Driving pet peeve thread. (2010, GPS, sell, tail gate)

[mustangman66]

Originally Posted by Linda_d

One of my pet peeves is the numerous people around here who don't move into left turn lanes properly. Some wait too long to turn in, and so their vehicles aren't parallel to the traffic lanes, but slanted across the left turn lane and part of the thru traffic lane next to it. Others apparently don't want to get too close to on-coming traffic, so they're half in the left turn lane and half in the thru traffic lane! DOH!

This is one of my pet peeves as well. Its all about trying to get to the turn faster than everyone else which in turn backs up the turn lane even more. Im not sure who bugs me more...the people that wait last minute to turn and cut in front of everyone or the morons that actually let them cut in. If people stopped letting others cut in I would imagine the people doing the cutting would eventually stop.

I am one of those that, unless you have out of state tags, will not let someone cut in front of me last minute because of their impatience to wait like everyone else. Then they look at you as though you are the bad guy for not letting them in. I assume if you are out of state maybe you arent 100% sure of where you are going. Locals have no excuse in my book, if it was because you accidentally missed the turn, well go to the next exit, if you dont want to wait in line then you have no business getting rewarded for your impatience.

[Troubleshooter]

Carpool lanes and toll bypass lanes: These reduce overall capacity by pushing religious environmental beliefs on people.

Originally Posted by ocnjgirl

Whaaat does that even mean?

- Carpool lane - a special lane where cars using it must have so many people in it.

- Toll bypass lane - a lane you pay a toll to enter that bypasses heavy traffic.

These special lanes reduce the overall capacity of the road. Fewer cars are using them because their use is restricted by law. The road could move more traffic without the legal restriction on use of these lanes.

Environmentalists want the carpool lanes to force more people to share rides. But the overall effect on the capacity of the road of this special lane reduces the efficiency of all of the other vehicles on the road.

Government officials want the toll bypass lane for only one reason: REVENUE! But it has a similar effect on the rest of the traffic.

[Troubleshooter]

Originally Posted by Retriever

I may have posted this peeve of mine previously, but because I am encountering it more and more often lately, I think that it is worth posting again:

Imagine that you are driving on a rural road (one lane in each direction, with extremely narrow shoulders that are not wide enough to fully accommodate a car). In the opposite direction, there is a farm tractor approaching, and he is as far onto the shoulder as he can go, but because of the narrowness of the shoulder, about half of his bulk is in the approaching traffic lane.

Naturally, there tends to be some back-up of traffic behind him, as the farm tractor is going no more than 20 mph. And, naturally, the drivers of the backed-up cars are eager to pass the tractor.

Because passing the tractor requires pulling into the opposing lane, most drivers will wait until it is safe to pull into the opposing lane, but--unfortunately--there seem to be an increasing number of brain-dead drivers (mostly older women, it seems), who will suddenly veer into the opposing lane even if they are only a few car lengths from traffic approaching from the opposite direction--at ~50 mph.

All too often recently, I have had to dive for the narrow shoulder on my side of the road, in order to avoid a head-on collision with these dangerous drivers. Out of necessity, I have adopted a very defensive tactic by slowing down when I see a farm tractor coming toward me, simply because I know of the likelihood that some idiot will suddenly veer into my lane in order to pass that slow-moving tractor.

Has anyone else encountered this semi-suicidal behavior?

The tractor driver is in most states required to leave the road at the first opportunity if 3 or more cars are backed up behind him.

[Troubleshooter]

Originally Posted by Retriever

...or backing up on the shoulder, and...inevitably...backing up into the exit lane, thus setting up a very real possibility of a collision.

For some reason that I have never quite been able to fathom, some people seem to think that they will enter a mysterious black hole from which they will never emerge if they have to exit at the next interchange.

There is no excuse for this, even if the next exit is 10 miles away.

But it does cost you 20 miles of fuel and 20 minutes for an exit 10 miles away. Too many people don't want that inconvenience.

[Retriever]

Originally Posted by Troubleshooter

The tractor driver is in most states required to leave the road at the first opportunity if 3 or more cars are backed up behind him.

That may well be true in NJ (I honestly don't know whether it is true or not), but...on the roads in question, the "first opportunity" to leave the road and pull over to something wider than the extremely narrow shoulder, is usually 3 or 4 miles in the distance.

But...even if this is the law...How does this justify impatient people suddenly veering into the oncoming lane, and acting like Kamikaze pilots?
Couldn't they simply wait...literally...just a few seconds until oncoming traffic on these lightly-traveled roads is clear?

[Troubleshooter]

Originally Posted by City Guy997S

That whole "add on" aisle should be eliminated. Pin stripes, door edge protectors, key hole protectors, mud flaps, chrome (plastic) stuff/emblems is all geared for the "old man/immigrant customizer!"

Door edge protectors keep the spinning brushes in car washes from taking the paint off the door edges.

[Seagrape Grove]

I'm driving along in the right hand land at a reasonable speed and at a safe distance behind the car in front of me. There is plenty of room behind me. Suddenly, a car zooms past me on the left, moves over quickly in front of me and slows down to make a right hand turn. Grrrrrrrr.......

[michael enigma]

My biggest pet peeve is when people use fog lights and the brightest settings possible on a clear night. In Nebraska people have been ticked for doing this because it blinds the other drivers around the inconsiderate person using them. Yeah some may argue they come on automatically however when you turn the key in your car or push the button to start your car you cannot just gas it. You have to take steps to driving your car and one step is making sure you do not blind the person in front of you.

And in Huntsville Alabama there are people who tailgate. Stay off the back of cars this would prevent road rage and car accidents rocket city my nose! Laws of physics one object of mass cannot occupy the same space and time another object is occupying it! And they run upon the back of your car with brights on clear night and all. Then they wanna get mad when you have to slow down because of a car in front of you or a stop sign.

And finally people! Those three white lines before you go into an intersection are for people walking. Stop at the thick white line when you have a red light and allow people to cross there isn't any act more selfish than gunning down a pedestrian who has the righta way and bblaming them because you don't care for human life.

Really people these are lives not things on your way drive w8th consideration

[Retriever]

Originally Posted by michael enigma

My biggest pet peeve is when people use fog lights and the brightest settings possible on a clear night.

I have never seen fog lights that have more than one setting for the intensity of their lighting.
Additionally, cars are wired from the factory so that if the high beams are activated, the fog lights are turned off. So...I am not quite sure what you are referring to.

Perhaps you are seeing cars with aftermarket equipment that was not installed properly, but I can't imagine that this would be a very high percentage of the cars on the road. Can you clarify what you mean when you say, "fog lights and the brightest settings possible"?

[ipaper]

people who wait for the light to turn red, already riding the breaks as they approach the intersection while the light is still green. and i'm wondering why are they slowing down preparing to stop instead of just getting on through the intersection. man I hate that.