Annoying things drivers do

[eyoungren]

Hate it when drivers pull out in front of me while I'm on the main road and going at a reasonable speed. If I have to slow down significantly to not hit them, it means they didn't actually have enough time to do that. What's even worse is when they do that and then proceed to drive super slow as a final insult.
View attachment 2156803

I was taught that if you are going to do this, it's your responsibility to get up to speed or faster quickly. It's a courtesy thing.

Phoenix, AZ drivers take this to extremes though. They pull out in very short amounts of time then redline it to get going faster than you are.

 

[eyoungren]

Just use public transport.

Not in California. And certainly not in West Phoenix, where I live. We do have light rail and bus. But if you take the bus, a 30 minute drive to work will be 3-4 hours one way. That means you're stuck on a bus for a minimum of 6 to 8 hours each day. How can you plan your life around that? The light rail is focused on the East Valley and the metro cities (Phoenix, Tempe, Mesa) have no intent or desire to extend it to the West Valley.

In fact, the whole of America is built around the car, not public transportation. So, easy to say - not so easy to do.

 

[eyoungren]

So you were at fault then. Backing out of the drive. You should reverse into the drive.

Been doing that for 25+ years.

 

[cthompson94]

This may be more of a California thing as I am not sure how many other states allow lane splitting. I do not ride a bike, but as a driver who does often look out for motorcycles since lane splitting is allowed, the people who split with bikes with flared foot rests, really wider body styles, or extended handle bars are annoying. Most of the Harleys are fine and of course all your smaller bikes no problem, but quite often you have those bikes that come through near missing a lot of cars/mirrors because of these "features"

 

[eyoungren]

Our landlord at work insists we reverse park in the car park. I always do anyway. Then my EV can charge for free easier.

A long time ago I got a job at United Parcel Service. The parking lot for employees was crowded and when I wanted to leave work at 3am, I wanted to leave, not maneuver. So, I learned to back in. Been doing that ever since.

 

[eyoungren]

This may be more of a California thing as I am not sure how many other states allow lane splitting. I do not ride a bike, but as a driver who does often look out for motorcycles since lane splitting is allowed, the people who split with bikes with flared foot rests, really wider body styles, or extended handle bars are annoying. Most of the Harleys are fine and of course all your smaller bikes no problem, but quite often you have those bikes that come through near missing a lot of cars/mirrors because of these "features"

Lane splitting is allowed in Arizona. In fact, the other day I saw a guy lane splitting between a car in the car pool lane and a car in the fast lane. Something must have happened because he was wobbling when he did it. I was certain there was going to be a two car plus motorcycle accident. But he managed to straighten out.

Arizona also allows lane filtering, which is when a motorcycle passes between cars at stoplights.

 

[usagora]

Not being sarcastic. Backing out from a drive or a minor road into a busier one is not allowed here. It’s just common sense to reverse into a drive.

Wait, literally "not allowed" as in your municipality has a law against it?! That's crazy if so. Never heard of such a law. As for "common sense," again, that depends on the layout of the driveway and road. There's no one-size fits all, because every situation is different. Different levels of visibility, traffic density (also varying at different times of the day), etc. Reversing into a drive might also be dangerous depending on the specific situation.

In any case, the poster in question isn't "at fault" for someone else giving up their right of way. The situation literally had nothing to do with how they were exiting the driveway (forwards or backwards). Someone could've stopped to let them out in either case, which they should NOT do, as it causes confusion. As they said, don't be polite; be predictable.

 

[usagora]

Was out walking today, and passed behind a 'parked hybrid car' outside a shop (store if your American).

FYI, Americans use both terms ("shop" and "store") frequently. We're not confused by what you meant 😉

As I walked by, there was ZERO sound/noise from the car in electric mode, so I was unaware they were backing out.
They did stop when spotted me though.

Electric/Hybrid cars should be fitted with reversing beepers.....🤨

For pedestrians, I agree. For other drivers, well, I normally don't hear any non-EV-vehicles from inside my own anyway, so it wouldn't make much difference.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

Just use public transport.

Think how frustrating it can be behind the wheel of a car and times that by 20 and you have a public transport experience. Sitting amongst smelly and obnoxious people, nah i’ll drive lol.

Edit: Appalling autocorrect on iOS.

 

[usagora]

Lane splitting is allowed in Arizona. In fact, the other day I saw a guy lane splitting between a car in the car pool lane and a car in the fast lane. Something must have happened because he was wobbling when he did it. I was certain there was going to be a two car plus motorcycle accident. But he managed to straighten out.

Arizona also allows lane filtering, which is when a motorcycle passes between cars at stoplights.

