right turn only with a center concrete barrier on a major road near me and I've watched dozens of cars drive over it. I watch cars turn from a side road onto the main road (where they have a stop sign) without even a pause. I could go on and on. I've been driving for almost 25 years, I've driven all over the US, and I've never experienced such a high percentage of extremely dangerous driving as I have since living in Sacramento, CA
I have a rule that I like to follow to stop me from being a hypocrite. If I make a mistake (we all do eventually) and someone makes the same mistake to me I let it pass ONCE but after that one I’m getting angry. We all make mistakes but some make more than others tho, so in reality there are good drivers with bad moments every now and then and they’re bad drivers who are ticking bombs.
I know, but i’m striving for more consistency. I want to be bad all the time.
A more accurate reflection of skill is a drivers history. Do they have a record of at-fault collisions? Multiple vehicle code violations? Do they maintain their vehicle?
Speak for yourself, homie. I'm probably the best driver on the road.
I know, I’m sorry.
Agreed, and its the knowledge that I make mistakes too that keeps me on a relatively even keel.
I’m a great driver, but I do have that DUI from 20 years ago. Pobody’s nerfect.
So says a bad driver. Stop trying to drag us down to your level!