Do the ski gloves fit?

Miller in Repo Man says something about driving that I have come to absolutely agree with. There is only one sane thing you can do while driving: run your own talk show! So while there’s no list of what you can do on a long commute/drive because of limits that reality places on the possible, here’s a list of some hard-learned ways you can set the driving part right:

• Lane changing in front of a vehicle: Pull out a bit in front of a vehicle before moving into their lane. You may be visible to them, but your turn indicators at the rear may be in their frontal blind spots (and your turn indicators at the front are not visible to them anyway).

• Right on Red (only after stop!) is a choice, not an obligation. Don’t risk it.
• Speed Limits are — surprise surprise — doable, at least on multi-lane highways, you can stay at the limit tucked in the right lane. Putting on cruise control at the limit achieves (i) fuel efficiency, (ii) constant speed, (iii) maintenance below the speed limit. Going over the limit exposes you to risks that have been amply assessed in coming up with that number (assuming it’s reasonable — not a remainder from a repair mission that got done a month ago), and to curbside conversations with conscientious cops. There are reasons for every limit: construction, residential area close to the road, stray animals, blind driveways, accident history — and most of them are not visible. Most motorists would slow down by themselves if they knew about the risk. Besides, speeding doesn’t save time — unless you’re hurrying for an audience with a bloodthirsty martinet dictator — or on a cross-country trip — in which case you should be focusing on getting there, not getting there early, lol.
• Honking at slow motorists, or even being mildly irritated or even bemused at slow motorists in the right lane (in right lane driving regions) is inappropriate, especially when there are multiple lanes. You can choose to pass; if you’re too chicken to pass, there’s a reason to honk at yourself.
• Turn on wipers and headlights in the rain — the first to see and the second to be seen.
• Park back-in in perpendicular parking spots. It saves a lot of aggravation while pulling out; and is a lot easier to achieve than it appears. Try it out once and you’ll never park front-in.
• Two-way left turn lanes (TWLTL; in right lane driving regions) are nicens nice for making a left from a highway. But getting onto a highway by joining in the TWLTL is a risky maneuver if there is any approaching traffic at all. The approaching traffic has to move into TWLTL as late as possible; and you have to make sure not to be there when it happens.
• Tailgaters: I’ve been thinking of making a tiny radar device that tells you if you’re tailgating by computing your speed relative to the vehicle you’re following and your distance from it. etc. There’s a more sophisticated way to warn tailgaters: a bumper sticker that says “If you can read this, I could slam on my brakes and then sue you!” that I saw on a humvee.