Driving Pet Peeves

[sgtcluels]

People who turn left to turn right at intersections bugs me. Do you really need to drift into my lane when you are turning into your driveway?

[DHonks]

In Arizona there are a few that I can't stand. Lots of people turn from cross-streets into the turn lane (aka, suicide lane) on major roads, and will drive for 1/2 a mile in it at 15 mph, waiting and checking their side mirrors to see if someone will let them in. I hate it, cause when they're driving at me, I always seem to want to head into the turn lane to use it for a turn.

 

I hate how nobody uses turn signals. I hate how old people in North Scottsdale drive 30-35 on roads that are 45-55 mph, just because back east they'd never see a road with that high of speed limits.

 

I have been driven crazy lately with, as Menotti said, people that do not pull out into intersections while in the left turn lane.

[pitchleague]

billscott's is similar to mine. I hate making left turns in a multi-laned left-turn area (two left-turn lanes side-by-side). It always seems that the vehicle next to me can not seem to stay in his turn lane, even though there are little white dashed lines out in the intersection to help keep you in your turn lane. Just bugs me.

 

Turn signals x11. It is the most basic thing next to . . . .

 

Seat belts. I still can't believe how many people are dumb enough not to wear a seatbelt while they drive. I don't care if I'm just driving to get the mail a block and a half away; I wear the seatbelt.

 

Four-way stops and knowing the right-of-way. It's called RIGHT of way for a reason.

 

Arizona drivers seconded. In case you guys don't know, AZ doesn't require you to renew your license every few years. For example, my license does not expire until 2034. So you've got thousands of people driving in the state who probably would flunk the test in any other state.

 

Speaking of which, I've yet to see a driver's ed vehicle on the road here. i don't think they have it. They very well may just have to take "classroom" and then can go take the "road" test (it's at the DMV here, so you don't actually drive with real traffic). Ridiculous! No wonder my car insurance is so high in this state!

[Hammer]

My #1 pet peeve is the driver that doesn't use cruise control. I know it has been mentioned before but this really chaps my tail. I regularly get passed while doing 7-8 mph over the limit by the same type of moron. Mr. Businessman that is really important, driving his imported car and weaving in and out of lanes. Then his blackberry either rings or he gets a new email. He immediately weaves back into the right lane, slows down in front of me and causes me to pass him. Then, he has the balls to give me a dirty look when I pass and give him the "why the hell are you such a moron" look. I don't flip him the bird, I don't gesture at him like a maniac...I just give him the "you are a moron" look while shaking my head. This happened to me today on HWY 41 near Appleton and I got even more peeved. This big, fat man with too tight of a dress shirt neckline, too shaggy of a hair style (covering up baldness?) and a completely "comb my hair in the paint" shiny BMW passed me while going around 80 or so. Then, his phone rang (or he got a new email...etc). Without a signal he went from the left lane to the shoulder of the HWY (about 1/2 mile ahead of me). I passed him and he was playing with his blackberry. About a minute later he passed me again doing about 85-90 this time. I gave him the "you're an idiot look" when he passed for good measure.

 

I laughed when he was pulled over by a State Policeman about 5 miles ahead. It really made my day.

[T B0NE 10]

Being a young driver, driving for a little over a year. I feel like Ive made some bad decisions on the road and piss people off, because sometimes when I get into more city areas like Wausau I'm sometimes unsure. But I have to say I'm a much better driver than many of the people on the roads.

 

How about this one:

You pull over into the right lane on the highway to let a guy on, but he turns all the way into the right lane also, forcing you to quickly get back into the right lane.

 

Or just generally pulling out in front of you on the highway, I've already had a good 3 close calls with this.

[bbrauch2000]

Aggressive drivers are easily my number one. There is no good reason not to leave a reasonable distance between two cars. Unless you are on the way to the hospital with a life and death emergency, there is no reason to be tailgating anyone. It's dangerous and stupid and there is never any reason to do it

[mothershipconnection]

GAWKERS. There's simply nothing that wastes more time and slows traffic more than a bunch of idiots, driving mouth agape past an accident or someone pulled over. "Hey Lyle, does we know him? That looks like Frank's truck!". No, you don't know him, stop it, there are 5.5 million people here, and you don't know them, you've never known anyone in an accident you drove by. Knock it off.

[tristarscoop]

1. People who enter the freeway doing 30 MPH. You're going to get rearended and you're going to get hurt.

 

2. People who wait for all the lanes to be clear before making a turn. WHY can't people turn into the immediate lane - why do they need two/three lanes?

 

3. People who drive SOOO defensively during rain/snow that they actually become more dangerous than the people speeding.

 

4. People who STOP in the middle of the road/freeway because they missed their turn/exit. This is not our problem. Go to the next turn/exit and turn around. How on God's green earth you think you can stop/hit your brakes in the middle of traffic is beyond me. You are going to hurt yourself and hurt others. The U-Turn is half a block away. Use it.

