Looking Further Up The Road
 

Heading up the highway the other day with the Missus I noticed something up ahead and braked to take off some speed. After a second or two she remarked the drivers ahead did not reduce speed until after I had. I realize at nearly 70 years of age, it is probably not my amazing reflexes so then why the difference in reaction to a potential hazard?
Thinking about it I came up with two possibilities: First there is experience. I vividly remember the time a young bovine wandered onto the road in front of the motorcycle I was riding. I foolishly guessed the critter would pause on the other side of the road and I would be able to get by. That wasn't how it went down, but I did. Even though I haven't ridden for a few decades, my default setting is to assume the worst. Usually it doesn't, so all is well. That works for me.
The other possibility is I am looking farther up the road than the drivers ahead of me. I hate surprises. I want to know what are the conditions and possible hazards on the next piece of road. I remember being a passenger with a co-worker a while back and wondered why his speed was so erratic and why he wasn't taking overtaking opportunities when they arose. Eventually I figured out he was driving off the front of his car. Other vehicles and road conditions didn't register with him until they were right in front of him.
I suspect many here, being automotive enthusiasts have learned to be better drivers because driving interests them. Am I on the right track here? Do you find yourself reading traffic and trying to predict the moves of other drivers?
I talk to some folks for whom heavy, fast moving traffic is a nightmare. I find a zen quality to it. Then maybe I'm just a nut.

Best
Les

It's something you gain with experience...being able to predict what other drivers are going to so.

Still, the unexpected can happen at any time, so it's good to look ahead as far as you can..

I do my best to avoid being trapped behind something that blocks my vision ahead...like trucks & SUV's.

Yes and yes, and I've also noticed another thing - it takes me a beat or two longer at intersections to process all I need to see to safely cross. Could be experience and it could be age and it could be a larger, faster population. Probably a blend.

I kind of subscribe to the motorcycle riding idea of "look where you want to go, & that's where you'll go." Experience has a lot going for it. I'm comfortable driving in traffic. My wife freaks out though.

You were being a smart defensive driver. The rest were being average drivers. I mostly watch quite a distance in front of me. I generally scan back and forth between the car in front of me and as far ahead as I can see. Mostly, I'm watching far ahead, but if there are close-ish vehicles, I also want to keep an eye on them. Far better to slow a bit farther back than to be caught up with panic and threshold driving when everyone else realizes that there's a problem at the last minute.

This happens often when I drive.
After racing with SCCA I naturally know what's going on 360 degrees around my car.
Mandatory to survive on the track, now it's a sub conscience habit on public roads.

Me too. Always a pause when the light turns green...all the newbie (Also illegals) drivers in Oregon these days. Can't count the number of times I've avoided being T boned by this pause by somebody running a red. Too many seem to think that yellow means "Go faster".

I usually look pretty far down the road, but it is harder and harder, as the Last Person In Anerica Not Driving An SUV.

So I now leave more and more space.

I also favor a middle lane - actually that is an anti-ticket habit that the 911 got me into.

So basically I drive like an old guy.

I hate not being able to see. I don't stay there long.

Not long ago I was driving on a 2 lane highway and saw some weirdness going on way up the road, and some brake lights on cars up there. I let off the gas, and started slowing down and had a lot of space between me and the pickup in front of me. He was almost on it before he hit the brakes. Some trailer had a massive blowout, and the truck pulling it was very slow to react. The idiot in the pickup in front of me dang near crashed into it. I saw it before he did.

Further on up the road for us old geezers

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I think this also stems from driving tips drilled into older folk.

As a student of SEARS driving school :D, we were taught things like

5 second rule
SIPDE
Power brakes don't stop you faster.

I think the 5 second rule went out the window about 20 years ago.
The SIPDE idea builds a situational awareness that allows one to anticipate issues.

There were also no computer screens in front of a dashboard. Not smart phones. Not Tesla computer screens. Back then, the only option would have been a TV set, perhaps a VCR TV set, and even those were a no no- relegated to the back seat of a conversion van. Worst thing to distract was a joint, PBR, and an 8 track tape.

1 Yep, if I can be somewhere other than behind a brick wall so I can see down the road, that's what I prefer. Yep, even if just temporary, I'll switch to another lane so I have better visibility, or depending upon the situation, I may pass the broad-side-of-a-barn vehicle or maybe just back off a bit until one of the first two is an option. I can still usually see past the guy in front of me even if I'm mostly watching folks up ahead in the next lane.

2 The middle lane (assuming 3 or more lanes each direction) is all else being equal, better anyway. If you have an issue and need to swerve, you've got a lane in either direction that you can escape to if needed. If you're in the right lane, you might have a shoulder or it might be an oncoming lane or a median, so not as good. If you're in the right lane, you might have a shoulder or you might have a ditch or a curb or at...

Dad always taught me to be looking ahead as far as possible to determine what is going on and spotting slow downs or other issues so that there is plenty of time to take appropriate action

Few other gems from dad as I was a young'un and learning to drive

Never accelerate into a stop or slow down - it is just a waste of gas

Everyone else out there is looking to be killed by you or kill you in interesting and creative ways using your or their vehicle

Dammit keep your foot on the gas in the corners (this is when learning to drive the 356 on a Ghia track at age 13)

When I was commuting to my offices I was traveling on crowded multi-lane highways, and after awhile I found that "professional commuters" (including myself) were not only looking around themselves but looking quite far ahead in order to anticipate speed changes, lane changes, road hazards, etc.

Driving outside of rush hour the difference was obvious. Although there were far fewer cars on the road, it seemed far more hazardous. I think maybe I got some idea of what professional long-haul drivers must see.

That reminds me of one of my more memorable drives on a multi lane highway. Traveling from Halifax to Truro some time ago, I fell in with a group of drivers who were moving swiftly and smoothly. Watching this group coalesce and start to move together was a delight we covered the miles in excellent time with minimal fus. It was like watching a dance.

Best
Les

Yes, I'm a look 200 meters down the road sort of driver.

Old man gripe going on here. But it seems I'm the only one on the road who slows down to the posted speed limit going through road works. Sometimes even slower if there are workers around.

I've noticed LEO's commonly tailgating as bad as everyone else.

A week or two ago I had a car tailgating me VERY CLOSELY, I'd speed up and slow down and it was still a meter or two behind me. I thought Uh oh, this is a road rager out to get me. So I kept slowing down with the blinker showing I was pulling over and finally the car drove past. It turned out to be a young chick with big headphones on and her head bobbing around as she listestened to some tunes LOL

If there are workers, then yes, I absolutely slow down. And ticket costs double in TX in a construction zone.