Vent it here ... bad driiving on the road.

[Just thinking]

What could be more socially involving than driving? Tell us the most hated habbits you encounter from other drivers --- and don't be shy. Make a list if you've got 'em ... I'm sure we can all empathize along with you.

(Why? Just to take a break from the political and wacky nut job postings all over this catergory ... enjoy!)

PS: Plus I've not seen this here before.

[aerocontrols]

1) Driving too fast in subdivisions and business parking lots. You're only going a couple hundred yards. Slow down.

2) Drivers who enter an intersection when traffic ahead of them is stopped, and they don't have room to pass through the intersection. Yeah, now you're blocking cross traffic.

3) If you're driving a 12' tall monstrosity, YOU CAN ALREADY SEE BOTH DIRECTIONS at the exit of the parking lot. If I 'inch out' to see past you, you needn't respond in kind, unless you're purposefully trying to block my view.

4) Kindly put the cell phone down, or find a place to pull off the road.

Generic: cutting people off, tailgating,

Lastly... If you're going to drive like social moron, take the advocacy bumper stickers off your car. You are not a good ambassador for your cause.

[fishbob]

Tailgaters on the highway.
When one gets on my bumper, I slow down about 5 mph. If he gets closer, I slow down another 5. I got down to 20 once before the idiot decided that 3 feet behind me was not the place to be.

[TragicMonkey]

People who drive a $75,000 vehicle advertised driving up cliffs, and yet they slow to 1 mph to go over the speed bump in the grocery store parking lot.

[David Swidler]

I can't stand the fact that whenever I'm in a rush, thousands of other drivers decide it's time to get in my way.

[Mycroft]

Have you ever heard, "Life in the fast lane"? It's the LEFT lane, folks. Slowpokes keep to the right.

Also, I hate when people pull up next to me an match my speed. Speed up or slow down, don't drive next to me.

[clarsct]

Driving next to me isn't the problem.

It's people who ride in the rear corner of my car, AKA the BLIND SPOT.

People who are passing people at a rate of 1mph faster than the original car because they are too damned lazy to take the cruise control off.

Don't get me started on those self-important people who are SO important they can't hold a Gawddamned phine call for the five STINKIN minutes it would take to pull over and conduct their ALL-Important business so they aren't a danger to themselves, and more importantly, to ME and the people I care about. If you're in a car accident with me and it was due to your f'kin EGO being SO huge that you couldn't just take a f'kin message, you better be callin 911. Because if you don't need an ambulance from the accident, you will by the time the cops arrive.


Sorry.

Umm..drunk driving...

I can't possibly clean that one up enough for this forum.


People who cut me off and slam on their brakes. I need a vehicle with PUSHBUMPERS!!!

[schplurg]

Drivers who merge onto the freeway at 40 mph. Bad merging seems to be a major cause for freeway slowdowns.

Tailgaters.

Drivers who switch lanes in front of me when I'm slowing down at a red light, effectively taking away 20 feet of my stopping distance, causing me to drop my cell phone into my Big-Mac so I can stop driving with my knee and apply the brake harder, which in turn causes my bong to spill all over my car.

I agree with the "slowing down your SUV to crawl over a speedbump" too.

Drivers who want to pass me, drivers who won't let me pass them. I am always driving the perfect speed, why can't others see this and follow suit?

My list is long. I pretty much hate everyone when I'm driving. You all suck! ;)

[Dog Boots]

Tailgaters are definately my pet peeve on the road. The worst thing about them, is having to take a long ride in a car with one behind the wheel, and sometimes I feel like I'm the only non-tailgater in the world. A 2-hour ride with no distance to the car in front is a LONG ride... :covereyes . I know, I should say something, but I don't always do.

When having a tailgater behind me, I usually either slow down (but this rarely gives them a clue) or preferably pull on to the shoulder of the road (not on a highway) and then pull out again directly behind them, to signal: "It's YOU I didn't want to drive in front of".

I think the craziest traffical incident I've ever heard of, where someone thinks he owns the road, was when a co-worker of mine came to work in total schock. She had been waiting in a left-turn lane in the middle of an intersection, waiting for the cars from the opposite direction going straight ahead to pass (that's the way it's done in Denmark - I know that at least some places in the US it's not completely like that. The traffic is executed in a somewhat difference sequence). As the last car had just passed her, she started accelerating to complete the left turn she was already half-way through (as normal). This is when some loon comes from behind her in the center lane (the one to her right, for cars going straight across the intersection) and makes a high speed U-turn AROUND her (while she's standing on the brakes), and disappears the same way he came.

[clarsct]

I would be forced to hunt the guy down and get his plate number.

That's called 'reckless driving' in the US and is punishable. I'm sure it's happened here, but I can't imagine it'd be often.


People in my way pi$$ me off. I just want to get to where I gotta be. Somedays I fear the world exists to annoy me.

[David Swidler]

Double post. Sorry.

[David Swidler]

People in my way pi$$ me off. I just want to get to where I gotta be. Somedays I fear the world exists to annoy me.

It didn't orginally, but we at the International Jewish ConspiracyTM main office (Lower East Side of Manhattan, in case you're wondering) have decided to change the world's original purpose to one more in line with the gestalt of your post. Don't thank me; I'm just doing my job (well, it's not really my job, but in order to advance in this outfit I'm best off showing some initiative and ambition; my stated duties are rather humdrum, ranging from manipulating stock markets to pulling the strings that control puppet presidents and such. I'm looking to get into more Big Brother-type stuff, so lately I've been watching you. Enjoy the attention. And please, for the love of Pete: learn to wipe. The world thanks you).

[CFLarsen]

One fascinating - and scary - aspect is how some people completely change personality, whenever they sit behind the wheel.

I've met nice, amiable people who turned into raving monsters when they were driving. People who wouldn't have a bad word to say about anyone, yet they foam at the mouth at the sight of other cars.

What is it that causes this change in personality?

[brodski]

The habit which many drives have in the UKL, which hacks me off the most, is to refer to a fine they get for breaking the clearly stated and well defined law as a "stealth tax". It's not a tax; it's a fine, if you don't want to pay it DON’T BREAK THE LAW. Gah.

[BPSCG]

One fascinating - and scary - aspect is how some people completely change personality, whenever they sit behind the wheel.

I've met nice, amiable people who turned into raving monsters when they were driving. People who wouldn't have a bad word to say about anyone, yet they foam at the mouth at the sight of other cars.

What is it that causes this change in personality?Because you drive like @#$%...

[CFLarsen]

Because you drive like @#$%...
I'm an excellent driver.

I like to drive slow on the driveway.

Uh-oh. Fifteen minutes to Wapner.

[webfusion]

There is ineffecient policing.

What if you were GUARANTEED, 100%, to receive a speeding ticket, or be cited for tailgating ("aggressive driving") or a failure to signal lane change, or running a stop light or sign?

The way things are now, it is totally random to be caught and fined. One cop is on the side of the road with a speeding car, writing him/her a ticket, while a thousand more speed past at 100 MPH.

Technology is the answer. Each vehicle should have a 'black box' and two small cameras (front and back). Once a month, like your credit-card statement, you are required to send in a hard-copy recording of your driving skills (or lack thereof) and are rewarded (or fined) appropriately. Other drivers would have the authority to note your vehicle number and make a report about your law-breaking (currently that is not realistic, since you have no evidence).


Watch the level of courtesy improve! Hey, it's not YOUR road, it's a public conveyance. You need to have a license (and qualifications of understanding the rules) to participate in the activity. Otherwise, take a bus and leave the driving to a professional.

[ARubberChickenWithAPulley]

I posted this in another forum, so I basically just copied my post from there, but it was on the same topic :)

If you all want to see a driving nightmare, come to Seoul sometime.

I've been to Tokyo, Boston, New York, etc. and this is by far the worst. Korea has the worst accident rate in the OECD. In spite of Seoul being one of the most crowded cities in the world, people here have a "only man on the road" mentality the likes of which I have never seen. People buzz through red lights, stop wherever they feel like (as long as you have your hazard lights on, you can park in the middle of the street!), cut each other off like crazy, ignore crosswalks and pedestrians, make very sudden lane changes, cut people off, cut people off, cut people off, and probably the thing that annoys me the most: moving into an empty turn lane, driving to the front of a line of cars waiting for a light to change, then cutting ahead of everybody when the light turns green. This one drives me up the wall because it happens every day when I drive to work. I get to an intersection where I make a left turn on a green arrow. There is one left turn lane, and next to it, a right turn lane. There is always a line of cars waiting to turn left, and no cars in the right turn lane. So every day some a****** (or two or three) drives into the right turn lane to the front of all the waiting cars, then cuts in front of everyone when the left turn arrow comes up. This, and variations of it, I see ever single day, frequently. People cut into other lanes and zoom past the lane that is waiting to cut line, and sometimes even literally just make a new lane if there is room to fit their car in. If people just WAITED THEIR TURN everyone would get to where they were going. The police here, sadly, do absolutely nothing to enforce traffic law.

Also, if you are on any two-wheeled vehicle ( motorycles or mopeds), you don't have to follow any traffic laws. At all. You can: drive on crowded sidewalks, go through any light or crosswalk, weave in and out of traffic, and even drive the wrong way down a busy street (I have seen that more times than I can count). I have also seen three times thus far, in a single intersection, a knucklehead on a motorcycle blow through the red light and smash into a car crossing through on a green light.

Amazingly, pedestrians here do about the same thing as cars, including walking down the middle of busy streets, running out in front of cars, and literally standing in the middle of busy highways with cars wizzing by at 80 kph. But then again, to have any hope of crossing a street, you basically have to walk out into the street and hope for the best, since cars never stop for crosswalks or pedestrians unless they are forced to.

Seoul is horribly crowded, and the traffic sucks, but it is made much worse by the way people drive, and the fact that nobody respects and/or enforces traffic laws. Even worse, any time a US soldier is involved in a major accident, it turns into an international incident.

I usually just take the subway.

[BPSCG]

I would be forced to hunt the guy down and get his plate number.

That's called 'reckless driving' in the US and is punishable. I'm sure it's happened here, but I can't imagine it'd be often.Waste of time. If the cop doesn't see it, he's not going to write a ticket.

What you need to do, instead, is catch up with the guy, then run him off the road.

[BPSCG]

It's people who ride in the rear corner of my car, AKA the BLIND SPOT.If you have a blind spot, it's because your mirrors are improperly adjusted.

Visualize this:

You see someone coming up behind you, in the same lane as you, in your rearview mirror.

You see him move over into the passing lane. You can still see him in the rearview mirror.

As he overtakes you, he moves out of the sight of your rearview mirror. Just as he's beginning to vanish from your rearview mirror, you should be beginning to see him in your sideview mirror.

And when he's caught up with you enough that you can't see him in the sideview mirror any more, you should be able to see him by turning your head a little.

Here's what you do:
Park your car on a straight, level, busy street, and play around with your mirrors until you can do what I described. You want to start by setting your rearview mirror to get your rear window centered in it. Then adjust the sideview mirror accordingly. The vast majority of people set their sideview mirror improperly, with the line of sight is right down the side of their cars. You don't want to do that. You want to set it so it looks out into the street somewhat, i.e., the passing lane.

When you've done that, adjust your passenger side mirror the same way.

[Bikewer]

Having been in police work for a long time, I'm in the habit of observing dreadful driving habits in general.
One of the things that makes me absolutely nuts are the folks who speed up to pass you, cut into your lane, and then stop to make turns. Can't think of a better way to get rear-ended. Usually, If you check to the rear, you'll find no following traffic; all they had to do was change lanes.

Another major annoyance (and a dangerous one) is folks using the center-left-turn lanes for anything but making left turns. They use these lanes for "entrance ramps" while entering traffic, or just get in them and drive for a while while looking for that Starbucks entrance. Or even worse, as a passing lane!
I have often remarked that I cannot take a drive of any distance, even to the neighborhood grocery, without seeing at least one egregious violation.

[BPSCG]

I have often remarked that I cannot take a drive of any distance, even to the neighborhood grocery, without seeing at least one egregious violation.So your citation book and ballpoint get a good workout, then, huh?

[LibraryLady]

I'm driving in to work one morning, down a busy morning rush hour street, and the person in the car behind me is not only tailgaiting, she doing something weird with her hands. Every time we stop at a red light, I'm looking in the mirror trying to figure out what she's doing. I notice it when we're driving too, because I'm keeping an eye on her distance.

She's painting her nails. :eye-poppi

Yup, now she's blowing on them.

She's painting her nails while she's driving. I changed lanes.

[Just thinking]

If you have a blind spot, it's because your mirrors are improperly adjusted.

How true ... I'll bet a good many (if not most) drivers do not know how to adjust their rear view side mirrors. You are not suppose to see your car's side in view on the driver's side (or at least, that's not the goal) -- this angles the mirror too much so that a good blind spot occurs on your rear left before your side mirror can take over from the rearward view of your interior mirror. The same can occur on the right mirror, but not as extreme, since it is usually a wide angle type (for US cars). Each should show a clear unobstructed view of the adjacent lanes going back to infinity, should the road be long and straight enough behind you.

[Just thinking]

Peeves:

1) I'm diving down a 2-lane road (1 lane in each direction) where the speed limit is 50 mph. I'm going between 50 and 55 (let's be honest, that's not unusual) and there is no one behind me, at least as I can see. Another car is stopped at an upcoming crossroad -- does he wait for me to drive past the crossroad first? No, he must pull out onto the road and be in front of me -- and then go no more than 40 mph. Of course, the road then becomes a no passing road for the next 5 miles.

2) Drivers who think they can make any maneuver they like because they had their directional on.

3) People that signal for a turn (or lane change) as they turn, no sooner.

[zenith-nadir]

Tailgaters on the highway.That my biggest beef. Most North Americans are untrained and unskilled at collision avoidance. So what do they do to compensate? Ride your bumper at 65 mph until one day 40 cars pile up on the interstate like a bunch of lemmings.

2) Tire inflation. I often see tires underinflated and wonder how in the hell they cannot notice the car is handling differently, not to mention the tire visibly looks underinflated. Note: you fill the tire PSI to the amount posted on the sticker on the drivers inner door jam, not to the maximum number listed on the tire.

3) Then there is the space-saver tire, most of them are good for 50 mph tops, for short periods, to get you to a gas station to repair your real tire...yet you see people wizzing by on the freeway all the time on a space-saver tires - a potentially deadly act.

4) Snow on windows. Often people are to "F"-ing lazy to clear all the snow off their windows and drive looking through holes they dug out or don't even bother to clean off their back and side windows.

{edited to add}

I forgot a big one... SUVs in winter! SUV drivers alway regale you with the grand driving characteristics of their SUV but alway balk when I tell them the increased mass of an SUV makes it harder to stop on slippery surfaces.

[brodski]

Peeves:

1) I'm diving down a 2-lane road (1 lane in each direction) where the speed limit is 50 mph. I'm going between 50 and 55 (let's be honest, that's not unusual) and there is no one behind me, at least as I can see. Another car is stopped at an upcoming crossroad -- does he wait for me to drive past the crossroad first? No, he must pull out onto the road and be in front of me -- and then go no more than 40 mph. Of course, the road then becomes a no passing road for the next 5 miles.
</p> so you are the one breaking the law ("because everyone else does it") but it is the other driver who is driving badly?

[BPSCG]

1) I'm diving down a 2-lane road (1 lane in each direction) where the speed limit is 50 mph. I'm going between 50 and 55 (let's be honest, that's not unusual) Yes it is. If, you'd said "between 60 and 65," that would not have been unusual. 'Round these parts, doing 55 in a 50 zone is called "obstructing traffic." :D
3) People that signal for a turn (or lane change) as they turn, no sooner.= Mrs. BPSCG. She complains in heavy traffic that nobody's letting her change lanes.

"If you don't have your turn signal on, how are they supposed to know you want to change lanes?"

"I use my turn signal."

"You don't use it to tell them that you want to change lanes. You use it to tell them you've begun changing lanes, which they know already."

"Shut up."

ETA: Mrs. BPSCG has informed me on more than one occasion that she has had the singular honor of knowing the only two perfect drivers the world has ever known: Her father and me.

I dispute that. Her father didn't use turn signals either. But he did know how to change lanes in heavy traffic.

