I never know which lights I’ll beat by driving faster and which ones I won’t, but I know I’ll beat a few.
Remaining consistent, keeping up with traffic, and not being an asshole who blocks lanes is the bigger key.
People want to drive faster? Go ahead. In the end they aren’t wasting that much energy and might just be saving some by not having to idle in traffic an extra 5-10 minutes on their daily commute if lucky. Worse for others.
There’s some lights on the way to work that are timed to occasionally let you get through if you go 12 above instead of under 10. Almost everyone on their commute hits that 12. You get some regulars who don’t, not too big a deal, get in the right lane or more simply, let people have room around you to pass.
I mean, the point is usually not to get somewhere faster. But to not drive behind someone that infuriates you in some way.
And since they are still in front of you, it doesn’t matter. They will still start moving before you.
Every time. I love watching them aggressively weave in and out of traffic, endangering everyone’s safety on the road, only to take the exact same amount of time to get where they’re going as the people driving the speed limit or slightly faster than the speed limit.
Entitlement is a disease.
Aggressive weaving is obviously wrong so I am not defending that, but sometimes I’m just driving +10 and have had folks go berserk. Cut me off, block a merge, etc. All I can do is give them space to perform their anger ritual.
If no one is in front of me, I’m going to go my preferred speed. My goal isn’t to get anywhere faster but to enjoy the trip. Remember to grant others the same grace you grant yourself.
Anger is a health consideration whose outcomes are often on par with a disease. So don’t let those dummies raise your blood pressure.
Did this with a Subaru WRX driver yesterday. He still had temp tags. Probably was a good driver before he got that thing.
Ehhh. You all drive aggressively to get there fast.
I drive aggressively because I like it when car goes Vroom.
We are not the same.
Just gonna say that no one into cars that I know guns it from a red light because they think it’ll get them anywhere faster. It’s just because it makes us happy to do that. You’re laughing at something we don’t care about at all.
Even if you do care about that, it’s not like gunning it never succeeds in getting you just past the next light before the red either.
Also, personally, it’s much more comfortable to be at the front of the pack where I’m free to move, rather than being blocked in on all sides where my options to avoid an accident are constrained. This is honestly what I don’t get the most about people who are part of rolling roadblocks. If an animal or person runs into the road ahead of you, you have literally nowhere to dodge besides braking and hoping.
Personally I don’t care if someone guns it at a red light - I do that basically every stoplight on my motorcycle because I’m trying to get away from the cars - but I do feel pretty smug if I see someone do something like weave dangerously through traffic at double the speed limit only to be stopped by a light.
I think this is a good opinion to have, generally. Fucking up cars just makes me happy. I key a vintage Volkswagen? Just brings joy to my heart
I hope you slip and fall on a nice steaming pile of dogshit.
It just makes me happy to do that, we seem to have established that this trumpy any other considerations?
Crushing up ceramic and flicking them at car windows makes me light up with joy, any other fun things to do?
Yeah! Lentils in the schraeder valve and put the cap back on
I love a good lentil. Did you know that brake fluid gives car paint a nice sheen? Make sure to give them a nice coat to make look really good.
On my way to work there is a stretch of road about 1.5 miles in length that’s 35mph. The traffic lights there are notoriously shore because it intersects with major 5 lane streets. Every single morning there are people who blow past me at 55+ to cut in front…and sit one single car length closer at the red light.
I love making fun of asshole drivers because they chose to pollute and they’re making life worse for all of us normal people.
So you make fun of someone for driving a car while you’re driving a car? You’re a left lane camper aren’t you?
Bruh, I don’t even have a licence
Engines burn fuel to accelerate. Just, like, follow the logical train a little further from that with the context provided.
It’s about positions for the start and potentially fun. I ve never seen it be road rage in the wild.
While I’m sure it feels good to cautious drivers when this happens, IME it doesn’t happen enough for the amount of snarky memes posted about it. If it happens even 50% of the time, the other 50% aggressive drivers do get ahead.
I’m not an aggressive driver, and I see plenty of aggressive drivers I never catch up with.
I take a different tact. I learn optimum routes so I can get around faster at normal speeds. Favorable right of way, favorable light timing, more direct angled roads. Traffic patterns and hence route selection change by time of day. It takes time, trial, and error to figure out but it pays off. I can get to the grocery store 3 minutes faster than my wife (5 vs 8 minutes) by picking a better route.
There’s an unavoidable overpass between me and where we get groceries with 3 lights on it. They’re timed such that, heading in either direction, you’ll hit one red if you follow the speed limit. They may have sensors, but they change with no cross-traffic as well. However, if you catch the first light in green, and speed by between 7-10 over the speed limit (35), you can get through all 3 without stopping. It’s an overpass with no residential nearby; this is the only place I regularly blow through.
I have no idea what the civic engineers were thinking when they progammed those lights. I assume incompetence; what I think really happened is that at one time that stretch was 45, like both sides of the overpass, and they were programmed for 45, which would normally get you through with no stops. Then some asshat changed the speed limit of that stretch to 35 without reprogramming the lights.
