Let Others Overtake You

I came up with this topic to write when one of my friend was describing his experience.

He was on the front seat of a public bus when this happened. There was a small car in front of them and then a leading bus. The leading bus was too slow and the car seemed not trying to overtake the bus though it had plenty of time to—considering the oncoming traffic (this was a two lane road—one lane for one direction and the other is for other direction). So the bus which my friend was on board was following this leading long bus and the small car, not being able to find a traffic hole to overtake these two leading vehicles. After few minutes, it became a long road traffic.

Now we can see there is something wrong here. Let’s examine:

1. The leading bus was slow. But it is not breaking any laws. Anyone has full authority to go drive at a desired speed if that speed is in the range of speed limits.
2. The car was following the bus at a constant speed leaving some distant the driver think is safe.

According to the rules and regulations, everyone was driving good. But still there’s some wrong here.

The fault is in the driver’s thinking. If the car driver looks behind through his back mirror he can see that there is a long traffic waiting behind to overtake him. But why don’t they overtake? There is a long bus in front of him and there’s no room between him and that long bus for someone else to come in OR there is not enough traffic hole for someone to overtake him and the long bus at once.

So, what must he do? Pull back the car a bit so someone else can overtake him and come between him and the bus. Then that vehicle can overtake the bus when he found another traffic hole. So, one by one, vehicles will pass—terminating the slow traffic. And the small car will also maintain the journey.

As a result of this little thinking traffic jams will be reduced making all vehicles have a safe, efficient, effortless thus happy journey.

Merging with the Main Road Traffic from a Cross Road

One of time that most of the drivers are get confused at, is the time when the vehicle is going to merge with main road oncoming traffic. The driver will think again and again “Am I going to merge? Or am I going to merge?”. And then “How can I think whether it is the right time to merge?”.

Someone will say “Ok, if there are no vehicles oncoming, you can merge.” Is that up to the point? If it is a straight long way we are going to merge with, we will be able to see oncoming traffic as far as 1km. “Oh dear, there are vehicles on the road. I’m going to wait till they pass me.” Is it realistic? No. If there is oncoming traffic , we cannot get into the main road like that by waiting till the traffic goes away. So, there is something wrong with that statement. Then what'd be the best thing to do?

Well,in my opinion it’s always better to see something coming on the way than seeing nothing on the road. Because it’ll verify our visual—that we can see something. So if we see a vehicle coming towards on the main road we are going to merge with, how can we choose whether to merge or not? Let’s take it one-by-one.

1. Don’t be in a hurry.

If you are in a hurry to merge with the main road, believe me it is one of the worst things to do on earth. Maybe you are in a hurry to your destination. But you can speed up when you are on the main road. And again, speeding is not being hurry. So, be calm and make a stop or slow down (as to the regulations) at the main road. Being in a  hurry on this situation just take a second to make your life a huge mess(may be to totally lose it). So you better be calm.

2. Take the time as much as you need

After stopping or slowing down, watch carefully the oncoming traffic. Watch it again and again till you are 100% sure about your vision. Don’t try to take any decision if you are even in a little confusion about your vision. Doing nothing is better than doing something with a confusion.

3. Do a little mind math

If your are clear with your vision, do a little bit of a mind math. Carefully look at the traffic and guess the speed of the oncoming traffic and how much time will they take to come to you.

Then guess how much time will you take to drive your vehicle onto the main road and speed up so the oncoming vehicle will not slow down.

If you are sure that you can take your vehicle onto the main road and speed up without doing any changes to the velocity of the oncoming traffic, you are clear to merge. Velocity means the speed and also the direction.

If you are a driver who is going to Drive by Heart, you won’t like to change others. It’s always fun to drive through others without affecting them.

Real Drivers

Sitting behind a steering wheel, you will get a book of rules to drive on the road. You always have to obey to them. Some rules may feel foolish but they are not. They always have a special purpose. So, obeying them is a must and it will keep you safe.

But there are some points which there are no rules. Those must be handled on our own knowledge and experience. If someone is keep flashing the passing lights on your back and shows some aggressive driving, some of us think he is a freak and block him rather than letting him pass us. Maybe he is a freak but maybe he is on a real hurry. He may be carrying a patient to the nearest hospital. So, better to let him go. It is good for him and most importantly it is good for us.

So, experienced drivers know what to do on these kind of situations. They have go through those things, they have taken wrong actions on them, they have made mistakes—sometimes mistakes that never can be made correct again and finally they have come to the right decision. It takes a long time to be a good driver. So, why don't we make their experience ours?

I'm not a experienced driver. But I like to be one of them. So, this blog will go through our-my friend Praminda and myself-own experiences and what we have taken from real drivers. I used the term "real drivers" because experienced drivers means real drivers to me.

If anyone wants to share your experience with us, you will always find the e-mail address at the very bottom of this blog. And also, you are always welcome to comment  and share your ideas with others. So, let's lead the way for "Real Drivers".