Road Pet-Peeves

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So, what are the habits or conducts of drivers that make you furious?

For myself :

1) People that TAILGATE. I become so made when someone is following me too closely...

2) Not using blinkers. They're there for a reason. USE THEM.

(the other day, I had a car tailgate me for a while. He then went into the right lane (which is not legally allowed) and cut me off without putting on his blinker... GRRRRRR

3) Not knowing what a roundabout is. We have a couple roundabout here, but some people still haven't figured them out, like when you're supposed to give way to someone who already is in the roundabout.

what about you? what conduct brings out the hate and evil in you?

 

Those three are mine as well - people who don't use their blinkers and then shift lanes piss the hell out of me in particular.

I hate when people tailgate me, so I switch lanes to let them pass, and then they give me dirty looks - you're going 20 mph over the effing speed limit! I understand wanting to get somewhere, but no need being a complete duche about it to people who are going a mere 10-15mph over the speed limit.

 

I know! I do a 2 hour 30 mins distance for work each day, but I refuse to go farther than 10 over the speed limit (which is basically the allowed limit). Still, some people tailgate me and passes by going like crazy. WTF?? Are they in such a hurry that they will die if they go below 10 over??? Makes me wish I had become a cop...

 

I agree with your points, Triactus.

I should point out that a big problem with roundabouts (we call them "rotaries" where I live) is that the local laws regarding who has the right of way can vary from region to region. I've heard of places where the cars IN the rotary have the RoW, and I've heard of places where the cars waiting to get into the rotary have the RoW. And it can really, REALLY screw things up when people are confused about what the local rules actually are. If people both in and waiting to get into the rotary are overly cautious and yielding to everyone, it'll tend to slow things up around the rotary... annoying but probably not too dangerous. OTOH, if people both in and waiting to get into the rotary are both thinking that they have the RoW and are overly aggressive about their decisions, it's only going to be a matter of time before you have some accidents.

---------- Added 0 hours, 13 minutes and 5 seconds later... ----------

I'm the same when it comes to how fast I'll drive.

I think that a part of the "problem" is that most places have fixed fines for speeding. (Oh, it may be X dollars per mph over the limit, but it's still relatively "fixed".) The thing is that some people are wealthy enough that those semi-fixed fines are simply not high enough to cause those people to change their driving behavior. Many of these people just look at those fines as a "cost of doing business", and keep right on speeding, because they think that their time is more valuable than the cost of the fines. And in strictly economics terms, for better or worse, they're probably right.


I know that in some European countries speeding fines have been changed to be a percentage of the driver's income, so that richer drivers will feel the pain of ignoring the speed laws.

I'm of two minds about this. On one hand, it certainly should cause richer drivers to change their behavior if they get hit with a fine in the hundreds of thousands of dollars (or Euros, or whatever) or even higher. On the other, my distrust of government is so great that I simply do not trust that in hard economics times that some governments might start deliberately staking out richer drivers to try to "mine" some big fine income for the local government. Rich drivers shouldn't be harassed by local governments' police forces to make up revenue shortfalls. And honestly, I do not trust governments not to do this if the sliding scale speeding fines exist. That said, I don't really have an answer.... short of using the sliding scale of fines and then burning the fine money to prevent the government from getting it either (like that would happen, of course).

 

Oh...oh no! No no no no ...I must resist! SP's censoring script won't be able to handle it......must...not...do...it............

*SNAP*




Alright, let's do this thing.

I live in Utah, so that alone should speak for itself... but if that doesn't mean anything to you, here's but a taste of what I have to deal with:

• Mother F***ers who tailgate...but instead of backing off, the F***ing D****ebags get closer when you tap your brakes a few times. The only thing that gets your point across is slamming on the brakes hard....or using the E-Brake.
• C**ksuckers who never use their F***ing turn signals.
• Those Mother F***ing C**ksuckers who speed up when *you* use your turn signals so you can't merge...until they pass you.
• F***ing idiots who do 55mph in the 'Fast' lane of a 65mph freeway.
• F***ing idiotic A**holes who do the above in the carpool lane, of which you can't enter/exit until the lines break...so you're stuck behind the a**holes.
• Stupid B******s who enter/exit the carpool lane when ever they feel like it.
• ^^^Stupid mother F***ing, C**k sucing, C*m guzzling a**holes who run red lights...Especially if it's been red for 4+ seconds..........you F***ing retards!!!
• Stupid rednecks who gun their unnecessarily massive desiel engines to create a thick, black smoke screen of exhaust as they race off the line.
• And last, but not least: Dumb a** inbred rednecks who have their gigantic trucks raised up to the legal limit, with their headlights not adjusted correctly

I posted a blog here on an Englishman's encounter with Utah drivers. You may think it's funny, but every word of it is true. The author's views are slightly confined, as I believe he stayed in Salt Lake County... Had he taken I-15 south past the Point of the Mountain and in to Utah County, his story would be more like my other blogs:

Oh, and then there's this one: Got hit by the car in front of me while stopped at a red light...



^^^ - On my way to work, I almost always get stopped at the intersection of a busy highway (3 lanes both ways, 55-60mph, intersections only at major roads) and a busy major road. I am on the highway headed south. The stupid mother F***ing A**holes who are on the northbound highway, turning left on to the busy major road have 2 turning lanes, and a *very* long green light; and yet 6-10 cars run the red EVERY F***ING TIME!!! My light will be green for 2-3 seconds, and they'll still be running their red light like it's not there. I race up to them, and then slam on my brakes - horn blaring and my middle finger prominently displayed - and they have the F***ing gal to look at me, like I'm the one breakking the law!

