How Not to Be a Bad Driver

When you get behind the wheel, do you drive or do you commit attempted murder? Do your friends and family refuse to ride with you? Does your car look like you just left a demolition derby? Maybe you need to realize that as a matter of fact you don't own the road.

If someone drives slowly in the fast lane, do not pull up until you sit inches behind them and flash your headlights to signify that they should move over. You may make the slow driver angry and he will sit there to make you mad. People for some reason find it hilarious when someone on the road gets mad and acts out. Of course, if you drive slowly in the fast lane, you really should move over for the guy who comes up behind you.

Turn around and look twice into your blind spot before you change lanes and use the turn signal when you move over.

When you pull out onto a multi-lane road, don't drive across all the lanes of traffic before going in the direction in which you wish to go. Pull into the closest lane that is going in your direction and then move over carefully one lane at a time.

If you are turning left onto a main highway, the person turning left off of the main road onto the street from which you are turning is the one who has the right of way. You do not.

If there is a turning lane or "chicken lane" in the center, pull into it and stop or go slowly before pulling into the correct lane. Don't use the turning lane to travel at high speeds and pass other cars before you get in the correct lane.

When you pull up to a stop sign, you have to actually mash the brakes until you feel the car roll back. Otherwise you have not stopped, you have only rolled through the stop sign. Regardless of whether you feel the stop sign was placed there in error, you still have to stop.

When you come to a stop sign and are preparing to turn onto a major road and someone is already sitting at the same stop sign waiting to turn in the opposite direction, don't pull past them so that they can't see if cars are coming. Wait your turn to pull up until the first person has turned.

When you are stopped at a four way stop sign and it is your turn to go, don't gesture wildly to someone else to go first so that you can finish whatever it is that you are doing. This only creates confusion.

For the love of all that is holy, turn off your brights when you pass someone or when you come up behind another car.

Finally, concentrate on driving, not on your phone, your TV or your mp3 player.

If you consider these guidelines and think about other people's safety, you just might not have to take that next road trip all alone.