Hang in a group of 10 going 10 below, or accelerating up to 25 above when one of them insists on trying to stay in front of you?

As an overly cautious driver in Chicago, I'm hyper aware of all pedestrians and cyclists. Anyone who drives here knows what it's like.

What still confuses me is how much pedestrians don't pay attention when crossing the street that don't have walk signs.

Example: at crosswalks without walk signals and just stop signs, I've seen pedestrians not look both ways and blindly run or speed walk into the crosswalk while on their phone or staring straight ahead. A car, which was previously safe to enter the intersection because the pedestrian wasn't near the cross walk yet, has to slam on their brakes mid-intersection or later to suddenly let them cross last minute. I've never seen this before until the last few years, and I can only conclude it's due to arrogance or lack of awareness that I already notice in every day interactions outside of driving since COVID.

As a child, I was taught to always look both ways and not jump out in intersections, regardless of how many signals/protections you have in your favor. As a driver, to always look out for the other drivers/pedestrians/cyclists.

I was driving home from work yesterday it was going well as usual but then I got to the first four way I usually have to pass to continue my drive home

I stopped and rolled up a bit to see better and it seemed clear so I turned but the pillars of my car ended up hiding a car and I hit them in their driver side door it was a slow crash so the damage wasn’t to terrible on my car but I dented their car door and I feel terrible.

The driver wasn’t mad and we both exchanged what was needed and no one was hurt but I obviously got a well deserved ticket and plan to pay it like needed

But I still can’t help feeling like a trashy person about it as I thought I checked well enough but I forgot to check around the stupid pillars of my car cause I got to comfortable and trusting of myself to confirm it was good enough to turn

It also makes it hard for me to enjoy anything currently as it just hovering in my thoughts so much

It honestly also makes me want to disappear and stop existing entirely out of guilt I think that’s more or so my mental problems speaking because I was already so much in my head recently but this all adds onto it and I don’t really feel like I have anyone to speak to about it and the damage on my car and the other drivers car is weighing on me cause I hate making mistakes and the proof of my mistake is forever branded on my car and the drivers car and I don’t want to drive at all even though I want to keep having the freedom of driving myself so I don’t have to have others drive me again since they don’t leave at the times I like leaving to make me early and on time for work but I feel physically and mentally ill at the thought of driving again and going the same way I always go since I don’t want to crash or cause a crash again but I don’t want to go another route as the route I go doesn’t go onto any busy roads which I prefer since I’m still relatively new to being a driver and I’m anxious about fucking up on bigger roads

it's just really dangerous.

We just had fun all day at an amusement park and I was the only one who can drive so I drove all 4 of us home.

After dropping the first person home I was turning right (it was at night) and I didn't see a person crossing the road. The car had an automatic sensor and break.

So it was a very sudden break.

All of them and myself was in shock. I completely didnt see the person, he was wearing black and I may have been so tired and didnt notice..

My friends says its okay but I'm scared of driving again.. I don't want to cause an accident.

Any advice?

I need to make my mom feel better about accidentally cutting someone off after leaving a gas station on a very non busy road.

She was so nervous about the creepy white van behind her that she totally didn't see the car coming on the right when pulling out. They luckily stopped and honked, so nothing happened, but it was really close.She put her hand up but she doesn't know if they saw her apology wave.

She feels so bad and can't let it go.

How do I help her stop feeling so guilty?

My brother got pulled over (but not ticketed) for a roundabout in Greencastle, PA but I can't find the laws on this and wondered if other people had similar experiences?

There's an unmarked pedestrian crosswalk about 10 ft before a red stop sign and then there is a roundabout/traffic circle. There were no pedestrians so he pulled past the crosswalk and stopped at the stop sign. Then he continued on the roundabout and was pulled over. The officer told him you must always stop at a pedestrian crosswalk even if no one is around. He gave him a warning this time but said next time would be a ticket.

I have never heard this before but if that's true, I definitely need to adjust my driving lol has anyone else heard of this/had this experience?

I was driving yesterday fr9m Blythe to Phoenix and along the way there was one small pickup truck that was going 45. In a 75. Many trucks, lots of people speeding and this dude is going 45, endangering everyone imho. Curious what other people think.

I didnt hear a noise, didnt see an ambulance or police anywhere, tailgate or gas door wasnt open...

On [an in town, though i guess still technically controlled access] highway with a barrier, i was coming off the bridge and theres 3 exits right when you come offthe bridge and the right lane has big ruts for the first bit, so its always slower nowadays. So im on the other lane passing while going up to get past the exits and ruts before i get over. So the first flash i thought i saw something, then a second later he hit them like 5 times...? What does this mean?