During the xmas shopping season, those F***ing retards who ran the red have ended up being stuck in the intersection (blocking all southbound lanes) because the busy major road is backed up. It's been so bad that the red light runners have been stuck in the intersection for a full signal cycle!

Those are the days I need a tank.....or a RPG.

 

I hate when there's an on ramp and everyone is playing nice and taking turns. There's always one jerk who just can't do it right and zips onto the shoulder just to get a few cars ahead, then they mash their way in.

I really hate it when I've mistakenly driven on the shoulder at an on ramp and no one will let me merge.

[shamelessly taken from some unknown comic]

This one is true:

T3Early Edition (when she was 21): I can't believe how rude the people are here.
T2Bruno: What happened?
T3EarlyEdition: I was trying to pass someone and she just flipped me off. She was taking up two lanes and when I honked to have her decide she stuck her finger out the window.
T2Bruno: Was this near the construction zone?
T3EarlyEdition: Well, yeah.
T2Bruno: So you were going to pass her on the right with a huge line of cars in the left lane. Did you see the sign to merge left?
T3EarlyEdition: There was still at least a hundred yards before the merge was required ... after she flipped me off no one would let me merge for at least four or five cars.

I don't think she ever got it.

 

Here in Illinois, not moving to another open lane when others are entering the freeway really pisses me off. I take that as basic driving etiquette. If you notice though, the older drivers are usually the ones to let others in. It's the kids out there that are the pain in the asses on the roads. Of course, when I was in my early twenties, I was definitely one of them.

 

People who don't indicate
People who won't let you into a lane when you are indicating
People who won't let you off a slip road
People who tailgate
People who refuse to move for emergancy vehicles
People who merge at the last minute
People who see an accident and SLOW DOWN to have a good look
People who refuse to turn their brights off when driving past you
People who have their brights on when following you
People who are driving and aren't me

 

“Have you ever noticed, anybody going slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac.”

--George Carlin​

 

Usually, there is a ''give way sign'' in front of the lane that has to give way. So if you just look, you'll know what to do. But I admit it's a retarded idea not to have an internationnal standard for the roundabout. It's like saying in some towns, the stop sign really means go. It's just confusing for no reason!

But isn't it logical that the person IN the roundabout has right of way? I mean, the point of it is that once you're in it you don't stop...

On top of the fine over here, an infraction of the driving law gives you demerit points. Once you accumulated a certain amount (based on the class of your driver's license), your license is suspended for six month. Get to the said amount of points a second time and it's suspended for a year. At one point, your license will be revoked. So it's definitely not a good idea to accumulate speeding tickets (if you like driving..)

Your whole post was very entertaining...

Oh, someone did the most moronic thing tonight. I was wainting at a red light to turn left (blinker turned on). I was in a one lane way. The guy behind me wanted to turn right (here, you can legally turn right on a red light). However, he was too cool to wait for the light to change. He backed off of me and drove into the incoming lane (there were no cars coming, but still!!), passed me turned right in front of my car... COME ON!! Would 30 seconds of waiting time too long so you risk your life (AND OTHERS)?? WTF?

 

I agree that it would make sense to have an international standard for rotaries/roundabouts. Of course, it would also make sense to have an international standard for what side of the road you drive on, and what side of the car is the driver's side, and so on. As bad as roundabouts may seem, imagine how dangerous it must be for an american driving in the UK for the first time, or vice-versa.... As easy as it may be to intellectually know that things are reversed, I'd imagine that all of one's driving instincts would be screaming to do things the way you've always done them ... right up to the point that you're driving down the wrong side of the road into traffic.

Yes, this is true here as well, which is probably a bigger deterrent for rich drivers. Of course, it will probably just cause them to get radar detectors rather than slow down.

 

Here's a better idea, outlaw *all* roundabouts globally! I hate those damn things! There's one by my house that no one knows how to use. I was comming up on it, and the dude that was currently going around it F***ing stopped in the middle of the damn thing so I could go...holding up traffic behind him! I honked at him and gave him the "F***ing go already!!!" gesture...but he looked at me like a deer caught in the headlights.

Wasn't exactly what I was going for there.....but thanks, I guess.

 

Roundabouts are awesome and really diminishes the amount of accidents that happen as long as people know how to use them. Instead of waiting for your lights at a junction you just slide into the roundabout and get going. There are very few junctions left hereabouts that arent roundabouts.

 

People that don't indicate.
People that tailgate.

I'm going to leave it at that or i'll end up with a ban.

 

Trucks. Think they can go as fast as they like and change lanes whenever the hell they feel like it. Have nearly had a truck sideswipe the car before because he wanted into the lane and just started heading in despite it being very clear that we'd all die a messy and horrible death if he did.

 

Argh, good point. Why the hell don't we put an international standard on everything? And how the hell did different countries start driving in different lanes?

haha, I agree. Trucks are a**ho***. I had one the other day who was tailgating me. At one point, his front bumper was completly filling my rearviewmirror... that's kinda scary considering that if I have to break suddenly, he'll flaten me like a pancake and I would probably die..

 

The Brits like their jousting.