Driving - Tip #5 lanes are there for a reason

I've already touched on this one when I talked about walking on busy sidewalks. But I would like to bring it up again today.

Tip #5 - They have lanes for a reason

I have a VERY close friend of mine that is horrible at this, and I never said anything because I felt like it may be a very touchy subject, but right now, this friend will remain nameless and I hope that someone takes something away from this tip.

A lot of people like to ride in the left lane. For some reason, that I may never know, people don't understand that the left lane is to pass slower moving cars. It is not to just drive in because it's there. The left lane is for passing. So I shall repeat, if you are slower, stay to the right, if you always are passing, stay to the left. But when in doubt, stay in the right lane and use the left to pass when needed.

Please don't just drive in the left lane because it's convenient.

Thank you.

Next week - The Subway

Driving - Tip #1 Keep The Space

I must explain my reason for picking Driving this week. Since living down here in West Palm Beach, I have realized a few things about the area, but the one that stands out most in how horrible people drive down here. I can honestly say that they drive worse than people in NYC, and I would think that was tough to do. So here are my tips for driving, and hopefully make this area, and maybe some other areas a better place, One idiot at a time.

Tip #1 - Keep the Space

I realize now that not everyone knows this rule, and I am going to put a shout out to my dear friend, Dave Chamberlain, who told me this when I first started to learn how to drive (in his awesome TransAm) and it stuck with me.

Don't tailgate. Here's how you know you aren't tailgating, there should be room for at least 1 car between you and the car in front of you. Have you ever driven on the highway and come across those big circles on the road? Yeah, those are to stop tailgating. If you have room for one car to come between you and the car in front of you then you are good.

Why should you not tailgate? It's hard not to right? Especially when you are in a rush, or you get behind someone who doesn't know how to drive, or you aren't paying attention, or the person in front of you isn't even driving the frickin speed limit! (I bet if you stopped tailgating, they would speed up, although here in WPB, they just need to drive slow because well, they're old.)

What are the benefits?? If you are following a stupid driver (as noted above), there is a chance that they will just STOP abruptly, or swerve for a squirrel, or do something...stupid, and you know what? YOU won't have time to react and boom, rear end accident. And even though the person in front of you is a horrible driver and should take blame, they won't....it will be your fault, and you become the stupid driver.

SO. STOP. TAILGATING.