[Just thinking]

</p> so you are the one breaking the law ("because everyone else does it") but it is the other driver who is driving badly?

That's a joke, right? The law requires slower moving vehicles to yield or pull over to those going the speed limit, and I'd be happy doing 50. There are laws about obstructing the flow of traffic, and this person (as described) would clearly be in that category -- but when was the last time you knew of someone getting pulled over for going too slow?

[Angus McPresley]

I have a favorite supreme *sshole maneuver.

Whenever there's a two lane highway that splits to go to two different destinations, during certain times of the day one of the lanes will get clogged with people wanting to go one particular direction.

My peeve is the people who feel they can cruise all the way up the clear lane, then cut into the crowded lane at the last moment.

Sure, they're screwing over all the people in the jammed lane, but what makes it a SUPREME *sshole maneuver is that it also screws the people in the clear lane, who have to come to a stop for this jerk.

[Just thinking]

I have a favorite supreme *sshole maneuver.

Whenever there's a two lane highway that splits to go to two different destinations, during certain times of the day one of the lanes will get clogged with people wanting to go one particular direction.

My peeve is the people who feel they can cruise all the way up the clear lane, then cut into the crowded lane at the last moment.

Sure, they're screwing over all the people in the jammed lane, but what makes it a SUPREME *sshole maneuver is that it also screws the people in the clear lane, who have to come to a stop for this jerk.

Ahh ... but in the end he probably uses his directional, making it A-OK. :D

[LW]

Ahh. Just this morning I got the opportunity to observe two police officer ticketing a driver when I was changing the bus. I didn't see exactly what happened, but I caught several sentences of the discussion and the police used the expression: "was already red" in it. I didn't see the end of it since my bus came and I jumped in it, but I hope that the nice old lady will next time look into the rear mirror to see whether a police car is following her before she runs the red lights. Or preferably she stops running the red light altogether.

[zenith-nadir]

My peeve is the people who feel they can cruise all the way up the clear lane, then cut into the crowded lane at the last moment.That one bugs me too. Not only do they force their way into your lane they are stopped or crawling in the clear lane just begging to be rear-ended.

Another is taxi drivers undertaking you on the right. On busy streets they race up the right lane hoping to jump infront of you before they hit the parked cars. I generally speed up discretely to thwart their evil plan. :D

[Crossbow]

The people who proudly display their various NASCAR loyalties via bumper stickers,
then proceed to drive at least 20% below the speed limit.

Ugh!

[CFLarsen]

Some don't even yield to drivers in a funeral procession (it's the law here). Instead, they disrupt the cortege and flip the bird at the mourners. :eek:

Source (in Danish) (http://www.jp.dk/indland/artikel:aid=3693042/)

[Crow T. Robot]

I drive about 25 miles to/from work each day on a crowded, two lane highway. As I go the speed of all the other traffic in the fast lane, bumper to bumper, I will frequently see the driver behind me "lean" over into the emergency lane, to see what's in front of me. Doing this once is, I suppose, understandable. Some morons do this EVERY 15 SECONDS. If cars had intercoms, I would be forced to ask these folks, "where, exactly, do you think the miles-long line of cars that was there in front of us 15 seconds ago suddenly went?" So, I guess it's a good thing cars don't have intercoms, cause I probably be getting beat up on a regular basis...

[roger]

To get to my house you have to go through a specific stop light. This road has two lanes, both very clearly marked, and even if they weren't marked, your choices are obvious. In the left lane, you can either turn left or go straight, in the right lane you can either go straight or turn right. This is not rocket science. Yet at least once a week, I am in the left lane, proceeding straight, and some yahoo in the right lane TURNS LEFT in front of me, cutting me off. There's a reason for this, there's a big cloverleaf for the interstate right there, and there is a lot of conjestion so people sometimes miss the entrance, etc. And light timings are tight, and you can end up taking several minutes to move a few blocks. But for (rule8)s sake, don't cut somebody off like this so you can avoid driving an extra block. It's usually clear when somebody is planning on doing this, they keep edging forward while the light is red, crowd into your lane, etc., trying to force their way. But I've had it happen unexepectedly, and had my car shaking from an all-out breaking situation as I barely miss t-boning the idiot. I always make sure to use my horn to extreme effect, give them the finger, etc., as this is so incredibly selfish and dangerous. After I go through the interesection I then force myself to laugh because carrying anger is just going to make me the moron on the road.

[aerocontrols]

I drive about 25 miles to/from work each day on a crowded, two lane highway. As I go the speed of all the other traffic in the fast lane, bumper to bumper, I will frequently see the driver behind me "lean" over into the emergency lane, to see what's in front of me. Doing this once is, I suppose, understandable. Some morons do this EVERY 15 SECONDS. If cars had intercoms, I would be forced to ask these folks, "where, exactly, do you think the miles-long line of cars that was there in front of us 15 seconds ago suddenly went?" So, I guess it's a good thing cars don't have intercoms, cause I probably be getting beat up on a regular basis...

I recall that some guy at my high school had one installed in his car. Not a car-to-car intercom, but a loudspeaker like the police have.

Sometimes I feel like I need one of those.

I wonder if they're legal.

[pgwenthold]

</p> so you are the one breaking the law ("because everyone else does it") but it is the other driver who is driving badly?

Yes.

This story is independent of the fact that the driver is going slightly more than the speed limit. It would not change one lick if he were going exactly the speed limit.

[pgwenthold]

1) I'm diving down a 2-lane road (1 lane in each direction) where the speed limit is 50 mph. I'm going between 50 and 55 (let's be honest, that's not unusual) and there is no one behind me, at least as I can see. Another car is stopped at an upcoming crossroad -- does he wait for me to drive past the crossroad first? No, he must pull out onto the road and be in front of me -- and then go no more than 40 mph. Of course, the road then becomes a no passing road for the next 5 miles..

It could be worse. He could pull out in front of you and then turn off the road again a tenth of a mile later.

I'll admit that I am somewhat of a tailgater (well, used to be, but less so now, because I have slowed down a lot), but that is if I am trying to pass. I had a car following me one night so close that I could not see his headlights in my mirror. We were going 65. I said, ok, he wants to pass. He got to an area where he could pass, and he didn't. So I slowed down to 60, figuring, ok, maybe we are just going the same speed. We came to another passing area, and he didn't pass. So I slowed to 55. Went through another passing area. 50. Still wouldn't pass me. Finally, when I was cruising at 45 mph, he finally passed me.

I was laughing when I got home, and told my wife, I'm a real arse.

The thing that has been bothering me lately is rear-ending. I got rear-ended a couple of weeks ago. The problem with being rear-ended is that, unless you are driving really idiotically, there isn't a lot you can do about it yourself. I was rear-ended by a woman who had her two kids in the back seat as we were coasting up to the line for a stop light. I came to a stop, she didn't. She wasn't watching.

Nothing I could have done could have prevented it from happening, so no matter how safe I am driving, the risk is pretty much the same.

She was driving an SUV and got a minor ding on her front bumper. My car got $3500 in damage.

Yeah, she was at fault and all, but it ends up costing me a ton in time, and some in money, even.

[tkingdoll]

People who tailgate learner drivers. What is it with these people? How thick do you have to be to realise that if anybody is likely to lose control or brake suddenly, it's going to be a learner? I'm a late learner, and I get treated like **** on the roads just because I had the audacity to not be born knowing how to drive.

I despise this attitude and anyone who thinks it's clever or funny to bully learners.

I also despise people who use mobile phones whilst driving, and particularly hate anyone who complains about getting caught speeding, as though they should be allowed to pick and choose which laws to keep and which to break.

[aerocontrols]

I'll admit that I am somewhat of a tailgater (well, used to be, but less so now, because I have slowed down a lot), but that is if I am trying to pass.

I'm the exact opposite. If I'm trying to pass you, I'll drop back an extra distance.

That way when the time is right to pass, I can do all my acceleration while I'm behind you, and spend a minimum amount of time driving in the oncoming lane. If you tailgate someone you intend to pass, you have to do all your accelerating after you swing out into the other lane.

Plus if you've dropped back a bit, the car you're trying to pass blocks less of your view.

For the record, I used to pass your way, but I've found that this way works much better, especially for passing 18-wheelers and other large vehicles, or passing multiple vehicles at the same time.

[Just thinking]

I'm the exact opposite. If I'm trying to pass you, I'll drop back an extra distance.

That way when the time is right to pass, I can do all my acceleration while I'm behind you, and spend a minimum amount of time driving in the oncoming lane. If you tailgate someone you intend to pass, you have to do all your accelerating after you swing out into the other lane.

Wasn't that amazingly easy to learn?

Isn't it even more amazing how hard it is for others to learn that?

I just love driving along in the right lane when someone zooms up from behind and waits until they're in my trunk before going into the left lane to pass. (We're talking 2 lanes or more each way with no other traffic.)

[Just thinking]

There is ineffecient policing.

What if you were GUARANTEED, 100%, to receive a speeding ticket, or be cited for tailgating ("aggressive driving") or a failure to signal lane change, or running a stop light or sign?

The way things are now, it is totally random to be caught and fined. One cop is on the side of the road with a speeding car, writing him/her a ticket, while a thousand more speed past at 100 MPH.

Technology is the answer. Each vehicle should have a 'black box' and two small cameras (front and back). Once a month, like your credit-card statement, you are required to send in a hard-copy recording of your driving skills (or lack thereof) and are rewarded (or fined) appropriately. Other drivers would have the authority to note your vehicle number and make a report about your law-breaking (currently that is not realistic, since you have no evidence).


Watch the level of courtesy improve! Hey, it's not YOUR road, it's a public conveyance. You need to have a license (and qualifications of understanding the rules) to participate in the activity. Otherwise, take a bus and leave the driving to a professional.

OK -- but in response I would first argue for more rational roadway laws and penalites. In some cases one can literally be fined hundreds of dollars for going less than 5 mph over the limit. That is insanity -- and for the record, I heard it from a former traffic judge himself say it's all about the $$$$.

[alfaniner]

I've found the most effective way to deal with rush-hour traffic is to find the average speed and proceed at that rate. The goal is never to touch the brakes. "Yes," you say "but then people will be pulling in front of you in the open space!" Well, invariably people will keep to their own lane. But think of it as breaking up the funnel. It actually allows traffic to move more smoothly.

Here's a cool link to a traffic simulator that's fun to play with.

Traffic sim (http://vwisb7.vkw.tu-dresden.de/~treiber/MicroApplet/)

[TragicMonkey]

And, of course, people invariably pass me, get in front of me, then slow down to a lower speed than I had been going the whole time. It's the curse of driving a decidedly cute car: people just look at it and assume they should be going faster than me, regardless of the fact that I tend to speed like mad. It's especially a pain when driving in the deep South. Yes, Jim Bob, I realize I'm driving a cute Japanese economy car, and you're in a big manly American pickup. But 90 mph is 90 mph, cute or not, and you're not going to be able to pass me by doing 75 mph. Get used to looking at my car's cute Japanese butt.

[kalen]

Car-tard (n): (adj) car-tarded

(1) a person who opens their car door in front of approaching cyclists and other traffic.

(2) a person who passes cyclists too fast and/or too close.

(3) a person who parks/drives in the bike lane.

(4) a person who drives a car.

[Hagrok]

I've found the most effective way to deal with rush-hour traffic is to find the average speed and proceed at that rate. The goal is never to touch the brakes. "Yes," you say "but then people will be pulling in front of you in the open space!" Well, invariably people will keep to their own lane. But think of it as breaking up the funnel. It actually allows traffic to move more smoothly.
[/URL]
That works pretty well. Yes, people will occasionally pull in front of you, but it's way better then hanging out 2 feet from the guy in front of you.

I've been rearended twice in this city. Both times it was because a light turned green, traffic proceeded a few feet, then stopped because of something up ahead. Dude behind me saw nothing but green light = GO!

[BlackCat]

I can think of a lot of things I hate about people's driving. Many have already been mentioned before, so I won't say those again. Here's some things I can't stand:


People who park in a red zone (in front the a store) and leave their hazard lights on. Yeah, like that makes it all okay....
People who when they see your blinker on to merge into their lane, speed up in order to not let you in. (Could be a regional thing?)
People who turn into your lane (from a cross street) right in front of you, so you have to slow down because they can't get up to speed. The kicker is that there's no one behind you! Why couldn't they have turned afterwards?
When you're on a two lane road, and you're stopped for whatever reason (you're turning left, pedestrians, other car turning left), people who have the audacity to "pass" you in open space on your right (space that's not really a lane), because they're in a hurry. I have seen pedestrians almost get killed, and cars almost get T-boned because of these self-important jerks.
People who don't stop for pedestrians, period.

The really sad part is that these examples are not rare. I have seen them many times.

BlackCat

[Jocko]

Car-tard (n): (adj) car-tarded

(1) a person who opens their car door in front of approaching cyclists and other traffic.

(2) a person who passes cyclists too fast and/or too close.

(3) a person who parks/drives in the bike lane.

(4) a person who drives a car.

Cyclepath (n): (adj) cyclepathic

1. One who blithely insists that cars and other vehicles able to exceed a brisk jogging pace "share the roadway" with bicylists while assuming no responsibility for their own reckless and unlawful conduct, i.e., blowing through stop signs, red lights, "bridge out" warnings, etc.

See also: Relative mass and right-of-way.

[Jocko]

I will also add that the only thing more annoying than a tailgater is someone in front of you who refuses to speed up, even when you get this/close behind them.

[zenith-nadir]

I will also add that the only thing more annoying than a tailgater is someone in front of you who refuses to speed up, even when you get this/close behind them.Two solutions to that. 1) "the bumpdraft (http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/news/story?wc=true&id=1994719)" or 2) "the pit maneuver (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PIT_maneuver)". :D

[gnome]

I wonder if the phenomenon of people speeding up to keep you from pulling out at an intersection is an optical illusion--could it be they're maintaining speed and it just appears on the approach like they're accelerating?

One pet peeve of mine, is having trouble merging into the lane next to me because the car besides me insists on going the same speed, and speeds up when I do. I resolve the matter by slowing down to merge behind them, and run into an even worse pet-peeve... people that jump out of their lane and pass me because I slowed down to change lanes, only to jump back into the same lane.

Didn't you see my signal? Had you stayed put I would have been out of your way in moments.

[Aoidoi]

Multiple turn lanes to the left. Some people can't seem to stay in the lane they started in. It's really not that hard, so the people are either inept or decide that in the middle of a turn is a good time to change lanes. Twice I've nearly been hit because someone drifted into my lane.

Beyond tailgating... the people that need to accelerate to get to the next person, then brake. Once they get around that person they rapidly accellerate to the next person, and then wait. It's like they fear being more than 5 feet from a bumper at any given time, so even in crowded conditions they deliberately force themselves into situations where they're going to have to brake, even though there's absolutely no point to it.

I really love keeping a steady pace in traffic and watching the same people go zooming past in the next lane, have to stop 30 ft later, I move on past, they come zooming by again... like the enormous amount of traffic will suddenly vanish if they hit the gas hard enough.

[kalen]

Cyclepath (n): (adj) cyclepathic

1. One who blithely insists that cars and other vehicles able to exceed a brisk jogging pace "share the roadway" with bicylists while assuming no responsibility for their own reckless and unlawful conduct, i.e., blowing through stop signs, red lights, "bridge out" warnings, etc.

See also: Relative mass and right-of-way.

I've seen more than a few of these myself.

[aerocontrols]

Multiple turn lanes to the left. Some people can't seem to stay in the lane they started in. It's really not that hard, so the people are either inept or decide that in the middle of a turn is a good time to change lanes. Twice I've nearly been hit because someone drifted into my lane.

There's a new intersection here in Atlanta that has only one turn lane to the left, but two green arrow traffic lights overhead. Inevitably (especially at night or in heavy traffic, when it's hard to see that only one lane has a painted 'you can turn left' arrow on it) someone, or someones in the middle of the three lanes believes they are also in a left-hand turn lane, and thus try to turn left, forcing two lanes of traffic to try to merge into one in the middle of an intersection.

Hopefully they'll change it soon, it's a real hazard.

Though I don't really blame the drivers, as much as I blame whoever designed the intersection.

