I’ll start. Stopping distance.
My commute is 95 miles one way to work, so I see a lot of the highway, in the rural part of the US. This means traveling at 70+ mph (112km/h) for almost the entirety of the drive. The amount of other drivers on the road who follow behind someone else with less than a car’s length in front of them because they want to go 20+ over the speed limit is ridiculous. The only time you ever follow someone that close is if you have complete and absolute trust in them, and also understand that it may not even be enough.
For a daily drive, you likely need 2-3 car lengths between you at minimum depending on your speed to accurately avoid hitting the brakes. This doesn’t even take into account the lack of understanding of engine braking…
What concepts do you all think of when it comes to driving that you feel are not well understood by the public at large?
Tailgating doesn’t get you there faster. Most highway accidents would be avoided if people would just leave some space, and then we wouldn’t get stuck in accident traffic jams for hours.
Somewhat counterintuitively, traffic will flow better and you’ll get places faster if you just leave some space (and you’ll be safer and use less fuel as you won’t be always on the accelerator and brakes)
Tailgaiting will definitely get you there faster in many situations. I can’t count the number of times I’ve had an asshole blocking the passing lane with little traffic, and then I went on to tailgate, honk, and frighten them out of the way only to continue unimpeded for miles.
The honking part is the key…
In Tennessee where I live, if the person in the passing lane does not merge to the right after passing, you are permitted to honk, and if they still won’t move, are permitted to pass on the right, if available
Great, and how many times will you be able to do that before dying in a car crash?
You can honk from a distance after letting them know you are there. Sound does travel faster than 70mph.