(originally posted here∞)

I am as excellent as you can consider an aggressive driver to be (I know that mere agressiveness downgrades me in some people's book -- that's fine -- but I consider the alertness that comes with it a virtue). I drive fast, ignore many stop signs, and have no qualms about using my car's ability to accelerate (in the most general sense). I am safe, the only near-misses in my 6 years coming when I was NOT being aggressive (zoning out).

I'm dispassionate about my aggressiveness. Drive in static "formations" on a freeway and I'll yell at you, but my driving won't change. Confuse the words "merge" and "stop" and I'll flip the bird, but not before launching myself neatly into the traffic pattern and away from the accident-waiting-to-happen breaking point ahead. Seeing someone make an aggressive move in front of me doesn't piss me off at all: I give props to the man with balls++.

I'm courteous to a fault vis-a-vis signalling lane changes, letting faster drivers pass on my left (and become the patsy when trolling for cops, hehe), and so on. I check my blind spots before moving laterally. I memorize light cycles so I know when I'm about to get a green, or when it's totally safe to make a right turn but the city was just too lazy to add a protected green (I yell at folks who don't do this, but not with real anger, see above).

Technique: I don't take (most) corners too aggressively, but I've pushed my car to the limit enough times to know exactly what to do should the need arise. I heel-and-toe downshift a half-dozen times on my way to school without breaking a sweat. I keep my car in excellent mechanical shape, with the occasional nod to looks too.

NC drivers aren't too bad (merely slow), but I am their god. Rawr.

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I do not "hurry up and wait" for stoplights. Usually I know exactly when it will turn -- and the rest of the time I can guess well enough to keep a moderate (15mph) speed while I wait -- allowing me to zip past the so-called hurriers with minimal wasting of momentum. (Yes, usually in the right lane, but I don't see the problem with it; I'm not the one hogging the passing lane.)

I do not automatically slam on the brakes when the person in front of me flashes his brake lights. (This habit of others is what causes traffic slowdowns on limited-access roadways with otherwise ample bandwidth :mad:). I observe the closing velocity between us and calculate how much time there must be before he will accelerate again versus remaining a safe distance apart; 70% of the time the gradual deceleration of 5th gear + a few seconds has the situation resolved without affecting the drivers behind me.

I look both ways before backing out of a parking spot. (Actually, I prefer to back in, eliminating the potential issue, but apparently this is too difficult for the masses). I honk at others who do not extend me the same courtesy and apparently desire to hit my car. I yield to pedestrians, but refuse to engage in "you go first" "no you go first" "no yuo..." battles of politeness. I wait my turn at four-way stops, but do not have infinite patience.

I do not decelerate to 2mph for speed bumps. Apparently the world missed the memo that it's much more comfortable -- to say nothing of expedient -- to hit them at 35mph, hear a quick "boom boom," let your shocks do their thing, and be on your way. (Drivers of lowered Camaros and the like are exempt.) Instead they prefer to go "up...down...up...down" -- perhaps it gives them the thrill of momentarily climbing the steep grades that their SUV was actually meant for. Tip #71 for the cerebrally impaired: you can almost completely eliminate the shock by running the right wheel next to the curb before the bump begins. (Of course, if you go 2mph you'll still bob up & down like Syro's hairy man-ass, and sideways to boot.) However, this requires the ability to know where your tires are, one clearly lacking in the general population.

I do not affix wings, Type R stickers, or other faux-Japanese abominations to my car. In honor of the many riceboy threads at Ars, I leave the rest of this paragraph intentionally blank.

I avoid long lights by whatever means necessary. I make sure to arrive at the sensor in time to trigger my cycle; I look several lights ahead/right/left, as field of vision permits, to see if the cycles in effect suggest a side route would be preferred; I make creative maneuvers (that I don't believe to be extralegal) when I am nonetheless stuck behind said lights. For the impressionable Ars lurkers, I do not condone going through the intersection, making a u-turn, and then a right if I've missed the left-turn cycle; nor do I think making a right, a u-turn, and another right is a foolproof way to circumvent a red straight-ahead light -- but having these moves in your playbook when the time comes can net you a tip, or simply the joy of continuing to work the pedals, wheel, and gearshift instead of zoning out, of which I consider the latter tendency more dangerous.



