Pet peeve about driving

[Jazzy]

What is your biggest pet peeve about driving?

 

[Lamb]

Where I live now, my biggest pet peeve are cyclists on the small curvy country roads. When you come around a curve doing 45mph (the speed limit), and you see a cyclist suddenly, it's hard to know if a semi is going to come at you on the other side. What choice do you have then? Slamming on the brakes may or may not save everyone.

 

[tango]

Where I live now, my biggest pet peeve are cyclists on the small curvy country roads. When you come around a curve doing 45mph (the speed limit), and you see a cyclist suddenly, it's hard to know if a semi is going to come at you on the other side. What choice do you have then? Slamming on the brakes may or may not save everyone.

If you can't see enough to stop in time you should probably slow down. What if it was a broken down car or an injured animal or even the back of a line of stopped cars?

 

[Stravinsk]

Biggest pet peeve about driving are those drivers who do not let others pass when intentions are made clear. Basic example, they are turning into a side street but do not move into the turning lane to do so. Instead they wait filling the main lain until they are at the turning point and then turn.

 

[tango]

The people who can see you waiting to turn out of a side road but still don't bother to indicate that they are turning into the side road.

Related - the people who indicate before a turning but don't actually turn - they wanted the turning two or three junctions later and figured everyone else could guess their intentions.

 

[Josiah]

People cutting in.... typically with no indication of such intent... and often for just a mile or so before they cut in front of someone else, constantly weaving in and out of traffic. THIS is what causes accidents.

 

[Lamb]

If you can't see enough to stop in time you should probably slow down. What if it was a broken down car or an injured animal or even the back of a line of stopped cars?

If I'm doing the speed limit, then I'm really not the problem.

 

[tango]

If I'm doing the speed limit, then I'm really not the problem.

If you're driving too fast to accommodate other road users who have as much right to be there as you do then yes, you are the problem. It's about driving at a speed suitable for the conditions rather than simply looking at a number on a stick and doing that speed regardless.

 

[Lamb]

If you're driving too fast to accommodate other road users who have as much right to be there as you do then yes, you are the problem. It's about driving at a speed suitable for the conditions rather than simply looking at a number on a stick and doing that speed regardless.

But I'm driving the speed limit, not speeding.

 

[tango]

But I'm driving the speed limit, not speeding.

Doesn't matter, if you're driving too fast for prevailing road conditions.

When it's icy do you slow down, or do you just ignore road conditions and drive whatever number it says on the pole? What if there's a really thick fog and you can barely see the front of the car - do you just drive the speed limit and hope for the best?

If you go round a corner and there's a reason you need to stop very fast - be it a traffic queue, a cyclist, whatever - if you're not able to stop and end up crashing into whatever it was, whose fault is the collision?

 

[Lamb]

Doesn't matter, if you're driving too fast for prevailing road conditions.

When it's icy do you slow down, or do you just ignore road conditions and drive whatever number it says on the pole? What if there's a really thick fog and you can barely see the front of the car - do you just drive the speed limit and hope for the best?

If you go round a corner and there's a reason you need to stop very fast - be it a traffic queue, a cyclist, whatever - if you're not able to stop and end up crashing into whatever it was, whose fault is the collision?

Insisting that I always drive under the speed limit because a cyclist MIGHT be up ahead is ludicrous. I've seen deer run across the expressway multiple times, so do you expect that everyone drive 30mph just in case a deer jumps out? Do you get where I'm going with this?

 

[Lees]

What is your biggest pet peeve about driving?

There really can't be just one.

I am a very patient and defensive driver. Not aggresive. If someone is tailgating me when I am going the correct speed, I give them the benefit of the doubt. They are in a hurry for some reason I don't know. And it may be important to them. I just blow it off.

If I am going along a two lane highway where the speed limit is about 60 to 65, and a car on a road to the right pulls out in front of me to go the same direction I am going, when I am almost upon it, I again, give them the benefit of the doubt. They maybe in an emergency situation I am not aware of.

But, if that car pulls out infront of me causing me to have to brake, and then only goes about 45 to 50 miles an hour, it is frustrating. In other words, if you're not in a hurry, don't pull out right in front of me. If you're in a hurry, fine. Hit the accelerator.

