bad drivers!

[Skywalker]

Now that we've left Toronto for a smaller town, driving is not nearly as aggravating anymore, but there are still some annoying drivers.

One of my biggest peeves is people who are turning left in a single lane and they don't move as far possible to the left while they're waiting. If they'd only go over farther (still in the lane, not over the line or anything), other cars going straight could get around and go. But no, there are so many dolts that just hog the whole lane or go far over to the right with their left blinker on and sit there.

Inconsiderate.

(I know some streets are just not wide enough to do that but here the streets are wide enough that if you move over other people can get on with their lives.)

 

[RunDanceSkate]

Respectfully, while they're bad drivers, tailgating is just plain unsafe. Look for a break in the traffic to your right, signal, change lanes, and again when it's safe - which shouldn't be long at all - signal and pull back into the left lane. MAYBE if enough people do that, the bad driver will get the hint and move over?

Passing on the right is illegal in many places.

 

[Tina]

That's nothing. Back in '71 I was in San Fransico and was passed on the left in an intersection. The big deal was I was in the left turn lane waiting to make a left hand turn.

This also happened to me a few years ago and I turned right into the side of her car! Luckily, we were both ok, but my car was so smashed up I couldn't even steer it out of the intersection. She thought for certain I was the one at fault and decided to fight my insurance company. Once the idiot told everyone that I was taking too long to turn, so she passed me (on the LEFT!), it was all over.

 

[kaytieeldr]

FYI, in FL. it was just announced that Police will now start enforcing the 2 car length distance law with regards to tailgating.

That's great! Will one of them patrol up here (MA) in the winter? I was driving home one night during a snowstorm, two lane "highway" (route number, but really just a regular road at that point) that hadn't been plowed for a couple of hours. I was the only car heading in my direction for several miles, traveling between 30 and 35 mph. Windy, hilly road, and 35 is the speed limit.

About a mile before the road branches off, a car came up behind me. RIGHT behind me. One of those 'so close you can't see the headlights' situations? I can't pull over, there's no shoulder, only snow piles. I won't go faster, there's snow on the road. The driver won't back off, not even when I use my hazard lights. Now, I'm usually a very safe driver (some people here - you know who you are - will say TOO safe). I wouldn't speed up.

 

[kaytieeldr]

One of my biggest peeves is people who are turning left in a single lane and they don't move as far possible to the left while they're waiting.

Oh! Oh! Wait! Even better! We have a four-lane highway here, with a fifth TURNING lane in the middle.

Now, granted, drivers in that lane need to be careful and courteous of each other, not entering the lane too soon when turning, and exiting it as quickly as possible when entering the road from a business or road on the opposite side. That's just common sense.

No, my issue lately is with the drivers who are turning across the opposite lane WHO DON'T USE THE TURNING LANE! That's right. Instead of using the road as it's designed for safety and efficiency, they STOP IN THE PASSING LANE to make a left turn.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Passing on the right is illegal in many places.

I'm relatively certain golfgal is referring to limited access highways. I've seen state police cruisers traveling at cruising - vs. emergency response - speed, in the traveling lanes, travel at higher speeds than vehicles IN the passing lane.

100% ignoring that drivers exceed the speed limit - if a driver is traveling ten/any miles BELOW the speed limit in ANY lane on a multi-lane, limited-access highway, other drivers CAN legally pass that vehicle safely in any other lane at any speed between the one that vehicle is traveling and the speed limit.

 

[4greatboys]

One of my biggest pet peeves is that people no longer stop at stop signs. they just slow down and roll through. I see it a lot around here. And if they do happen to stop they don't take turn they way you are supposed to (ie whoever stops first is then the first to go) they just stop then go even if someone else has the right of way.


Another big one is people who don't stop for an emergency vehicle or they let it pass then drive along right beside it or very close to it. Stop people and let it pass. It could be your or one of your loved ones in there one day and need that road clear so you can get the care you need.

 

[YoYoAurora]

Well, we moved to SC from NJ a few years ago. We went to buy a new car down here and was astonished that the cars actually do come with turn signals. You would never know it because no one around here uses them. I use mine all the time, even to turn into my driveway when no one is around.

Plutolovr, where in SC do you live?

