Top Ten Driving Peeves

[dreunc1542]

My car was totaled in November because some idiot thought it was OK to use the shoulder as a passing lane. What he didn't see quick enough was that someone had pulled over to the shoulder because he had a flat tire. The idiot happened to be directly next to me when he finally saw it and tried to get over. He hit the bumper of the guy on the shoulder and then slammed my car into the one next to me.

It was a four car accident caused because he couldn't show some patience. It was on the 101 in LA and most of the traffic was going 55-60, which anyone who's driven out there knows is a godsend if the traffic is flowing at that pace. This guy felt the need to push the issue and try to go 70-75 on the shoulder to pass.

Oh, and the best part was when he got out of the car and asked the rest of us what happened. Thankfully, a witness who saw the whole thing pulled over and was more than happy to tell the police that it was this moron's fault.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

My pet peeve: Slow drivers.

I'm not talking about driving slow in bad weather conditions or anything like that. I'm talking about the people who drive 35 miles an hour in a 55 zone on a perfect sunny day.

Here's a hint people. If you see a line of five or six cars behind you, maybe you are going just a little bit too slow. Do us a favor, and safely pull off to the side, so the rest of us can actually get to where we want to go.

 

[doubledown68]

I hate people who love to camp out in your blind spot. Everybody knows about where that is. Don't ****ing linger there.

Those who keep turning left when an arrow goes to a straight signal. This one's personal, because the worst wreck I was in happened when a dude tried to beat me through an intersection. But more than that, the lack of an arrow isn't an automatic invitation to keep turning.

People who cut randomly through parking lots, not paying attention to anyone or anything.

 

[trademark]

... after the turn arrow has expired and you can still turn left on regular green light, get out in the intersection so the person behind you can make it through too

Gotta disagree with that one. I know which lights in my town I won't be able to get through (many of them are utterly hopeless until one has the arrow), and I won't pull out into the intersection of those until I can actually complete the turn.

My own addition: Dual turn lanes onto a single on-ramp. People don't seem to understand that if they're in the outside lane they need to merge twice--once into the inside lane and again onto the highway proper. The vast majority simply hug the far side of the lane, oblivious to all until they've merged by default. Countless times I've had someone right next to me--sharing my lane--because they couldn't be bothered to speed up and take the gap I always leave in front.

 

[93Devil]

- Failing to signal that you are turning because one hand is to your ear gabbing on a phone.

- People who drive through my lane when they are turning left onto my street, and I am turning left onto their street. It's lazy to make a big rounded turn instead of a good sharp turn where your tires will not come 10 feet on my side of the stop line.

The reason most of the time? Only one hand on the wheel and one hand to their ear.

- People who roll a stop to get in front of me and then drive slower than the speed limit.

- People text massaging.

What I stick down my pants while driving is none of your damn business. :D

****.

Well played.

I'm amazed IJAG did not nail me on that one.

 

[TwoGloves]

Mine is the opposite of No. 1. I'm in the right or middle lane, doing the speed limit when the left lane is open, yet some douche bag tailgates me until I move to the left and THEN he passes me. Pisses me off to no end. A close second is the idiots who don't move over to free up a lane when you're entering the expressway and No. 3 is the morons who don't speed up on the entrance to the expressway. They enter the expressway doing 35 mph and slowly speed up while cars zoom past and switch lanes to avoid an accident.

 

[RossLT]

Other drivers. I know my own skills and abilities, it is other people who freak me out.

 

[Smallpotatoes]

1). People who don't understand who has the right of way in a rotary or get mad at you because you do understand it and don't like you holding them up.
2). Indecisive drivers.
3). People who veer into the next lane when I'm trying to pass them as a subtle reminder that they don't want me to pass them. If you don't want me to pass you, just say so.
4). People who leave their turn signals on even when they have no intention of turning.
5). People who honk at me because they don't like what I've done.

 

[Trouser_Buddah]

For me, it's most definitely the idiots who don't understand the passing lane.

You sit behind an idiot going 50 in a 55 mph zone for about 32 miles, unable to pass.

You finally get to a passing lane, the guy doesn't move over. So you move over to pass in the right lane and he starts to gun it. Before you know it you're going 75 in a 55 in an attempt to pass this asshole.

You run out of room and have to settle back in behind the guy, who resumes his 50 mph stroll through the countryside.

 

[zebracoy]

I have many, many of these, and I could probably go on typing for about a half-hour if I was able to vent them all. I've given half-hearted thought to becoming a traffic cop when I get forced out of the business because most of the people in this area just have no idea how to drive.

My two biggest issues: Not using a turn signal at an intersection or when changing lanes, and the people who don't turn their lights on in the rain.

As for the original list, I have no problem with driving in the left lane, or the center lane of a three-lane highway, especially at night. That's mostly because I feel it's not necessary to be behind someone on the highway with your lights beating down their rear-view mirror if you're the only two cars on the road.

The parking issue bothers me, but that's rare in this area, and the lane-jumping on an exit ramp is a nuisance, but not letting that person in is a quick fix.

