Cranky Ass Drivin'

[filkertom]

So I picked up a friend at the airport last night. All kindsa fun. There is no place to park to wait for someone getting off a plane. Not south of I-94. It would really help things along if the cops, who are (to a point) understandably trying to keep people from just camping out at the Passenger Pick-Up area near Baggage Claim, would in fact lay off when we're trying to get to the person we're supposed to pick up, and are in fact pointing at that person and yelling at the cop "Please let me pick up my friend, who is right there, and I promise I'll get the hell out of your way!" And the cop keeps angrily trying to wave me onward.

That's a brilliant way to keep the Passenger Pick-Up area clear: not allow passenger pick-ups.

I despise Metro Airport.

Having crashed at the friend's place, I encountered this morning what was apparently God's little revenge upon Southeastern Michigan for having an auto industry. Everywhere I went or wanted to go, every alternate -- freeway, main road, side street, you name it -- was under construction or blocked by an accident. I actually managed to make decent time, as I know the area pretty well; but I-94, I-96, I-696, I-275, I-75, Nine Mile Road, the Southfield Freeway, Plymouth Road, Dixboro Road, Washtenaw, Stadium, you name it, it was screwed up.

I want my jet-pack and I want it now.

So, besides excessive construction and people who tailgate you at ten to fifteen miles over the speed limit, what are your traffic banes?

Comments

[pyrephox.livejournal.com]

People who will speed up to cut you off when you're coming off an on ramp onto the freeway. Because god knows, they LOSE at life if they let anybody get in front of them on the road, even if their idiotic competitive instinct means that you nearly run off the road as the merge lane runs out.

[valkyrwench.livejournal.com]

People in big-ass SUV's that assume that they can be anywhere they want to on the road, including exactly where you are in your little tin can.

[ladyskada.livejournal.com]

Just remember, kiddies:
"SUV" does not equal "ATV".
Living up here in New England, I remember that with glee every year after the first snowfall when I pass all the yuppies standing by the side of the road with their mocha lattes and cell phones, staring at their SUV nose-deep in a snowbank.

[aylinn.livejournal.com]

People who have to drive as if no one else on the road is as important as they are. Which makes YOU responsible for maintaining your own safety even more than usual. And means of course that THEY must get through no matter what.

(Especially when they lose control & slide sideways into you @ 90 miles an hour. Because THEY were late for work. Sorry, it's a very rainy day and my legs hurt. a lot.)

I also hate the "I can't see five feet in front of me so I must STOP until I can" rubber banding during rush hour simply because the road goes down a hill or around a corner.

[mhookermyers.livejournal.com]

Mine's slightly opposite of pyrephox. I hate drivers who are on the on-ramp and never bother to see what is coming until the last minute, then they expect you to yield to them. I was taught defensive driving and one of the things that was stressed is that you should attempting to match the speed of the traffic you are merging with, and the only way you can do that is if you are watching from the very beginning of the on ramp.

[pyrephox.livejournal.com]

We've got people in my area who will, and I swear this is deliberate, /match/ your speed. They'll be safely out of the way, several car lengths back, and as soon as you turn on your blinker to merge, WHAM they hit the gas and speed up. I curse them all.

Although, yes, the blasted idiots who merrily merge without even looking also drive me nuts. I usually just go over a lane when I get near an area I know has busy ramps, though, so it doesn't come up as often.

[smoooom.livejournal.com]

Bad drivers? Oh please, don't get me going. I've been trying to be calm behind the wheel and not get annoyed at the idiots on the road. IT's just not worth it. Calm. calm. calm.

[partiallyclips.livejournal.com]

Cell...phone...drivers.

When your attention is divided, your actions are unpredictable to those of use who are paying attention and driving defensively. You end up killing people.

I'm not fond of the state limiting people's freedom to take risks. But I think no-one has the "right" to endanger another's health and safety. That's why I oppose seat belt laws and the banning of ephedra, yet I want a nationwide ban on public smoking, and one on all phone use by drivers. The difference is "whose life are you risking?"

[popefelix.livejournal.com]

People who think they're clever and yell "get a car!" at me as I'm riding my bike down the street. Also, people who yell at me to "get on the sidewalk!"

For the record, the law says that I'm supposed to ride on the street, and that's what I do (for the most part.)

[ruisseau.livejournal.com]

You know cyclists really piss me off! Out there, saving gas, with their stupid safety helmets on, risking their lives everyday.

