It’s a known fact that everyone reading this is an above-average driver — and that each of us always displays deep and abiding civility toward our fellow travelers. So we’re sure you won’t recognize yourself in any of the items in Tom and Ray’s recent “Top 10 Most Annoying Things Other Drivers Do.”
But, what’s on your list? Share your most-grating list of things other drivers do that really cheese you off. We’ll check back for a future edition of this list!
How about these dangerous and annoying behaviors:
Tailgating!
How could Tom & Ray have left this one off their list?
If someone is…let’s say…the last car in a line of slow-moving traffic, why do some drivers see fit to tailgate the last car in line? The driver being tailgated cannot go any faster than the cars in front of him, and no matter how much the tailgating jerk in back of him might want to go faster, the person in front of the tailgater is also unable to go any faster than the cars in front of him. This situation is not unusual on roads that have only one lane in each direction, complete with “no-passing” zones.
All that this dangerous and inconsiderate tailgater accomplishes is to make an accident more likely if the driver in front of him/her needs to suddenly slow down. Incidentally, over the last few years, I have observed that the majority of tailgaters are women in their 20s and 30s, who are likely to also be yakking on a cellphone while tailgating, thus making them less likely to be able to react quickly in the event of a sudden slowdown of traffic!
The “creep”!
Someone is attempting to enter a fast-moving roadway from a side street, or a parking lot, and instead of keeping his/her car completely stopped until a safe opening presents itself, he/she slowly creeps out–inch by inch–until it is necessary for cars traveling at perhaps 40 or 50 mph to swerve out of the right-hand lane in order to clear the offending “creep”. It is not reasonable to expect cars moving at 40 mph or more to stop for someone entering the roadway from a side street or a parking lot, and to have to swerve can cause cars from the right-hand lane to collide with cars in the left lane.
Line cutters. There’s a left turn lane and a long line of cars waiting their turn to turn left but mister self-important stays in the right lane and cuts in front of everybody at the last minute.
I hate busybodies who are too focused on other drivers and not focused enough on their own driving.
I guess if I had to pick a pet peeve, it would be non-functioning brake lights. Most vehicles have three of them, but many times only one of the ones on the side come on when a driver presses the brake pedal. You see it more in states where cars don’t have to undergo an annual inspection.
">Tailgating!
How could Tom & Ray have left this one off their list? "
Because tailgating is so common in MA it’s not considered a problem. It’s the ONLY place in the country where they can have a 60 car pileup on the highway on a bright sunny day with the sun behind you…
My biggest pet-peeve are the left lane hogger’s…They will stay in the left lane even doing below the speed limit…And then 100 yards before their exit they’ll move right (many times without even looking)…The worse of these…is the guy/girl who’s in the left lane doing about 1mph faster then the lane to the right…once they pass the cars on the right…they speed up to 90 so no one can pass them…
I use to hate people who didn’t signal…but I gave up on that long ago…Especially here in New England…less then 1% of drivers signal correctly all the time…and less then 50% will even use a signal at a traffic light…very frustrating…especially if you’re waiting to turn left at a traffic light thinking the guy heading in the opposite direction is going straight (because he doesn’t have a signal on)…light turns green…the idiot turns left…leaving you waiting…
How about cops?
They’ve recently made it illegal (here) to text while driving. Granted, there’s no rocket science involved in figuring out that watching a tiny screen while typing a message at 70MPH isn’t the brightest thing you can do for that day. Yet, I still see it all the time. Worst case I saw was a young girl in the left lane, slowing to ~50 while texting a message, then speeding up to ~80 when she was done. This cycle kept going over and over. They blame texting (and other lack of attention activities) on a lot of accidents, and yet the cops do nothing to enforce that law. If you’re in a school zone, watch out…otherwise, no problem.
When driving in the left lane and trying to leave a little space between cars, the guy behind you passes on the right and cuts in front of you, because moving up in line one position is going to get him where he’s going so much faster. Definite high risk low reward behavior. Admittedly I have been known to close up the space before he can cut in.
I become annoyed with drivers with sound systems that produce bass at 150 db and pull up along side of me. It vibrates my whole car.
"I become annoyed with drivers with sound systems that produce bass at 150 db and pull up along side of me. It vibrates my whole car. "
A couple of years ago this dweeb passed me with his sound system so loud I could hear the bass 1/4 mile away. As he passed me I saw that he had two kids (in booster seats) in the back…This rocket scientist should have been arrested for endangering the welfare of a child.
Folks that decide they have to do a U turn by blocking traffic in a spot without a turn lane, when there’s a turn lane 100 FEET FURTHER DOWN THE ROAD! Grrrrrrr…
I believe that some cars are not equipped with rear-view mirrors, and drivers are forced to tailgate in order to use the rear-view mirror of the car in front of them.
I sat here pondering the description of appropriate punishment I had added to my post before deleting it and getting on with my life.
They blame texting (and other lack of attention activities) on a lot of accidents, and yet the cops do nothing to enforce that law.
Check to see if it’s a primary or a secondary offense. If it’s secondary, then the cops cannot pull you over just for texting. They have to observe some other violation that is considered a primary offense first, and then they can write you a ticket for the secondaries.
Tailgaters are my biggest pet peeve. I especially like it when I’m on a freeway that has 3 lanes of travel in my direction, no one in the left 2 lanes, and some dimwit is tailgating me. Uh. . Pass. It’s ok. I’d prefer it, in fact.
My second pet peeve is when people see that I’m driving a sporty car, and automatically assume that this means I want to race them, so they sit there at the stoplight jerking their head at me and revving the engine. It’s usually some kid in a 15 year old Civic with no muffler, mismatched wheels, a bunch of fake stickers and a wing from a 747 too. You know, real race-car stuff.
…and of course, assuming that the kid’s huge “spoiler” actually does exert some downforce on the rear of the car, this is exactly what you wouldn’t want with a FWD car. Huge spoilers on little FWD cars absolutely crack me up!
Yup!
Great example of the ridiculous stuff that we see on the roads nowadays.
And, of course, this little rice burner also has the obligatory “fart can” on the exhaust!
As to the characters on the side of the car–doesn’t that mean Beef with Broccoli?
;-))
To whomever reported this thread, you might be interested to know that the term “rice” was coined by Brian Hong and refers to the fake-gofast-parts style of car (either domestic or import), not Asians (of which he is one). That said, the picture was posted for the picture, not the subtitle.
Since it was my post that was apparently reported, all I can surmise is that someone took offense to the term “fart can”…or they don’t know the history of the term “Rice Burner”…or that they don’t like Beef with Broccoli…or that they don’t have a sense of humor.
Go figure!
Incidentally, many years ago, when tattoos of Asian characters began appearing on the arms and necks of many of my male counselees, I began to ask them, “What does that say?”.
In almost every case, the answer was, “I don’t know. I just picked out the characters that I liked the look of, and the guy put them on my arm”.
When I thought that I was dealing with someone who could take a joke, my response was something along the lines of…“Maybe it says Beef with Broccoli”…or “Maybe it says I am a spoiled Caucasian”…or some other nonsense.
In case you didn’t realize it, most of the kids who get these things imprinted on their cars or their bodies can’t read Chinese or Japanese, and as a result, have no real idea of what these displays actually mean!
A user was concerned that there were some unfair racial assumptions made in VDC’s post. Since farts know neither racial nor ethnic boundaries, I’m certain it was the beef & broccoli part that caught the user’s eye. I see you didn’t mean any offense, and there’s some context to the rice burner term…but just be mindful, OK? Thanks.
Got it!
Hay, that’s my car!
(not really) 