Ive been driving in traffic for a long time now, many years. I spend somewhere between 1 hour and 2 hours of my day in traffic. Four lane wide, 6 mph to 11 mph type of traffic. My body has given up on caring how fast i get to work. Ill get there when i get there and there is no point in worrying or trying to rush my way through to get there. Ive learned to just sit back, relax, chill out to audible and mentally prepare for the day.

Ive learned instead of riding everyone's ass in traffic, just to give myself a a wide berth with the person in front of me. Shocker i know, what a rebel . That way if a sudden stop comes up or people want to cut me off, ive got plenty of room. Like 3-4 car lengths atleast. Since all four lanes arent going any faster than the others, who gives a shit anyways, right?

Holy jesus, i might as well be riding around with a Nazi and confederate flag flying on my commuter car. This little concept ENRAGES the fuck out of people. I used to get upset, like, come on man, its not a race, ill pass you in 5 mins anyways. Now, after a few years, i get pleasure from it. Almost everyday this week ive looked in my rear view mirror to see this.

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Which makes me laugh, out loud, like a mad man as i watch them with maniacal fascination. They are just screaming at their windshield. Pounding on their steering wheel. They are ready to murder with extreme prejudice. Since both lanes arent moving any faster and we are moving at a 4 mph pace, they have no other choice but to look at my 4 car lengths in front of me and envision a world where they are 4 car lengths closer to their destination. Sometimes ill even slow down MORE. We've got 10 more miles at 4.5 mph buddy, better get strapped into that pretty hate machine youre piloting.

Sometimes they will get lucky. They will change lanes and get to pull up next to me and i get this.

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Now, my commuter car is small and shitty. So maybe these people think they are going to pull up next to me and scare me? Yell obscenities at me to make me feel bad? I dont think they expect to get me looking back with a big ass smile and a wave. A big, bearded dude, with bunch of scars on his face, smiling like an idiot never breaking eye contact. The situation deescalates very quickly.




So, traffic is actually entertaining sometimes.

When I'm on the highway going 20mpg behind some jackhole who has 45 car lengths in front of him because traffic is starting to clear up, but he hasn't started going faster yet...that shit pisses me off.

It happened just yesterday with a semi truck.  We all had to stop (or almost) and go slow for a stretch of highway...but then it seems people get into a lull where they stay that way even when it clears up.  

My goal with traffic is to fill the gaps.  If there's too much gap between cars, I feel like I should be in that gap.

Traffic in West Virginia? Where are all the methbillies going?

You don't look like that.

What you're describing leans distinctly toward the passive-aggressive side rather than defensive. 

Commute into DC

Exactly like the vikings guy? No i guess not

I get what youre saying, but this isnt it. Were talking, stop go, stop go, 4 mph, then 6 mph, then stop for 10 miles. Big difference.

When the car in front of me leaves a gap in front of him, then people from the sides will fill in that gap, putting him, me, and everyone behind us even farther back in line.  He'll slow down even further to open the gap back up, whereupon more cars come in from the sides to fill in the gap.  I'm okay with him not riding the bumper of the car in front of him, just as I try my damndest to not ride HIS bumper.  But when there's a steady stream of cars passing us both up, I tend to get annoyed.  Keep the fuck up with traffic is all I'm asking!

I find if yiou leave big enough gap people will move into it, so the ideal gap size is just enough so other cars can't jump in front of you, maybe a little longer and if you think they're going to jump in front of you speed up a little to cut them off

nobody delivers Sudafed by the case anymore

So how often does someone pull into the space between you and the car you are following?


Wouldn't that cause you to essentially go backwards in traffic?

Horrible commute.

No wonder he feels like he has to do 40 in traffic that goes 70

Suddenly, all of your other threads make sense.  

Really, only when you get to merge areas when a big traffic vein dumps onto this main highway. Or when people are playing weekday nascar and are changing lanes as fast as they can. Everyone in this area knows the game and just picks a lane and sticks to it. The vast majority of people who commute into DC know how to do this and just move on with life.

That's the way it would happen in city traffic.

Leaving big gaps is actually making traffic worse for everyone. For any given speed, the amount of traffic that can flow is directly related to how closely the cars are spaced. You are fucking yourself and everyone else.

You NEVER drive on the defense.
The prevent defense NEVER works.

Always be on the offense.
Be an offensive driver I say.

You're in charge of your own destination.
Switch lanes, speed a little to get and stay in front, anticipate retards, jackasses and morons.