Another pet peeve is cars that do 40 to 50 in a 65 mile an hour zone. So you patiently wait till you can come to a stretch to pass them. Then when you get to it and try to pass, they speed up. I purposefully, slowly, while passing, took one up to 80 miles an hour, as it was a long straight stretch where I could see no one coming in the other lane. I wanted to see how fast they were willing to go to kill someone. Idiots.

And bicylist's...[Staff Edit]. Going down a road where the speed limit is 65 or greater and the bicyclist speed is about 15. What world do you live in whre that is not stupid. Yet if you hit them...it's your fault.

Lees

 

[tango]

Insisting that I always drive under the speed limit because a cyclist MIGHT be up ahead is ludicrous. I've seen deer run across the expressway multiple times, so do you expect that everyone drive 30mph just in case a deer jumps out? Do you get where I'm going with this?

I'm not saying slow right down because a cyclist might be ahead. I'm saying people need to drive at a speed appropriate for the speed and conditions. If you've got a blind bend ahead you slow down. If the road is icy you slow down. If it's foggy you slow down.

If you get to an area where deer are known to cross you slow down. If you see deer at the side of the road facing the road it doesn't hurt to slow down.

It's not about going at a snail's pace in case something might be ahead, it's about reading the road and traffic conditions and driving appropriately. If all you've got is "well I was going at the speed limit" when you run into the back of something else, you don't really have much to stand on. There's so much more to safe driving than looking at a number on a stick and slavishly driving that exact speed, as if it were guaranteed to be safe in all circumstances.

Even if all you do is approach a blind bend by easing off on the gas and covering the brake with your foot so you're readier to brake if you need to, it's about awareness of what you can and can't see, and awareness of what might be ahead.

You can be going wherever you want, but you already said that sometimes a cyclist (who has as much right to be on the road as you do) may mean you have to brake hard or swerve across the road and maybe hit a semi coming the other way. Or you could, you know, be more aware of what might be in the blind spots on the road and drive accordingly.

 

[Messy]

What used to irritate me when I biked the kids around in a carriage bike were those drivers who had to go first. When the rain was pouring or it was snowing, they had to go first. My son once sang happily, when I was grumbling about them: It rains! It rains! Everyone gets wet. Except when you're sitting in a car with a heater and fries. It rhimes in Dutch. That was funny. Nowadays nothing annoys me, because I bike cosily alone and my ex brings the kids to school with his car.

 

[Messy]

Where I live now, my biggest pet peeve are cyclists on the small curvy country roads. When you come around a curve doing 45mph (the speed limit), and you see a cyclist suddenly, it's hard to know if a semi is going to come at you on the other side. What choice do you have then? Slamming on the brakes may or may not save everyone.

Crazy. They should make safe bike lanes.

 

[tango]

What used to irritate me when I biked the kids around in a carriage bike were those drivers who had to go first. When the rain was pouring or it was snowing, they had to go first. My son once sang happily, when I was grumbling about them: It rains! It rains! Everyone gets wet. Except when you're sitting in a car with a heater and fries. It rhimes in Dutch. That was funny. Nowadays nothing annoys me, because I bike cosily alone and my ex brings the kids to school with his car.

When I cycled everywhere I always wondered at the people who insisted on passing me, even if there wasn't enough space to do it safely, just so they could get to the red light 50 yards ahead a couple of seconds faster. Particularly when there was a filter lane so I'd pass them again within literally seconds.

 

[Albion]

Very true, guys. When I begin my right turn into my little street, with my turn signal on, there's usually some tailgater who will then floor it, cross the double no-passing lines, and do it in the face of oncoming traffic.

The reason for this is that he's been thinking about doing this for a while and nothing is going to prevent him from getting in front of me, not even the fact that I'm not there anymore!

 

[tango]

And bicylist's...what morons. Going down a road where the speed limit is 65 or greater and the bicyclist speed is about 15. What world do you live in whre that is not stupid. Yet if you hit them...it's your fault.

Lees

What a stupid world it is, when driving a multi-ton lump of metal carries an expectation you won't drive it into anyone else. It's ridiculous. There are pedestrians, cyclists, Amish buggies, all sorts of things that you're somehow supposed to avoid killing. What a crazy world we live in.

 

[Stravinsk]

Strange, I never see cyclists on highways going 1/4 the speed limit unless they are off to the side to avoid faster traffic.

 

[Lamb]

Crazy. They should make safe bike lanes.

I live in the country, there is no room on the side of the roads, because of the hills, to make a bike lane. And no money. I think cyclists should be required to stay off of county and state roads.