Background

This December is the one-year anniversary of my Camry <3. This article is a compilation of my reflections while I am on the road to the gym room

People with/without a car live in different USA, even in Bay Area

People said you can live without a vehicle in urban areas such as Bay Area, NY, and Boston areas. While I don’t know about NY, I am pretty sure the Bay area is not the case [Please exclude cheating scenarios such as your roommate/family has a car OR someone is willing to drive you every day].

Without access to a car, you probably have no access to Costco, gym rooms, or many social events with friends. While you can rely on Uber/Lyft, they are more expensive nowadays and not flexible enough [consider shopping at Costco using the riding service]

Other than these conveniences, I now gain the skill to read the road situation better from the driver’s perspective, eg: I know what the drivers dislike most [pedestrian suddenly come onto the road from less visible positions; pedestrian looks at their phone and don’t show enough signals whether they are crossing; cars do offload in front of STOP sign, etc]

  • Lesson: when we change our lens, we will read more and different things from the very same reality

In the USA, you are always right!

In the US, the first principle is always ensure you are on the right side of the road.

When my friends came and visited me, we rented a car and traveled around. They are well-trained drivers in HK [the driving exam in HK is much more difficult than the US]. But there is almost a fatal mistake in the first turn, they went to the left side of the road, ie: head-on collision!

This is because the driver seat is reversed in UK/HK, hence their first principle is exactly the opposite!

  • Lesson: while it is important to respect the first principle, whether the first principle is correct may be more important

Always think twice before turning left

When I had my driving class, one of the most confusing things for me is turning left. When you plan to turn left in the US, even when you see the green light [without arrow <- ], it doesn’t mean you are good to go. You need to yield until all cars are gone first!

This is one of the most anti-pattern things when I learned driving, following the light isn’t enough, you also need to use the implicit knowledge to also check the traffic

  • Lesson: Things work most of the time, but we should focus on when it doesn’t work

Slow is fast

I see a lot of drivers will try to keep changing lanes and hope to drive faster. While some cars are really too slow, most of the time I don’t think it is worths the effort.

Firstly, changing the lane has risks, to manage that you need to constantly do some deliberate evaluations. Secondly, it is not significantly faster, even if you are faster for your new lane, it is likely there will be slow traffic in front of you

  • Lesson: Just my personal perspective: If I drive as fast as the traffic, then it is hard to have a lot of surpluses to change lane often [similar to debate b/w index fund & individual stocks]

No surprise to others

I think this is a very helpful mental habit to eliminate a lot of accidents. For example:

  1. what can the cars behind you do if you suddenly slow down?
  2. What can the cars in another lane do if you suddenly turn without a signal light?
  3. What can the cars in front of you do if your distance is very close?
  4. What can other cars do if you don’t stop completely in front of the stop sign?
  • Lesson: If we can predict how others react to our actions, we will not do a lot of risky moves

Focus!

If something on the road is none of your business, then it is none of your business, esp. on the freeway. For example, when there is a car accident, the traffic is likely to become much slower. Sometimes it is not because of any obstacle but some drivers want to know what happened and slow down.

Strongly suggest not doing that, or you may be part of the accident if you are not careful enough

  • Lesson: Focus brings you to your destination faster and safer