[Jorghnassen]

Car-tard (n): (adj) car-tarded

(1) a person who opens their car door in front of approaching cyclists and other traffic.

(2) a person who passes cyclists too fast and/or too close.

(3) a person who parks/drives in the bike lane.

(4) a person who drives a car.

Don't get me started on cyclists.

/mostly pedestrian
//don't get me started on pedestrians

[Jocko]

Another peeve, this one in two parts.

1. The joker who's first in line at a red light, who obviously never considered that the light might, just might turn green before they finish adjusting their kid's child seat/fix their mascara/dig on the floor for God-knows-what/just stare into space, oblivious to everything around them.

2. The pansies who sit behind the distracted jokers, afraid to tap the horn to alert them that they're causing a dozen people to miss a green light (cumulatively, 12 drivers x 1.2 minutes till next green = 14.4 wasted minutes). That leaves me, or someone like me, to look like the jerk by having to lean on the horn from five or six cars back. Usually, the pansy behind the joker looks back in irritation, as if he's the one I'm honking at, even though he must know better.

[jimlintott]

I'm the exact opposite. If I'm trying to pass you, I'll drop back an extra distance.

That way when the time is right to pass, I can do all my acceleration while I'm behind you, and spend a minimum amount of time driving in the oncoming lane. If you tailgate someone you intend to pass, you have to do all your accelerating after you swing out into the other lane.

Plus if you've dropped back a bit, the car you're trying to pass blocks less of your view.

For the record, I used to pass your way, but I've found that this way works much better, especially for passing 18-wheelers and other large vehicles, or passing multiple vehicles at the same time.
Wow. I was actually beginning to think that I was the only driver in the world who understood this.

Some of my peeves are:

Drivers who don't signal. Signalling should be a reflex action. Shouldn't even require concious thought.

Drivers who don't buckle up or, even worse, dont properly restrain child passengers.

Drivers who don't properly yield for pedestrians. Maybe if they actually looked for them but who suspect that you might see a pedestrian at a marked crosswalk near a school in the morning.

Tailgating, tailgating and tailgating. Possibly the single most dangerous thing you can do after running red lights and stop signs.

I do get a laugh over all of the scrape marks and dents on the building near drive up windows at fast food joints and drive up ATMs. I am puzzled at the people who can't fit their car between two painted lines in a parking lot or can't get close enough to get parking ticket from a dispenser.

[Just thinking]

The guy who starts to dig for toll money just as he pulls right up to the toll collector. Never mind that he just spent the last 5 or so minutes waiting in line (slowly crawling and stopping) car by car as each paid their toll to the attendant. This is very common on the NJ Turnpike.

[Just thinking]

Don't get me started on cyclists.

Don't you just love the ones that believe they do not have to obey traffic rules or stop for red lights and/or stop signs?

[TragicMonkey]

The main problem with cyclists is that the ones who should wear spandex don't, and the ones who do definitely shouldn't.

[Tmy]

I hate how the speeders are considered the bad guys. THere the ones making the traffic flow. Its the "slow in the fast lane keeper of the speed" jerks who cause traffic.

Some people are asking for road rage.

[Ralph]

Ever notice how trucks & SUVs tend to drive 20mph OVER the speedlimit on a straight road but as soon as there's a bend in the road.....they start driving 20 mph UNDER the speed limit.

I love it when some jerk blows by me at 90mph on the interstate-pulls off at the same exit I'm using.. and now I'm stuck behind this arse for the next 15 miles at 30 mph because he only knows how to drive in a straight line.

There's just something about about Hummers too....you just know the driver is a dipsh er dipstick.

People who don't use turn signals should be shot.

[Jorghnassen]

Traffic is caused by slow cars? What about those who go over the speed limit between lights and have to stop instead of taking advantage of the sequential timing made to optimize traffic flow. Those who stop too close to other cars and have to wait when the light goes green instead of simultaneously moving with the rest if there had been enough distance in the first place...

[SteveGrenard]

There are some pretty amazing complaints in this thread. Life is too short for most of them:


Ex- NYPD Cop Kills Retired NY/NJ Port Authority Cop in Road Rage


Sunday, April 16, 2006 By DOUG AUER
ADVANCE STAFF WRITER

Ex-NYPD detective Allen Lau will undergo psychiatric testing to determine whether he is competent to stand trial for allegedly shooting retired Port Authority cop Steven Vitale to death, it was announced yesterday during his appearance in Stapleton Criminal Court.

Lau, 46, of New Springville, is charged with second-degree murder and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon for killing Vitale, 55, in a hail of bullets in front of a Chinese takeout restaurant at 77 Richmond Hill Rd., according to court documents.



Lau had apparently been tailgating Vitale on Monday at about 6:55 p.m. as the two traveled on Richmond Hill Road toward the KenBar Plaza, police said. About a half hour earlier, Lau had reportedly flashed a gun at Vitale after he supposedly cut him off on the Staten Island Expressway, police said.

Lau apparently opened fire in fit of rage, sources have told the Advance.



rest of story here:

http://www.silive.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/news/1145193335157770.xml&coll=1

[BPSCG]

The guy who starts to dig for toll money just as he pulls right up to the toll collector. Never mind that he just spent the last 5 or so minutes waiting in line (slowly crawling and stopping) car by car as each paid their toll to the attendant. This is very common on the NJ Turnpike.Yes. When I take over, a lot of people will lose their driver's licenses, but these clowns will lose their lives. They're also at McDonald's; they don't realize that they should be thinking about what they want to eat before they get to the front of the line. I watch for them whenever I go to a fast food joint; I avoid like the Black Death any line that has a group or a couple who are just chatting idly.

[Mycroft]

Yes. When I take over, a lot of people will lose their driver's licenses, but these clowns will lose their lives. They're also at McDonald's; they don't realize that they should be thinking about what they want to eat before they get to the front of the line. I watch for them whenever I go to a fast food joint; I avoid like the Black Death any line that has a group or a couple who are just chatting idly.


You like that rant feature a little too much.

[BPSCG]

You like that rant feature a little too much.When I'm promising death to faceless un-named masses, it seems somehow appropriate.

[ImaginalDisc]

Tailgaters on the highway.
When one gets on my bumper, I slow down about 5 mph. If he gets closer, I slow down another 5. I got down to 20 once before the idiot decided that 3 feet behind me was not the place to be.

Right there with you.

[webfusion]

YOU are breaking the law by slowing down the entire flow of traffic.
It is called hindering.
http://militzer.gl.ciw.edu/traffic_jams/node2.html
Why don't you raise your speed to match the hundreds of others who are behind you? Say, like 80mph, in the left lane! That's what the gas pedal is for. Use it.

[Polaris]

When I'm going 70 in a 65 zone, and I pass someone doing 60, they speed up to 70, forcing me to either speed, or drop down below the limit to get back out of the fast lane.

The 'tards who see the "Left Lane Ends" signs, yet get in the left lane and stay there until it runs out, then cut in at the last minute - slowing down everybody else to a crawl. On the other hand, I've been this guy before - you get in that lane trying to pass the guy in front who has slowed down prematurely, and then someone cuts in front of him from the right; by then the traffic is bumper-to-bumper all the way to the lane's end, and nobody will let you over. I know, I never let those guys over anymore. This was covered before, but it bore repeating.

The pukes who speed up to the exit ramps and force people to slow down or speed up because they won't move, even though there's nobody else near them on the highway.

Suicidal pedestrians who are walking down the sidewalk, see me coming, and waltz right out in front of me anyway, like they're on some country meadow somewhere - in 1850 - probably thinking "I'm the pedestrian, I have the right of way". It doesn't help that they're usually black guys, wearing dark clothes, on tree-lined streets, and do this at night. If I wasn't doing the limit I'd probably have killed several by now. Btw, pedestrians have the right of way IN A CROSSWALK!

All the others were covered pretty well. Though I get razzed by people who have bumper stickers with text so small you have to get very close to read them. I want to know what it says!

[brodski]

That's a joke, right? The law requires slower moving vehicles to yield or pull over to those going the speed limit, and I'd be happy doing 50. There are laws about obstructing the flow of traffic, and this person (as described) would clearly be in that category -- but when was the last time you knew of someone getting pulled over for going too slow?
sorry, I didn't appreciate your traffic laws there. I have heard very similar arguments from drivers in places where faster moving vehicles don't generally have right of way.

[richardm]

Plus if you've dropped back a bit, the car you're trying to pass blocks less of your view.

Right. It's a good lesson to learn, it really does make a big difference. I've seen people tailgating lorries in their anxiety to overtake. Of course they can't see a damn thing. I like to hang back in such cases (a) so I can see what's coming and (b) so I have more stopping time to avoid the wreckage.

We have a lot of narrow, twisty roads round our way. A lot of visitors to the area get very nervous driving on them which is fair enough, but they become oblivious to what's happening behind them. They will brake heavily for corners, and brake heavily if there's any oncoming traffic. They will build up such a backlog of traffic that you begin to suspect it was their lifelong ambition to lead a parade.

Then, they'll come to a nice straight bit with no corners and no oncoming traffic. So they accelerate rapidly in sheer relief.

It is, of course, the only stretch of road for 20 miles where you can really safely overtake, assuming you can catch them. Grr.

The council have put up signs imploring people to pull in and let queues pass, but by and large they get ignored :(

[BPSCG]

probably thinking "I'm the pedestrian, I have the right of way". It doesn't help that they're usually black guys, wearing dark clothes, on tree-lined streets, and do this at night. If I wasn't doing the limit I'd probably have killed several by now. Btw, pedestrians have the right of way IN A CROSSWALK!


sorry, I didn't appreciate your traffic laws there. I have heard very similar arguments from drivers in places where faster moving vehicles don't generally have right of way.One lesson my driver ed instructor drilled into us is that nobody ever "has the right of way." In a confrontation, one party is required to yield the right of way, but if he fails to yield, the other guy can't just sail through the intersection because "I have the right of way." The person at fault in the ensuing collision is the guy who thought he "had the right of way," because he had the last clear chance to avoid the collision.

Don't believe me? Run down a pedestrian the next time you see him crossing against the light and then try telling the police that you "had the right of way" as they slap on the handcuffs.

[brodski]

Don't believe me? Run down a pedestrian the next time you see him crossing against the light and then try telling the police that you "had the right of way" as they slap on the handcuffs.
where I come from, pedestrians have right of way, regardless of what the crossing lights are doing, they are legally binding on the drivers, but not pedestrians.

[gnome]

YOU are breaking the law by slowing down the entire flow of traffic.
It is called hindering.
http://militzer.gl.ciw.edu/traffic_jams/node2.html
Why don't you raise your speed to match the hundreds of others who are behind you? Say, like 80mph, in the left lane! That's what the gas pedal is for. Use it.
Slowing down for a tailgater need not be seen as hindering--it is merely reducing your speed until the distance to the car behind you is safe. I don't see how someone's tailgating requires me to exceed the speed limit (even further than I usually am).

Besides, that's a horrible precedent--if people HAVE to speed up when they're being tailgated, it will become a reliable technique for pushing around the guy in front of you.

[pgwenthold]

Another peeve, this one in two parts.

1. The joker who's first in line at a red light, who obviously never considered that the light might, just might turn green before they finish adjusting their kid's child seat/fix their mascara/dig on the floor for God-knows-what/just stare into space, oblivious to everything around them.

2. The pansies who sit behind the distracted jokers, afraid to tap the horn to alert them that they're causing a dozen people to miss a green light (cumulatively, 12 drivers x 1.2 minutes till next green = 14.4 wasted minutes). That leaves me, or someone like me, to look like the jerk by having to lean on the horn from five or six cars back. Usually, the pansy behind the joker looks back in irritation, as if he's the one I'm honking at, even though he must know better.

You know what my peeve is?

When you are at a stoplight with a long line of cars, and the light turns green, and some moron 20 cars back immediately starts honking on the horn.

[Orb]

I know I'm gonna get smacked for this one, but the old folks around here drive me bananas! Allegheny county in PA has about the same amount of retired persons as Dade county in Florida.
I know not every senior citizen is a bad driver, but if you have errands to run in the middle of the day, you better be on guard and leave yourself a lot of extra time.
Common annoyances are:
Ultra slow driving
No signals, or too many
Pulling directly out of a parking space without looking
Not turning on red where allowed
Swerving in and out of the lane
Stopping in the middle of the road to let someone make a left turn in front of them.

[Just thinking]

sorry, I didn't appreciate your traffic laws there. I have heard very similar arguments from drivers in places where faster moving vehicles don't generally have right of way.

I think you misunderstood my original post ... I maybe wrong.

As I'm going smoothly down a 2 lane roadway pretty much obeying the speed limit and not surrounded by heavy traffic with pleanty of room both in front of and behind me, some moron on a minor crossroad (usually with a stop sign) will cut out in front of me and not even have the courtesy of doing the speed limit. This forces me to not only step on the brake but prevents me from futher doing the speed limit. He could just as easily have waited an extra few seconds and gone out behind me ... but no. For some unknown reason he feels he must slow me down to his allowed speed. This is both disrespectful and hazardous ... and has nothing to do with a "right-of-way" or the velocities for either vehicle. If you feel there is nothing wrong with that sort of driving then there is no point in further arguing my position, as it would be pointless to do so. By the way ... it can get you a ticket in the US. I believe it is known as failing to yield to oncoming traffic.

And even if all goes without a collision, what do you think will be the best case scenario? A series of cars will eventually start piling up behind me bumper to bumper due to this guy's speed being much slower than the limit. They usually refuse to allow faster traffic to pass, somehow feeling that they know what everyone else should be doing.

[Jocko]

Besides, that's a horrible precedent--if people HAVE to speed up when they're being tailgated, it will become a reliable technique for pushing around the guy in front of you.

I dream of a world where this is actually true. Then I would spend a lot less time screaming, you drive like old people f*ck! out my window.

[brodski]

I think you misunderstood my original post ... I maybe wrong.

As I'm going smoothly down a 2 lane roadway pretty much obeying the speed limit and not surrounded by heavy traffic with pleanty of room both in front of and behind me, some moron on a minor crossroad (usually with a stop sign) will cut out in front of me and not even have the courtesy of doing the speed limit. This forces me to not only step on the break but prevents me from futher doing the speed limit. He could just as easily have waited an extra few seconds and gone out behind me ... but no. For some unknown reason he feels he must slow me down to his allowed speed. This is both disrespectful and hazardous ... and has nothing to do with a "right-of-way" or the velocities for either vehicle. If you feel there is nothing wrong with that sort of driving then there is no point in further arguing my position, as it would be pointless to do so. By the way ... it can get you a ticket in the US. I believe it is known as failing to yield to oncoming traffic.

And even if all goes without a collision, what do you think will be the best case scenario? A series of cars will eventually start piling up behind me bumper to bumper due to this guy's speed being much slower than the limit. They usually refuse to allow faster traffic to pass, somehow feeling that they know what everyone else should be doing.
Ah, I didn't quite get how they where pulling out in front of you, sorry.

[BPSCG]

I dream of a world where this is actually true. Then I would spend a lot less time screaming, you drive like old people f*ck! out my window.Jocko, you know that medication that jj's always forgetting to take...?

[Jocko]

Jocko, you know that medication that jj's always forgetting to take...?

Just stay outta my way and no one gets hurt. ;)

[BPSCG]

Just stay outta my way and no one gets hurt. ;)Actually, I once had a similar daily commute. For about four years, I was screaming curses at total strangers within five minutes of leaving my driveway. Nothing like getting on a two-mile long conga line on a twisting, one-lane road, with the interstate still another five miles away, to get the id feverishly and joyously contemplating the infliction of megadeaths on everyone on the road who is not you.

[Jocko]

Actually, I once had a similar daily commute. For about four years, I was screaming curses at total strangers within five minutes of leaving my driveway. Nothing like getting on a two-mile long conga line on a twisting, one-lane road, with the interstate still another five miles away, to get the id feverishly and joyously contemplating the infliction of megadeaths on everyone on the road who is not you.

True story: when pressed for my impression of what heaven should be like, I replied that it was a place where I'd already passed every last @$$hole in the universe.

[Mark]

True story: when pressed for my impression of what heaven should be like, I replied that it was a place where I'd already passed every last @$$hole in the universe.

