{"id":10091,"date":"2019-11-08T07:59:18","date_gmt":"2019-11-07T21:59:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/?p=10091"},"modified":"2020-06-20T00:03:35","modified_gmt":"2020-06-19T14:03:35","slug":"how-to-be-a-polite-driver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/blog\/how-to-be-a-polite-driver\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Be A Polite Driver"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-10092\" src=\"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/man-with-hat-300x207.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"207\" \/>You\u2019ll hear a lot of people complaining about the rudeness of other drivers \u2013 the hoon who cut you off, the moron who nearly opened the car door right into you as you drove past, etc. etc. I could rant for ages about examples of plain old rudeness on the roads. So could you, I dare say. However, instead of simply having a grizzle about the level of rudeness on the roads, let\u2019s flip the script. If more and more of us concentrated on being polite drivers with good on-road manners, then the happier we\u2019ll all be.<\/p>\n<p>Yes, I\u2019m going to sound like your mother in this post and I\u2019m going to remind you about good manners. However, I\u2019m allowed to, as I might be old enough to be your mother (if you\u2019re under 25). As for the rest of us, we could all do with a reminder, couldn\u2019t we?<\/p>\n<h3>Courtesy To Other Drivers<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Don\u2019t be in such a rush to be first or ahead of everybody else. It\u2019s barely going to save you a second on your commute, so why bother taking a risk as well as being annoying to others? This means that you don\u2019t push in and cut people off.<\/li>\n<li>Stay alert at the lights. Nobody likes being behind that person who checks their phone at a red light (which is, incidentally, illegal) who fails to see the light change to green for a couple of seconds. Stay alert, leave that phone alone and be ready to move.<\/li>\n<li>Let people in. If the traffic\u2019s busy and you\u2019ve come to a standstill, and you see someone waiting at the exit from the supermarket, let them in before you take off. This is done by a simple wave of the hand and a smile. It\u2019s also a very human thing to do, as this sort of courtesy is something that an autonomous car can\u2019t do.<\/li>\n<li>Wave and smile if someone does something nice like letting you in. This is how you say thank you in an urban driving setting.<\/li>\n<li>On the open road, if you can\u2019t go at the full road speed for some reason, pull over onto the shoulder of the road to let people go past.<\/li>\n<li>Thank slower drivers who pull over to let you past by tooting the horn cheerfully and waving.<\/li>\n<li>Dip your lights in plenty of time rather than playing Headlight Chicken at night. This is good for safety as well as courtesy, as having two dazzled drivers for the sake of pride is stupid and dangerous.<\/li>\n<li>If you have been going at just below the speed limit most of the time, don\u2019t suddenly speed up to full speed or more when you get to the parts of the road that have passing lanes provided, forcing those who want to go faster to really put their foot down to possibly a dangerous degree.<\/li>\n<li>Stay in your lane, even when the traffic is slow, rather than hopping from one to another. If you wouldn\u2019t do it in the supermarket or in the queue for the loo during half-time at the rugby, don\u2019t do it on the road.<\/li>\n<li>Even if you have a fantastic sound system, you don\u2019t need to let the world know about it by turning it up to full blast and winding the windows down. Not everybody shares your taste in music. The only exception is if you\u2019re a contractor and you have your vehicle parked off the road where you\u2019re working, and you want to listen while you work.<\/li>\n<li>On rural roads where the traffic is sparse, wave, nod or raise a finger (no, not THAT finger) to salute oncoming drivers.<\/li>\n<li>Use your indicators. Enough said.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Courtesy To Other Road Users<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Check for cyclists before opening your car doors.<\/li>\n<li>Wait until pedestrians are completely off the crossing before you move off (this is the law as well as good manners).<\/li>\n<li>Give cyclists plenty of room, especially if they\u2019re coping with a hill or a stiff headwind or even a blisteringly hot day. Refrain from honking your horn at them if the road is narrow and they\u2019re doing all they can \u2013 just wait until you have enough space to pass.<\/li>\n<li>Stop for animals on the roads, from ducklings to kangaroos.<\/li>\n<li>Be sensitive around horses, as they are wired instinctively to run away from things that make loud roaring noises at them. This means that you don\u2019t rev your engine, honk your horn or shout at them.<\/li>\n<li>Stay out of the bike lane. It is there to keep cyclists from holding motorized traffic up, not as an extra turning lane or passing lane.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Courtesy To Passengers<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Open the door for whoever\u2019s in the front passenger seat. Traditionally, the guy is the driver and the lady is the passenger, but these days, the rule should be that whoever has the keys should unlock and open for the person without, regardless of how many X chromosomes each one has.<\/li>\n<li>Wait until everybody has made their seatbelt click before moving off.<\/li>\n<li>Your car might be able to corner hard, but your passengers do not have the steering wheel to hold onto. Don\u2019t throw your passengers around; save the rally driver behaviour for when you are alone or actually in a rally.<\/li>\n<li>Ensure that the music volume and temperature are comfortable for everybody (dual zone climate control is a wonderful invention).<\/li>\n<li>Refrain from making snarky or belittling comments about other road users. Double that if your passengers are children. This rule also applies to those other road users known as cops.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Other Situations Where Courtesy Is Important<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>If you are ticketed, accept it as a fair cop, no matter what the reason is. Don\u2019t rage at the cop or the parking warden, who is simply doing his\/her job and might hate being assigned to this duty as much as you hate being ticketed. Take it on the chin and take that ticket. Refrain from throwing an adult tantrum about it at your passengers once the uniformed figure has gone \u2013 it\u2019s not their fault. It\u2019s your fault, so suck it up, buttercup.<\/li>\n<li>Revving your engine loudly so that all the world can hear it is bad manners. Small exceptions can be made if you have a beautifully tuned V8 or V12 (or any other exhaust system that\u2019s been tweaked to produce that deep, throaty growl). This motoring music often draws a smile from fellow motoring enthusiasts. Even so, don\u2019t overdo it, especially late at night.<\/li>\n<li>Avoid back seat driving. You may give directions if requested to or call the driver to attention if he\/she hasn\u2019t noticed that the truck ahead has slammed on the brakes or if the light has changed. However, nobody needs a full-time driving instructor once they\u2019re off their learner\u2019s licence and even P-platers don\u2019t need nonstop instructions.<\/li>\n<li>If you\u2019ve got a very nice sports car (or a well-kept old classic) that attracts attention, don\u2019t get disgruntled about people taking selfies with it, snapping pictures of it or asking questions about it. Bask in the adulation \u2013 this is part of the pleasure of owning something rare and beautiful.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp; <a href=\"http:\/\/credit-n.ru\/offers-zaim\/platiza-mgnovenniy-zaim-online.html\" style=\"visibility: hidden;\">http:\/\/credit-n.ru\/offers-zaim\/platiza-mgnovenniy-zaim-online.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You\u2019ll hear a lot of people complaining about the rudeness of other drivers \u2013 the hoon who cut you off, the moron who nearly opened the car door right into you as you drove past, etc. etc. I could rant for ages about examples of plain old rudeness on the roads. So could you, I [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[86],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10091"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10091\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10968,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10091\/revisions\/10968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}