How to adjust your mirrors, leave earlier, turn signals are your friend, how to merge, and other driving tips that you learned and probably forgot

I'm a pretty conservative driver. That doesn't mean I drive at or under the speed limit, tooling around like I have a "Warning, Student Driver" sign on my car. I'm more of a defensive driver, adapting to the conditions around me to increase my safety and the safety of my passengers. And that's true whether I'm in my car, or on one of the motorcycles. But it does mean following some driving techniques that should be common sense:

1. Not living in the left lane of the expressway. The left lane is the passing lane. Get in it, pass the car(s), and move back over. If you regularly have cars passing you to your right, you're probably a left lane hog. Get out of it already. Soccer moms in your minivan or SUV, please don't think you have every right to live in the left lane just because you are doing the speed limit. You don't. So get out of it. That line of cars behind you, maybe tailgating you, is ticked off that you are not obeying a common courtesy of the road. Move over.

2. Using the turn signals BEFORE the brakes. Turn signals are a warning device. They are meant to warn the drivers around you, "Hey, I'm about to turn so you should expect brake lights and deceleration soon." But no, too many people use their brakes and then the turn signal. Bad form. This makes the turn signal nearly useless. Use your turn signal well in advance of your turn and for God sakes, use it before braking.

3. Get up to speed before merging on the expressway. Don't try to merge into traffic that's doing 65 while you are trying to get your Prius up to 45 MPH. Dangerous practice for you, the drivers behind you, and the ones trying to dodge you on the expressway.

4. If you're in a hurry, leave earlier! Don't put yourself, me, and others at risk dodging traffic, 
and haphazardly dancing across lanes to jockey into a position to overtake the pack. And don't ever pass on the right. That will get your license revoked in Germany, and it should be the same way in the US. It's stupid and dangerous. If you are in that much of a hurry, leave earlier. Your failure to plan appropriately does not justify dangerous driving. Those around you shouldn't be slamming on brakes to accommodate your hazardous lane changes.

5. Don't toss your still-burning cigarette butts out the window. You have an ashtray, use it. Your piles of butts at the side of the road are disgusting. They aren't biodegradable despite what you tell yourself. And when they hit someone behind you, they can cause problems, especially if that person happens to be on a motorcycle.


6. When you are at a 4-way intersection, sitting behind a green light waiting to make a left turn, don't hang back behind the crosswalk. Pull up into the intersection so that when it's safe to turn, you can go right into your left turn and not have to drive ahead another four car lengths to get into the lane you are heading toward. The people behind you will appreciate also being able to get through the light, and staying back behind the crosswalk will only force them to sit through another light because you didn't know how to correctly make a left turn.

7. Finally, put your mirrors in position where they are actually useful. You have blind spots because your mirrors are tilted too far inward. You don't need to see the side of your own car, you need to see as much around you as possible. Don't cut us off changing lanes because you don't know how to set your mirrors. Here's the right way to do it. /end rant