Oh, and I'll have no problem sitting at the stop line at a green light when making a left-hand turn, especially at a busy intersection. That's safer than moving into the intersection, having someone blow a yellow and then you have to make the left-hand turn well after your direction has turned red.

 

[maberger]

My car was totaled in November because some idiot thought it was OK to use the shoulder as a passing lane. What he didn't see quick enough was that someone had pulled over to the shoulder because he had a flat tire. The idiot happened to be directly next to me when he finally saw it and tried to get over. He hit the bumper of the guy on the shoulder and then slammed my car into the one next to me.

It was a four car accident caused because he couldn't show some patience. It was on the 101 in LA and most of the traffic was going 55-60, which anyone who's driven out there knows is a godsend if the traffic is flowing at that pace. This guy felt the need to push the issue and try to go 70-75 on the shoulder to pass.

Oh, and the best part was when he got out of the car and asked the rest of us what happened. Thankfully, a witness who saw the whole thing pulled over and was more than happy to tell the police that it was this moron's fault.

sorry to hear about your accident.

it never ceases to amaze me how, here in the land of the automobile. no one knows how to drive.
they never move from the left lane.
they never look at the road ahead to anticipate a problem.
they have no sense of defensive driving.

 

[Chef]

You see that stick on the side of the steering wheel?

The one called a blinker, turn signal, clicky?

That is used for when you choose to turn to an appropriate destination.

The fact that people choose not to use this particular device pisses me the **** off.

My wife is frightened to ride with me, for fear I will go on a lunatic-like tourette's syndrome inducing tyrade aimed at 88-year old Euna pulling into the post office without signaling.

Sorry Euna.

Use the ****ing clicker.

 

[RickStain]

The only two that really bother me are tailgating and refusal to use a turn signal when it would change my decision making. (I could have turned 15 seconds ago if I'd known you were turning, etc.)

 

[albert77]

The main intersection onto the highway nearest my house has a right-turn merge lane, and it absolutely infuriates me when people in front of me go to make a right turn onto this highway and come to a dead stop in the merge lane waiting for an opening in the traffic lanes.

 

[Cosmo]

The slow thing frustrates me to no end. Seems like everyone in my burg likes to go 10 below the speed limit. It's not an easy place to get around. Lots of travel on small roads and side streets. I don't speed, but I generally go the speed limit or maybe a couple over. When you go 25 in the 35 zone, it just backs traffic up and pisses people off.

 

[MacDaddy]

I don't understand No. 7. He's saying warm up your car by switching it on and off rapidly? I'm no mechanic, but that sounds like a way to break something eventually. And I park on my street and would gladly take a remote starter -- cars have been stolen in my neighborhood in winter when someone starts it up then goes back in the house for a couple more minutes of warmth.

I understand the environmental concerns, especially for big rigs, but for those of us in cars in winter, meh.

No, he's saying it's more harmful to leave it running, but that you shouldn't do either.

So you should just start it up and go, even if it's a zillion below zero? That goes against everything I was ever taught.

There's not really any reason to let the car warm up for more than about 30 seconds. The lengthy warm-up recommendation is from back in the day when the car actually needed to warm up so it would run properly; unless you're driving an old car it doesn't need it.

 

[Wenders]

You see that stick on the side of the steering wheel?

The one called a blinker, turn signal, clicky?

That is used for when you choose to turn to an appropriate destination.

The fact that people choose not to use this particular device pisses me the **** off.

My wife is frightened to ride with me, for fear I will go on a lunatic-like tourette's syndrome inducing tyrade aimed at 88-year old Euna pulling into the post office without signaling.

Sorry Euna.

Use the ****ing clicker.

I think most people think that it's just some knob they stuck in a car. I don't really see it as an optional device. Use it. It's really not that hard.

 

[KevinmH9]

People who cannot stay in their lane without swerving in and out of the shoulder for whatever reason.

 

[mpcincal]

In general, I think people not knowing to use their turn signals is my biggest irritant. Second is some people's idea that the left lane on a two-lane highway is just another lane you can use whenever you feel like it; seriously, unless there's a whole bunch of cars in the right lane you know are going too slow for you, just drive in the right lane until you come upon a car that's going slower. Then, pass that car and get back into the right lane.

This is a fairly new one for me, but it happens about once every 3-4 months: To get to work, I take a left turn to get onto the street where the newsroom is. It's a signaled, green-arrow intersection with a double left-turn lane, and it's a busy intersection so both lanes are going to be filled up by the time we get the arrow. I get into the right left-turn lane because the paper's building is on the right-side of the street. So green arrow shows up, and me and the car to my left both make our turns, except the other car makes a turn that takes him from the left side of the double-turn lane to the right lane of the street we're entering, cutting me off in the process.

Hmmm! Let's see, two-lane turn onto a two-lane street. Wouldn't logic dictate if you start on the left side, you enter the other street on the left side also, especially if there's a car making a turn right next to you? Apparently not to some of these morons.

 

[JBHawkEye]

My top three:

Lack of turn signal usage.

Tailgating, especially, in construction zones.

People who don't realize in my town (and most towns I've been in) that unless the intersection is marked, you can make a right turn on red.