Why Do We Think We Own the Road?

I would say the cost of driving stupid is more likely to own those who choose to drive so.

Even before I spent time as an EMT volunteer in my town, I found it hard to understand the general driving mentality that includes not leaving plenty of oh s**t room between you and the other guy. Or ensuring you are looking at the whole driving situation and flow and ensuring you coordinate your choices with the choices of those around you. I have seen a lot of stupid on the roads, and fail to understand the attraction of driving like no one else is around.

The taxonomy of driving dangerously includes (but is not limited to): Tailpipers, Thread-the-Needle, Playing Parcheesi, Just Gotta Text Right Now, Hail Mary Lane Changers (or mergers on/off), and Brake Checkers, are just a few of the things seen on our roads.

Tailpipers: Too many times people climb up the tailpipe of the car in front of them as if bullying people will somehow result in faster access to wherever they are trying to go. Apparently, there are quite a number of people long on rush and short on a clear grasp of the physics of driving.

Thread-the-Needle: You see some poor soul in the slow lane, doing something resembling the posted speed limit, just trying to stay clear of the driving drama, while Speedy-McStupid decides to do thread-the-needle pass by driving as fast as they can on the right, switching back to the left in a paint shaving maneuver to cut some time off their drive.

Playing Parcheesi: Of course, I think too many of us have experienced the guy who just has to live in the left-hand lane, under the posted speed limit, only to speed up at every open section of the road, instead of pulling over to the right and courteously allowing those moving faster to proceed. I get why this may lead some folks to decide to make the thread the needle maneuver. Both slow guy and fast guy are at fault, while innocent guy is just trying to survive to their next stop!

Hail Mary Lane Changers: some seem to think turn signals are optional, or the fact a turn signal is on somehow grants the right to change lanes regardless of what is going on in the target lane. Good luck if you were just minding your own business when the Hail Mary Lane Changer shows up. It is sadly true they often flip you off your honking to warn them the lane is already occupied.

Just Gotta Text Right Now: How many times have drivers seen that one driver that is obviously engaged with their phone or newspaper or book (I have seen all of these!). They are usually driving slower, not so good at staying in their lane, and dear God, are the last folks you want behind you in a traffic jam!

Brake Checkers: There is one and only one reason to hit the brakes on a highway, and it isn’t to back off the person behind you, nor is it to change lanes, or dive into a lane of slow-moving traffic (who got into that lane in anticipation of a crowded exit). It is always a great idea to leave plenty of stopping room (4-one thousand or 5-one thousand) between you and the next guy. Of course, in traffic jams, people can be rather rude.

Yet, have any of us given some thought to what happens when?

Let’s say you are driving along up someone’s tail pipe, and they swerve to avoid the dog, deer, moose, piece of car, rock, or whatever in front of them because they have a reasonable sense of self preservation.

You, on the other hand, have NO TIME TO REACT. (I have seen this). You are now either hitting the thing or hitting the driver who is riding next to you, or hitting the driver who was in front of you because you lost control, or being hit from behind by the driver who was riding your tail pipe. Those other drivers did not make the conscious (or unconscious) choice to be an irresponsible idiot. While I may take a moment to feel bad for you messing yourself up, I take exception to you harming your passengers, or innocent bystanders because you are being a criminally stupid moron.

Maybe you will get lucky and only destroy your car. However, it really stinks when you wind up never being the same again because of the motor vehicle trauma you experience as sequelae of your choice (or someone else’s) to drive like a moron with disregard for basic physics and the reality that life is full of the unexpected.

Let us take a moment to consider the reality of driving.

We have 4 (or perhaps more) wheels on the road. Typically, the amount of contact with the road for each wheel is about the same as the size of a US Letter sized piece of paper or smaller

1. A typical vehicle weighs an average of 4158 lbs or 2 tons (2.078 US tons). When that is traveling at 70 miles per hour and comes to an abrupt stop against an unyielding object, whoever is inside (assuming they are wearing a seatbelt) is going to experience 1,037,490 MILLION pounds force that will feel like being pressed with 1,037,135 pounds (about 518–519 TONS). Which is probably going to kill you.

2. If a moving car hits another moving car, the situation is more complex, and the forces may be less, and may be mitigated by airbags and such. Of course, in this scenario the cars may be hit by other cars or trucks that cannot avoid them, or wind up rolling over, or wind up hitting an unyielding object after the impact, which simply adds to the trauma experienced by the passengers/driver of the vehicle. While it may not kill anyone outright, it, for sure will ruin the day of all involved and the lives of the many motorists around you.

So, hospital bills and all (or funeral bills etc.) also have handy places to be calculated. There are figures you can see here an average economic cost of $1.7M incident (for death) and a comprehensive cost of $11.1 M (for death). At the cheapest, just ruining the car is estimated to be about $5,000 per car with a comprehensive cost of $51,000 (no injury observed)

4. This is a general formula and it does not take in the other factors such as income a person produces, and such. There are some interesting facts to consider at the page noted in the footnotes.

So, is it really worth driving like a moron? I certainly find it hard to defend driving as if you are the sole person who matters on the road.

Why not take a deep breath, and back off? You will get there faster (and so will everyone else) if you grant courtesy to your fellow drivers and give folks a chance to get out of your way without riding their backside. And certainly, taking the time to strategize and flow with the traffic will certainly help make a better day for everyone.

After all, if you cause an accident, it might be you in the body bag, or the orange jumpsuit. And certainly, if you cause an accident your vehicle becomes involved in, well, you are not going to get wherever it was you were going in such a big damn hurry.

1. Average vehicle weight: https://www.bankrate.com/insurance/car/average-car-weight

2. Contact Patch (tire): https://m.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid-10

3. Calculator for Force of Impact: https://www.omnicalculator.com/physics/car-crash-force

4. Cost of injuries from Auto accident: https://injuryfacts.nsc.org/all-injuries/costs/guide-to-calculating-costs/data-details/

Please note, this was a quick internet search. You may find it illuminating and educational to do your own research and understand why it seems so thoroughly criminal that people drive like complete idiots.