Pet Peeves While Driving

[GMichael]

Yeah. I'm the only good driver on the road. Everyone else are morons who should just stay out of my way.

And don't even get me started on the bike couriers downtown! That's a whole 'nother rant.

Ever see the movie Death Race 2000?

[ForeverAutumn]

Ever see the movie Death Race 2000?

I haven't. But I know the premise. And while I like to play those games in my head, in reality I'm a pretty cautious and courtious driver.

Although I sometimes wonder if other drivers might be playing.

There's a lot of illegal street racing happening in our city right now. It's mostly teenagers. There have been several deaths this year caused by cars racing out of control. It's very sad when a 17-yr-old student is killed because the driver decides to race and ends up hitting a tree or a pole instead.

Add the street-racers to my list of pet peeves.

[GMichael]

I haven't. But I know the premise. And while I like to play those games in my head, in reality I'm a pretty cautious and courtious driver.

Although I sometimes wonder if other drivers might be playing.

There's a lot of illegal street racing happening in our city right now. It's mostly teenagers. There have been several deaths this year caused by cars racing out of control. It's very sad when a 17-yr-old student is killed because the driver decides to race and ends up hitting a tree or a pole instead.

Add the street-racers to my list of pet peeves.

Throw in motorcyclists having burn out & wheelie contests while drunk off their arses.

[kexodusc]

I hate kids who try crossing busy streets with that "stick your arm out" manoeuvre - eat puddle mud, kid.

Death to idiots who wait in parking lots for "good spots" and block the flow of traffic around them.

Double park me and I WILL have you towed.

I can't stand people who stop at YIELD signs when nothing's coming.

People who take more than 0.000001 miliseconds to go when the light turns green - you don't have the right to impede my driving, move it junior, or accept you're too old and slow to drive anymore.

A note to Geoff and Markw about the blocking thing - good call...
But it's been my experience - especially in Atlanta - that the vast majority of people trying to enter the lane in front of the blocker are usually doing something either:
a) illegal (speeding, etc)
b) Of questionable judgement (waiting to the last minute, driving recklessly, etc)

...I LOVE blocking these people. Everyday on my way home, 2 lanes merge into 1 just before my subdivision...there's signs for 3 miles...some losers speed up on the far right, ending lane and try to cut in at the last minute - ahead of me at that!!!...Not on my watch, sunshine! Your car better have airbags, because you're nosediving into the ditch. Unless you are some blonde/brunette bombshell, you can wait your turn like everyone else.

[JohnMichael]

My number 1 pet peeve is driving down a two lane street or highway with no one behind me for miles. All of a sudden a car races out from an intersection to get in front of me. I have to reduce speed or slam on my breaks to keep from hitting them. They then drive 5-10 miles an hour slower than I was driving.

Not using turn signals drives me crazy.

Everyone elses pet peeves.

[Woochifer]

Great topic speedy!

Man oh man, Bay Area drivers just frustrate me to no end! I've never driven in an area with so many brainfarted drivers, and I'll admit that part of it is because I was raised on the L.A. freeways and my instincts are still atuned to that brand of mania! I see a lot more unpredictable things that drivers do around here. At least in L.A., I KNEW that everyone else was driving like a maniac, and had a clear sense of when someone was going to try to cut me off and I knew the etiquette of when to flip the finger and when to get the finger. It was law of the jungle out there, but at least it was orderly!

As for my pet peeves, soooo many of them have already been touched upon. I think the general issue I have is simply drivers that have no awareness of what other drivers on the road are doing. Distracted driving in its many forms is obviously a part of it, but in the Bay Area it must be something in the air that I'm immune to because downright stupid driving seems pandemic around here.

To me the most dangerous conditions are when you have huge contrasts in what the drivers are doing. Just as an example, I-880 in the East Bay probably has the worst drivers collectively. That's because you have no sense of flow -- you have slow pokes in the no. 1 lane going 45 in a 65 zone, and you have huge numbers of these boy racers that go 90+ and want to "challenge" their skeels by making their lane changes as tight and dangerous as possible ("I'm not tailgating, I'm drafting!" yuh, right!). Add to this mix all the big rigs and delivery trucks coming out of the Port of Oakland and you got a very volatile mix.

