Driving

[LeslieAGD]

Ok, so I wouldn't say I have "Road Rage," but I really enjoy "talking" to the other and telling them how I think they could "improve" their driving. So, I was wondering, what is your biggest issue with other drivers?

[SATX*APhi]

I totally dislike it when you are driving down the road and a vehicle turns onto the road in your lane, right in front of you and goes very slow!!! They see you coming; they know you are going fast, so why do they think they can turn right in front of you and not speed up?? I do not get it!

My sister will keep going and slam on her breaks right before hitting them, but I take the more peaceful approach. I either slow down as I am smiling, or I get into the next lane.

[dzrose93]

I hate it when I'm waiting to turn onto a street, and the person in the lane I WANT to be in doesn't bother to put on his turn signal to let me know that he's planning to change lanes or turn off onto another street entirely. This happened twice today on my way back from lunch. People, the car manufacturers gave you blinkers for a reason. USE THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[SATX*APhi]

I agree with Hootie when she said that when people get on your tail, it doesn't make you go any faster.

Another thing that agitates me is when you are going to get into the next lane, the car behind you in the other lane speeds up as to not let you in.

[Tom Earp]

I Used to get Road Rage, wanted to shoot out this morons tires who almost hit me after I pulled over so he could get into an open lane!
He gives me the finger and tells me to pull over! I almost did, little did he know I had a 12 guage Riot gun in my trunk fully loaded!

Now I just shake my head, as they are the dumb asses! I have a non smoking package in My Honda except for my Lid, my ashtray! I flick the ashes off with a stern movement, and if they do not back off, I politally flick my Butt out the lid!

But I always Smile When I say F^&* You under my Breath and go about my way!

I try to be nice to the other Driver but some are Asswholes even if you held a 100.oo bill out to them!

[LeslieAGD]

I'm suprised no one else mentioned this, but have you ever had some a-hole on a cell phone on your a$$ only to change lanes, get in from of you, and go SLOWER? What the frick is that about??? You wanted to speed up, so SPEED UP!

[ZTAngel]

Slow drivers in general piss me off. I live off a two lane road and the speed limit 45 mph. I always end up with that jerk in front of me who is going 30 mph. Since the road curves a lot, there are signs that say "Do Not Pass". Ugh!
Also, I agree with SATX...you see someone coming who you know is driving fast and you know you will going slower than them. Please don't pull in front of them. Just wait til the pass and then make the turn.
Another thing:
HAVE YOUR CHANGE READY BEFORE YOU GET TO THE TOLL BOOTH! ESPECIALLY IF YOU'RE IN THE EXACT CHANGE LINE!!!!!

Nothing is worse then sitting behind someone for five minutes as they search their cars for any loose change they can find.

I'm done!

[ZTAngel]

I forgot to add something....

If you have a the left turn arrow then you have the right-of-way when making a U-Turn. The guy who is making a right turn on red does not. I have had so many people who are making a right turn on red when I have the green on the U-Turn who have nearly killed me because a) they're idiots b) they don't realize the laws of driving and the beep at me!

My friend just got in a car accident last week for that. Supposedly, the guy who hit her was like, "You'll see when the police get here! I have the right-of-way! The person making the right turn always has the right-of-way!" That little 18-year-old was handed a ticket. I'm sure mommy and daddy will love the insurance increase he now has.

Sidenote: This is under Florida law. Different states might have a different view on this.

[aephi alum]

Tailgaters

People who cut you off and then drive slowly

People who run stop signs and red lights

People who turn without signaling, or people who signal and then don't turn or change lanes

People who stop FOREVER at stop signs, and yield to people they don't have to yield to

People who leave their high beams on despite the fact that there is an oncoming vehicle

People who sit at an intersection trying to decide if they're clear to make a turn, then when they're no longer clear (i.e. you as the oncoming driver are too close to them), THEN they decide to turn

People who drive slowly, wait for you to try to pass them in a passing zone, then while you're on the wrong side of the road, decide they want to race

Slow drivers in general

Just today, I was driving to work and an oncoming driver was flashing his high beams, so everyone figured there was a speed trap or some other hazard ahead and slowed to the speed limit (30). (BTW, there wasn't.) The limit goes up to 45 about 1/2 mile further down the road. Of course, I'm stuck behind the idiot who misses the new speed limit sign and continues to go 30.

[chopper816]

I agree with everything said! I also cannot stand these guys who have a fetish with their honda civic. I want to get out at stoplights and go up to these guys and tell them that a civic isnt a sports car!!!! From what i see driving, most of these guys who drive civics also arent that safe, and i see them taking chances all the time, and putting people in danger, all b/c they want to look like a bad ass in a car that weighs less than the wing they put on it. sorry, i had to vent. Theres more but thats all ill put for now.

[UofISigKap]

I love my little Civic, but I know what you mean! I have seen some ahhh...hmmm, how to say it...."well decorated" ones??

Anyway, the slow drivers in the left hand lane bug me, and the lack of turn signal. My dad rarely uses the blinker, and it drives me nuts when I'm in the car. I'm a compulsive turn signal user.
People who are flying down the road while you are waiting to turn are fine, because you wait until they pass and turn. However, it's the people who all of a sudden drop their speed to about 25 miles an hour about 30 yards before they get to where you are, therefore you really could have gone...but by that point the other oncoming traffic is coming and you're stuck for longer.