Anyway, the point of my long story is that sometimes going around isn’t feasible. When it is, it’s a great tactic, though!
This. I’m happy for you that this red light gave you the satisfaction of one last look at me but once it turns green I most likely won’t be seeing you again lmao.
i just like driving fast
Me too, I love driving, I love acceleration. I will let it eat from just about every light. I don’t care. If you’re going under the speed limit or take half a mile to get to speed, yeah, I’m the asshole passing you for it.
as an expat in the US why do Americans think like this except the only time it really matters: merging on the on-ramp on a freeway?
In Europe we’re taught to get up to speed (in the US this would be 65mph most often) by the time you’re at the end of the on ramp, but most people I see merge at 40-50mph into a 65
why?!?!!
because some onramps have a speed limit of 15 mph because they curve tightly in a cloverleaf interchange. It takes a while to get up to 65 after you’ve been going 15 in a tight curve.
There were many days where I was stuck behind someone going 30mph in the on ramp and thought I was going to die. The on ramps I drove were always a straight shot and half the time people were taking their sweet fucking time
you say this and then tonight I leave my house, take the on ramp to the free way just before 7pm - open road, little traffic, guy in front of me, I shit you not, from the on ramp with no obstruction not even a light, continues driving at 40mph from the 40mph road until he is fully merged, still at 40. didn’t change speed at all.
aaaagh agony to be stuck behind him.
Even worse agony, imagine what it feels like to BE him
These people need to lose their licenses. Like going 25 under the limit is more dangerous than going 25 over…
ok i admit i have gone through an orange light to escape this specific scenario
Orange?
Yes sadly they don’t know that a yellow light is part of a traffic system and isn’t orange.
They’ve just been driving fast when they see these, and end up going through a lot of construction sights
Ah just a little joke meaning the moment a yellow light turns red. My dad used to crack that joke, but i don’t think he made it up either.
So satisfying
Sometimes the opposite happens, though. The aggressive driver hits the light just before it turns yellow, and everyone who didn’t drive like a hooligan had to stop. Depends on how well timed the lights are.
That said, people in general need to start coasting to a red light at least twice the distance away that they do. I’ve gotten passed by people where I’m coasting, there’s a red light ahead, and there’s no reason at all to hurry. Coming to a full stop is a waste of energy, and you should set yourself up to avoid needing to as much as possible.
This coasting trick works until there’s enough of those assholes in a hurry that they all rush ahead to stop in every lane. Now all the sane drivers have to stop too. If I’m feeling plucky, I might honk and flash my brights at those “gotta pass everybody to stop first at the light” types like they’re the slowpoke in the way, which they kind of are at that point. Usually I just keep quiet and imagine that they’re in such a hurry because they are either about to or have just shit their pants.
Beware though, coasting past stopped traffic just as the light changes is a good way to get T-boned by another careless ass hat that just ran the other light.
The real trick is coasting to a stop in an open lane next to the person in a hurry; then if the light turns green, you’re still moving and you can zoom right by them, which is incredibly satisfying.
What about the guy behind you that wants to make the green turn light that you make him miss because you’re coasting to YOUR light? Dick move that is.
Different lanes? Nonissue. Same lane? He would have had to wait for it to turn green anyway.
In what context does this even make sense?
You’re blocking access to the turn lane by going slow a half mile before YOUR light. I don’t know where you live but the major road through my city is like that. Right and left turn lanes at the light, two lanes leading up to it.
I choose to believe you are twelve years old
So now it’s half a mile? Two lane roads like that aren’t going to have dedicated turn lights, just a blanket green yellow or red for all traffic coming from a given direction, which is almost certainly what the initial user in this thread was talking about before you invented that left turn light.
And even if they did slow you down, so what? Waaaah you made my drive last another 30 seconds
like big fucking deal, if you haven’t yet figured out you should give yourself some buffer time when you plan your drive that’s on you tbh.Or you could drive like a normal person and drive the fucking speed limit instead of acting like you’re the only person on the road. But hey, you do you, just don’t cry when people like me fly past you. (we know you will, and your tears fuel my right foot)
Damn you’re cool.
They should probably be using the lane that’s turning right and has a green light, so there’s no conflicts there.
That is a very specific situation you’ve invented in your head to he mad about.
Obviously use your judgement Amelia Bedelia, nobody said you must always cruise from far away.
The coasting thing is how I ride my motorcycle. It’s so satisfying when you don’t have to stop and put a foot down for a light because it turns green while you’re still rolling.
I suspect that most speeding has nothing to do with being late, but with people being impatient and nasty
I don’t speed much, but I take off fast and try to have an open lane at a light. Am I an asshole? I drive like one sure. I’m tired of getting behind someone that will no doubt be on their phone when the light turns green and sit there until I honk. I’m tired of the guy that takes half a mile to get up to 35mph because he doesn’t feel it’s necessary to hit the gas pedal. I’m tired of the people who want to slow down a half mile from their light when I just want to make the turn light that I can’t because we’re going 25 mph in a 55. I’ve logged over a million miles, I’m over dealing with idiots on the road and it just keeps getting worse.