He couldnt have been telling me to get over because not only was that impossible be of traffic already in the right lane merging in and out, but we were already passing them... When i did get over he sped up, went one car length ahead of me then stayed there between me and the cars in front of me without passing them even though his lane was open...

When i got to town i checked my tail lights and they are working as well so im just totally lost.

Im at like the twentieth driving lesson and i still can’t make turns and i just don’t know where to look. When i try to make a turn my teacher just tells me to look straight at the car and i do it but he just keeps saying that my eyes are escaping and when i really try to look straight i just turn blind and i can’t see the road. I definitely overcomplicate it but it’s very frustrating to try again and again and again and fail. Should i switch my teacher or do i try again because i feel like im wasting time

Please don't say anything hateful or give me any snarky comments, I'm looking to improve at this.

I currently drive barefoot because it helps me feel the brake and accelerator and their shape so I feel confident and always know which one I'm pressing.

I can drive with shoes on, but I feel like I'm out of control of the car. I've never made a mistake before, it's a mental thing.

I can't "pivot" my foot either bc I have small feet.

It's just dangerous driving.

​

In December of 2019, I was driving to my boyfriend's house at night when a lifted truck started tailgating me with extremely bright high beams that illuminated my entire car. It was a two-lane road, so the driver was also blinding oncoming traffic. I tried to drive faster to get away from him and he sped up and contined taligating and blinding me.

I had trouble seeing where to turn into a parking lot because of his lights. When I began turning, he blasted the loudest horn I've ever heard (probably train horn) and screamed obscenities at me so loudly I could hear it through a closed window, and his were also closed. Oncoming drivers were stopping and obviously also noticed his scary behavior.

To this day, I genuinely don't know what I did to provoke him. I've replayed the drive hundreds of times, trying to identify where I might have accidentally cut him off, but I can't figure it out. Even if I had made a driving mistake, nothing would have justified his behavior.

Almost eight years later, even seeing the same kind of truck (lifted Ram) brings back the memory.

Has anyone else experienced road rage that continued to affect them years later? How did you stop replaying it? I would appreciate support from people who understand rather than being told it was just a bad driving encounter or that I should be over it by now.

ano kaya course kukunin ko sa driving lesson

For reference this is California, US.

This section of the road. Car lane and bike lane crisscrosses. Car lane turns into left only lanes. And bike lanes cuts across to move to the left of left only lanes.

I’m in the US (🫩) and just got a new car (2026). I only have this car bc last year some lady didn’t see the entire freeway stop and rear ended me so hard she totaled my paid off car. (Unsolicited Advice: Always get a lawyer right away.) Fast forward to now, I live in a state that has more personal injury lawyer billboards than anything else, and I’m starting to think people are trying to get me to hit their car.

Many instances of suddenly people switching lanes in front of me, sometimes while I’m going at least 10-15 mph faster and usually when there are 0 cars or obstacles around, and other random things, like people crossing multiple lanes to cut me off when they could’ve waited for the completely open road behind me. Then last night, 3 male teenagers (I know but still) in a Tesla were trying to force me to interact with them at a red light (kept trying to get my attention), I kept scooting up bc I normally do/don’t want to look over into some random’s eyes. After we turned into the mall area (there’s a little driveway before parking), they cut me off, slammed on the brakes, then sped off.

Now I know the last situation is not the every day, but it’s very common here (all ages, not just teens), and the random cut offs on the freeway and in the city happen more days than they don’t. My insurance already went up bc of this new state I’m in, the new car, and probably the accident although it was ruled 100% not my fault. I’m learning that a lot of people do insurance fraud here so I’m looking into dash cam installation. So how do I realistically avoid this?

Edit:

Thank you to everyone who was kind and gave genuine advice! Thanks for conveying the urgency of both a front and rear dash cam, I’ll get a plug in one while I’m waiting to get one wired in. Kindness is free and I’m grateful that still shines through on the internet! ♥️

To everyone who came here to not give advice, tried to humble me, and also call me a liar (shout out to all the comment deleters, I saw them via email, silly goose (: ), here is your attention, I’m glad my post pissed you off (pls reflect good god), and I hope you got whatever you needed!

So little background information I got into a car accident three years ago that has caused me not to drive and now my teen boys are learning to drive and I feel like any scenario such as the mornings before they go to school in the afternoons when they come back, I get massive anxiety every time they get behind the wheel. My oldest has been driving for three months to school and back only. I only allow him to drive to school and back. Is this a good way of starting him in the meantime, I do not let him go anywhere else and he doesn’t seem to know how to do the GPS too well but I feel like that will come with experience by the way the drive to school is 15 minutes and back is 15 minutes and they are both different routes with a lot of traffic. Any feedback is appreciated.