I don't think I have road rage exactly, but I am so the girl who yells to myself in the car at other drivers on the road. No one is ever in the car with me of course when it happens, so I just look pretty dumb. I feel better afterwards though.

[bucutie02]

I agree with everything that has been said.

I also have a honda civic and think its so annoying the way the people mess with the hondas by addings huge spoilers, make the lights clear, and other stuff i dont even know how to word it because i dont know the car parts!

It gets on my nerves when people have their blinker on and never turn. If i am behind them then i am cautious that any second this idiot might slam on the brakes, but most of the time he has it one from changing lanes.

Sometimes, for whatever reason, if i know i am not going to go fast, i stay in the slow lane. Now, i wont be going 30mph, ill most likely be going to speed limit, and then some stupid person will come and start tailgating me! Helllo?! I am in the slow lane for a reason, they can easily switch lanes, and like everyone else, it wont make me go any faster. It will, however, make me go even slower.

I know this is so bad and i could have gotten in an accicent, but once i was driving along and this jerk starts to get on my tail, he was SUPER close, and im thinking "what the heck is his problem?" There were other lanes he could have moved to, but no, he had to drive behind me. So..... i slowed down, and that didnt get him to move, so finally i put my foot on the brakes when there was no need to. I didnt slam on them because he would have obviously hit me, and he could have hit me anyway. I was just so mad!

He finally got the point and left me alone!

On a side note, i hate people who hit the brakes when there is no reason to. Like, there are no cars in front of them, the light is green, and not like my previous example, i am not tailgating them.

Two more stories and then ill stop.....
Just this past friday i was driving to walgreens and i was on a 3 lane street, well 6 lanes if you look at both directions. Okay so i am in the middle lane, wanting to change to the right lane since my turn is coming up soon. I look through my rear view mirror and my blind spot- the coast was clear. As i am getting in the lane, meaning i am half and half between both, this car comes flying out of nowhere going like 80mph. I saw the car through the rear view mirror and got so scared it was going to hit me that i swirved back into my original lane. Of course i honked at the stupid lady. When we pulled up to a red light i saw that she was busy putting on her makeup. When the light turned green, she sped off driving like a mad woman. Where are the cops when you really need them???

Okay, i was going to school one morning and i was on the feeder of a highway. Well the feeder is also three lanes. I was in the middle lane because i knew the left lane would merge into mine. So i am driving along and the car behind me has been tailgating me for a while and never decided to switch lanes. Well as we get closer to the lanes merging is when they girl decides to get on the left lane and try to pass me up. She wasnt driving fast enough and i wasnt going to purposely slow down just for her. So it got to the point where she had to slam on the brakes so she wouldnt hit me and then get behind me. Of course she honked at me but oh well!! Then when it was my turn she was still behind me and as i was turning she honked again! get over it lady!! she shouldnt have waited so long to try to pass me up!

[Kevin]

Now I don't want to go off on a rant here, but...

My biggest pet peave has got to be OLD PEOPLE. Now, some are fine and don't bother me... However, there are others (and I'm sure you know what I'm talking about) that hardly know where they are. They do STUPID things including basically everything that people have complained about already.

I feel like maybe the state shouldn't grant a drivers license to people suffering from senile dementia?

If you don't believe me, try driving anywhere on Sunday morning.. At least here in the Bible Belt they're out their one time per week going no more than 30MPH, braking for no apparent reason, etc...

I heard the state was going to reinstitute mandatory driver retesting after age 75. The AARP crowd screamed discrimination and it was dropped. We need a 20-something SIG to complain about how we pay high insurance prices compared to the rest of the claim-filing public. That's discrimination also!

So as you can see, on many levels it truly bothers me when I see a 90 year old man waiting at a stoplight on the wrong side of a 4 lane street because maybe he didn't notice the median? A cop should descend from the heavens like they seem to do for me and yoink his drivers license as he is worse sober than me after a 6-pack of beer.

But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong.

[ZTAngel]

ktsnake-
If you think the old people are bad drivers in the bible belt, you should take a drive to South Florida sometime. I can show you the true meaning of why old people should have their licenses revoked.

[87azdalum]

I used to be a "rager" until one night after a football game...

My husband and I were driving home in bumper to bumper traffic and an idiot came flying onto the interstate from an on-ramp and cut dangerously in the traffic behind our car, flashing their lights and squealing their brakes as they entered the lane. I turned around (in my anger) and signalled with my hand (you know what I mean...).

This car started following us off the interstate and on the way to the house. At a stoplight, one of the boys jumped out of the car and got something out of the trunk; my husband said it was a shotgun. We got into a high speed chase with them on another interstate, trying to lose them. Pretty soon, another car joined in; we can only surmise that the first car called some buddies to help them. My husband and I had to switch positions in the car; I was driving and was too scared to drive, so he took over. At one point these cars had us pulled over and stopped. All of them got out of their cars. We had to back into one of the cars to get away. Eventually, my husband lost them in his old neighborhood with lots of backroads. We should have gone to the police, but we had both had some alcohol (dumb, I know, but this was almost 10 years ago), so we were afraid.

Anyway, we filed a police report the next day, as did the two other vehicles (for hit and run on us!). Therefore, we knew who the drivers were. About six months to a year later, we found out that the driver of the first car had robbed a Papa John's delivery person making a night deposit and shot her in the head. I still get chills today thinking about how close to death we probably were.

Final thought - swallow the road rage, people. I do now, no matter how mad I get. You don't know what kind of people are out there.