And found yourself all alone. Burgess Meredith could play you in the movie.

[Jocko]

And found yourself all alone. Burgess Meredith could play you in the movie.

When the world is full of @$$holes, as any urban drive is sure to convince you, solitude becomes quite attractive. Particularly since I have 20/20 vision. ;)

Edited to add: I may be all sorts of prick, but there is one axiom I live by in everything I do, particularly driving: Don't make other people wait for you. If more people did that, I firmly believe the average American's blood pressure would drop by 20 points.

[Mark]

When the world is full of @$$holes, as any urban drive is sure to convince you, solitude becomes quite attractive. Particularly since I have 20/20 vision. ;)

"Did you ever notice that someone in front of you is an *********? While someone who passes you is a maniac!"---George Carlin

Edited to add:
Actually, Jocko, I agree with you in principle; I always pull over when someone wants to pass.

[Furious]

My pet peeves don't revolve around commuter traffic, but my GF is currently about 250 miles away and we see each other virtually every weekend, so I spend a lot of time on the interstate.

At least in my area, going 15-20 miles an hour over the speed limit on the interstate will not get you ticketed. There are a healthy amount of drivers that do this and I include myself as one of them, since my imperative is to get a long drive out of the way.

The most infuriating thing for me is not the perople in the right lane going the speed limit. I have no issue with slow drivers or long haul truck drivers with massive loads. What pisses me off is the joker going 5 miles an hour over the speed limit coming up on a semi long line of these people and passes them in the left lane.

All it takes is about 4-5 cars in a row for this procedure to take nearly 5 minutes, and I'm forced to cut my speed by about 15 miles an hour. Invariably, other chronic speeders are now lining up behind me and there is a log jam of traffic on a major highway.

I realize that my speeding doesn't give me the moral high ground on this issue, but it annoys me to no end.

[pgwenthold]

My pet peeves don't revolve around commuter traffic, but my GF is currently about 250 miles away and we see each other virtually every weekend, so I spend a lot of time on the interstate.

At least in my area, going 15-20 miles an hour over the speed limit on the interstate will not get you ticketed. There are a healthy amount of drivers that do this and I include myself as one of them, since my imperative is to get a long drive out of the way.

The most infuriating thing for me is not the perople in the right lane going the speed limit. I have no issue with slow drivers or long haul truck drivers with massive loads. What pisses me off is the joker going 5 miles an hour over the speed limit coming up on a semi long line of these people and passes them in the left lane.

All it takes is about 4-5 cars in a row for this procedure to take nearly 5 minutes, and I'm forced to cut my speed by about 15 miles an hour. Invariably, other chronic speeders are now lining up behind me and there is a log jam of traffic on a major highway.

I realize that my speeding doesn't give me the moral high ground on this issue, but it annoys me to no end.

Sorry, no sympathy here.

You admit that the person is passing others. Therefore, they are driving appropriately.

Consider it from someone who is doing the passing. They are passing slower traffic, and some a-hole is getting annoyed because, apparently, they are not passing the slower traffic fast enough, despite the fact that they are going over the speed limit.

That's not bad driving on their part in the least. They came upon slow traffic and passed them. That's the way traffic should work. The fact that you are traveling well over the speed limit is not their fault.

[alfaniner]

If you are driving faster than the people in the right lane (U.S., of course), then you are passing.

What's worst is the guy in the left lane of your two who insists on driving the same speed as those in the right lane, thus blocking the road for anyone who wants to go a little faster. And there is always someone who wants to go faster.

The way it should work is: on a multi-lane road, the people on the left should be going somewhat faster than the people in the immediate lane to their right.

[pgwenthold]

The way it should work is: on a multi-lane road, the people on the left should be going somewhat faster than the people in the immediate lane to their right.

Exactly. But the complaint was that the person passing was not going fast enough for the guy going 20 mph over the speed limit.

This isn't anyone's fault, just a consequence of what's going to happen.

I figure, what is the alternative? That the other person should have to get stuck behind slower traffic just because someone behind them is driving way fast? Why is it somehow better for the car going slightly over the speed limit to have to slow down to accomodate the car going way over the speed limit as opposed to the other way around?

[BPSCG]

What's worst is the guy in the left lane of your two who insists on driving the same speed as those in the right lane, thus blocking the road for anyone who wants to go a little faster. No, what's worst is when the pasengers in the car in front of you pull out hunting rifles and start shooting at you.

Fortunately, this is very rare. Only happened to me once or twice...

[Polaris]

Here are a few more. I don't know if this applies universally but it certainly does in Texas. You're at a light, in the left-turn-only lane. The light only lasts for a short period of time, and it's one of those where you must yield to oncoming traffic. Suddenly a guy in an Escalade or a beefed-up monster truck comes into the opposite left-turn-only lane, blocking your view down the road. He makes the left turn (because HE can see) just as your green light turns red. Now you have to wait for the cycle to start all over again (and hope another jerk with a 2" penis and a monster truck doesn't come along).

This one isn't really a driving one, but it's the people who have to park their precious cars in 2 spaces so the plebians don't park next to them. These need not be expensive cars either. If you're THAT worried about other cars in the spaces next to you, don't live in a city.

[BPSCG]

This one isn't really a driving one, but it's the people who have to park their precious cars in 2 spaces so the plebians don't park next to them. I used to work with a lady who did that with her brand-new pickup. But only once.

She came in the next day, mad enough to kill someone, in particular, the guy who'd taken out his car keys and etched his opinion that she was a rectal orifice in her driver's side door.

[TragicMonkey]

Parking related: in shopping centers, people just leave their carts wherever. Despite there being cart return places, sometimes only a couple of spaces down. They'd rather just leave them sitting around, blocking a space...and I bet the same people who leave their carts like that are the ones who curse the most when they arrive somewhere and can't get a space because of all the carts all over the place!

If I had my way, people who left carts like that should be required to spend a whole day rounding up abandoned carts in a busy shopping center parking lot. And then made to lick the bottoms of all the wheels on all the carts. There's no justice like gross monkey justice.

[Just thinking]

Parking related: in shopping centers, people just leave their carts wherever. Despite there being cart return places, sometimes only a couple of spaces down. They'd rather just leave them sitting around, blocking a space...and I bet the same people who leave their carts like that are the ones who curse the most when they arrive somewhere and can't get a space because of all the carts all over the place!

There does seem to be something about parking lots ... like how drivers think that they don't have to follow traffic signs (<--- One Way) or keep to the right, or park in designated spots, or stay out of no-parking areas because they are not on a public road.

[Just thinking]

The way it should work is: on a multi-lane road, the people on the left should be going somewhat faster than the people in the immediate lane to their right.

Ever notice how even on an empty US road a vehicle coming onto the multi-lane highway from an entrance ramp will immediately get over one or even two lanes to their left? There's no one to pass or avoid ... they just naturally gravitate to the left lanes. Oh yes, and without a signal, of course.

Recently I was passing a BMW on the NJ Parkway ... he was in the right most lane and I was one lane over to his left. No sooner do I begin to pass him does he start to get over into my lane. No, he's not about to pass someone himself nor avoid an accident. He just decides it's time to get over into my lane for no reason what so ever. (Yes he got the horn and quickly woke up from his autonomic trance.)

[CapelDodger]

Lane discipline should be a compulsary school-subject, and the rod should not be spared. The inside lane is the driving lane, the middle lane is the overtaking lane, the outside lane is the fast lane. If there are more lanes than that you're near Heathrow and it's time to pay attention.

The motorways into Paris are sauve qui peut, they're coming past you on all sides, it's mayhem. The Portuguese overtake on blind bends because they can't see anything coming the other way! Don't get me started on the Greeks, and the Maltese ... Jeebus, Mary and Joseph. All over the dashboard, all over the windscreen, and constantly prayed to.

[Silly Green Monkey]

The pukes who speed up to the exit ramps and force people to slow down or speed up because they won't move, even though there's nobody else near them on the highway.

I don't understand---if there's no one near them, who's being forced to slow down or speed up? And why would anyone stop on an exit ramp?

[Polaris]

I don't understand---if there's no one near them, who's being forced to slow down or speed up? And why would anyone stop on an exit ramp?

Nobody's stopping. They are in the right-most lane, and go parallel to you when you're trying to exit. Eventually that exit lane runs out, so you either have to give the gas or the break a nudge to merge.

[Polaris]

Parking related: in shopping centers, people just leave their carts wherever. Despite there being cart return places, sometimes only a couple of spaces down. They'd rather just leave them sitting around, blocking a space...and I bet the same people who leave their carts like that are the ones who curse the most when they arrive somewhere and can't get a space because of all the carts all over the place!

If I had my way, people who left carts like that should be required to spend a whole day rounding up abandoned carts in a busy shopping center parking lot. And then made to lick the bottoms of all the wheels on all the carts. There's no justice like gross monkey justice.

When I was in high school a friend of mine bought his first car - a Ranger. He worked a pizzeria next to a Food Lion grocery store. The second day he had it, someone unloaded their groceries from the cart (that's a trolley for the folks across the pond) and let it drift (this is in WV where nothing is level). Guess what it hit.

From that day afterward he took every wayward cart he found drifting and heaved it over a guardrail into a stream. He got a good dozen down there before they started policing them up better at the store.

[kookbreaker]

1) Drivers who treat parking lots like Indy speedways.

2) Drivers who don't know where the sides of their (usually enourmous) autos are in reagards to the lanes.

3) Drivers who have to dog left to turn right becuase they are only using one hand (the other is on the cell phone, dontcha know).

4) Drivers who assume that because I am on a bike that will brake the traffic laws, and then honk at me because their little end-around the waiting cars by using the parking lane won't work if I don't run the red.

5) Lane dancers.

[Ralph]

I just arrived at work ( a HOSPITAL). I took me 10 minutes longer than usual to get here because every freaking road & side street leading to the hospital was grid-locked.

The grid-lock was due to a funeral for some big-wig and the fact there's some kind of sacred rule against cutting across a funeral---even if the line is crawling & to do so would not impede the progress of the funeral procession at all.

I'd hate to think a live person died because he couldn't get to the hospital on time because of a traffic jam caused by a dead guy.

[gnome]

I'd hate to think a live person died because he couldn't get to the hospital on time because of a traffic jam caused by a dead guy.
And then the dead guy's funeral holds up traffic, and the circle continues.

[Sandy M]

All that stuff, and....

People who merge onto a 65MPH freeway at 35 MPH and expect ME, in the slow lane, pulling a two-horse trailer at the legally mandated 55 MPH, to either speed up and get past them IMMEDIATELY (takes us a while to accelerate with several thousand lb. trailer and two 1,200 lb. beasts in it - not to mention that the beasts do NOT take kindly to unexpected QUICK acceleration) or to SUDDENLY HIT THE BRAKES (nooooo!!! horsies don't like THAT either) so they can put-put in front of me. Or in the alternative, who see the truck and attempt to MERGE into the side of the trailer! Or those lovely folks who ARE speeding, cut in front of me, then abruptly slow down. Folks, I'd undoubtedly get hurt, and my horses injured too, but when my 3/4 truck, trailer, etc. hit your Z-3 or Beetle, you're gonna be DEAD.

[jimlintott]

Funerals.

I've told my kids that if they feel it necessary to have a funeral for me that the hearse driver is to be instructed to drive as fast as possible. I wouldn't want my last car ride to be at three miles an hour. He is to also stop at every light to let other people get on with their lives as I will have all day.

Actually I want my body used as a crash test dummy.:D

[Checkmite]

I just arrived at work ( a HOSPITAL).

I'd hate to see somebody bring in a code who ends up dying because the triage staffer is too busy SURFING THE ****** WEB...

.... :p

[Twilek]

The idiots who insist on double-parking even though there's plenty of open curb-side a couple car-lenths away.

Even worse, those who do this on one-way roads where there are cars parked on both sides and there's no room to go around.

Montrealers seem to be quite fond of both of these auto-aggravations.

The additional mind-boggling observation I have with this problem is that people are, on the other hand, very careful to not block a driveway or alley-way, even if only for a minute to drop-off or pick someone up or something.

Yeah, it's a ticketable offense, but what are the odds that you're going to block someone else by doing that compared to the CERTAINTY that you are a road-hazard to dozens upon dozens of people when you instead double-park on a busy roadway?... which is also a ticketable offense!

[Ralph]

I'd hate to see somebody bring in a code who ends up dying because the triage staffer is too busy SURFING THE ****** WEB...

.... :p

So would I.

They do let us take breaks though.

[jj]

Ok.

Ok, you idiot in the tan BMW who passed me by yourself in the carpool lane this morning on my way to work! What is your problem, anyhow? Why do you have to pass me when I'm already at the ramp speed limit, going uphill, if not more, and cut into the carpool lane to do it, then pass about 5 other cars on the right, cut over to the center lane, pass a few more, and then cut back in front of me AGAIN to get off the same (next to the one you entered on) exit I'm getting off at? I went slower, without lots of changes of direction, no horn-honking, no desparate diving into holes in traffic, and I GOT THERE AT THE SAME TIME YOU DID. And except for your ugly Bummer cutting in front of me, TWICE, my blood pressure was a heck of a lot lower than yours.

Twirp!

[Furious]

Sorry, no sympathy here.

You admit that the person is passing others. Therefore, they are driving appropriately.

Consider it from someone who is doing the passing. They are passing slower traffic, and some a-hole is getting annoyed because, apparently, they are not passing the slower traffic fast enough, despite the fact that they are going over the speed limit.

That's not bad driving on their part in the least. They came upon slow traffic and passed them. That's the way traffic should work. The fact that you are traveling well over the speed limit is not their fault.

Ah, perhaps I did not frame it correctly.

They are not driving any less appropriately than I am; they are speeding as well, they've just decided on a degree of speeding less than the people behind them (and I fully realize the law makes this distinction when assessing fines and targeting which speeders to pull over).

Also, it is clear they are in no hurry to get around, and are oblivious to the congestion they are creating. We're talking 5 miles an hour or less than the person they have stepped out to pass. Frankly, I suspect its more an issue of not wanting someone in front of them rather than truly wanting to go faster than the car in front of them. This is all on a two-lane highway in a rural area btw.

And I don't mind if they do this for a car or two, but over several miles of travel where they clearly have the oppurtunity to get in the right lane, let more aggressive speeders pass, and then continue on their merry not-very-aggressive-speeding ways.

[BPSCG]

Funerals.

I've told my kids that if they feel it necessary to have a funeral for me that the hearse driver is to be instructed to drive as fast as possible. I wouldn't want my last car ride to be at three miles an hour. He is to also stop at every light to let other people get on with their lives as I will have all day.Reminds me of a cartoon I once saw. Hearse in traffic. Passenger says to the driver, "Pass that guy up ahead. He would have wanted it that way."

[BPSCG]

[vent]
Ok, you idiot in the tan BMW who passed me by yourself in the carpool lane this morning on my way to work! What is your problem, anyhow? Why do you have to pass me when I'm already at the ramp speed limit, going uphill, if not more, and cut into the carpool lane to do it, then pass about 5 other cars on the right, cut over to the center lane, pass a few more, and then cut back in front of me AGAIN to get off the same (next to the one you entered on) exit I'm getting off at? That was Jocko. He was trying to get under your butt.

[Aurelian]

Windshield wiper fluid blow-back when the sunroof is open...

[Just thinking]

... it is clear they are in no hurry to get around, and are oblivious to the congestion they are creating. We're talking 5 miles an hour or less than the person they have stepped out to pass. Frankly, I suspect its more an issue of not wanting someone in front of them rather than truly wanting to go faster than the car in front of them. This is all on a two-lane highway in a rural area btw.

And I don't mind if they do this for a car or two, but over several miles of travel where they clearly have the oppurtunity to get in the right lane, let more aggressive speeders pass, and then continue on their merry not-very-aggressive-speeding ways.

This scenario need not even involve speeding ... I've seen it done where each vehicle you described is going at or below the speed limit, so I know the frustration you are experiencing.

[Just thinking]

People that pass stopped traffic at a light in the right shoulder -- especially motorcycles. It's times like this I wish I had an old beat-up Checker ... just happen to swing open the passenger side door. Oooops ... sorry about that, are you OK? What were you doing in the shoulder like that? Too bad about your bike, I'll gladly drive you to the hospital, OK?