 

5. I'll reiterate the one about people who are afraid of their cars. If you aren't comfortable in the thing, why did you buy it? You're a risk to everyone because you're scared. In addition, if you take more than two motions to pull into a parking spot, please park at the back of the lot where you don't have to fit in any spots and have plenty of room.

 

6. People who slow down to enter a turn lane. That's what the turn lane is for! To piggyback on that, people who don't get into the turn lane until the very last foot, thereby leaving their car in traffic flow and slowing everyone down because they now have to go from 40 to 0 and have not had the turn lane in which to slow down.

[temke]

another one. people who think they have to enter a busy freeway at the earliest moment.

 

they make the entrance/merge lane long for a reason. use the lane, keep your speed, and find an opening. dont try to merge in 20 feet past the meter light and back up traffic on the ramp.

 

a couple places in partiular for me: 84th street west on to 94 and watertown plank rd going south on 45.

[pitchleague]

I forgot the speeding thing. I hate cars that will just tailgate my rear bumper on a single lane highway for an eternity and then, when they finally do pass, they do it about 1 mph faster than you are. Since they, apparently, like to parade in front of me (that's how fast they seem to be passing--the speed of a parade), I usually roll down my window and salute them (full military salute) because they must be really special people if they have to pass me only a parade-speed faster than I am doing.

 

I usually salute impatient drivers who are going a good 20 mph over the speed limit on the freeways, too, but I doubt they even see it. Ten miles later, it sure is funny when you see those bozos on the side of the road with "rollers" having pulled them over. I always want to honk my horn and laugh but the cop might not like that.

[DHonks]

Arizona drivers seconded. In case you guys don't know, AZ doesn't require you to renew your license every few years. For example, my license does not expire until 2034. So you've got thousands of people driving in the state who probably would flunk the test in any other state.

 

pitchleague, mine goes til 2046, as I'm sure that licenses here are good until someone is 65. It's funny, cause in other states they look at it and think "wait, nice forgery...you forgot to make the date realistic"

[brewers19]

If you think other drivers are bad as it is, try commuting on a bicycle every day. Nothing like being surrounded by vehicles that not only are capable of crushing you like a bug, but 99% of the time don't acknowledge your presence whatsoever. Even after taking to riding on the sidewalk out of fear of my life, there's still at least one situation a day where I could easily see myself getting killed by a car had I not been such a defensive rider. The vast majority of the time it's people looking to make a right turn on red, where they just cruise into and through the crosswalk, only watching cross-traffic for an opening and paying no attention to whether any cyclists or pedestrians might be crossing the street in front of them.

[mikevan1818]

I don't know if it's been said (maybe it has - or maybe I'm the only one who gets annoyed) but I hate when there is a lane closed or lane ending and people cut in at the last second - even though there are clearly arrows and signs annoucning that the lane is ending. Yeah - I know they have the right to stay in that lane until the last second - but all it does is create more conjestion. I just feel like that whenever someone blows past 10-12 cars and then turns their blinker on to get into the lane that they are much too good to wait the extra minute in line. They have to speed past everyone and then cut in.

 

Maybe I'm a baby - but it really annoys me.

[Glennron]

I don't know if it's been said (maybe it has - or maybe I'm the only one who gets annoyed) but I hate when there is a lane closed or lane ending and people cut in at the last second - even though there are clearly arrows and signs annoucning that the lane is ending. Yeah - I know they have the right to stay in that lane until the last second - but all it does is create more conjestion. I just feel like that whenever someone blows past 10-12 cars and then turns their blinker on to get into the lane that they are much too good to wait the extra minute in line. They have to speed past everyone and then cut in.

 

Maybe I'm a baby - but it really annoys me.

You're not a baby, it is really annoying. I definitely go out of my way by staying a couple feet behind the next car (when you're at a crawling speed) to make sure someone doesn't pass up a bunch of cars and then try to sneak it past everyone

[And That]

A civil/transportation engineer could correct me on this if I'm wrong, but I seem to remember reading about a study that said a highway or road going from 2 lanes to 1 lane is best utilized when all traffic merges at the one point where the road goes to one lane. The theory behind this was that since a 2 lane road is best utilized when both lanes are open, it would make sense to keep traffic in both lanes as long as possible. If everyone merged into one lane a mile, a half mile, etc., before the road went down to one lane, you'd be underutilizing the potential traffic capability of the 2-lane road. It's the same reason you merge into traffic at the end of the ramp.

 

It made logical sense to me, though I'm still not sure if it makes practical sense.

[colbyjack]

Al, I hope you realize this comment:

 

If you have to think about whether to use a signal, you are simply a horrible driver. It's like only checking your blind spot if you aren't sure no one is around, and so on.

 

Directly contradicts this one:

 

By the way, there's nothing wrong with driving in the left lane if there is no one trying to get past you. It's usually far less crowded than the right lane, which is reason enough to hang out there. Less cars, fewer accidents.

