Quote:
Originally Posted by Panda
Tough break man. When splitting you really need to pay attention.
Speed: Your speed differential to traffic needs to be appropriate for the situation you are in.
Location: Are you splitting on a highway or are you splitting in the city? In the city you have to worry about bikes and jaywalkers that you typically wouldn't encounter on a highway. On a highway, debris tends to collect in between lanes.
Stop and Go Traffic: When traffic is stopped you have to start worrying about people opening their doors. If traffic is moving really slowly it helps to pay attention to where drivers are looking. Do they look like they are trying to find a gap in traffic? Are they looking back over their shoulder? Are their wheels pointed into your lane? In slow moving and stop and go traffic people won't wait for a vehicle sized gap to move into instead moving to where a vehicle sized gap will appear.
Lanes of traffic moving at different speeds: If one lane is moving quicker than the other you're likely to have vehicles move from the fast lane to the slow one. Start paying attention to gaps in the traffic where vehicles might try to slot or dart in.
Vision: Along with the above you need to keep your vision up. That vehicle 10 cars ahead of you that keeps switching lanes is probably not going to stop anytime soon. You should give that vehicle a wide berth. Are one of the lanes closed? Is traffic being pushed into fewer lanes? You should probably start splitting in another lane.
|
When I was about 14 years old my father always taught me to drive with my eyes 200 yards down the road. Not to focus on the 50 feet in front of you. Watch the average woman driver. Seat jacked forward so her belly is pressing against the steering wheel, her nose resting on the top of the steering wheel. She's looking at the 25 - 30 feet in front of her. Dumb! Push the seat back, semi-straight arm on the wheel, hands at the 10 and 2 position and look as far down the road as you can see. Assume the guy pulling out in front of you from a side road is going to cut you off. Assume the guy at the intersection is going to turn left in front of you. Assume the guy pulling out in traffic is going to try to jump in to space between you and the car you are following at a safe distance (even though there is a 20 car length space behind you). NEVER assume you're OK because you have the right of way.
If you do all that stuff you might make it to 70 like me.
Bill