A defensive driver sits there and is everyone's floormat.

citation please Dale.

im with you OP.


I travel through WV alot for work, those people couldnt drive out of a frigging wet paper bag, ohio too.

people will cut you off and floor it just to get to the next red light before you do so they can sit and wait.

Sounds to me like he's resigning himself to deal with others stupidity through humor.  Sometimes you have to laugh at the sheer fucking inane Fucktardery that one has to deal with from other 'drivers' while driving down the road.  

I do a shit ton of driving for a living, some days the term killdozer comes to mind.  It is a combination of  clueless operators combined with complete retards and assholes on the road.  Spattered with some poor rational bastards.  


Funny how the one that tries to drive sane in traffic and has to laugh stupidity off is the one that is accused of being passive aggressive.  Let's not mention the ones pounding on the steering wheel and yelling like damn fools, they are normal...  Right?

1/10 rant
9/10 paint

Holy fuck, people like you are the reason why traffic is so fucked.

If everyone left at least one car space in front of them then there would be no issues.
People would be able to change lanes, merge, pass other cars, and have room for when "shit happens".

Fucktards that use the "nut to butt" driving technique are the main reasons why traffic is all fucked up.

Your method is sound, and if you had a few others of like mind, would actually serve to smooth the flow of traffic. Like slack in a rope. I have seen it in action on one particular road in Jax FL, 30 minutes to go 5 miles stop, 5 mph, 10 mph, stop, 15mphstop...etc. when a few folks let the gaps even out in front of them, the flow becomes much more laminar behind, an most anyone would be much more content with a steady 5-7mph versus stop and go.

Some days the stars would align, and 3 or 4 of us would mindmeld and make a stand, preventing the lane jumpers from that split second bullshit that spoils the whole concept, and after a couple minutes, whammy! We got good flow, with a gap big enough ahead to absorb the stop and go crowd.
Effectively proving that the rate of travel is the same, just without the stop and go.

Keep up the good work.

You.re that guy, huh.  What would happen if everyone drove like a douchnozzle?

Exactly. I think some people have to spend an exorbitant amount of time in traffic to understand the concept. Otherwise they have no idea.

If there were no gotta get ahead mentality I see all the time driving would be a lot more enjoyable.

If everyone on the road was driving like you (patient and giving room) the whole lot of traffic would be moving faster and more efficiently.  I don't know why more people don't see it.

So the guy chilling and going at a steady pace in his lane is the douchnozzle.

But the guy having an aneurysm and swerving in and out of traffic lanes while cutting people off is doing it right?

Do an MSPaint of your face. We need to get an idea about the scars to judge the scariness of them.

OP is a left lane camper

Middle lane actually, thats muh lane.

From left to right its: HOV Lane, "left" lane, middle lane, right lane.

Not only is he an internet troll, but he is a real life troll too.

Heavy traffic trolling is fun.  I do it also when I find myself in heavy traffic.  You are not going anywhere and neither is the other person so why not make some fun of it.

Great post, OP.
Some of the finest MS-Paint I've seen in a long time.

I'm with you.  The best part is slowing down to maintain the space in front no matter how many jackwagons stroke themselves by gaining the 4 car-lengths.  Makes the ones behind them even crazier.

Getting older and wiser isn't all bad.

If if if if if if if.....

LOL.

Traffic would flow at an average speed of 5mph, instead of 10mph. Stop. 10mph. Stop. 10mph. stop.

Let me guess you merge early as hell when lanes end, get nut to butt, and pissed when someone uses the entire lane until it ends and zipper merges like it was designed?

Life is about the subtle things

Yeah. Everyone on I-66 should leave room for four cars in front of them during rush hour traffic.  

Stay out of Northern Virginia you hillbilly.

The less you interact with your pedals, the smoother traffic will flow.

Op is an ass,
The reason it's do annoying is when you're behind a jackass like him is you don't know when to predict the stop.

When people leave a normal Gap you see the stop coming.  When dbag leaves random car lengths, you don't

Traffic would flow significantly faster with everyone leaving about 1 car space. You don't have to be "nut to butt" but leaving 4 car spaces in front of you actually fucks everyone.

Were you the guy having an aneurysm behind me today? Relax buddy, youll get to your job selling life insurance at the same time as everyone else.

The nature of the WV -> DC commute is why I ended up catching the MARC train daily for 17 years ....

Nick

Commute to DC