 

I hate to say it, but you're a horrible driver if you don't use the same logic from your first point to your second, and trying to make it seem ok by saying there are "less cars, fewer accidents" in the left lane is a piss-poor excuse. Not using a turn signal and driving in the left lane for no reason are both big pet peeves of mine. The turn signal is there for a reason, and if you don't need to be in the left lane, move over.

 

By the way, great list overall Menotti.

 

The biggest pet peeve of mine, one that sgtcluels already brought up, is when drivers veer slightly to their left (or right) when they turn right (or left). I can't tell you how many times I've seen this, especially recently, and how incredibly unsafe this is. It is an incredibly lazy and unsafed driving practice, as there's no reason why someone turning can't just make the same turn without this counter-turn.

[AZBrewCrew]

I remember when I was in Milwaukee back in April, I went to one of the clubs downtown and showed them my AZ license, and they looked at my expiration date (2048) and thought my ID was a fake. They had to break out their little "how to spot a fake id" guide before they let me in the club.

[brewers19]

Wait, so someone living in Arizona could be stuck with a picture themselves from high school until they're well into their 50's?

[hawing]

The vast majority of the time it's people looking to make a right turn on red, where they just cruise into and through the crosswalk, only watching cross-traffic for an opening and paying no attention to whether any cyclists or pedestrians might be crossing the street in front of them.

Sadly, I can identify with this all too well (though as a pedestrian). Our first house was 10 blocks from our workplaces, so we walked to work and back every day for 12 years. I can't count the number of near misses we experienced at the Park-Regent intersection (most of you who have lived in Madison will know that spot). In addition to the right-turn-on-red drivers who only look for oncoming vehicle traffic, we regularly had to dodge drivers who blew through the intersection making a left turn after the left turn arrow disappeared, not once checking for pedestrians. It was extra awesome when they saw us, but rather than bother to slow down, sped up and swerved into the bus lane. And we always waited until we had a walk light to move off the curb.

 

The worst, in my mind, was the day I was nearly cut off by a city of Madison vehicle - not an emergency vehicle, mind you - and yelled at by the driver for getting in her way (while I was in the crosswalk with a walk signal). I noted the vehicle number and got a parks department supervisor to acknowledge that both her driving and her behavior were bad, which was a slight consolation.

 

 

[drezdn]

My Milwaukee specific driving peeves: 1) People turning left on either Water and Wisconsin, or Water and Michigan during rush hour. 2) Whoever decided it would be a good idea to put two parking garage entrances just off the intersection of Water and Wisconsin.

[B2k1121]

I didn't read the entire thread before posting so I apologize if i'm using examples someone already has.

I drive a lot and can't stand so many things dumb drivers do. The main thing that drives me more crazy than any is when a two lane road is under construction and goes down to one lane and everyone has to merge into that lane. I live in Kenosha and Hwy 50 is currently that way. I go way out of my way to avoid it now because it takes so long to get through, simply because people cannot be patient and just get in the lane and drive. There are at least 5-10 cars everytime that go flying by in the lane that is closing and go all the way to the point where the lane is closed and cut in front, slowing everyone down behind them.

Also, the people that essentially floor it from stoplight to stoplight where intersections aren't far apart. Do they not realize they have to stop right away anyways? What's the point of getting there as fast as possible?

[Menotti80]

i came across another one yesterday after work. people that treat all yield signs as "lets stop and wait for 5 seconds" signs.

 

i was driving down burleigh heading east in rush hour traffic. at the hwy100 intersection, there are left turn lanes going in both directions that have green, yellow, and red arrows. so basically once the left turn arrow turns red and the people begin going straight, no more people are turning left. on the right side, there is a lane that is basically a right turn only lane to turn right onto hwy 100. there is a yield sign for the people turning right.

 

why can't people realize that when the basic green arrow for going east-west is on, and there is heavy traffic already going through the interestion, it is physically impossible for a car to be heading southbound on hwy100? its a yield sign, so there's no reason to come to a dead stop and wait 5 second to make sure a car isn't slaloming illegally through oncoming traffic right at your car. they are only going 5-10 mph at this point anyways, so a simple hesitation/slight braking while making sure noone is there is all that is necessary when dealing with a yield sign in that situation.

 

ive seen plenty of near rear-end job in this situation

[Menotti80]

Also, the people that essentially floor it from stoplight to stoplight where intersections aren't far apart. Do they not realize they have to stop right away anyways? What's the point of getting there as fast as possible?

 

I just laugh at these people because they are getting horrible gas mileage and look like idiots.

[eanelson4]

Minnesota drivers. Stay away at all costs.

[tristarscoop]

People who are making a right hand turn and have pulled out and have their neck craned completely to the left, looking for oncoming traffic and never, ever check back to make sure there's nothing (car, people, bikes) on their right and just pull out. Since when can you drive looking only one direction?