[Jocko]

That was Jocko. He was trying to get under your butt.

Ha, shows how much you know, wise guy. Obviously you have no idea how hard it is to keep jj in frame at 50 mph. But hey, if Dick Cheney doesn't have his tapes at the end of the week, he's gonna take it out on me and you do NOT want to make him angry.

[BPSCG]

Ha, shows how much you know, wise guy. Obviously you have no idea how hard it is to keep jj in frame at 50 mph. Oh, c'mon, it's not that hard. I do it all the time. You just need the right equipment, that's all...

[jj]

That was Jocko. He was trying to get under your butt.

So, Jocko is a middle-aged black female?

[jj]

Oh, c'mon, it's not that hard. I do it all the time. You just need the right equipment, that's all...



You guys can't give up the stalking, can you? You're neither funny nor topical, and you just horned in to derail a thread, again.

[BPSCG]

So, Jocko is a middle-aged black female?Surprised me, too. I mean, hey, look at your first sig line.

You guys can't give up the stalking, can you? You're neither funny nor topical, and you just horned in to derail a thread, again.Hey, I had twelve posts on this thread before you got your first one in. I own this thread, dude! :hit:

[Just thinking]

... I own this thread, dude! :hit:

And that was a good price you gave me for it, too. Thanks. ;)

[ImaginalDisc]

I will also add that the only thing more annoying than a tailgater is someone in front of you who refuses to speed up, even when you get this/close behind them.

Tailgating is murder. If I'm driving at sixty-five miles per hour down the highway, and you tailgate right behind me, my chances of living through an accident are much, much lower. When idiots like you tailgate people, you are endangering the lives of other just because you want to go slightly faster.

Tough cookies.

Edit - Peeve: People who drive into oncomming traffic, in a traffic circle. My town built a traffic circle in the four way stop right by my house. At least once a week, I see someone try to drive around the circle clockwise, and either nrrowly avoid a wreck, and clog the intersection, or actually get into a wreck.

[BPSCG]

Tailgating is murder. If I'm driving at sixty-five miles per hour down the highway, and you tailgate right behind me, my chances of living through an accident are much, much lower. When idiots like you tailgate people, you are endangering the lives of other just because you want to go slightly faster.

Tough cookies.
Proc_Get_Rid_of_Tailgater
set @tailgater = true
set @speed = @speedometer_reading
begin

while @tailgater = trueset @speed = @speed - 2
set @time = 0


while @time < 3set @time = @time + 1 second

end

do check_rearview


if @car = 'gone'set @tailgater = false

endif

end

Works every time. Plus it pisses the tailgater off.

Note: Do not use the above routine while in the left lane. Instead, you'll want to use the routine Move_Over, which is a little too complex for me to list here. Move_Over has an Easter Egg (http://www.computerhope.com/eggs.htm) coded inside. At apparently random intervals, when the tailgater you moved over for passes you at about 25 mph faster than you were going, you will see him on the side of the road a few miles ahead, either upside down (preferable) or having a discussion about his driving habits with a representative of the executive branch of the local government.

[Jocko]

Tailgating is murder. If I'm driving at sixty-five miles per hour down the highway, and you tailgate right behind me, my chances of living through an accident are much, much lower. When idiots like you tailgate people, you are endangering the lives of other just because you want to go slightly faster.

Tough cookies.

Edit - Peeve: People who drive into oncomming traffic, in a traffic circle. My town built a traffic circle in the four way stop right by my house. At least once a week, I see someone try to drive around the circle clockwise, and either nrrowly avoid a wreck, and clog the intersection, or actually get into a wreck.


If you're too dense to get that glaringly obvious joke, then you have absolutely no place behind the wheel. Seriously, you're pretty ****** stupid, dude.

[Jocko]

So, Jocko is a middle-aged black female?

I figured it would be the last thing you'd expect. Makes it easier to get close to you. Think about that the next time you're missing a few beers from your fridge. ;)

[ImaginalDisc]

If you're too dense to get that glaringly obvious joke, then you have absolutely no place behind the wheel. Seriously, you're pretty ****** stupid, dude.

Separating your posts which are intentionally insulting and flippant, for the purposes of humorous effect, and those which are more genuinely asinine is a more time consuming task than I am willing to waste on you.

[zenith-nadir]

Lane discipline should be a compulsary school-subject, and the rod should not be spared.There is no such thing as lane discipline in North America. Folks pass on the right, on the shoulder, drive under the speed limit fast lane, or over the speed limit when there is ice and snow, happily cruise down the interstate with turn indicators flashing, overtake then pull in front and slow down...:boggled:


Two big ones that haven't been addressed:

1) Drivers who pick their noses!

2) Drivers who share whatever is on their car stereo with everyone else within a mile radius.

[BPSCG]

1) Drivers who pick their noses!Why don't you concentrate on what lane you're in and whose ass you're crawling up at 65 mph instead of how far my finger is jammed up my nose in my car?

[Jocko]

Separating your posts which are intentionally insulting and flippant, for the purposes of humorous effect, and those which are more genuinely asinine is a more time consuming task than I am willing to waste on you.

Though compulsive, lengthy replies are not, it seems.

Don't do me any favors, you humorless slug.

[BPSCG]

Though compulsive, lengthy replies are not, it seems.

Don't do me any favors, you humorless slug.Jocko, I might have to travel to Florida on business sometime in the next few weeks. You want me to get his reaction to my riding up his ass at 92 mph in my mud-covered HumVee (the one with the Confederate Stars and Bars license plate and the roof-mounted spotlights) on film? Me and my assistant gots the cameras loaded.

[Jocko]

Jocko, I might have to travel to Florida on business sometime in the next few weeks. You want me to get his reaction to my riding up his ass at 92 mph in my mud-covered HumVee (the one with the Confederate Stars and Bars license plate and the roof-mounted spotlights) on film? Me and my assistant gots the cameras loaded.

So I expect that you want me to assume full responsibility for monitoring jj 24/7 while you're off putzing around in Florida. Lucky me.

[ImaginalDisc]

Jocko, I might have to travel to Florida on business sometime in the next few weeks. You want me to get his reaction to my riding up his ass at 92 mph in my mud-covered HumVee (the one with the Confederate Stars and Bars license plate and the roof-mounted spotlights) on film? Me and my assistant gots the cameras loaded.

Oh, add "flash rear flood light" to the script you wrote. It's worth its weight in gold, since it makes the center brake light on my volvo station wagon behaves just as though I'm slamming on my brakes. I'll probably feint once or twice, and then abruptly slow down, causing you to run into my car. The tortuous shriek of shearing metal will sound as we'll both roll off a cliff (Cliffs in Florida are provided by the Miami Vice prop department), bursting into flame as we tumble, and finally exploding into a huge, roaring inferno from which there will be no survivors.

That is sarcasm Jocko. Take notes.

[alfaniner]

Vent it here ... bad driiving on the road.

OK, I've been wanting to ask this ever since seeing the thread title...

Is there such a thing as "bad off-road driving"?

[ImaginalDisc]

OK, I've been wanting to ask this ever since seeing the thread title...

Is there such a thing as "bad off-road driving"?


Think about how much more annoying and pointless tailgating would be in an open plain.

More seriously; yes.

http://contagious-racing.8m.com/oops1.htm

[zenith-nadir]

OK, I've been wanting to ask this ever since seeing the thread title...

Is there such a thing as "bad off-road driving"?Sure. Driving off designated routes, widening trails by driving off the middle of the trail, leaving gates open, damaging trees by not using a wide tree strap, dumping garbage, “spooking” or chasing wildlife, not avoiding sensitive habitats...

[Jocko]

That is sarcasm Jocko. Take notes.

No, that is a horribly belabored strain on my attention span with absolutely no ironic payoff or humor value.

But noted nonetheless.

[BPSCG]

It's worth its weight in gold, since it makes the center brake light on my volvo station wagon behaves...Volvo.

Station wagon.


Why am I not surprised?

[BPSCG]

So I expect that you want me to assume full responsibility for monitoring jj 24/7 while you're off putzing around in Florida. Lucky me.At least you won't be stuck on the interstate behind some five-foot high 83-year-old #$% New York retiree who can't see above his steering wheel sitting in the left lane at 37 mph.

In his Volvo.

Station wagon.

That reminds me, gotta check to make sure the RPG is packed and the flamethrower is fully charged...

[ImaginalDisc]

Volvo.

Station wagon.


Why am I not surprised?

Because you peg people into rigid sterotypes?

[Jocko]

Because you peg people into rigid sterotypes?

Only the self-validating ones. Since it requires a sense of irony to appreciate that, I'm afraid you're just gonna have to take my word for it. ;)

[Just thinking]

OK, I've been wanting to ask this ever since seeing the thread title...

Is there such a thing as "bad off-road driving"?

Hell yes!

I have a neighbor behind my yard that has recently begun allowing his punk kid to ride his dirt bike and quad around and around a small section. It kicks up a lot of dust and makes for a good deal of noise. I'm looking into my township's rules to find out if such behavior is allowed (I can't see how it can be ... but so far nothing directly prohibits it). He does this several times each day, and if one wishes to have their windows open on nice warm days ... forget it. Not to mention a nice peaceful day in one's backyard.

[kookbreaker]

A further one from me:

Donut riders. Those little replacement tires are not meant to be reaplcements for full-sized tires. If you are driving on two of them for 30+ miles at 70 mph on the highway, you are definately doing something wrong.

[BPSCG]

I have a neighbor behind my yard that has recently begun allowing his punk kid to ride his dirt bike and quad around and around a small section. It kicks up a lot of dust and makes for a good deal of noise. Check out anti-noise ordinances. Before you call in the law, though, you might want to see if your neighbor can be reasoned with.

[aggle-rithm]

I once witnessed the most extreme and baffling episode of passive-aggression I have ever seen. My wife and I drove up to an intersection where through-access had been temporarily blocked for street repairs. The workers had set up cones and a traffic cop was there, chatting with the workers. He didn't need to direct traffic, really, because it was pretty obvious that approaching traffic simply needed to turn right.

After a while of waiting, I realized that the line of cars was not moving. I looked up ahead and saw that one of the drivers had gotten out of his car and was having a heated exchange with the woman driving the car at the front of the line. By his gestures, he was clearly indicating that she should make a right turn, go down the street, then come back. She responded by shrugging and pointing straight ahead.

The problem was that she wanted to go straight. She did not want to turn right. And she was going to wait until hell froze over, if necessary, before she would move from her spot.

One by one, the other drivers got out of their vehicles and pleaded their case with the woman, but she would not be moved. Finally, someone got the attention of the traffic cop, who was able, with some difficulty, to persuade the woman to move on.

Sheesh! I still get high blood pressure just thinking about it.

[Just thinking]

Check out anti-noise ordinances. Before you call in the law, though, you might want to see if your neighbor can be reasoned with.

I checked out the noise issue ... it seems that they apply from 11 PM to 7 AM, and he is clearly not out there at that time. But reasoning may be futile, as there is really no time that this sort of backyard riding is reasonable. We're not talking 5 acre lots here. We previously had issues with these folks letting their kids have parties with LOUD music playing all weekend long during summer months. Their response: they said they can't control them.

[Belz...]

OP:

People who decide that they speed up on a yellow (or red) light, yet get to a monstrously slow start once the light turns green.

[bigred]

Cyclepath (n): (adj) cyclepathic

1. One who blithely insists that cars and other vehicles able to exceed a brisk jogging pace "share the roadway" with bicylists while assuming no responsibility for their own reckless and unlawful conduct, i.e., blowing through stop signs, red lights, "bridge out" warnings, etc.

See also: Relative mass and right-of-way.
LOL and touche

[Forty-Two]

I was driving near LA, which is something I tend to avoid due to the horrendous drivers. I had several close calls (I got behind someone driving on a flat tire. As soon as I noticed, I backed off and gave him several car lengths. Sure enough, the tire blew out and he swerved. Fortunately, he got it under control), but there was one incident I found somewhat amusing.

I got cut off by someone whose vanity plate included the word "KARMA." I found it odd that someone with such a plate would be so rude. Shouldn't that person be about peace and love and courtesy on the road? At the very least, shouldn't she think twice before cutting someone off because now she has invited herself to be cut off as a consequence?

Then I remembered: Karma's a b*tch.

[bigred]

Tailgating is murder. If I'm driving at sixty-five miles per hour down the highway, and you tailgate right behind me, my chances of living through an accident are much, much lower. When idiots like you tailgate people, you are endangering the lives of other just because you want to go slightly faster.

Tough cookies.
That's because idiots like you can't grasp the simple concept of the PASSING lane. It is called that for a reason, FYI. Don't like it? MOVE.

As for your chances being lower to survive the accident, thanks that gives us even more incentive.

[bigred]

Don't get me started on those self-important people who are SO important they can't hold a Gawddamned phine call for the five STINKIN minutes it would take to pull over and conduct their ALL-Important business so they aren't a danger to themselves, and more importantly, to ME and the people I care about. If you're in a car accident with me and it was due to your f'kin EGO being SO huge that you couldn't just take a f'kin message, you better be callin 911. Because if you don't need an ambulance from the accident, you will by the time the cops arrive.

amen. I'll back you in court btw. :cool: This may get my vote as the worst, esp. considering how these people seem to be breeding like cockroaches. If I was high-up gov't brass, I'd push hard for it to be a FEDERAL law that you cannot talk on a phone and drive, hands-free or not (if it's that important, pull over; if not, let voicemail get it). If I were a cop, I'd happily bust every dork I saw doing this. If I were judge, I'd give NO 2d chances and impose max fines. If I were a scupltor...oops nevermind. :)

I'm sure they've all been mentioned numerous times, but my "top 10", more or less in order:

1 - Zipping in and out of lanes and esp. cutting in front of me. I delight in speeding up so these obnoxious losers can't do this and have been known to drive out of my way to return the favor. If these people weren't sitting on their alleged brains so much, they might realize that most of the time if they'd just stay in the left lane, in the long run they'll get there quicker. If they're in that much of a hurry, shoulda left the house earlier. chill out.

1b: the worst of the cutting in front people are the ones who know a lane ends/merges well in advance but wait to the LAST possible second and think they're so important the seas will just part and whoever's there will just get out of their way. Bite me a-hole. They never get the chance w/me. One time I didn't let a punk in who pulled that and traffic was slow - I looked back 20+ cars later and he was still there, lol (in fact I could say "1c" is the people who let them in)


2 - Going slowER in the left lane than the people behind you, no matter what speed you're going. MOVE moron.

3 - Blasting one's car stereo at obscene levels - lot of slugs around here who are so completely w/o brain activity that they think "louder = better" - even to the point where if they get it so loud the windows vibrate, ooooooh good stuff! Cops should have the latitude to pull these people over and simply shoot the stereos.

4 - Tailgating (except perhaps when encountering #2, although it's still inadvisable).

5 - "Rubberneckers." You know, the ones who when they are passing the scene of an accident, or even if it's just someone pulled over by a cop, slow WAAAAAY down for the longest time. If you're THAT fascinated, pull the #$@! over and gawk but MOVE IT OR GET OUT OF THE WAY!

6 - Not using signals. I don't care if you think people should be able to read your mind or you have plenty of room - one of these days you might not have the room you thought you had. Cops should be pulling people over for this too.

7 - Leaving one's highbeams on when traffic is coming the other way. This is another one where I return the favor.

8 - Slowing down in the middle of a road because they are looking for some place or aren't sure which way to go. PULL OVER AND FIGURE IT OUT MORON! That's not just stupid and rude, it's dangerous on a highway. Similarly people who have a green light and don't GO. I can live with a few seconds delay because they weren't paying attention, but that's about it.

9 - Going through a light LONG after it's turned red (ie more than a second or so). Again, not just rude and stupid, but dangerous. Not that I mind if they die too much, but I might get hurt.

10 - People who can't park ie end up too far to the left or right of the space. One guy did that to me once when I came back to my car and I could scarcely squeeze in, on a rainy day no less, so OOPS I accidentally slammed my door into his, leaving a sizeable ding. Shame, what with it being a nice little Beamer and all. :)


When I was in high school a friend of mine bought his first car - a Ranger. He worked a pizzeria next to a Food Lion grocery store. The second day he had it, someone unloaded their groceries from the cart (that's a trolley for the folks across the pond) and let it drift (this is in WV where nothing is level). Guess what it hit.