And now that my commute has changed, I'm now finding a new pet peeve -- drivers that INSIST on driving the exact same speed as the guy next to them, even if the traffic is light! Aside from the rolling roadblock effect that this creates for everybody else, the drivers doing this will often situate themselves not directly next to you where they can be seen, but in the blind spot where you cannot see them! Sometimes I wonder what the driver's ed classes are teaching here in the Bay Area, because it sure ain't what I learned!

[ericl]

Did you ever notice that anybody that drives slower than you is an a$$hole and anybody that drives faster than you is a maniac?

"Would you look at this a$$hole?!? Get out of the way!!!"
Vrrroooooommmm!!!
"Holy sh!t! That guy's a maniac!!!"

-George Carlin

LOL! what a great thread!! i was thinking about it the whole way into work this morning, and came up with one more:

You're waiting for a left turn light behind several cars, and the geezer in front isn't even paying attention to when it turns green! It turns green, you wait a few seconds for him to wake up or for her to put her make up down, and then they CASUALLY stroll through the light, taking their sweet time. by the time he gets through, only two other cars can get through the light, leaving four more in the back to have to wait for it to turn green again!!

[paul_pci]

Wooch, you have not seen dumb until you go to Madison, WI. Being an LA native, I totally understand and concur that the craziness of LA driving is predictable. But when I got to Madison, I literally could not believe the level of stupidity and what I found really dangerous was that it was totally unpredictable and made me quite nervous. My two favorite examples are as follows: I witnessed a women literally stop in the MIDDLE of an intersection because the light turned red (I was on foot) At first I was flabergasted that a driver could stop in the middle of an intersection, but what was more astonishing is that there was a cop (stopped in the other direction) who did absolutely nothing about it. The following happened to me several times: I'm in an intersection waiting to turn left, light is green, waiting for oncoming traffic to clear and oncoming drivers will actually STOP while the light is green to let me turn left! And then there was the accident. I was waiting at a red light at this intersection off the capitol square and in this intersection all the traffic lights will go red and all the walk signs will go of so that pedestrians can and then one side of the intersection's traffic light will go green. So when my light turns green, I go and get t-boned by this girl who rushes out of the car and says, "I'm sorry, I thought I missed my turn"!! And then in the summer, you get these tourists from the podunk town that don't have traffic lights at all or one way streets and you get a fair number of cars turning and driving the wrong way on one way streets.

There, I vented.

[kexodusc]

Atlantic Canada seems to have an ungodly amount of traffic circles....I know they're big in Europe, but these things are terrible. They only work if everyone knows how to navigate them. If one person panics, the whole flow is disrupted - all it takes is one tourist, or someone who's never seen a traffic circle to stop before entering, or worse - in the circle itself.

[ForeverAutumn]

Your car better have airbags, because you're nosediving into the ditch. Unless you are some blonde/brunette bombshell, you can wait your turn like everyone else.

Thanks for letting me in, Kex.

[topspeed]

Atlantic Canada seems to have an ungodly amount of traffic circles....I know they're big in Europe, but these things are terrible. They only work if everyone knows how to navigate them. If one person panics, the whole flow is disrupted - all it takes is one tourist, or someone who's never seen a traffic circle to stop before entering, or worse - in the circle itself.

I hate those infernal creations! Roundabouts are Satan. Seriously, if you took an aerial picture of one, you would see the face of Beelzebub himself!

My first encounter with one was a few years ago in the Boston area. Now for those of you that haven't had the pleasure of navigating the nightmare that is The Big Dig, lemme tell ya it's a real treat. Almost as much fun as an receiving an enema. One day a street is open, the next it's closed, the next day it's a one way street. Truth. Anywho, I'm trying to get out of downtown and make it to her Uncle's house in Roxbury. His directions seemed easy enough until I get to the first roundabout where the directions say Turn Right.

OhhhhKaaay...

Which right?!? The first? Second? Fifth? What jackhole thought these things were a good idea? Needless to say I ended up getting hopelessly lost and ended up calling him from a service station to find us and lead up to his house. Not the best first impression to make.