This is a quick way to get a ticket. I've watched tons of people get ticketed for speeding, but as per above have never so much as been pulled over despite driving 35k miles in the last 10 months often at speeds much higher than yours. I've accumulated rules of thumb, but the big one is: when going >5-8mph over the limit, never be the fastest car in view. I wasn't kidding about using a fellow aggressive driver as the "patsy" -- they will serve you better than a radar detector.

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When turning onto a street without the aid of traffic signals, I think of the people around me. Most everyone catches on to the fact that you need to watch the oncoming traffic in the immediately adjacent lane, but I also look for gaps in the other lanes. Doing so only makes a few seconds' difference to my personal travel time, but more importantly is a courtesy to the people behind me. Given a finite number of gaps per passing car length, the average tentativeness of the people in front of them has a multiplicative affect on time they will spend waiting.

Once onto the arterial road, I accelerate as quickly as possible to the ongoing rate of flow. If a car behind me has to break as a result of my maneuver, I feel I have done something wrong; I don't let it happen often.

At night, I switch off bright lights as soon as I've detected your presence. I'm very photosensitive so I know how dangerous it is to be blinded by oncoming traffic especially on winding 1-lane highways. Note #44 for the cerebrally impaired: if it's dark enough for you to be driving with brights on, you will be able to see hints that I'm coming around the bend or over the hill by reflections on the roadway/roadside in front of you long before I arrive. There is no excuse for still having your brights on by the time I actually appear.

Thankfully, most of the lights around here switch to blinking yellow or red at night, so there's no need. I've only intentionally run a red light once in my life: I'm going about 60mph (the limit), in the rain, downhill, when the light starts to change. I see a cop parked at the intersection. I test the brakes to see how much traction I have. I've slowed down a good bit but decide it is not safe to attempt a stop in these conditions, so I speed back up to exit the intersection as quickly as possible. The cop pulls me over, of course: "son, I watched you drive the whole way, you made the right choice, but you missed the red light by almost a full second so I had to pull you over or the others watching would think I was delinquent." Whew, but I was more scared of someone getting a jumpstart into the intersection than I was of the cop.

...Unless by "run" you mean the convoluted maneuvers I discussed in my last post -- on that note I should qualify that I'm doing them in traffic more often than not. It's no fun if there are no stopped cars there to gawk at you as you pass by. I was about to post that either the right-u-right or the straight-u-right was my favorite, but I can't decide. Honestly though, they are reserved for times when I (1) am in a big hurry (2) know the cycle intimately (2a) know that traditional waiting will be 60+ seconds (2b) know that I can complete the move before the cycle becomes disadvantageous (3) have light enough traffic (sans cops) that I can pull it off safely.

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(originally posted here∞)

The only time I'll "run" a red light is when it's safe (controlled by another signal) but the right-turn arrow is inadequate or nonexistant. For example: going right at a 'T', my direction has a left-turn green arrow active but main light is red, I'll brake but coast through. Even more trivial but mentioned because it's right next to my apartment thus happens all the time: large intersection of arteries; after my direction turns red the next part of the pattern has the other direction's left-turn active, but there's a 4-second gap between the start of red and the beginning of red_plus_protected_right -- during that gap, I'll roll through.

I also don't obey the letter of the law when new stopsigns are erected in stupid places. For example, adding 2nd & 3rd stopsigns along the long edge of a 'T' (where the dead-end already had a stopsign, not a yield...and the long end is a steep hill, just to add insult to injury); or changing the intersection of a main feeder road with a private driveway from a 2-way to a 4-way stop despite 0 possibility of a visibility problem.

I don't feel obligated to break the law on others' behalf. However, I strive in all parts of my "optional" driving habits to obey the golden rule. As such, if someone behind me has a right-turn indicator flashing but I'm going straight, I'll merge out of their way before stopping at a long light. In return, I applaud e.g. people who pull out in front of me, so long as they hit the fucking gas pedal (altruistically or not). Tight/aggressive, as they'd say in poker.



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