When driving, are you able to keep the car perfectly centered or slightly off to the side? (lemmy.world)

submitted 22 hours ago by mazzilius_marsti@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

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Assume left handed driving, right handed drivers please reverse the direction lol.

What i meant was that are you able to leave perfect spaces on the left and on the right? Or you tend to drift little more to one side e.g. 51/49 drift toward the left instead of 50/50 exactly?

I notice that experienced drivers drift to the side too. So i am curious and i have my theories for this:

Drivers are more likely to drift just a bit toward their driver side. E.g. for left hander driving that means drifting toward the left. This is because the wing mirror is the closest to the driver, so it is easier for the eyes to follow and track.
I've been to places where we have to share roads with bikes and motocycles. So a lane road is literally 2 lane: cars need to hug the left lane to create spaces on the right. So drivers from those countries are keen to drift to the left; even when they are on the highway without any motocycles.
For left handed driving, you usually dont drift to to the right UNLESS you are on the phone or using the giant touchscreen while driving.

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[-] UsefulInfoPlz@lemmy.world 1 points 22 hours ago

I rode motorcycles for a long time. U got used to hugging the outter part of the lane. People suck and that wasy safety bet so to speak. I do the same with my other vehicles now. Too many idiots looking at their phone and not the road.

[-] Triumph@fedia.io 2 points 22 hours ago

I disagree. Own your lane. It makes you more visible, and makes it so that people are less likely to try and "share" your lane.

[-] 0ops@piefed.zip 3 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago)

There's no one "safest" position in the lane for a motorcycle, you need to constantly analyze your situation and decide what's safest at that time. When I took my course there was a whole section on lane positioning. In a nutshell, to maximize safety, you need to weigh and maximize:

Your own visibility
Your visibility to other drivers
Your proximity to other drivers
Your proximity to obvious or potential environmental hazards

Sometimes you have to compromise, i.e. "Staying in the left side of the lane may put me closer to incoming traffic, but it makes me more visible to them as well as the driver in front of me". Or "This corner is blind, and the right side of the lane is a bit dirty, but I'm staying on the right anyway due to the risk of an incoming vehicle drifting into my lane here."

[-] Triumph@fedia.io 1 points 20 hours ago

Oh of course. But I will, generally speaking, ride the line that controls my lane the best, and adjust away from that default as necessary.

[-] 0ops@piefed.zip 2 points 20 hours ago

For sure, I'm just expanding on what you and the person you replied to commented for internet posterity

[-] UsefulInfoPlz@lemmy.world 2 points 19 hours ago

I disagree with that statement personally. On a bike, you’re a tiny spec. At distance an eye last will cover you. These days people a) don’t care and b) don’t pay attention on a good day. So i always go by the 2 rules of riding: 1. You’re invisible. 2. They’re trying to kill you. Any rider thinking otherwise probably needs to re-evaluate their decision a bit. I should state that i’m in the US. Maybe in Europe people respect motorcycles better. But not around here.

this post was submitted on 16 Sep 2026

43 points (95.7% liked)

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