From that day afterward he took every wayward cart he found drifting and heaved it over a guardrail into a stream. He got a good dozen down there before they started policing them up better at the store.
LMAO

I want to buy your friend a drink.


This all reminds me, if you haven't heard Jimmy Buffett's "I-95 Song," check it out. Even if you're not a fan, you should like it. :)

[BPSCG]

1b: the worst of the cutting in front people are the ones who know a lane ends/merges well in advance but wait to the LAST possible second and think they're so important the seas will just part and whoever's there will just get out of their way. Okay, I routinely do this, but with one caveat: I start planning my merge well in advance of the end of the line. Invariably, there's someone in the line who's a little slow on the uptake when the traffic ahead of him starts moving again, and I can zip in front of him without his having to even tap his brake and without disrupting the flow of traffic.

But you have to know how to merge to do that, and a lot of people have no more idea how to merge than how to rewire the insides of their TV's. And when one of them tries to merge with me, I squeeze him like Pamela Anderson's boobs. Well, like I'd like to squeeze Pamela Anderson's boobs.

The guys I really hate, who are lucky I don't carry a gun around, are the ones who decide they're going to get around all this traffic by driving up on the shoulder. Sometimes you can bust them by moving about halfway onto the shoulder yourself, but when the shoulder's too wide, they just go around you. Scum-sucking bastards.

2 - Going slowER in the left lane than the people behind you, no matter what speed you're going. MOVE moron.If you're going slower than the people behind you, why aren't they ramming into you?

9 - Going through a light LONG after it's turned red (ie more than a second or so). Again, not just rude and stupid, but dangerous. Not that I mind if they die too much, but I might get hurt.My mother taught me never jump into the intersection the instant the light turns green for you. When you think of the number of red light runners there are out there, that was probably the best advice she ever gave me. Okay, second best. The best was, when the light turns green, if there's someone in the lane to your left, let him get slightly ahead of you when you move into the intersection; that way, the red light runner will T-bone him, not you. My mother lived in Nazi-occupied Paris during the war, so she has good survival instincts.

OOPS I accidentally slammed my door into his, leaving a sizeable ding. Shame, what with it being a nice little Beamer and all. :)What, you couldn't find your keys?

[alfaniner]

I just had a problem at a roundabout, one of the very few we have around here. I got in behind a car that stopped and waited for the car at the next entry to enter the roundabout, even though that one had the Yield sign. That car entered, and the car in front of me proceeded again, to the next entry where another car was waiting. This one stopped again, holding up everyone on the roundabout once again. It was here where I laid on my horn, something I rarely do. I can see where they thought the car on the right might have the right of way, but since there were no STOP or YIELD signs in the roundabout I felt perfectly justified.

[Kerberos]

That's because idiots like you can't grasp the simple concept of the PASSING lane. It is called that for a reason, FYI. Don't like it? MOVE.

As for your chances being lower to survive the accident, thanks that gives us even more incentive.
And "PASSING lane" is Englsih for "place where the traffic and/or bassic sanity doesn't apply"?

[Forty-Two]

While we're venting about merging, the other day I was merging onto the highway when I almost got run off the road by a semi. I was accellerating and juding the distance, and had the truck driver maintained his speed, I would have been able to swing into the lane in front of him, and due to my size and manueverability, accellerate to the point where his driving would have been completely undisturbed. Unfortunately, the truck driver saw me and decided to accellerate, leaving me no place to go as my lane disappeared. I hit that point where suddenly you recognize that there's no way you'll be able to pass the guy and your best bet is to go behind, and since I was running out of lane, I had to slow down and ride up on the shoulder. Fortunately, the people behind me were aware of what was going on, so I didn't get rear-ended, but I was pretty pissed off at the semi driver. Further down the highway, I saw him do the same to other people merging, so I know he's the one at fault.

[jj]

Proc_Get_Rid_of_Tailgater
set @tailgater = true
set @speed = @speedometer_reading
begin

while @tailgater = trueset @speed = @speed - 2
set @time = 0


while @time < 3set @time = @time + 1 second

end

do check_rearview


if @car = 'gone'set @tailgater = false

endif

end

Works every time. Plus it pisses the tailgater off.

Note: Do not use the above routine while in the left lane. Instead, you'll want to use the routine Move_Over, which is a little too complex for me to list here. Move_Over has an Easter Egg (http://www.computerhope.com/eggs.htm) coded inside. At apparently random intervals, when the tailgater you moved over for passes you at about 25 mph faster than you were going, you will see him on the side of the road a few miles ahead, either upside down (preferable) or having a discussion about his driving habits with a representative of the executive branch of the local government.


Sometimes you do get it right...

[jj]

We're not talking 5 acre lots here. We previously had issues with these folks letting their kids have parties with LOUD music playing all weekend long during summer months. Their response: they said they can't control them.

Well, at least once, after asking somebody to turn it down a couple of times (and I'm not exactly the most sensitive to noise, mind you, either, I'm told I sleep like a brick), I got dressed, walked over and asked if I could have a beer, too.

When the old folks started to join (I saw the 'rents blink and catch on immediately, and come on out to join, too), the party ended in a flash.

Hee hee

[BPSCG]

Well, at least once, after asking somebody to turn it down a couple of times (and I'm not exactly the most sensitive to noise, mind you, either, I'm told I sleep like a brick), I got dressed, walked over and asked if I could have a beer, too.

When the old folks started to join (I saw the 'rents blink and catch on immediately, and come on out to join, too), the party ended in a flash.

Hee heeAnd you, too. Nice! Hee hee indeed!

[Spidey13]

Most of my driving pet peeves have already been mentioned, but a couple of years ago I did experience a nice episode of instant karma. I was driving down a road and a guy coming from a side street on the left in a small, red convertible decided to completely ignore his stop sign and pull out in front of me, causing me to hit my brakes. After he got in front of me and slammed on the gas, some important looking papers flew out of his back seat into the road in front of me. I swerved just a little to make sure both of my left tires ran right over them as he pulled over to come back and retrieve them. :D

[Zbu]

One thing that bugs me is when you come up to a gas station or a convenience store near a stop and the ass wanting to pull out starts inching out like you're automatically supposed to let them out and gets all bitchy and makes me feel like I'm doing something wrong by not bending over backwards just so they can get out. It's my decision. If you don't like it, then pull out another way.

And what makes this worse? When some complete idiot decides to pull left out when both lanes are packed. Traffic is at a standstill so some idiot (either SUV or a Ford Focus) can block three lanes of traffic to attempt to get in on the other side. How anybody can rationalize that is just beyond me. I've stopped letting people do that but the way they look like I'm the idiot.....

I want a shotgun. These people obviously are too stupid to drive.

Plus, what about those jerks who, when they see an nearly empty parking lot, decide to cut across the spaces to get wherever the hell they're doing? Huh??

[Polaris]

There is no such thing as lane discipline in North America. Folks pass on the right, on the shoulder, drive under the speed limit fast lane, or over the speed limit when there is ice and snow, happily cruise down the interstate with turn indicators flashing, overtake then pull in front and slow down...:boggled:

Yet despite the lack of brain-power in winter weather (you should see it in Texas!), I wasnt able to get someone to plow into the back of me! (I have a dented rear bumper that I need to have replaced, and I can't afford it - it was my own stupidity that caused the damage so the insurance won't cover it - so I figured if someone was gonna ride my tail after an ice storm, they could pay for it. Best laid plans...

Two big ones that haven't been addressed:

1) Drivers who pick their noses!

2) Drivers who share whatever is on their car stereo with everyone else within a mile radius.

My nose-picking becomes your business when you're wondering where that quarter-round smear on your windshield came from when you use the washer-fluid.

Agree on the audio-warfare pukes, who seem to be noctural too! Well, they didn't invent bazookas for nothing.

[Just thinking]

... Agree on the audio-warfare pukes, who seem to be noctural too! Well, they didn't invent bazookas for nothing.

It wouldn't be so bad if they actually played MUSIC.

[bigred]

Okay, I routinely do this, but with one caveat: I start planning my merge well in advance of the end of the line. Invariably, there's someone in the line who's a little slow on the uptake when the traffic ahead of him starts moving again, and I can zip in front of him without his having to even tap his brake and without disrupting the flow of traffic.Got ya, I'm cool w/that. Not what I meant though, FYI.

The guys I really hate, who are lucky I don't carry a gun around, are the ones who decide they're going to get around all this traffic by driving up on the shoulder. Sometimes you can bust them by moving about halfway onto the shoulder yourself, but when the shoulder's too wide, they just go around you. ...then i swing out even wider. I love messin w/these a-holes too. What gets me is then THEY have the nerve to get PO'd :boggled:

If you're going slower than the people behind you, why aren't they ramming into you? You know what I meant, wise guy!


My mother taught me never jump into the intersection the instant the light turns green for you. When you think of the number of red light runners there are out there, that was probably the best advice she ever gave me. Okay, second best. The best was, when the light turns green, if there's someone in the lane to your left, let him get slightly ahead of you when you move into the intersection; that way, the red light runner will T-bone him, not you. My mother lived in Nazi-occupied Paris during the war, so she has good survival instincts.


[QUOTE]What, you couldn't find your keys? :confused:

[bigred]

Plus, what about those jerks who, when they see an nearly empty parking lot, decide to cut across the spaces to get wherever the hell they're doing? Huh??:confused: OK I admit I do this sometimes. Why does this bother you? It's not like I'm getting in your way or anything.

[bigred]

It wouldn't be so bad if they actually played MUSIC.
:THUNDEROUS APPLAUSE:

[BPSCG]

10 - People who can't park ie end up too far to the left or right of the space. One guy did that to me once when I came back to my car and I could scarcely squeeze in, on a rainy day no less, so OOPS I accidentally slammed my door into his, leaving a sizeable ding. Shame, what with it being a nice little Beamer and all. :)
What, you couldn't find your keys?
:confused:
To scratch your opinion of him in his Beemer's door.

[gnome]

That's because idiots like you can't grasp the simple concept of the PASSING lane. It is called that for a reason, FYI. Don't like it? MOVE.

As for your chances being lower to survive the accident, thanks that gives us even more incentive.

Ok, so being right is more important to you than being alive (and you're happy to take others with you). Thanks for sharing.

[HeyLeroy]

Peeves:

1) I'm diving down a 2-lane road (1 lane in each direction) where the speed limit is 50 mph. I'm going between 50 and 55 (let's be honest, that's not unusual) and there is no one behind me, at least as I can see. Another car is stopped at an upcoming crossroad -- does he wait for me to drive past the crossroad first? No, he must pull out onto the road and be in front of me -- and then go no more than 40 mph. Of course, the road then becomes a no passing road for the next 5 miles.

(snip).


I was just going to post that very same one. There's no-one for miles behind be, but some idjit has to dart into the 1.125 car length in front of me, forcing me to stand on the binder pedal. A second later and they could be behind me, without the jack-rabbit jump into traffic.

I need bumper-mounted missiles.

[jj]

I was just going to post that very same one. There's no-one for miles behind be, but some idjit has to dart into the 1.125 car length in front of me, forcing me to stand on the binder pedal. A second later and they could be behind me, without the jack-rabbit jump into traffic.

I need bumper-mounted missiles.


Well, there was the Vauxhall (haul?)(hole) in front of us on the road to the southern ferry (Mallaig) to Skye, that would not pull out or allow people to pass, and who went a good, speedy 15 miles/hour for the last half-hour. We made the ferry by minutes. The Vauxhall, whose owner stopped to argue with someone about some issue at the dock, did not.

[tygirwulf]

Where I'm from, people seem to have an irrational fear of passing police/state trooper cars, even if the law enforcement vehicle is driving slower than the speed limit. In one particular case, I was with my dad on a 4 lane divided highway, speed limit 65mph. We came upon a little parade of 6 cars doing around 58, with the cars in the left lane were going just barely faster. Dad joined the left lane and vehemently urged the lead cars on. We eventually saw the lead car in the right lane was a state trooper, who my dad knew. When the cars ahead of us finally passed the trooper and got back in the right lane, my dad sped up, honked the horn, waved at the trooper and sped up some more to pass them before settling back down to speed limit.

I refuse to let my boyfriend drive anywhere. He has several bad habits in driving. He does not signal at all the vast majority of the time, he will often cut in front of people who are speeding to "make" them go slower, he passes on the right side, he has very poor speed/throttle control and he has a hard time paying attention to the road. On top of that, he feels free to flip off other drivers. The very few times he has driven us around, after a couple of minutes I am a nervous wreck. So I drive us everywhere we have to go, which solves everything. Except other drivers.

[bigred]

To scratch your opinion of him in his Beemer's door.
lol

Too risky. Might get caught. A quick slam was safest.

[bigred]

Ok, so being right is more important to you than being alive (and you're happy to take others with you). Thanks for sharing.
1 - I assume you're saying this because you assume I ride the bumper of anyone who doesn't get out of my way. I don't - but thx for reminding us what they say about the word assume.

2 - Curious how you don't rip on the moron driving really slow, which can also cause accidents...or didn't you know that?

3 - I drive an SUV and like my chances for survival regardless, but thx for caring.

If the moron dies, that's Darwin in action - geez I thought you JREFers were really big on that.

[bigred]

Where I'm from, people seem to have an irrational fear of passing police/state trooper cars, even if the law enforcement vehicle is driving slower than the speed limit. Good call. Even worse are people who are so stupid they don't get that not every car with lights on the roof is a cop car. I see people slowing way down for cars owned by fireman and emergency roadside asst. vehicles.

I refuse to let my boyfriend drive anywhere. He has several bad habits in driving. He does not signal at all the vast majority of the time, he will often cut in front of people who are speeding to "make" them go slower, he passes on the right side, he has very poor speed/throttle control and he has a hard time paying attention to the road. On top of that, he feels free to flip off other drivers. The very few times he has driven us around, after a couple of minutes I am a nervous wreck. So I drive us everywhere we have to go, which solves everything. Except other drivers. Is he in/from Virginia? I swear I run into him at least a half-dozen times a week. You have my sympathies. :cool:

[BPSCG]

I swear I run into him at least a half-dozen times a week. You have my sympathies. :cool:Wow - your repair bills must be frightful. :eek:

[Bikewer]

Working in "campus" law enforcement as I do, I have learned a few things from driving around our congested parking lots.
First, when your back-up lights are on, you have the right-of-way. At least, they think they do, and have no fear whatever of backing out of a parking space directly into oncoming traffic.
This is fueled, of course, by the "I'm late for class" excuse, which automatically absolves all traffic sins.

I actually had one child run into my police car and drive away. We were working a fire alarm, and had two units (with red lights on!) in front of one of the dorms. The young lady backed out of a space, and hit my police car. I was standing a few feet away. She turned, shrugged, and left. After I caught up with her, she said, (of course...) "I was late for class. I would have come back!"

I have a theory about tailgating, by the way. Men are intensely aware of personal "space", and when men tailgate it is usually a calculated and agressive act. "get out of my way!" This is fraught with danger, of course, as the driver ahead may become incensed, and road-rage may occur.

Women, however (as anthropologists note), have a much more intimate notion of "space", and will frequently tailgate you obliviously, even when you are driving a marked police car. I have frequently stopped and asked them if they thought they were maintaining a safe distance, and usually have been met with blank stares. "huh?"

[tygirwulf]

Is he in/from Virginia? I swear I run into him at least a half-dozen times a week. You have my sympathies. :cool:

No, must be some other idiot, we are in Tennessee. Not that my boyfriend is an idiot outside of the driver's seat. :p

In Missouri, it is state law that if there is a cop/trooper on the shoulder, you must move to the next lane or slow down. I follow this at all times, and I have had instances where other drivers get irate at me for doing this. In one circumstance, there was an SUV slowly gaining on me in the left lane, though still quite behind. Up ahead I saw a state trooper, so I switched lanes, a good three or four car lengths in front of the SUV. So they swerved over to the right lane, and when I'd passed the trooper, I switched lanes again. The SUV swerved over and sped up quite a bit, and as it passed me, the lady in the passenger seat started shaking her finger at me, and I could see her mouth moving as if she were giving me a lecture. I did not do anything dangerous, I signalled both lane changes and did not swerve to do so, whereas this SUV could have hit the trooper.