I've been back to Boston since, but this time I got one of those Neverlost nav systems from Hertz. Yeah, that worked . Besides once inexplicably putting me on a toll road to onlyGodknowswhere, it also said I was navigating the Charles River at one point. That's funny, the countergirl never even told me our Land Rover had the James Bond submarine option.

[ForeverAutumn]

My first encounter with one was a few years ago in the Boston area. Now for those of you that haven't had the pleasure of navigating the nightmare that is The Big Dig, lemme tell ya it's a real treat.

LMAO! We drove to Boston about 15 years ago. We couldn't figure out how to get to our hotel so we stopped and asked a cop who was directing traffic. He gave us directions which we actually wrote down as he gave them. 15 minutes later, completely lost, we found ourselves passing the exact same cop again!

When we finally did find the hotel, we parked the car and didn't touch it again until we were ready to drive home. Thank goodness Boston has a such a great transit system.

[GMichael]

Thanks for letting me in, Kex.

Keep that up and your stalker may come back.

[markw]

You haven't experienced pure terror until you try to naviagte a roundabout from a right hand drive perspective. I did this a few years ago when we rented a car in Barbados and talk about leaving a stain on the car seat...

[Fergymunster]

My 2 cents.People using their blicker simultaneous as their turning."Motorcycles" where are they during the winter.

[Wireworm5]

People on bikes. They don't follow any rules! On the side walk off the sidewalk, through a crosswalk to avoid light, in between cars, into the left lane hop the boulevard into oncoming lane and back onto sidewalk. I won't feel bad if I ever hit one of these idiots, its the inconvenience of calling the police, ambulance and then the insurance company that worries me.
Then there are the idiots on bikes who follow the rules but they want the rights of a car taking up the full lane and going 5 mph. "Oh, they have the right to the road." as one lady said,. But in our city its only a matter of time before they get nailed by a careless motorist. Bikes belong on the sidewalk where they are out of harms way. But then these idiots on bikes would run people over as the don't follow any rules.

[Geoffcin]

I hate those infernal creations! Roundabouts are Satan. Seriously, if you took an aerial picture of one, you would see the face of Beelzebub himself!

You have not experienced roundabouts until you've driven in England. And even if you have, you do no know the meaning of pain until you've driven the "Magic Roundabouts" of Swindon. People have expired trying to figure out how to get on and off of the thing. One old man was stuck on it till his gas ran out!

http://www.swindonweb.com/life/lifemagi0.htm

And yes, I have the T-shirt.

[markw]

You have not experienced roundabouts until you've driven in England. And even if you have, you do no know the meaning of pain until you've driven the "Magic Roundabouts" of Swindon. People have expired trying to figure out how to get on and off of the thing. One old man was stuck on it till his gas ran out!

http://www.swindonweb.com/life/lifemagi0.htm

And yes, I have the T-shirt.

At least try to be original, OK?

In case the implication of my "Barbados" post (above) was lost on you, Barbados was an English colony until 1961, when it's independence was granted. Since then, had maintained close ties and is still a member of the Commonwealth.

And, they still follow the same driving rules that England does. FWIW, so do the Bahamas.

Consider yourself a little more enlightened than you were this morning.

[Geoffcin]

At least try to be original, OK?

In case the implication of my "Barbados" post (above) was lost on you, Barbados was an English colony until 1961, when it's independence was granted. Since then, had maintained close ties and is still a member of the Commonwealth.

And, they still follow the same driving rules that England does. FWIW, so do the Bahamas.

Consider yourself a little more enlightened than you were this morning.

Barbados makes good rum.

Swindon has the "magic roundabout"

I never read your posts.

[markw]

I never read your posts.

You sure read 'em when you and your buddies took over moderator positions a few years ago and deleted 'em like they were invisible ink, at least until wiser minds prevailed.

Twice in this thread alone you've said exactly the same things I said, only later, and then claim you never read my posts. Right. In college they call that plagerism but I guess claiming you don't read 'em allows you to claim ignorance. somewhat of a deniable plausability" situtaion, eh? If that's what you really want, well then, all right, but I really expect somewhat less disingenious behaviour from a moderator.

But, feel free to follow in my footsteps. Perhaps someday you'll actually catch up to me.