GET A CAR!

*gd&r*

[wormquartet.livejournal.com]

People in Rochester (NY) forget how to drive in snow and ice every winter. Seriously. It's the weirdest damned thing. First few storms of any year, people are driving like it's July, skidding all over the place and driving off the road left and right. A bit later in the winter, everybody re-learns and seems to be fine.

Oh, and the cell phone weenies. When I see them I like to grab my son's big yellow toy phone (which I keep in the car to entertain him with when necessary) and put it up to my face while making dumb faces at the offending driver. Maybe this is as dangerous as driving with a cell phone and I'm a big stupid hypocrite. But the glares they give me are well worth it.

I also don't like Pontiac Azteks because they're hard to look at.

-=ShoEboX=-

[mhookermyers.livejournal.com]

We gave the Pontiac Azteks a nickname I think you will enjoy. We call them Ass Tics.

[bald-ruminant.livejournal.com]

People who make turns from non-turning lanes.

People who run red lights because they were trying too hard to make a yellow.

People in the undersized left turn only lanes who leave massive amounts of space between themselves and the car in front of them, forcing someone else's rear end to block traffic in the through lane.

Police vehicles whose drivers tailgate you to try to get you to speed or make a sudden lane change.

People whose cars have unnecessarily bright headlights, especially on SUVs.

Parking sharks.

Drivers who are on the phone.

Oh man

[jkb.livejournal.com]

People sitting in line who leave enough empty space for one or two cars in front of them, and *won't pull forward*, even while all these other people are left with their ass hanging out in the street -- that completely drives me nuts. I guess it's the pettiness or sheer obliviousness of it. It wouldn't hurt these people at all to just pull forward, but they're too wrapped up in whatever to think about what's going on around them.

[que-sara-sara.livejournal.com]

My traffic bane is 275. All the time. I swear that road is cursed and all the accidents seem to be happening between 6 Mile and 9 Mile. This is the reason that I get to work about 7a when I don't start until 8a. If I'm heading up 275 later than 6:30a it's completely freakin' nuts and takes three times as long. And the trip home in rush hour is just as bad.

If only I could figure out how to convince work to schedule me so I wouldn't have to drive during rush hour. I'll have to mention that to my boss later.

[jedilora.livejournal.com]

People who speed up when they see you trying to merge. I mean, there's a huge amount of empty space, I flip on the blinker and BOOM. Out of nowhere, it's AssHat Driver Man! Because he's got to have some kind of superpower to appear like that. Argh! And he ALWAYS heralds a ton of people behind him, so there is no way I can make my exit.

[smallship1.livejournal.com]

Bath pedestrians.

You remember that bit in Things To Come about the wandering sickness? They're like that. To them the entire place is one big pedestrian precinct (it really isn't) and a car driving along a street is occasion for surprise, confusion and resentment or derision depending on their mood. I know I don't do it, and I also know this isn't just a driver-perception thing because I see them do it when I'm on foot as well.

Gahh.

[jkb.livejournal.com]

Bath pedestrians? I don't get that expression.

I know what you mean about it not just being driver perception -- I live in Ann Arbor, and I'm annoyed at pedestrian rudeness even when I'm on foot myself. I can't tell you how many times I've hung back on the sidewalk, waiting for the light to change, while pedestrians around me just blithely charged forward against the light, *blocking car traffic*. It's legal to walk against the light in Ann Arbor if it won't obstruct car traffic, but these people seem to think that means the world should make way for them. It ticks me off whether I'm in a car or on foot.

[shatteredglobe.livejournal.com]

I recently wrote a rant about that... (http://www.livejournal.com/users/shatteredglobe/28621.html)

[ravenclaw-eric.livejournal.com]

I despise tailgaters myself, particularly the ones who are apparently depending on their cruise-control to do a lot of their driving for them, and come _cre-e-e-p-i-n-g_ up behind me, with the other lane on the four-lanes free and clear for passing, until, at the last possible second, they snap out of it and "Oh, yeah! I've gotta pass this guy!"

But I particularly, especially despise people who ride my rear bumper at night. Especially and particularly the ones, and there are lots of them (SUVs, big pickups, and semis) whose _dim_ lights are brighter than my bloody _brights._ I don't LIKE being dazzled---I have good night-vision, but it comes at a price, which is some light-sensitivity, and I NEED my night-vision at night, damn it! I drive an ex-cop Caprice with the spots still there and functional, and I have SO often been tempted to retaliate!

