Indeed.

Oh, so you can’t have coffee due to a caffeine sensitivity? How about decaf? Oh, it’s just a coffee allergy in general. Oh, okay.

A recent turn in my life has led to become a commuter. I now drive approximately 64 miles round trip each day, almost entirely on highways. I’ve always bemoaned poor driving skills and courtesies displayed by the vast majority of drivers, but now the problem is much more salient for me. Most people believe they are good drivers, just as most people believe that they are of above average intelligence. Obviously people’s perceptions of themselves are skewed since its not possible to have a majority of people above average in a normal distribution. So the truth is that we’re not as great as we think we are and that those other people that you think you’re better than could likely be better drivers than you. George Carlin absolutely nailed it when he said, “Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?”

So, acknowledging my own bias for my own driving style, I’ve narrowed down some of the most egregious driving problems on our roads that make others suffer. First up, driving on the right side of the road and passing on the left.

So simple. If you’re not passing someone, you should be in the right lane. If you look in your rear view mirror and see a line of cars all packed up behind you, its time to move over to the right. Regardless of speed limit. It’s not your job to enforce traffic laws, its your job to obey them.

Next up, merging. On-ramps are for accelerating. Off-ramps are for slowing down. Use them as such. Merging onto an expressway at 40 mph is not only annoying, it’s dangerous. In a similar vein, there is no need to begin pressing the brake 1/2 mile before your exit.

Lastly, please please please, get off your phone and drive. Seriously. You don’t possess a superhuman ability to carry on a phone conversation or text and operate a 2 ton vehicle. You’re not special.

Also, if you could please just acknowledge that there are other people on the road, that would great. Thanks.

A simple enough question, but one that most of get wrong. As it turns out, most of us a really bad at correctly answering this question. What we think will make us happy often fails to have that effect, as Dan Gilbert explains in an excellent TED talk: