zxello

Ok, I have let this brew for a few weeks now and I'm finally fed up. This is my rant about stupid drivers. First of all, before I even get into it, I want to let everyone know that I think everyone in the United States should be required to retake their drivers test, it seems that a majority of the people that I have witnessed have forgotten how to drive.

First thing I have noticed that really bugs me, is how impatient people are when it comes to queueing up to a light, stop sign, etc. Outside of my work there is a four way stop light which includes our 'main street' through the city. There is a driveway coming out of the parking lot of my workplace and directly across from it there is a driveway coming out of a gas station. Every single time I queue up to this light there will be people blocking those two driveways, which keeps people turning onto that road from the main street from getting into the gas station, in turn, blocking the people behind them, which usually keeps the impatient people that refused to wait the extra 2 minutes for the next light to let them through safely, stuck in the middle of the intersection. Now, whenever I have the chance I try to block the people behind me from blocking these driveways, I will stop my car just to the side of both of the driveways so that others may cross from driveway to driveway, but almost everytime I do that, there will be someone from one of the driveways that is to impatient to wait for the light to turn green to come take their place and they just block the space that I was trying to keep open.

The 2nd thing that gets to me, is stupid highway drivers. These are the drivers that will sit in your blind spot or back quarter panel to try and keep you from getting ahead of them, or will accelerate / decelerate to the same effect. The worst highway drivers I have seen are the ones that either a) try to take 4 lanes at once because they are about to miss their exit and endanger every driver near them and chance causing a wreck that would back up the highway / interstate for hours; or the exact opposite, where the person has picked the wrong exit and instead of just continuing on the off-ramp to the end and getting back on 30 seconds later, they shoot across the emergency lanes and back into traffic.

The next thing on my list of crap stupid drivers do that pisses me off is just something I call 'stupid parking lot tricks'. This involves anything stupid people do in parking lots, ie: double parking, leaving a car in the driving lanes with an occupant in the car so that everyone driving through must cross into the other lane and possibly tie up traffic, or cutting through a parking lot to avoid speed bumps and then darting back into traffic.


These are just a few things that have been bothering me, and I thank everyone who reads this.

I actually feel better after writing this out.

Please feel free to share your thoughts / experiences etc.

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Old signature just wasn't doing it for me anymore, so now I have this new one. It's equally as stupid but at least it looks really long. I'm probably just going to keep typing until I run out of things to babble about and see how many people actually read this. I once ran down a hill, fell down and hurt my elbow; my mom said I would be ok, she kissed it and made it all better. I've run out of things to say now, so if you have read this whole thing, congratulations you get a gold star!

ICER

I'm in complete agreement. Not only are they stupid drivers. But they are also very inconsiderate. Common curtsey that I was taught. Deems to be the thing of the past. Example. The one car then the other car rule. Traffic is tied up because the lane ahead is closed. I was taught that you let one car from the other lane over, then you go, then the car behind you lets the next come over. And so on and so on. I hardly see that anymore. It's every car for themselves.

Or the passing rule. I'm in the fast lane. The car ahead of me is going much slower (a stupid driver) so I turn on my signal to tell the next car over that I'm about to change lanes. So naturally. They speed up. Heaven forbid some should get in front of them.

But my all time pet peeve. Cell Phones. No should talk on the phone while driving. It splits your attention. Which isn’t good when you’re doing 70 mph on a busy highway? Besides (IMHO) there is some news you shouldn't receive while go high speeds.

Your right zxello. It does feel pretty good to vent.

__________________
What's the difference between congress and a penitentiary?
One is filled with tax evaders, blackmailers and threats to society.
The other is for housing prisoners.
~~David Letterman

Rlyss

I just wanted to say that I get a warm feeling when I see people give way to ambulances and fire trucks. I also get a warm feeling when I leave the 'Keep Clear' section of the road clear (like outside a gas station) so someone is able to turn in, like they're supposed to, and they give me a little wave.

It's always amusing to see someone sitting in a 'Keep Clear' section, blocking it, and then having the person that wants to use it try to get their attention. They're two feet away, stopped in traffic, and the guy who wants to turn is either trying to flip the blocking guy off, or ask him (or her) to move forward and out of the Keep Clear. But the guy blocking it is always deliberately avoiding eye contact and pretending to be oblivious to it all.

jorgelito

Here, here...I completely agree. Man, I thought I was the only one who felt that way and that everyone else was the (asshole; pardon my language).

I also dislike it when people don't use their turn signal, talk on cell phones, turn illegally, drive recklessly, have the music so loud that they can't hear horns, sirens etc., park in two spaces and on and on etc..

I also think they should lower the headlights on trucks/SUVs so that the rest of us aren't blineded and go careening into other cars, walls. It's just common sense (or we should be allowed to high beam).

I think they should test every year to make sure people remember their stuff.

Ahhhh....that feels much better.

ngdawg

Drivers that use the shoulder for a mile before the exit they need when traffic is slow-moving.
Doing UNDER the speed limit in the left lane because, at some point, a left turn may be made.
Not paying attention to that 6ft arrow painted in the road with the words, right turn only, then going straight, effectively causing everyone else to slam their brakes.
Running red lights, consistantly.
Not knowing the size of one's car. If you can't judge, don't DRIVE it! Get one you can handle.
Holding kids on laps. I want to shoot darts at those assholes.
I want these: http://www.roadragecards.com/samples.htm

Jackebear

Well at least you don't live in Japan. Jeezus. Some of the worst drivers in the world (and I have lived all over). A red light means 2 or 3 more cars can go through, no use of turn signals or only when they are starting their turn. Tail-gating like there is no tomorrow, driving while talking on the cell (even thought it's against the law) and the number one is...kids 1-5 years old or so, sitting and even standing on the front seat while parent drives. No seat belts on kids....while parent might wear one. I have even seen mothers carry their babies one their laps while driving. That frustrates the bejeezus out of me.

You know...accidents happen. And I really have no sympathy towards parents who don't buckle up their kids. I mean...the children don't have to fly through the windshield while their parents are buckled up. It is the parents responsibility and their fault if something happens. Their are so many unneccessary deaths and injuries to kids because of irresponisble parents.

Anyhow, thanks for this thread for letting me get this off my chest.

Happy New Year...and be safe.

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Life's jounney is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well-preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn-out shouting, "Holy sh*t! What a ride!" - unknown

RangerDick

Rubberneckers, or Tommy-Turtles, don't help either. I've never quit understood why some jackasses need to cause huge traffic backups so they can ogle some poor schmuck in the median trying to change a flat tire.

"Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?" -George Carlin
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Cynthetiq

It doesn't matter where you are, if it's a competitive metropolis, there's going to be morons on the road and on the street.

All I can say is that in NYC, I drive like all the rest of the morons there, if not, I'd take hours to get anywhere in the city.

But once I'm outside of NYC, I drive like a grandpa.

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warrrreagl

As a commuter, I have problems with three main "groups" every day:
1) Semi-truck drivers who believe they're driving Hondas;
2) People who pass me within a quarter-mile of their exit;
3) Cell phone talkers and newspaper readers.

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ratbastid

You know what's the worst, though? People who don't know how to operate a 4-way Stop intersection. Geezus. I watched traffic come to a total halt while this woman who had right-of-way waved other cars through the intersection. Each one of them stopped, looked around, looked at her, got her wave, waited to see if she really meant it, and then tenatively crossed the intersection. She waved through five or six cars while she had right-of-way. Meanwhile people are backing up BAD in all four directions... Made me want to get out of my car and bitch-slap her.

hulk

Geesh, all of a sudden the traffic here doesn't look so bad. Perth is alright when it comes to this, the occasional moron who doesn't want to wait the extra 30 seconds to get home, but mostly okay. It was always neat during rush hour on the freeway, though. I'd leave home at the same time as my sister in her skyline, I'd have to walk and wait for the bus then catch the train, but I'd see her sitting there while flying past. It was great.

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Xell101

What bugs me more than anything else slow drivers that don't realize that by driving substantially slower than everyone else they disrupt the flow of traffic.

laconic1

It drives me crazy when someone doesn't know where they are going, are driving in the left lane, and suddenly realize they need to make a right turn, right now. No signal, no look to see if the two or three lanes of traffic they are cutting across is clear, just make the damn turn.
Its too bad that so many people consider driving, and driving like a jackass to be some sort of God given right, instead of the tremendous responsibility that it is. I would love to see it in the near future where to get a drivers license you would have to take several extended drives on a computer simulator where virtually any scenario is simulated, and how you do on the simulator determines what type of vehicle you can drive. Do just barely good enough to pass, and you get to drive a Geo Metro, or some other econobox. Do really well and maybe you can be allowed to drive a H2 Hummer. Of course the public outrage over being stripped of their rights like this would prevent this from ever happening.

flat5

Dislikes:

1) Your walking across the street and a driver is inching his car forward.
Playing with the clutch. You have to trust the drivers control of the car.

2) Drivers that don't turn the lights on at dusk. That wait till it's very dark.
They assume that everybody has terrific vision.

3) Drivers that stop in the exact middle of a small street instead of pulling over to one side. Thus blocking passage on both sides of the vehicle.

sushiboy

This thread is like a read from road rage anonymous...I think we all need to take a deep breath and try not to let these things bother us.

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Skerious

I hate the people that dont know where they are going and go real slow looking at all the street signs and try to read a map at the same time, ugh living in Florida is not all its cracked up to be!

irseg

AAAGHH I hate that. I've had so many close calls because some idiot didn't know how to handle a 4-way stop sign. She'd wave me on, I'd wave her on since I don't have right of way, she'd just sit there for like 5 seconds, then we'd both pull forward at the exact same time. And that probably just freaks them out more so they sit there and let twice as many cars through the next time.

A related and possibly even more infuriating one is when someone randomly comes to a complete halt in the middle of the road to let someone else pull out into traffic. Those stupid gestures just confuse people and undoubtedly cause quite a few accidents.

And why is it ***ALWAYS*** a woman pulling this crap?!

Schwan

I don’t see why people seem surprised that some, if not most drivers take advantage of others. Driving a car is an integral part of people’s lives in the society. Some people have a tendency to take an advantage of others, to always be ahead, to ignore the needs of their colleagues, or to simply break the law, whenever the possible outcome is good for them, not caring about how it might affect others. These very same rules govern people’s behavior in their cars. It’s just the way people are. While not all of us are exploiting jerks, most people are, and driving a car gives and endless possibility to see examples of just that. I’m not sure how one can root out shit behavior like that, but I’m think it’d take hundreds of years of work towards changing the human nature in the first place.

DDDDave

Everyone should have the opportunity to drive in Rome someday. Not neccessarily stupid drivers just ....well, it's hard to describe. Everybody just kind of goes where they want to whenever they want to. Rick Steves in his travel books describes it as like rocks in an avalanche. In the city there are basically no lane stripes so people just fill in where there is a space. Lots of motorcycles and they always pull all the way up to the lights when all the cars are stopped at intersections. You would get run over on purpose if you tried that in the states. One thing that is different there though is their attitude. In the States everyone takes driving personally. If you get cut off, you are sincerely pissed off at the other driver. In Italy, they don't care. I cut you off, you cut me off. No worries. It works for them but there would be fistfights if we tried to drive that way here.

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bigoldalphamale

here in the DC metro area, we have a real problem with illegal immigrants behind the wheel. illegal or legal, i suppose it doesnt really matter, because most of the test administrators in northern virginia and southern maryland accept payoffs and bribes to pass drivers. anyway, if you come to this area please be advised that looking before changing lanes isnt required. redlights and stop signs do NOT mean stop, while green lights sometimes mean making abrupt u-turns into oncoming traffic and then subsequently stopping the car accross two lanes of traffic and then getting out and running away. driving 30 mph in 65 mph zones in the passing lane is perfectly acceptable. it is ok to fill your 1978 datsun 210 with 16 of your best friends and family and take leisurely cruises on the toll road and when you figure out that you have no change to pay the toll and that the police might get involved, its ok for all 16 passengers to flee from the car into traffic. also be advised that when you have patiently waited a few minutes for another car to leave a parking spot that it will often happen that some illegal will gank the spot and claim the all too common "no ingles!!!" and walk away. something else that must be common in mexico, el salvador, et. al. is the outright disposal of mcdonalds, burger king, and 7-11 trash from car windows in fast moving traffic. so if your windshield is suddenly pelted with a half-full super-duper big gulp full of mountain dew...please remember, this is acceptable in northern virginia. and probably the entire country over, because that is the american way: embrace all immigrants, illegal and otherwise and give them all license to drive, even the ones who have likely never even seen a car before, nevermind an 8 lane expressway.

having said that....i reserve the right to drive however the fuck i see fit .

McG

I think most people have too high of expectations for their fellow drivers. If you don't expect too much out of them you will rarely be disappointed and angry.

ICER

I agree, the best defense is to expect the other person to do something stupid.

__________________
What's the difference between congress and a penitentiary?
One is filled with tax evaders, blackmailers and threats to society.
The other is for housing prisoners.
~~David Letterman

Stiltzkin

OR, if you ace these tests with perfect scores, God will lend you his ride:


Personal gripe:
The light has been green for a full three seconds, and no one has even budged. GRR!!!!

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santafe5000

You are passing a slower car, there's this jerk riding your rear bumper. You are trying to be courteous to the driver you are passing, so you don't cut back in front of him til you have passed him by at least a car length. As you put on your turn signal to move back into the right lane, the jerk riding your rear bumper swerves into the right lane and passes you down the right side. Hope you looked to the right so as to see this idot. People just don't have any patience any more. Their attitude is, "I OWN THIS ROAD, GET OUT OF MY WAY".
Rant over, now for something completely different.

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When all else fails, QUIT.

MSD

This afternoon, I was waiting to make a right turn onto a crowded, but not fast-moving road. A guy who was making a left turn onto the road I was on slowed down and waved me on so that I had adequate time to pull out ahead of the jackasses who couldn't wait half a second or give up their "rightful" place closer to the front of the traffic jam. Imagine if our society all acted a little bit more like that guy. The national blood pressure average would go down ten points.

Shpoop

it is nearly impossible to get me mad...nearly impossible. heres a story of how i got furious.

Theres an intersection between a fairly large street and a fairly small one and there is a stoplight, im on the small street. Because of crazy no turn signs and directions, the small street did not get a single light, but each side got its own seperate green signal. The other side went first, and they blocked up the intersection. So it went red, mine went green, and i couldnt go. But i didnt care, im a patient guy. Then my light goes red and the main thoroughfare becomes green.

Then the traffic moves up, not much, enough for a car. I'm about to turn, but the first guy in line on the big street gives me a signal "Stop, don't come in, im not letting you in." WHAT THE FUCK?!? First of all, the audacity! You either give the signal "Go in" or you just dont give any signal at all and edge up. It was like he was trying to call me out for being an asshole. What, so he gets to go on his green light, but I dont get to go on mine? What a fucking prick.

zxello, I'll grant you that there are many, many people who do not know the rules of the road, but I think most of the country's driving problems stem from the same thing. Everyone seems to think that their time is more important than anyone else's, no matter what. Even if it is 5 seconds of yours vs. 5 minutes of someone else's.

cyrnel

Yes, traffic can be a huge stressor. I've found making that extra effort substantially helps my own patience. A sort of "random act of kindness." In congested traffic you can often see politeness passed on by the recipient. Just don't push it too far or the effect on those behind you will make up for any gains.

Not everyone can be a good driver, and certainly not all of the time. We'll never legislate traffic reform for our current system. We're underfunded and too dependent on the current system for transportation and revenue. Instead we'll bounce between destinations while enforcement and cost pick off the statistical sore thumbs. (Consider who that's likely to be.) It'll remain this way until automation or mass transit removes ego and other individual shortcomings from the roadways. In the meantime I'll keep practicing my deep breathing exercises.

braisler

I thought that drivers in Florida were bad, until we moved to Kentucky. There are definitely some problems here that I haven't seen before. The biggest peeve is the lack of yielding to emergency vehicles. I was taught that you always move to the side of the road or otherwise clear the path when you see an emergency vehicle behind you, even from a distance. Here in Kentucky, that does not seem to be common practice. Rather, people continue to drive forward through intersections, or occupy their lane until the emergency vehicle is on top of them with flashing lights, siren blaring, and ACTUALLY honking the horn. This isn't just common courtesy, this is life and death. I hope that people consider how quickly they would like the emergency services people to get to them or their loved ones when they need it.

I am also in full agreement with an earlier poster about the need for more rigorous testing for driver's licenses. Many drivers currently treat it as a right instead of a responsibility. I also advocate suspension or revocation of driving priviledges for many offenses, but that is fodder for another thread.

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You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother.
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flstf

One of my driving rants:

Entering the freeway
When getting on a backed up freeway it would seem to make sense for the lead car to go to the end of the on ramp merge lane and then merge every other car. Instead there are fifty cars all with their left signals on merging into the backed up traffic as soon as they get the chance to force themselves in.

liquidlight

I had to find this thread this morning after my commute to work, looks like I'll be reviving a rant!

Simple lack of courtesy is really what bothers me most, in it's various forms:

1) GET OFF YOUR GODDAMN CELLPHONE AND DRIVE YOUR FUCKING CAR!!!!!!!!!
If you're incapable of the simple act of dividing your attention between your car and your phone while you're behind the wheel then for the love of God turn the damn thing off before you kill somebody!

2) Physics is not that complicated. . . that hole in traffic that was large enough for the next 4 cars to merge into was more than enough for you, you stupid bitch.

3) I'll make this the last one for now . . . I think captial punishment would be a fitting end to these assholes that use the shoulder of the onramp to move themselves another 30 feet up the freeway! Rather than merging at an appropriate time because traffic is congested, they stay in lane until it no longer exists, forcing their way into traffic at the last possible moment, thus compounding the congestion as everyone behind them slams on their brakes having been forced to compensate for their stupidity. Do none of these people honestly realize that if they'd just freaking merge when they have a chance, usually less than 30 seconds earlier, they wouldn't cause these damned ripple effects that cause traffic to literally stop?!?

Personally I've got three overriding rules that I use that hopefully makes me less of an impediment on the road. Accelerate to merge, slower traffic merge right, if you're being passed on the right, you're in the WRONG lane! Too bad such simple logic is so far beyond most of the idiots that are licensed to drive vehicles.

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thalakos315

lol this reminds me of my drivers ed class when i was 16. the "instructor" threw a complete fit if you merged onto the freeway without using that entire shoulder lane.. doesn't matter what traffic looked like..

one that gets me.. is when your on a 2 lane road.. and somebody feels the need to turn into your lane at the last freaking minute, when there isn't anybody behind you within sight.

another one.. is when that damned semi won't move into the left lane and allow you to merge in with the rest of the freeway traffic.. i can understand if their being passed.. but if they aren't theres simply no excuse for it.

the absolute worst however.. is that old lady who "merges" into freeway traffic at 45 miles per freaking hour, and then as you move to pass, they look at you like your a crazed lunatic..

john_713

Worst thing for me while I'm still learning (legal age is 17 in the UK and I had to save up for over a year for a car) ill be crusing along in a 40mph zone at 40 and cars will keep overtaking me. Obviously because I'm driving at the limit they have to break the law to overtake and once they are past they slow back down again. I've been driving for a while now but I can imagine alot of learners on their first lesson panicking in a situation like that and swerving. I don't know what some people are trying to accomplish, it's not like they can go anywhere once they're past me.