And don't get me started on road-construction. Back in 1998 or so, I drove from Iowa out to the East Coast twice, and my route was about three-fourths "under construction." When I stopped for the night, I dreamed about orange cones.

[ash-blackwell.livejournal.com]

I used to have a way to retailiate in the "tailgating when they could bloody well pass you" instance. My 74 Maverick had been converted from 3 in the tree to 3 on the floor and the person who converted it solved the problem of the reverse lights linkage with a override switch. [grin] If they were on my arse for no reason and could safely pass without any trouble and chose not to, I'd flick on my reverse lights. That got them to back off quickly. O};->>

Here in Ann Arbor

[jkb.livejournal.com]

there is a bizarre "local custom" of stopping for green lights. I've never seen it anywhere else in the country. I say "local custom" because I think it's just that people are too spaced out or distracted to notice that the light is green, rather than doing it deliberately, but what they do is come up to an intersection where the light is still green and *stop*. Because, you know, it's an intersection, and it couldn't possibly happen that the light was actually *green*, so it must be time to stop. Sometimes they wake up before the light turns red, sometimes not. Once at the intersection of Main and Stadium, I sat behind one of these, leaning on my horn, and she just sat there while the green light turned yellow and then red. I should've just gone around, but I couldn't believe anyone could be that out of it. The converse is that I've seen more people absolutely ignore red lights and go blasting on through, here in Ann Arbor, than in any other place except San Francisco.

Re: Here in Ann Arbor

[netpositive.livejournal.com]

Maybe it used to be a four-way blinking red and they just haven't yet noticed it changed?

(I seriously almost ran a new traffic light near my parents' house out in Farm Country, MD. That intersection's ALWAYS been a four-way blinking red, dammit, and you'd think my dad would have mentioned such a big deal as that during the visit!)

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

I'm a truck driver. You don't have the server space for all the fuckwittery I have to deal with on a daily basis.

But the big one has to be people who hide in my blind spots or tailgate. Kids, the sign on my ass saying "If You Cannot See My Mirrors, I CAN'T SEE YOU" is not a joke. It's very true. When I am loaded with a pod, I am freaking blind when it comes to things behind me in my lane. And I have huge blind spots to the sides.

So don't try to sneak past me when I'm signalling a lane change. Don't tailgate me. And for Ghu's sake, dopn't cut off a truck that out-masses your little tin can (I include Hummers in this category.. loaded I weigh upwards of 13 tons) by a factor of ten!

[kayshapero]

I've always made a point of checking to see if I can see the driver in his side mirror, figuring that if I can see him, he can see me. Is this sufficient? Heavy traffic frequently makes it impossible to simply avoid the side of the truck altogether.

[ericthemage.livejournal.com]

I once had to circle around 7 times before I could pick up my mother in law. She doesn't walk too quickly.

[ashi.livejournal.com]

I think all of my pet peeves have been covered. Now I have "Domino Death" stuck in my head though...

[tigertoy.livejournal.com]

My main driving peeves are all the other drivers on the road, and that damn sensor the traffic light manufacturers put in every traffic light that detects my car coming and turns the light red just as I get to it. Oh, and construction zones that demand I'm supposed to slow down because 5 miles ahead is a place where somebody will be working 12 hours from now, accompanied by signs that say "please slow down, my mommy works here" and "injure or kill a worker, 14 years in jail". (To clarify, I don't have a problem with slowing down when I'm actually driving past workers, just with demands that I slow down when there are no workers in the area at the time.)

Some more specific complaints about the other drivers are: The people who think that if a snowflake has been sighted on the horizon, the maximum safe speed is 5 MPH. People approaching traffic lights who slow down a whole lot, and then slip through on the yellow and leave me stuck at the red. People who don't understand 4-way stop signs. In general, any drivers who slow my trip down for no good reason.

[kayshapero]

OH yeah... good old Caltrans and it's delight in placing cones, lights, flashers et al. and just leaving 'em up when the work crews have gone home. Of course if they'd remember to remove signs warning of impending construction after said construction was over it'd help... it's kinda hard to know what to think when "This ramp will be closed intermittantly between August 5 and September 25" has been posted at the same intersection for the past three years.

[alicetheowl.livejournal.com]

I'm a Massachusetts driver. Oh, the stories!