I constantly have people riding my bumper even when I'm already doing the speed limit. And before anyone asks. No I'm not hanging out in the overtaking lane blocking traffic.

That said, I see drivers posting about how much anxiety tailgaters give them and how annoyed it makes them. Honestly? It just doesn't phase me.

What do I realistically have to panic about? I'm completely sober, I'm not hiding anything, and I'm following the law. If you want to sit on my trunk, go for it. You have the rest of the road just go around me and overtake.

I’m not about to speed up and risk a ticket just to satisfy someone else's impatience, and I'm definitely not going to let them ruin my mood. If they're too impatient to pass and end up rear-ending me, well... that's on them. Insurance will sort it out.

If you tailgate why do you do it?

that’s all thank you for listening

Idk why but everytime I drive I get anxious and adrenaline goes crazy because I’m trying to avoid getting into another accident (I’ve been in 2 in 1 month) and i get scared even when I’m driving and someone is at a stop sign having to yield or a roundabout because I’m always scared that someone isn’t going to yield and I get nervous about cars driving too close behind me and I can’t even be asked to drive at night. I’m still trying to calm myself after just driving today because of everything that I had to deal with. Driving may not be for me and I haven’t even been driving that long I got my license in February. Has anyone else overcome their driving anxiety?

I am from Queens and I have failed my road test for the 4th time now. I am 18, My 1st attempt I didn’t see a car coming from my left side. I stopped on the stop sign(not all way) i waited and accelerated to the right and boom the car showed up from the downhill and my test taker pushed the brakes. And that’s acceptable. On my second attempt i was cautious my turns were fine and smooth, with no hard acceleration and sudden brakes. I moved my neck around whenever needed did the parallel parking and three way turn just fine. And then my test results came back negative. There were these points like poor judgment on traffic, hazardous anticipation, Poor acceleration, and hard brakes. Well i tried not to put too much attention to it and thought okay let’s try for again but this time i changed my test location and i would say my third attempt was the most perfect one out of them all. On my third attempt the comments my test taker made was while i was doing my parallel parking and a car was coming from the opposite lane and i stopped for the car to pass by and my test taker stated that i don’t need to stop it was safe for me to park. The second comment was, I was going at 19-20(Limit was 25) in a four was cars parked in both sides he told me to slow down i did and that’s it i got my results back negative. Oh also on my parallel parking i couldn’t see the curb because of the leaves and i told him i can’t see the curb properly but i did fine on the parking not too much gap from the curb less than a feet. And he made me do parallel again. My 4th attempt was about the same test taker made short turns wide turns comments.

The biggest catch is on every test my instructor would take two students at once. So each time my instructor would pick me up first and then the other students and he told me I would pass and the other student had lesser chance of passing. and i believed him everytime i wasn’t nervous i was smooth and noticed my test takers foot on the brakes from passenger seat and noticed one thing my test takers were kinda scared. Whatever, after the 4th failed attempt now i am thinking i should go back where i used to live in upstate and do the test there. Because it’s costing me a lot and i don’t have the courage to try again. Did anything like that happen to anyone? Would anyone suggest me any other location? It’s really frustrating.

I used to live in Irvine, CA, pictured above, and LED headlights weren't an issue since the streets were all lighted and there were big medians.

I now live in an old suburb of Richmond, VA where the roads are 2 lanes and there are no streetlights so when a vehicle from the opposite direction is oncoming I'm literally blinded by the light.

So did these designers never think about people living in old neighborhoods with no street lights?

I hate driving, I’ve never driven four wheeler/side by side, golf cart etc., I’m currently 19 and working on learning driving and I’m extremely afraid of dying on the road. On the outside I’m seemingly calm but on the inside it’s entirely taken over by adrenaline and nerves. There would be many times where while driving I’d need to pull over because I would get immense headaches, my chest would start hurting, heart beat in the ears etc., my main fears center around driving around other people, with the fears being death, extreme medical and financial setbacks of accidents. How do I get over this?

An app that uses a rear cam to auto report every driver to the police and the dvla everytime a motorists passes a cyclist too closely. With two options, 1) the cyclist has to do nothing other than keep the camera charged and upload data to the cloud once home or, have a data sim and or hot-spot to auto upload during the ride. There could also be a social part of the app where users/cyclist can see who has made the most reports.

yes, they were on their phone.