Yeah, but they’re not dog lovers - they only profess to be. Any TRUE dog lover (like me), who really cares for his/her pet, will have them properly in a harness, and restrained. They’re like little bullets in an accident, too, just like us.
Even the ones in the back of pick-ups.
A couple of comments, if I may.
Over the years, I’ve consciously ‘practiced’ avoiding getting peeved at other drivers. It doesn’t always work, but it has ‘some’. I ask myself: “Self: do you ‘want’ to be angry?” And usually “self” responds with a “No!” [It also helps to ‘stay aside’ of much of the mainstream, angry, impatient, mindless culture – I do NOT watch television.]
One of my co-workers has helped me over the years, as a ‘model’, when he (when driving) will say something to the effect that “that driver drives almost as bad as I do”. This helps me to be more ‘empathetic’ and and have a more light-hearted and easy ‘tolerance’. [I actually submitted an ‘idea’ for a bumper-sticker to a company, and received some miniscule ‘royalties’ for a sticker that read: “Caution: I drive like you do!”]
I am very privileged to have municipal bus-service provided for a 25-mile interstate commute – I can avoid much of the driving that others are forced to go through. (It costs me $25 a month, and I can use the ‘pass’ around town, as well.)
I rather like to ‘stay around home’ (another ‘blessing’), and so I end up driving relatively little (and having less opportunity to ‘test’ my ‘serenity’).
The traffic around where I live (on I-5, near the Canadian border) is NOT very congested, and the drivers are, on average, better (more civil) that what I’ve experienced elsewhere. (My oldest brother, who lives in Duluth, Minnesota, will testify to this.)
However, I acknowledge most of the things that can rankle me on the road have already been mentioned. The one driver-behavior that is missing from the list (as far as I could tell) is that which I call a “flutter-foot”. This behavior consists of fairly widely varying the speed of the vehicle, so that I cannot use cruise-control anywhere near them. It seems to consist of some sort of relative ‘mindlessness’. It is rather common, among the ‘driving sins’ hereabouts.
Other than that, things are ‘just fine’.
May we all ‘drive with lightness’ eh? [That last syllable is a hat-tip to my Canadian cousins.]
Kerinsky
Not leaving an intersection clear for crossing traffic. If the blocked traffic is on a side street and the traffic doing the blocking is on a main street, it’s sometimes understandable. When I lose my green light to a couple of people too dumb to make sure they could make it on their green, however, it’s not. (They are always smart enough not to turn their heads to look at the people they’re holding up.)
No, Dadoctah is right about this. My boss in college worked doing public policy and especially traffic research. And I’ve seen it in action a few times, areas where the signs say “use both lanes, then take turns at merge point” or something like that. Instead of traffic dropping to about 5MPH, it drops to like 25 or 30MPH. It actually works great, and honestly all lane closures should probably have this signage. But, without the signage, what happens is most people try to move over when they can, and a few jerks barrel up the empty lane at full speed (jumping dozens to hundreds of places “in line”) and then expect to be let in. That’s just rude, and I feel no obligation to help them out.
VDCDriver, indeed. If someone is being passed on the right very often, they are too far left. So, two exceptions to keep right… in California, the signage has people staying out of the far right lane, I guess it’s exclusively for people that will soon merge on or off. Of course, these highways have 3-8 lanes each way so slower traffic still stays “most of the way” right. And, when I was in rural Kansas a few years back it was odd… these rural highways (the ones that had two lanes each way instead of one… but still only about 1 car every 5 miles…), the locals ALWAYS seemed to drive in the left lane. But they weren’t true “left lane hogs”! When I was about 20 seconds back, without fail they would move into the right lane, then once I was past they’d move into the left lane again. (No I wasn’t speeding by too much, the locals tended to be going about 45MPH for some reason.)
Transman, I’ve never seen a woman breast feed and drive at the same time. Next time you see this, take a modest picture. If necessary, redact the picture to make it family friendly, and post it here!
It’s also against the a LAW…For a good reason.
I hope Transman will be riding in the passenger seat when he’s on the lookout for those breastfeeding mothers with his camera!
It was actually in our news a while back (Like 2 years or so ago). The woman actually argued with the cop saying that she was not going to let her child be hungry. So she fed the child while driving her car. What a bonehead.
Heres something that happened to me just today. Was on expressway in right lane, tractor trailer in right hand emergency lane stopped. Tractor trailer decided he was now going to start out and enter into the right lane and thats exactly what he did. He did not build up any speed on the shoulder before merging into the right lane he just turned his wheel and went directly into a lane of traffic which was going 60 mph+. And these guys are supposed to be “Professional drivers”.
transman
hwertz: I have to admit I didn’t know that the Blue Angels had so many understudies and that the whole gang travels the highway where your boss in college did his research. It is something to imagine, though: Cars doing 30 mph, staggered nicely, so that at that crucial “zipper” moment before the obstruction, the drivers can salute each other and merge perfectly into a single file. With everyday drivers, there’d be plenty of them peeling off from the formation into the cornfield. That would be great, because not only would they be symbolic of a lost comrade, they’d fill the bill at the same time.