When it rains, in MA, people driver slower and CLOSER. It is NOT rare for a car to dart RIGHT in front of you, so close you have to slam on your brakes, to make a turn.

They forget how to drive in snow up there, too. Fortunately for me, I spent a winter driving back and forth to Sugarloaf, ME, so I've figured out this snow thing. It's the ice I don't like.

I'm told Michigan drivers are the worst, out of any in the country. A friend of mine works at the Biltmore Estate, used to work in the parking lots. And he claims he always watched tha cars with Michigan plates pulling off the dumbest maneuvers. One went up onto the grass and into the pseudo-wooded area to get around him when he was directing traffic, he tells me.

Hmm. Tailgating's been hit, I ranted above about people not yielding as they pull onto the highway, cut-you-off-just-to-turn was covered, as was cellphones (and, by extension, not paying attention), SUVs, bright headlights . . .

Oh. Here are 2 new ones. First is when a car runs the red light so badly, the light has already turned green for the cross traffic. I no longer gape at these jackasses, I've had it happen so often. Unbelievable.

Also, the idea of merging correctly apparently offends Massachusetters' ideals, or something. If you see a sign that there's a merge ahead, get something to read or entertain yourself for a few hours, because you WILL end up with (at least) a pair of cars driving next to each other as far as they can, each refusing to drop back a car length. When they get to the point of no return, both will stop and glare at one another.

And if you are a good Samaritan who knows how to merge, you will be taken advantage of. I guarantee it. It's a delicate balancing act.

[kightp.livejournal.com]

I drive a small car. I loathe, loathe, loathe those full-sized pickups that are jacked way the hell up on oversized tires. Save 'em for the Monster Truck competition at the county fair, dude, but keep them the hell off the streets.

Also tractor-trailer rigs hauling multiple trailers in tandem. In the rain. On a busy freeway. Triggers my "we're all gonna DIEEEEEEEEE!!!" reflex something fierce.

[realtegan.livejournal.com]

Inattentive drivers. Doesn't matter what's distracting them: phones, kids, loud music, whatever... I can't stand people who get into a huge chunk of metal and gears and then don't bother to pay attention when they drive it.

If you cannot devote most of your attention to the road, don't drive.

More specific pet peeves are people who tailgate, people who drive too slow (usually because they are on the phone) and Seattle drivers during the first real rain of the season. Because, amazingly, everyone in Seattle forgets how to drive in the rain over our short summers.

[kayshapero]

Because, amazingly, everyone in Seattle forgets how to drive in the rain over our short summers.

I begin to think that's universal - seems like everybody down here does that too... of course to be fair we don't see as much rain in Los Angeles. :)

[ash-blackwell.livejournal.com]

I think my biggest annoyance fails under the inattentive drivers catagory. Almost every time I have driven through Katy Texas I see someone /reading/ while driving 90+ down the Katy Highway (I-10 west of Houston). Not looking at a map (which I can understand even if i don't like it), but reading a paperback!

[druidsfire.livejournal.com]

I'm actually going to be devoting a whole subsection of my new personal website to driving asshattery.

Nuff said.

[james-rayner.livejournal.com]

Peeve 1.)People who dont understand that not all of us enjoy hearing a rap artist brag about doing very bad things to people.

You know them, The guys who roll all of their windows down, turn on every subwoofer in existance, roll the volume up to 10 and blast Fifty-cent or whatever.

The one and ONLY Time I liked it is when a car drove by blasting....Tom Smith Disease. I Threw him the biggest thumbs up in existance and laughed all the way home.

Peeve 2.)Little Old Ladies.

Now, before I get started, to all people over the age of 65 - I know, You need to get places to do things. So do we all. I realize being stuck at home because of various difficulties in age are sometimes hard. But When you get on that road, I expect you to follow the same rules as everyone else. That means maintaining speed, staying in the lane, and not merging in front of us, then deciding it's time to go 20 MPH Slower.

I dont care how fast you drive, but I'll ask you not to do it in front of me. If you must drive slow, get over into a slower lane, like the right one. Thank you.

Finally,

Peeve 3.)Ugly Cars.

The Element. 'Nuff Said.

[bardicwench.livejournal.com]

Whenever someone pulls up next to me blaring rap (that's not something from a Luke Ski CS) I pull out my Tartanic CD (basically rock & roll bagpipes) and crank my stereo.