[Geoffcin]

You sure read 'em when you and your buddies took over moderator positions a few years ago and deleted 'em like they were invisible ink, at least until wiser minds prevailed.

Twice in this thread alone you've said exactly the same things I said, only later, and then claim you never read my posts. Right. In college they call that plagerism but I guess claiming you don't read 'em allows you to claim ignorance. somewhat of a deniable plausability" situtaion, eh? If that's what you really want, well then, all right, but I really expect somewhat less disingenious behaviour from a moderator.

But, feel free to follow in my footsteps. Perhaps someday you'll actually catch up to me.

Cause you make no sense at all. Perhaps you've been nipping at the Barbados rum?

Now that you mention it, I should pay more attention to what your writing, as you seem to have a nasty streak.

[markw]

Cause you make no sense at all.

Really? ...or could it be that I make TOO much sense.

Perhaps you've been nipping at the Barbados rum?

Not me, this world cup season. Now, had you said caipirinhas with the Brasilians in Newark you might have been on to something but, no, I'm stone cold sober.

Now that you mention it, I should pay more attention to what your writing, as you seem to have a nasty streak.

Is that a threat? Sounds like you're slipping back into your old ways.

I'd say it sounds like you're the one exhibiting a nasty streak here, what with threats and all. Did I do something "nasty" or against the rules by pointing out uncanny similarities between our posts?

No major no problems here, just having some fun wid ya. I see you can dish it out but still can't take it.

I guess asking for a little recognition when you approporiate my thoughts would be fair, don't you think? ...and, of course, being man enough to admit that you DO read my posts helps, too. After all, they can't be that bad. You say the same things, right?

[Florian]

Hehe, you guys have it tough in the U.S. Our only problem is that almost all of our cars do 124mph and we use it day in and day out. And sometimes while we are driving someone cant judge the distance to the one comming from behind. The other day i was driving my dads car at propably 139 and some ****ty old VW Golf sees a truck like one mile ahead and pulls out. I hit the brakes pretty rough, and like a 1000 lights went on in the car. Nothing happend tough exept high blood preasure and me *****ing for the next 2 hrs.... I took two safety car courses so far in rainy, snowy etc.. conditions. Ya need it on our streets ;-)

In my dads company (where he works) they take the guests out to dinner, and if they bugged the hell out of them before they take the 540i and go over the Autobahn. Its funny as hell, when they grab their seat and stare straight ahead and telling you that they feel fine. LOL....too bad i cant go with them anymore. I met some fun people there.

[topspeed]

Hehe, you guys have it tough in the U.S. Our only problem is that almost all of our cars do 124mph and we use it day in and day out. And sometimes while we are driving someone cant judge the distance to the one comming from behind. The other day i was driving my dads car at propably 139 and some ****ty old VW Golf sees a truck like one mile ahead and pulls out. I hit the brakes pretty rough, and like a 1000 lights went on in the car. Nothing happend tough exept high blood preasure and me *****ing for the next 2 hrs.... I took two safety car courses so far in rainy, snowy etc.. conditions. Ya need it on our streets ;-)

In my dads company (where he works) they take the guests out to dinner, and if they bugged the hell out of them before they take the 540i and go over the Autobahn. Its funny as hell, when they grab their seat and stare straight ahead and telling you that they feel fine. LOL....too bad i cant go with them anymore. I met some fun people there.

I'm not jealous of your rig, but I am definitely envious of your ability to get on the autobahn whenever you please! The only time I can air it out (legally) in the States is on track days. Unfortunately, I've read that your country is decreasing the areas of unlimited speed limits almost every year. That's a shame, because I truly believe the autobahn is one of the reasons German cars usually exhibit such solid high speed stability. That, and having the Nurburgring in your back yard .

[Florian]

Hehe, once you hear the system this would change too. LOL

Kidding aside, we still have enough fast areas. Most limitations are during day in a few areas and free during the night. Oh yes, and the NBR is like 1 hr from me....incl the Ruf Porsche Tuner, AMG and we have some kick ass cars in our city like the new M5, Mercedes CL600, Mercedes SL65AMG (bank guy) and my buddy runs a tuned out 535i