My dad, while not a trooper, works at one of the headquarters, and a trooper he knew fairly well was hit by a car while on the shoulder of the interstate giving someone a ticket for speeding. The woman who hit him was drifting over into the shoulder a bit, and did not see the trooper's car or the car he'd stopped until too late, when she opted to slam on her brakes instead of moving over. The trooper, through some quick reflex, happened to jump just before he was hit, so he was hit on the legs. The bones in his right leg were nearly pulverized, and his left leg was broken in 5 different places. He also suffered broken ribs, a broken arm and numerous cuts and lacerations.

[tygirwulf]

Another thing I hate, is when truckers try to intimidate people by tailgating them. I've had this done to me and it does not deter me from going my speed. And no, I do not cut in front of them. This is when I am minding my own business on a two lane road, (at or above the speed limit, depending on the road) and a semi going faster comes up behind me and tries to get me to go faster by riding my butt. The majority of truckers I've encountered are polite and cautious, but as in any population, some aren't. I for one do not think it's necessary for a rig on a twisty country road to be going significantly faster than a Mini.

[MartinGibbs]

This one isn't really a driving one, but it's the people who have to park their precious cars in 2 spaces so the plebians don't park next to them. These need not be expensive cars either. If you're THAT worried about other cars in the spaces next to you, don't live in a city.

I drive an old, rusty sedan. I just park right up next to them--since they are also parked at the far end of the parking lot. I don't care.

[bigred]

Another thing I hate, is when truckers try to intimidate people by tailgating them. I've had this done to me and it does not deter me from going my speed. And no, I do not cut in front of them. This is when I am minding my own business on a two lane road, (at or above the speed limit, depending on the road) and a semi going faster comes up behind me and tries to get me to go faster by riding my butt. The majority of truckers I've encountered are polite and cautious, but as in any population, some aren't. I for one do not think it's necessary for a rig on a twisty country road to be going significantly faster than a Mini.
If you are in the far left lane when you do this, you are one of the yahoos we are talking about.

It never ceases to amaze me how many people don't get the whole left lane = passing lane concept. Don't they teach this in drive ed anymore???

[gnome]

1 - I assume you're saying this because you assume I ride the bumper of anyone who doesn't get out of my way. I don't - but thx for reminding us what they say about the word assume.

2 - Curious how you don't rip on the moron driving really slow, which can also cause accidents...or didn't you know that?

3 - I drive an SUV and like my chances for survival regardless, but thx for caring.

If the moron dies, that's Darwin in action - geez I thought you JREFers were really big on that.

Pardon me for making that assumption in a message defending tailgaters. If you don't... good. And I never said that slowpokes in the left lane were good drivers--I just say there's no excuse for tailgaiting.

[tygirwulf]

If you are in the far left lane when you do this, you are one of the yahoos we are talking about.

It never ceases to amaze me how many people don't get the whole left lane = passing lane concept. Don't they teach this in drive ed anymore???

Guess you missed when I said two-lane road, eh?

No drivers' ed where I am from. I didn't know such a thing actually existed until I spoke to kids from other states.

[Tmy]

If someones tailgaiting you know what you should do??? GET THE FUDGE OUT OF THE WAY!!!! Its that friggen simple. Geez, just cause the guy is in a hurry doesnt mean you have to take it as a personal attack on your manhood.

[pgwenthold]

If you are in the far left lane when you do this, you are one of the yahoos we are talking about.

?

There is no "far left lane" on a two lane road.

[pgwenthold]

If someones tailgaiting you know what you should do??? GET THE FUDGE OUT OF THE WAY!!!! Its that friggen simple. Geez, just cause the guy is in a hurry doesnt mean you have to take it as a personal attack on your manhood.

On my commute (2 lane road cross-country (that's a TWO lane road, red)) and I am being followed, I will not usually stop and pull out of the way (unless I am having to drive below the speed limit for some reason, like pulling a trailer). However, I will, when I come to stretches of the road where passing is allowed and safe, drive as far on the right side of the road as possible so that the person behind me can clearly see that it is safe to pass.

This is what folks in Texas (particularly the farmers in pickups) would always do, except there the shoulders are so wide that they could even drive on the shoulders. Of course, when the country speed limit on a two lane road is 70 mph, it is useful to have procedures in place to keep the slower traffic out of the way.

[Just thinking]

... In Missouri, it is state law that if there is a cop/trooper on the shoulder, you must move to the next lane or slow down. I follow this at all times, and I have had instances where other drivers get irate at me for doing this.

I experience the same thing here in NJ ... it might not be the law, but I always get one lane over for a pulled over vehicle (especially a police car); you never know who might be standing a bit out in the roadway.

But speaking of police stories (a few were just posted) you'll like this one, a friend of mine many years ago struck another car after sliding down a bridge that was iced over somewhat. Nothing serious (no one hurt), but the cars were damaged to the point of needing a police report. Given that this was well before the use of cell phones, my friend started walking back to get to a phone. He was able to flag down a police car shortly after crossing the bridge. The officer picked him up and said that unfortunately he was still liable for the accident as he must have been going too fast for the conditions -- even icy ones. A good driver can prevent all accidents, and all that. As the officer drove him back to his vehicle, he himself (the officer) was unable to stop in time and struck the other two by sliding into them with his patrol car as he came down the same icy bridge.

[BPSCG]

The trooper, through some quick reflex, happened to jump just before he was hit, so he was hit on the legs. The bones in his right leg were nearly pulverized, and his left leg was broken in 5 different places. He also suffered broken ribs, a broken arm and numerous cuts and lacerations.State trooper once gave a talk to an anti-drunk-driving group I used to belong to. At one point, he told us you've never lived until you've stood on the side of a dark grey highway, wearing a dark grey uniform on a foggy night, writing a drunk driving ticket to someone in a grey car.

[Forty-Two]

Take a look at this (http://go.fark.com/cgi/fark/go.pl?IDLink=2044479&location=http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DSbY0Jh9_RJ8) (very lucky, very stupid) driver.

[gnome]

If someones tailgaiting you know what you should do??? GET THE FUDGE OUT OF THE WAY!!!! Its that friggen simple. Geez, just cause the guy is in a hurry doesnt mean you have to take it as a personal attack on your manhood.

If you're tailgaiting someone you know what you should do??? STOP TAILGATING!!! It's that friggen simple. Geez, just cause you're in a hurry doesn't mean you have to unsafely ride the tail of the guy in front of you.

Bending to on-road bullies will only create more of them. Don't engage in reckless retaliatory driving, but if there is a safe way to make such behavior unsuccessful, I'm much in favor of it.

[Tmy]

If you're tailgaiting someone you know what you should do??? STOP TAILGATING!!! It's that friggen simple. Geez, just cause you're in a hurry doesn't mean you have to unsafely ride the tail of the guy in front of you.

Bending to on-road bullies will only create more of them. Don't engage in reckless retaliatory driving, but if there is a safe way to make such behavior unsuccessful, I'm much in favor of it.

Im talking about highway driving. When theres plenty of room to pull out of the highspeed lane, which you should do anyway if a faster car is coming up behind you.

So there are road bullies thats makes it ok to then be Mr. Road Vigilante?? You dont know why the person is speeding, maybe its an emergency. Who deputized you as Keeper of the Speed?

[gnome]

Im talking about highway driving. When theres plenty of room to pull out of the highspeed lane, which you should do anyway if a faster car is coming up behind you.

So there are road bullies thats makes it ok to then be Mr. Road Vigilante?? You dont know why the person is speeding, maybe its an emergency. Who deputized you as Keeper of the Speed?
The person that decided to compromise my safety. I see no reason to reward dangerous behavior with success, and many reasons not to. I fully agree that the slower driver should move to the right. But as far as a$$hatness is concerned, dangerous driving trumps impolite or inconvenient driving. If it's an emergency, they are only making it worse by tailgating. What if they cause an accident, how late will they be for their emergency then?

If I am in the left lane, and I notice someone has come up behind me and kept a safe distance, I am likely to move over. If they are tailgating, I won't.

[Just thinking]

Take a look at this (http://go.fark.com/cgi/fark/go.pl?IDLink=2044479&location=http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DSbY0Jh9_RJ8) (very lucky, very stupid) driver.

I wonder how many drivers (including the idiot) soiled their pants on that one.

[Kerberos]

maybe its an emergency.

Yeah, course that's mostly why people speed, they're all driving their sick mothers to the hospital. Of course you forgot that all the people who follow the speed limit and don't get out of the way are actually driving gunshot victims who'd be hurt by sudden lane changes.

[bigred]

The person that decided to compromise my safety. I see no reason to reward dangerous behavior with success, and many reasons not to. I fully agree that the slower driver should move to the right. But as far as a$$hatness is concerned, dangerous driving trumps impolite or inconvenient driving. If it's an emergency, they are only making it worse by tailgating. What if they cause an accident, how late will they be for their emergency then?

If I am in the left lane, and I notice someone has come up behind me and kept a safe distance, I am likely to move over. If they are tailgating, I won't.
Of course this is generally speaking ie specifics must be taken into account, but generally going too slow/disrupting the flow of traffic is NO safer (sometimes less so) than going fast FYI.

Again, it is not your place to be the "speed police" (ie force someone to slow down) for any reason. It has nothing to do with "rewarding" him. It's the rules of the road. Slower traffic to the right. I swear they should post signs saying that about every half-mile on every highway in the U.S. Also, he might be tailing you because he was a safe distance back but you didn't notice him. Don't like it? MOVE.

And really, short of preparing to make a left turn or lacking room to do otherwise, there is no excuse to be in the left lane anyway. I have to shake my head and roll my eyes every time I come up on someone on a very non-crowded highway trolling along in the left lane. hello mcfly.

[bigred]

Yeah, course that's mostly why people speed, they're all driving their sick mothers to the hospital. Of course you forgot that all the people who follow the speed limit and don't get out of the way are actually driving gunshot victims who'd be hurt by sudden lane changes.
good one :rolleyes:

One more time: why they are speeding is generally irrelevent and none of your business. Get the flip out of the way.

[bigred]

Pardon me for making that assumption in a message defending tailgaters. If you don't... good. And I never said that slowpokes in the left lane were good drivers--I just say there's no excuse for tailgaiting.
Not defending them, and with rare exception you're right, tailgating is dumb (realizing full well I have done it on occasion but try to keep it under control) :blush: Pardon coming off strong in some of this, but here in VA driving slow in the passing lane is a BIG problem. I'm just sick to death of the fools who pull this.

[bigred]

Guess you missed when I said two-lane road, eh? I did. :blush: beg pardon.

[bigred]

On my commute (2 lane road cross-country (that's a TWO lane road, red))
lol - OK OK I got it

[BPSCG]

...but generally going too slow/disrupting the flow of traffic is NO safer (sometimes less so) than going fast FYI. For wreaking sheer havoc, there's nothing quite like having some #$%^ cruising along at 43 mph in the center lane of the interstate with people passing him on both sides doing 65-75. I would pay five bucks to know what strange thoughts are going through the ruins of that puzzlewit's brain that he thinks he's doing anything like the right speed in the right place.

[Tmy]

The person that decided to compromise my safety. I see no reason to reward dangerous behavior with success, and many reasons not to. I fully agree that the slower driver should move to the right. But as far as a$$hatness is concerned, dangerous driving trumps impolite or inconvenient driving. If it's an emergency, they are only making it worse by tailgating. What if they cause an accident, how late will they be for their emergency then?

If I am in the left lane, and I notice someone has come up behind me and kept a safe distance, I am likely to move over. If they are tailgating, I won't.

If you are so concearned for your safety why are you instigating a road rage incident?? Just move, and the problem would be solved.

If a state trooper came flying up behind you (wh no lights flashing) would you behave the same?? teach him a lesson about tailgating??? I doubt it.

[CapelDodger]

If it's an emergency, they are only making it worse by tailgating. What if they cause an accident, how late will they be for their emergency then?

If I am in the left lane, and I notice someone has come up behind me and kept a safe distance, I am likely to move over. If they are tailgating, I won't.
Substituting "fast lane" for "left lane" (we have our own peculiarites here between the Pond and the Ditch) I'm with you. It's a gut-reaction, and if the traffic on this thread is anything to go by driving brings out the beast in us. Emergencies generally involve emergency vehicles, with the horns and flashing lights, and who doesn't give way to them? Tailgating otherwise is just bullying.

My usual reaction is to slow down, if I'm enagaged in over-taking, or to keep tapping the brake-pedal if I'm in-lane. Brake-lights kick-in before the brakes do, it confuses the f*** out of people. Foot off the gas a little, tap the brake and foot back on the gas, watch the gap open up in your mirror. Play with them. Always maintaining purity in your own lane-discipline, of course.

[BPSCG]

Emergencies generally involve emergency vehicles, with the horns and flashing lights, and who doesn't give way to them? You've obviously never driven in New York City.

[Just thinking]

Speaking of emergency vehicles ... don't you just love it as one is coming up behind you with lights flashing, you properly pull over to the side and let it pass only to find the idiots riding up just behind it won't let you back into traffic?

[BPSCG]

Speaking of emergency vehicles ... don't you just love it as one is coming up behind you with lights flashing, you properly pull over to the side and let it pass only to find the idiots riding up just behind it won't let you back into traffic?Well, if they're doing 40-50 mph behind the emergency vehicle, and you're stopped, do you expect them to slam on the brakes so you can nose your way in?

[SteveGrenard]

You've obviously never driven in New York City.

Or Paris or Rome either. And those darn English driving on the wrong side of the road also.....

[Just thinking]

Well, if they're doing 40-50 mph behind the emergency vehicle, and you're stopped, do you expect them to slam on the brakes so you can nose your way in?

Obviously not ... I should have been more clear. What I meant was there will be a car behind you as you and he pull over, then he'll rapidly get up to speed behind the emergency vehicle (EV) and prevent you from getting out. It's a move where he uses the EV as a blocking device to get past you.

[gnome]

If you are so concearned for your safety why are you instigating a road rage incident?? Just move, and the problem would be solved.

If a state trooper came flying up behind you (wh no lights flashing) would you behave the same?? teach him a lesson about tailgating??? I doubt it.

That solves my problem, but it doesn't solve the problem of raising the expectation of tailgaters that it works as a method of getting people out of their way. That expectation will surely create accidents and rage.

I will not appease road-terrorists!!!!111!

[CapelDodger]

You've obviously never driven in New York City.
New Yorkers do have a bit of a reputation. ("Excuse me, can you tell me how I get to Central Park, or should I just go f*** myself?") :)

[CapelDodger]

Or Paris or Rome either. And those darn English driving on the wrong side of the road also.....
Fortunately so do the Scots and Welsh. I've driven in Paris and it's not so bad. As long as you close your eyes.

[WildCat]

That solves my problem, but it doesn't solve the problem of raising the expectation of tailgaters that it works as a method of getting people out of their way. That expectation will surely create accidents and rage.
Illinois has a law that states a driver in the left lane must move over to allow other traffic to pass. Do you break the law to enforce your own law?

[scratchy]

People who when they see your blinker on to merge into their lane, speed up in order to not let you in. (Could be a regional thing?)
Yes, i would say its regional. In Stockholm (Sweden) your blinker opens the lane up so you can change it easily. In Uppsala just 70 km north the blinker closes the lane. One has to take the f*****s by surprise to get in. But the "assault change" might be risky sometimes. I once tried to force myself over to the right after discovering the left forward lane was blocked by roadwork. The drivers on the right didnt seem to give in though, so i tryed even harder but had to give it up. When they passed me, honking and waving their fists, i saw: they where towing and i had tried to get in between them....

[gnome]

Illinois has a law that states a driver in the left lane must move over to allow other traffic to pass. Do you break the law to enforce your own law?

You confuse my point--I'm not insisting on a spot in the left lane. I'm insisting that tailgating me will not get me out of someone's way. If I found that it was heavily enforced there, I would probably be out of the lane before someone had a chance to tailgate.