In the world I live in, there are no signs which would make your ideal come true. The ones I see read something like “Free-for-all for a**heads starts NOW.”
I have been guilty of staying in the left lane. My rule of thumb is if I’m being passed on the right, I need to move over a lane. If still being passed, move right again, etc
Re texting & driving, it’s now illegal in WI and totally unenforced but if u cause an accident, phone records can be subpoenaed (sp?). Had a co-worker hit head on by a teen texting who crossed the center line. She lost 9 mos of work, lots of hosp time & therapy and will never walk again w/o a cane. She’s 35 yrs old.
Is it wrong to take pleasure in the misfortune of others? lol … anyway, people needlessly honking their horn is one of my pet peeves. But sometimes it works out! Like this:
Unnecessary honking is my pet peeve!
The other day I was driving in the left hand lane of a heavy-traffic surface street with 3 ways in both directions, positioning myself to make a left at the next stop-light controlled intersection. Two cars in head of me, I notice a car from the middle lane cutting into the left hand lane – to make an illegal u-turn, and cutting off the SUV in front of me. That SUV is going to have to stop, so I apply my brakes to slow down.
A small sports car tailgating me starts honking at me for slowing down! He quickly swings out to the right into the middle lane, and goes around me, honking, swearing, and flipping me off. After passing on the right, he turns around to looks at me, to flip me off one last time. He doesn’t realize the light at the intersection is RED! And he goes through it! Unfortunately for him there’s a cop in the right hand lane! Lights go a flashing of course as the cop pulls the sports car over to give the driver a ticket for running a red light! Yipee!!
Now what I’m wondering is it wrong that I had this feeling of happiness?
George
There is nothing wrong with your feeling of happiness, IMHO.
All too often, I observe infractions that go un-ticketed (is that a word?) because no police officer witnessed it. In the case that you mentioned, karma intervened and caused that a-hole to get what he deserved. It is very fortunate that he didn’t kill anyone when he went through that red light.
or get a big SUV to t-bone him
Rejoicing when karma does its job is a guilty pleasure. It happened to me the other day. I was on the interstate merging into a single lane because of construction. A guy driving a U-Haul truck wouldn’t let me in, so I sped up to get in front of the car in front of him. After we exited the construction zone, the guy got on my tail in the slow lane with his high beams flashing and horn honking, so I sped up past the speed at which his truck was limited to get away. Later, after stopping for fuel, I passed the same truck broken down on the side of the road. I honked my horn and waved.
Watching people throw out their cigarette butts (and other trash) from their hybrid SUVs. This annoys me as a driver and as a closet environmentalist.
Dimwits who don’t use their turn signals. I especially get irritated in parking lots when people don’t use them and act like I can read their mind as to where they want to go.
This isn’t so much about driving as parking. I hate it when:
People can’t get their car centered in the space. They have the car so far to one side or another that you can’t use the space next to them; or they have pulled in so close to your door so they have 3 feet of space on their driver’s side, that you need a can opener to get into your car. Or you can’t pull in ahead or behind them because everything from the axle to the bumper is in the opposing space.
But mostly I hate the idiots that think their cars are so awesome that they have to park in two spaces so no one can park next to them. If they’re so worried about someone dinging their car they should park out in no-mans-land, but these people always seem to find the spots right up front. I like it when I’m on my Harley because I can park right next to them legally in one spot and make it so they can’t get out. Learned that trick from a cop. 
I hate seeing people drive with a dog on their laps. Just like talking on a cell phone, driving with an unrestrained dog is a form of distracted driving. In a crash, an unrestrained pet can turn into a deadly projectile or get crushed by a driver or passenger who is thrown forward by the collision.
A survey from AAA (American Automobile Association) found that one in five respondents admitted that they drove with a dog on their laps.
You can read more about it here: http://petnewsandviews.net/2011/04/distracted-doggie-driving/
My pet peeve is the driver that feels he has to turn onto my road, there is no car following behind me, cutting me off, and then goes 35mph in a 55mph zone.
The thing that IRKS me most is when you are approaching a busy four-way intersection to turn left. During a green light the driver in front of you, turning left as well, DOESNT proceed into the intersection!!! The red light comes and we remain in the same position until the next green light!!! So on, so forth. PLEASE! You have the right of WAY!!!