Car Tech forum: What do you think is the biggest threat to safe driving?

It's a simple as this: Garbage in(thinking processes), Garbage out(bad driving habits).

Bad drivers are ones that speed, tailgate, eat, fiddle with the stereo, talk on the phone and all the other options in your question.

A few people can drive safely with one distraction, but I consider poor driving (i.e. speeding, tailgating, excessive lane changing etc) to be distraction number one. When you add talking on the phone, eating, etc. to poor driving, you get into distraction number two - almost no one drives safely with two distractions.

It is amazing that people totally space out from all that is around them while on the cell phone. 99% of the time the person in the left lane going 25 mph in a 50 mph zone is on the cell phone. Oblivious to the world. They shut down and talk. Driving is reduced to a secondary activity.

Have you ever become so deeply engrossed in a phone conversation that you lose all track of time. It has happened to most of us. Cell phones being used while driving equals disaster. People have admitted driving for 15-30 minutes with no idea of what they did or where they went because they were so caught up in their cell phone call. At 45 MPH you travel the length of a foorball field in 5 seconds. God help us when it is 2, 5, 15, or 30 minutes of driving while lost in a cell phone call.

A driver came onto the interstate last summer and cut me off so badly that I killed my engine like a police PIT manuver when I had to steer so hard to the left to have him miss me. I turned my van around 180 degrees with about 50 witnesses. All I saw was a cell phone glued to his left ear. The police caught the other driver 23 miles later, but had to "chase" him for another 3 miles with lights and siren going before he came out of his "cell phone fog" enough to realize he was being pursued.

I'm a runner and I can see whn a car "acquires" me because the car will move a bit to the side at that moment. If the driver never sees me, invariably they have a cell phone glued to their ear.

A close 2nd would be attitude. A very few drivers actually try and run over me thinking it's "cute". I throw a rock.

Morons in the left lane on the interstate...

Leave my cellphone alone. What next? You can't talk to passengers in the car? What is the difference?

The booming sound of the music systems that are being specially installed to actually come through your car (especially when stopped at a red light)and the thumping base actually making you nausous! Not only is this a Health risk to our hearing (since the owners have already busted their eardrums; there are laws about the level of decibels which are totally disregarded, not to mention that these levels are higher than the pitch of an emergency vehicle's warning sound, which could very well and probably is trying to save someone's life. Perhaps if the offenders lost a loved one due to an emergency vehicle being obstructed by a selfish driver boom-banging his way down the road and never hearing the siren and if they see them these are the same ones who are so insensitive as to not get over to the right and let the emergency vehicle pass! These special music installations should be outlawed; and bopth the installers and buyers being hit with large fines! Renee

Many bad drivers are simply that, bad drivers. They are the drivers who are coming on the onramp of an interstate and NEVER look back over their shoulder. (they obviously should return their car, as the dealer never told them there was a blind spot). They are the drivers who don't see the guy in the other lane up ahead who just glanced down at his outside mirror and just lifted his hand up to the top of his steering wheel (hello!! he's going to change lanes). They are the driver in the left lane completely oblivious to the fact that someone is behind them.
or the driver in the lane thats ending right now! There were only 3 signs warning him over the last mile. He/She is in their own little world.
They are the driver that backup out of parking spaces without ever looking over their shoulder (you mean mirrors don't show everything?).

It wouldn't matter if they had a cell phone in one hand, a hair dryer in the other and a tuna on rye in their mouth...they are ALREADY bad drivers. You can't mandate attentiveness.

Happy Trails!
PooterMan

They are doing everything else on the list, while they are suppost to be driving. Reaching for things takes your eyes off the road and is a major cause for accidents. Not having both hands on the steering wheel makes it hard to complete proper turns and in most cases forces people to either turn to short or too wide. Eatting and you spill in your lap and then you have to deal with the mess and if it was coffee oh my! 2nd degree burns occur! The GPS systems show things that just aren't open anymore. What's good in that, you spend more time and gas looking for something that isn't there at all. It cost Kim his life just last year! Everything on the list can lead to problems while driving!

Good one! I wondered how long it would be before some wit would point that point out! Driving while under the influence of alcohol is illegal pretty much everywhere. (same with certain cold tablets, as well as the illegal drugs.) So, if you overindulge, don't drive.

People are the biggest threat because most do not know how to drive. they don't know the rules of safe driving,nor do they care. Not every one falls into this catagory.most drivers can opperate a motor vehecil without any problems at all.most of these nonsence laws are people who need to reconised and stay up nights thinking of ways to make roads safer because that they themselfs are the cause of most problems on the roads. they can't drive in the first place.

Bad drivers do not think ahead. Changes in traffic are a surprise to them and their reaction is eratic. When the light changes they don't anticipate it and so they have to think about what to do next. They are not able to read traffic. This also leads to eratic behavior.

There are always those drivers that think the roads were just made for them and their are no rules except what they make of them.

You've listed a number of items that contribute to making one driver bad as opposed to another but they are not the cause. The causes of bad driving are ignorance and complacency. People who ignore the rules of the road are a danger not only to you and I, but to themselves. Being granted a driver license does not allow you to put me at risk because you're angry, in a hurry, lost, or simply not paying attention. Being granted a license to drive means that you've passed written and road tests which indicate to the proctors that you've grasped the basic rules of the road and laws on the books to promote a safe driving environment.

It means that you understand what the road signs mean and that you intend to abide by them. When the speed limit is posted at 70 MPH that means 70 MPH, not 85 because you happen to be in the number 1 lane. Speed limits are posted because the road has been surveyed as to how fast cars may travel safely and not try to break the laws of physics by shoving two pieces of mass in the same physical space. This is driving folks, not vehicle fusion. The term "speed limit" is implicit in its meaning that it is a LIMIT.

It means passing on the left of another driver so that driver can clearly see your actions in relation to his or her vehicle. The lanes to the right are for those vehicles not capable of driving at the speed limit either due to power capacity or size. They are also there to provide the space necessary for other drivers to build up the speed necessary to merge into the lanes of traffic and not for you to dodge in and out at a rate of speed higher than those lanes allow.

It means that you SHARE the road with other drivers, not that you OWN a 10 foot radius around your car. You would all be surprised at just how much faster traffic would move along if you would simply leave room for others to navigate and merge rather than cut them off or attempt to beat them only to gain another few feet. Traffic is traffic and it is not going to move any faster with you bearing down on the car ahead of you. And if you drive this way because you're in a hurry then who's fault is that? not mine so why should I end up paying for your bad scheduling decisions which resulted in you being late for work?

It means that you will not force me and others to listen to crap music at decibels that would rattle the paint off my car as I idle next to you at a signal light. This way you can hear what is going on which is just as important as the visual aspect of driving. If you wish to listen to music that loud then be courteous and roll up your windows and keep it to yourself as not everyone has your poor taste in music.

Complacency is the other issue which detracts from a drivers ability to perform the task of properly handling a motor vehicle. All of you who drive a particular stretch of road every single day are the worst offenders because you all simply stop paying attention to what is going on around you. How many of you can state with certainty what road signs are new if you are not alert to changes. Complacency will also make drivers engage in actions that they would not otherwise. You will tend to drive faster than you are physically capable because you get comfortable and then you stop paying attention.

In short people are bad drivers because they choose to be, because it is easier than doing the right thing.

A few years ago I saw an accident where a woman was talking on a cell phone and went right through a red light. It was icy and she hit a car which spun around in the middle of the intersection. The woman did not stop for almost a block and never put down the phone. I started hearing sirens and as I passed her she was still talking as if nothing had happened.