[bigred]

You confuse my point--I'm not insisting on a spot in the left lane. I'm insisting that tailgating me will not get me out of someone's way. If I found that it was heavily enforced there, I would probably be out of the lane before someone had a chance to tailgate.
Which is the whole point, ie what you're supposed to do!! Presuming you actually pay attention to the road/traffic around you - which again IS WHAT YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO DO - the whole tailgating thing should never be an issue.

But it sounds like you do that *only* if you're worried about getting a ticket. Otherwise, to hell w/everybody, they're just supposed to sit there way back at a distance *you* like for who knows how long till slowpoke king-of-the-road finally notices a peasant who is actually using the lanes properly wants to get by. Nice.

[bigred]

My usual reaction is to slow down, if I'm enagaged in over-taking, or to keep tapping the brake-pedal if I'm in-lane. Brake-lights kick-in before the brakes do, it confuses the f*** out of people. Foot off the gas a little, tap the brake and foot back on the gas, watch the gap open up in your mirror. Play with them. Always maintaining purity in your own lane-discipline, of course.
I see, but that's not being a bully. :rolleyes: Nice double-standard.

I don't think that confuses most people at all - but it does make road rage easy to understand. You would be advised not to play that stupid little game with me. Sooner or later I'll get around you and return the favor in spades.

Anyway, thought of another one, not sure if it was mentioned:

Motorcyclists who basically use their size to drive obnoxiously, eg ride in between 2 lanes (esp. to cut around people), cut people off etc....one time a guy tried to merge at the last second and I wouldn't let him in, so he rode RIGHT next to me, nearly causing an accident. So I let him by.....

Then hit the highbeams. He wasn't happy. :cool:

[WildCat]

You confuse my point--I'm not insisting on a spot in the left lane. I'm insisting that tailgating me will not get me out of someone's way. If I found that it was heavily enforced there, I would probably be out of the lane before someone had a chance to tailgate.
Pretty much what bigred said - you're supposed to notice a car overtaking you and move over if possible. Ticket or not, just for common courtesy.

[George Costanza voice]
You know, we're living in a society!
[/voice]

[gnome]

Which is the whole point, ie what you're supposed to do!! Presuming you actually pay attention to the road/traffic around you - which again IS WHAT YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO DO - the whole tailgating thing should never be an issue.

But it sounds like you do that *only* if you're worried about getting a ticket. Otherwise, to hell w/everybody, they're just supposed to sit there way back at a distance *you* like for who knows how long till slowpoke king-of-the-road finally notices a peasant who is actually using the lanes properly wants to get by. Nice.

Is tailgating ever justified? Yes or no.

[69dodge]

What do people here think about someone behind you in the fast lane flashing his high beams from a safe distance, to let you know that he'd like to pass you? My impression is that this is generally considered rude, although I'm not sure why. How else can you tell whether the guy behind you---who is currently going the same speed as you, because what else can he do, he's behind you---actually is happy with that speed or on the other hand would like to go faster?

[pgwenthold]

Pretty much what bigred said - you're supposed to notice a car overtaking you and move over if possible. Ticket or not, just for common courtesy.


But you shouldn't be in the left lane unless you are passing someone , so it shouldn't be possible to pull over in the first place. If everyone stayed in the right lane except to pass, these things take care of themselves.

OTOH, I will sometimes even speed up my pass if I see someone approaching me rapidly.

Short answer: if you have room to move to the right to get out of the way of someone behind you, you shouldn't be in the left lane to begin with.

[gnome]

If the person was at a safe distance, a quick flash of the lights would probably communicate it well enough. It would work for me, I think...

I'm not defending left-lane hoggers... I'm just making the point that:

1. Staying in the left lane when faster drivers wish to pass is discourteous.
2. Tailgating someone is DANGEROUS.

Someone who endangers me does not get my courtesy.

[Just thinking]

What do people here think about someone behind you in the fast lane flashing his high beams from a safe distance, to let you know that he'd like to pass you? My impression is that this is generally considered rude, although I'm not sure why. How else can you tell whether the guy behind you---who is currently going the same speed as you, because what else can he do, he's behind you---actually is happy with that speed or on the other hand would like to go faster?

I always considered the flashing-of-high-beams the proper gesture in alerting the person in the left lane that you wish to pass. I thought that was the reason for the temporary high-beam position of your driving lights, as opposed to the actual clicking them on. To me it seems far more polite than tailgating and less dangerous than having to pass the slow guy on the right.

[gnome]

Sounds good to me... let's spread it around, make it more common :)

[bigred]

If the person was at a safe distance, a quick flash of the lights would probably communicate it well enough. It would work for me, I think...

I'm not defending left-lane hoggers... I'm just making the point that:

1. Staying in the left lane when faster drivers wish to pass is discourteous.
2. Tailgating someone is DANGEROUS.

Someone who endangers me does not get my courtesy.
Totally agree with 1 and 2.

But you seem to miss the point that 1 often CAUSES 2. Neither is "right" per se, but 2 often happens because 1 doesn't have a clue. If you're lost in thought and didn't see someone behind you for some time and they finally start creeping up because of it, IMO it's stupid to say "well they're driving dangerously so hell if I'm moving...."........ you should MOVE, and BOTH because it's courteous AND eliminates the danger you speak of. And if you think tailgating is dangerous, why allow it to continue by continuing to hog up the left lane? You're going to endanger your life to make a point or because you're "right" - ? That's not just hyprocritical but equally dangerous IMO.

[David Swidler]

[Princess Bride]"...and we find out who is right...and who is dead."[/Princess Bride]

[gnome]

Totally agree with 1 and 2.

But you seem to miss the point that 1 often CAUSES 2. Neither is "right" per se, but 2 often happens because 1 doesn't have a clue. If you're lost in thought and didn't see someone behind you for some time and they finally start creeping up because of it, IMO it's stupid to say "well they're driving dangerously so hell if I'm moving...."........ you should MOVE, and BOTH because it's courteous AND eliminates the danger you speak of. And if you think tailgating is dangerous, why allow it to continue by continuing to hog up the left lane? You're going to endanger your life to make a point or because you're "right" - ? That's not just hyprocritical but equally dangerous IMO.
But I'm not in any danger at that point. I've slowed down until the too-short distance between me and the car behind me has become a safe stopping distance. And I firmly believe that if most people found that tailgating caused their progress to slow instead of improve, that there would be a lot less tailgating. Result: safer roads.

[Jocko]

That solves my problem, but it doesn't solve the problem of raising the expectation of tailgaters that it works as a method of getting people out of their way. That expectation will surely create accidents and rage.

Ah, so the fact that I have THE LAW on my side still won't get your puttering little ass out of the left lane? Expect no mercy from me, slowpoke... and I drive a very, very large car.

It's supposed to get you to the right. Observe the law and there is no rage; ignore it and you willfully create rage. Suits me either way, but don't come crying to me when you get a Pontiac up your hindquarters.

[Jocko]

If the person was at a safe distance, a quick flash of the lights would probably communicate it well enough. It would work for me, I think...

I'm not defending left-lane hoggers... I'm just making the point that:

1. Staying in the left lane when faster drivers wish to pass is discourteous.
2. Tailgating someone is DANGEROUS.

Someone who endangers me does not get my courtesy.

He would not be "endangering" you if you had not already displayed discourtesy, now would he? You fired the first shot, as it were. Deal with the consequences or quit picking the fight.

[Jocko]

But I'm not in any danger at that point. I've slowed down until the too-short distance between me and the car behind me has become a safe stopping distance. And I firmly believe that if most people found that tailgating caused their progress to slow instead of improve, that there would be a lot less tailgating. Result: safer roads.

Ah, so all that's wrong with other drivers is that they have not yet been indoctrinated to your personal (and potentially illegal) driving ethos? How very condescending. How arrogant. How dead wrong.

Firmly believe in what you like; I'll keep my faith in the rule of superior mass and common courtesy. See you in your rearview mirror... and your nightmares.

[NobbyNobbs]

What pisses me off the most hasn't been mentioned yet. First, there are those who think it's ok to pass a school bus despite the flashing red lights.

Second, I can't stand people who don't pull over for an ambulance or firetruck. Where could you possible be going that is more important than where they are going?! I only hope that one day, the firetruck that is stuck behind you was headed to your house.

[BPSCG]

Got a photo of Jocko's wheels. That's him on the left (http://efour4ever.com/44thdivision/m2_%20antiair_419.jpg).

[alfaniner]

People who ride the brake. I see this often on city streets, mostly from older folks who keep one foot on the gas and the other on the brake. Instead of judging their speed correctly, they are constantly adjusting by using the brake (or thinking they are!). Invariably the amount they are slowing down is imperceptible. But it causes confusion for the drivers behind, because (on most cars) the brake lights flash the same whether you are slowing down just a bit or slamming on the brakes.

[gnome]

Ah, so the fact that I have THE LAW on my side still won't get your puttering little ass out of the left lane? Expect no mercy from me, slowpoke... and I drive a very, very large car.

It's supposed to get you to the right. Observe the law and there is no rage; ignore it and you willfully create rage. Suits me either way, but don't come crying to me when you get a Pontiac up your hindquarters.

You seem to be saying here that creating danger is a suitable response to discourtesy.

[Jocko]

You seem to be saying here that creating danger is a suitable response to discourtesy.

You seem to be saying that discourtesy is a natural phenomenon, an act of God, beyond your ability to control. Certainly beyond your ability to accept responsibility, at any rate.

Are you the type who sticks your hand into a basket full of cobras and expresses surprise when something bad happens?

[Jocko]

Got a photo of Jocko's wheels. That's him on the left (http://efour4ever.com/44thdivision/m2_%20antiair_419.jpg).

That little thing? Hell no.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y111/bill_lindich/719668184106_0_BG.jpg

Don't need a 50 cal when you have a curb weight of 3,893 pounds. That's 1770 kilos to you, Gnome.

[gnome]

Tell ya what, if you admit that tailgating is a worse habit than left-lane hogging, I'll admit that my approach is bull-headed.

[Jocko]

Tell ya what, if you admit that tailgating is a worse habit than left-lane hogging, I'll admit that my approach is bull-headed.

Your approach is demonstrably bullheaded (and wrong.. .and illegal...) regardless of what I say. Your idiotic driving behavior is in no way dependent on my actions. You've already shown us that, thank you.

[gnome]

I can accept that you have reasons to disagree. I was just hoping to finish with your statement as to whether tailgating is ever justifiable.

[Jocko]

I can accept that you have reasons to disagree. I was just hoping to finish with your statement as to whether tailgating is ever justifiable.

It takes two to tango, Gnome. No lane obstruction=no tailgating. It's that bloody simple. The power to avoid tailgaters is entirely yours, so your lament rings rather hollow.

[gnome]

You know, a similar argument can be made vis a vis rape, and a victim's behavior/clothing.

I'm not comparing tailgating to rape, I'm comparing the logic involved.

[Jocko]

You know, a similar argument can be made vis a vis rape, and a victim's behavior/clothing.

I'm not comparing tailgating to rape, I'm comparing the logic involved.

That's rank nonsense. No, strike that, it's rank inflammatory nonsense. You bloody well are comparing tailgating and rape, and a rather hamfisted attempt at equivalency it is, too.

A woman's clothing imposes no obligation on others. Dickish driving does. Your choice to run for cover behind a legitimate victim makes your case all the weaker. But then, I find no shortage of harebrained excuses from poor drivers who cannot connect the "passing lane" with the concept that someone may wish to use it to "pass." :rolleyes:

[gnome]

Just my honest impression, you seem to think tailgating is ok if the other driver is asking for it by being discourteous or bull-headed.

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

[Jocko]

Just my honest impression, you seem to think tailgating is ok if the other driver is asking for it by being discourteous or bull-headed.

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

You're wrong. And now that you've tried to hijack the anguish of rape victims to paint yourself in victimhood, you're also a bit of a jerk. Just my honest impression.

[gnome]

You're wrong. And now that you've tried to hijack the anguish of rape victims to paint yourself in victimhood, you're also a bit of a jerk. Just my honest impression.

I have no interest in hijacking the anguish of real-life victims. It was for the sake of a logical point and I said so. Feel free not to believe me, however.

And what you've just said (You're wrong) is all I wanted to hear from the start. Funny how it took so long to get there.

[Jocko]

Funny how it took so long to get there.

Now you know how it feels to be behind you in the passing lane. Just a bit maddening, isn't it?

[ImaginalDisc]

It takes two to tango, Gnome. No lane obstruction=no tailgating. It's that bloody simple. The power to avoid tailgaters is entirely yours, so your lament rings rather hollow.

"The power to avoid tailgaters"? Do you really think people only tailgate when they're in the left lane on the highway? People tailgate in parking lots! I don't know what magical happy land you live in, but come on down to Miami, and experiance Hialeah traffic.

Beinvenidos a Miami.

[kedo1981]

You’re all a bunch of F**ken mo-rans, there is not one state in the US that allows a driver to exceed the posted speed limit in any lane.
If you tailgate someone who is going the speed limit in the left lane you are committing a crime. (You have to maintain a safe distance not matter how fast they go, RETARD)
I’ll sure get outa your way if you go hell bent for leather in the left lane, not out of “courtesy” but to get out your way while you kill you’re damn fool self, cripple your kids, and cause the little wife to be horribly burned, all just so you can get to the next exit 15 seconds faster, please die, so the road will a little safer.

[Jocko]

You’re all a bunch of F**ken mo-rans, there is not one state in the US that allows a driver to exceed the posted speed limit in any lane.
If you tailgate someone who is going the speed limit in the left lane you are committing a crime. (You have to maintain a safe distance not matter how fast they go, RETARD)
I’ll sure get outa your way if you go hell bent for leather in the left lane, not out of “courtesy” but to get out your way while you kill you’re damn fool self, cripple your kids, and cause the little wife to be horribly burned, all just so you can get to the next exit 15 seconds faster, please die, so the road will a little safer.

Hey, I don't care why you schlep your 3-cylinder Prius out of the passing lane, just so long as you do it. I'm not looking for your blessing, just your absence.

[Rob Lister]

You’re all a bunch of F**ken mo-rans, there is not one state in the US that allows a driver to exceed the posted speed limit in any lane.
If you tailgate someone who is going the speed limit in the left lane you are committing a crime. (You have to maintain a safe distance not matter how fast they go, RETARD)
I’ll sure get outa your way if you go hell bent for leather in the left lane, not out of “courtesy” but to get out your way while you kill you’re damn fool self, cripple your kids, and cause the little wife to be horribly burned, all just so you can get to the next exit 15 seconds faster, please die, so the road will a little safer.

that was the funniest damn rant I've ever heard.

here's another: Slower Traffic Keep Right.

Certainly a rule here.

Stay the **** out of the passing lane unless you're passing something more than gas, and I don't mean the 'oline type.

Lead, Follow, or get out of the way.

Nothing pisses me off worse than some idiot traveling side-by-side with the car to the right of them with clear traffic just ahead.

GET OUT OF THE *********** WAY YOU IDIOT!

There...I feel much better.

[Just thinking]

You’re all a bunch of F**ken mo-rans, there is not one state in the US that allows a driver to exceed the posted speed limit in any lane.

I'm not exactly sure how the law is written (state by state) but I believe one can do whatever is needed to avoid an accident, and if that requires exceeding the speed limit safely, then I believe it is allowed. What if some nut mistakenly takes you for an enemy drug dealer and starts shooting at you along your side? -- I'll bet if you felt speeding away could somehow save your life, you'ld do it, or whatever else was needed, and felt that you could handle the law later, if needed.

All I'm saying is there are exceptions to every rule -- just as there are cases where you can hit a motorist squarely in the rear of his car and not at all be at fault.

[Just thinking]

People who ride the brake. I see this often on city streets, mostly from older folks who keep one foot on the gas and the other on the brake. Instead of judging their speed correctly, they are constantly adjusting by using the brake (or thinking they are!). Invariably the amount they are slowing down is imperceptible. But it causes confusion for the drivers behind, because (on most cars) the brake lights flash the same whether you are slowing down just a bit or slamming on the brakes.

Taken to the next level -- what of those whose brake lights don't work?

I just love all those drivers out there who don't maintain their vehicles. Non working brake lights, directionals and headlights top my list -- and I'm sure there are others.