Sadly, some people who move to the Palmetto State believe that they are not required to use their turn signals. My husband and I took informal polls about this at our jobs a few years ago. Most of the natives stated they did use turn signals on a regular basis. And some of the non-natives stated they didn't "because no one else down here does."

I was born in SC, and I use my turn signals. I also stop at stop signs, which I'm finding is a lost art not only in SC, but in other states as well.

A few years ago, I was driving with a couple of the YoYos in FL. I signaled to change lanes, and one of my friends who learned to drive in the northeast yelled at me that you do not signal to change lanes. She said you signal AFTER you have changed lanes. I'm still puzzled by that one. But then I discovered earlier this year, to my horror, that she texts while driving, so I no longer go if she's driving!

Bad drivers are born everywhere and live everywhere. I'm just trying to avoid them!

 

[LilyWDW]

Well, since you asked for other stories, yes I have one.

DH and I took a vacation to Tennessee last month and we were in Pigeon Forge, traffic was kind of slow because it was a busy Saturday when we got there. We were driving in the right hand lane and all of a sudden someone in the left lane decides they want to make a right turn. IN FRONT OF US. They came across our lane and DH had to slam on the brakes. They made their turn and didn't even look back. My heart was in my throat. I couldn't believe someone would do that!!

Welcome to Pigeon Forge... home of "Oh look, I wanna go there!" and making a right hand turn from the left lane. I refuse to be in that town on a Saturday if I can help it. If I am there for the weekend I take the trolley everywhere I can and just keep the car at the hotel/cabin.

People drive like idiots everywhere. I wish we could afford to put more officers on the street to catch these morons.

Go the speed limit, not 15 under...

Get off my butt and stop tailgating me...

Don't pull out in front of me causing me to slam on the breaks...

Move over for stopped emergency vehicles (if it is safe for you to do so)...

Don't run the red light...

Don't video tape out your window while driving through town (yes I have seen that... I live in a historical area and some lady kept stopping to shoot video while traffic backed up behind her. Go park your dang car in the lot and get out of the way of traffic!)...

 

[Deb in IA]

I got one that tops them all.

I drive home on a stretch of road that narrows from 4 lanes to 2 lanes, so that means that the right lane ends. Invariably, some ding dong will come roaring up and pass and cut in on the right just before, or even after, the lane ends.

OK, so I'm in the correct lane, just traveling along, when some mega-souped up pickup with a couple of yahoos wearing their baseball caps backwards goes FLYING by me on the right. Fine, no problem, go ahead if that makes your ego feel good. Well, lo and behold, a little while later, idiots in pickup are now stuck behind a string of slow moving cars, and I am right behind them. Ha, ha, ha, you jerks are no farther along than me! A few miles down, I get ready to turn right onto my road. But the morons in the pickup turn off too! So, once they get to open road again, well, they are going show me! They FLOOR it, and take off like a bat out of H-E-double hockey sticks. Which is fine with me. The farther these freaks are from me, the better. Unfortunately, they have an unsecured ladder in the bad of the truck. Well, when they hit the gas, I watched the ladder sway, bounce, then suddenly, the ladder comes flying out of the truck, and is coming right toward my windshield!!!!
By the grace of God, the ladder hits the pavement just in front of me. It is going so fast, sparks fly up when it lands!! I was lucky that there were no cars coming from the other side, and I was able to manuveur around the now lost ladder. I briefly thought about going back, and picking up their ladder and taking with me, but they started to turn around, and I think they realized how stupid they were. DH came down that same road about 15 minutes later and did not see the ladder, so the jerks must have gone back and picked it up.

 

[Snoopymom]

I seem to be bad luck for crazy drivers.

It was stop and go on a 6 lane hwy during rush hour, guy is tailgating me, I move over to get away from him and as he guns up next to me, he slams into the car in front of him....well, buddy how much time did that save ya?

A guy did a u turn and I had to come to a complete stop so that he wouldn't slam into the side of me and he got pulled over by the cop behind me.

There is a speed trap on my way home, cop in a police pick-up truck parked at a landscape company on a curve that drops from 45 mph to 25 mph. About twice a month someone passes me and probably gets double wammied with speeding and passing on a double yellow.

I love the saying, anyone going slower than me is an idiot and anyone going faster than me is a maniac.