Car and Driver: The danger of keyless ignitions

[Jedi Guy]

107. "I also always leave a gap between my vehicle and the one ahead of me..."

This is the lost and esoteric art of "defensive driving." My dad taught me this ancient creed in the long-ago days of the mid-90s and instructed me to always, when possible, maintain a "bubble" of space around one's vehicle. The bubble allows you time and room to react and (hopefully) avoid a collision.

Alas, it truly does seem to be a lost skill, given how I see people riding bumpers, swerving wildly between lanes if they think it'll get them to their destination .5 seconds faster, and other vehicular shenanigans. And then, of course, when the inevitable happens, they raise their hands to the sky and wail, "But I'm a good driver, how could this happen to meeeeee?!"

My biggest pet peeve about Ontario drivers, though, is twofold. One, highway drivers traveling in the right lane leave zero room for traffic to merge onto the highway, so naturally everyone winds up jamming on their brakes when the people merging have no choice but to basically force their way in. Two, people merging have this weird idea that the drivers already on the highway are supposed to increase/decrease speed to let them merge, when instead the driver merging is supposed to match highway speed and then merge safely.

So you end up with a double whammy of stupidity that constantly brings highway traffic to a screeching halt. And then there are Toronto drivers... anyone who thinks all Canadians are super polite should go for a little pleasure drive on the 401. That'll open some eyes real quick.

/rant