Are you sure? Everything I'm finding on Google states that lane filtering (riding between stopped traffic) is legal in AZ now (as you stated), but I'm not finding anything on lane splitting (riding between non-stopped traffic) being legal in AZ. In fact, online at least, AZ states the following:

Note that the exception is when traffic is stopped (i.e. "filtering").

View Document

www.azleg.gov

 

[sam_dean]

If Tokyo-style railway systems were rolled out worldwide to all major cities with a density of 10,000 persons per km2 that had a land area of 500km then all those drivers who have no business driving would be taking trains instead.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Wait, literally "not allowed" as in your municipality has a law against it?! That's crazy if so. Never heard of such a law. As for "common sense," again, that depends on the layout of the driveway and road. There's no one-size fits all, because every situation is different. Different levels of visibility, traffic density (also varying at different times of the day), etc. Reversing into a drive might also be dangerous depending on the specific situation.

In any case, the poster in question isn't "at fault" for someone else giving up their right of way. The situation literally had nothing to do with how they were exiting the driveway (forwards or backwards). Someone could've stopped to let them out in either case, which they should NOT do, as it causes confusion. As they said, don't be polite; be predictable.

The UK is not the US. I think many of your laws are rather strange too.

As for drivers stopping or slowing down to let people out, here a flash of the headlights is the norm to give someone else the opportunity to go first. Seems to work fine for the last few decades of driving that I’ve done.

 

[eyoungren]

If Tokyo-style railway systems were rolled out worldwide to all major cities with a density of 10,000 persons per km2 that had a land area of 500km then all those drivers who have no business driving would be taking trains instead.

Most of those drivers who have no business driving suffer from the Dunning-Kruger effect, so I imagine they would simply ignore trains.

 

[usagora]

The UK is not the US. I think many of your laws are rather strange too.

So, not a direct answer, but I'll take that comment as you confirming that this is actually the law where you live.

As for drivers stopping or slowing down to let people out, here a flash of the headlights is the norm to give someone else the opportunity to go first. Seems to work fine for the last few decades of driving that I’ve done.

And the point I and the other poster are making is that this is often unsafe, and can also be very inconsiderate to other drivers, depending on the situation. If it's just you and the one other driver with absolutely no one else around and each of you can clearly see each other and the roadway(s), then fine. However, if someone is stopping in the middle of an active lane of traffic with people behind them to be "nice" and let someone else out, that's rude to the people behind them and also illegal as far as I know (impeding traffic flow). It can also contribute to accidents because people aren't expecting you to stop for no legal reason.

 

[Apple fanboy]

So, not a direct answer, but I'll take that comment as you confirming that this is actually the law where you live.



And the point I and the other poster are making is that this is often unsafe, and can also be very inconsiderate to other drivers, depending on the situation. If it's just you and the one other driver with absolutely no one else around and each of you can clearly see each other and the roadway(s), then fine. However, if someone is stopping in the middle of an active lane of traffic with people behind them to be "nice" and let someone else out, that's rude to the people behind them and also illegal as far as I know (impeding traffic flow). It can also contribute to accidents because people aren't expecting you to stop for no legal reason.

Yes it’s in the Highway Code so it is law.
Agree stopping in the middle of the road to let someone out isn’t safe. However if it’s in slow moving traffic then I don’t have a problem letting someone out.

 

[usagora]

Yes it’s in the Highway Code so it is law.

Ok, I just looked it up, and there is an important qualifier there (bold underline mine):

Do not reverse from a side road into a main road. When using a driveway, reverse in and drive out if you can.

So that is actually more like a strong suggestion than a dictate.

Using the road - Reversing (200 to 203)

Choose an appropriate place to manoeuvre. If you need to turn your vehicle around, wait until you find a safe place. Try not to reverse or turn round in a busy road; find a quiet side road or drive round a block of side streets.

www.highwaycodeuk.co.uk

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

Our landlord at work insists we reverse park in the car park. I always do anyway. Then my EV can charge for free easier.

It’s quite common for companies to insist on reverse parking as health and safety stats indicate less accidents occur this way. I suppose you have more visibility when arriving. I always reverse park as a habit to be honest, both at work and on my sun drive.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Ok, I just looked it up, and there is an important qualifier there (bold underline mine):



So that is actually more like a strong suggestion than a dictate.

Using the road - Reversing (200 to 203)

Choose an appropriate place to manoeuvre. If you need to turn your vehicle around, wait until you find a safe place. Try not to reverse or turn round in a busy road; find a quiet side road or drive round a block of side streets.

www.highwaycodeuk.co.uk

Well I always have. Because why wouldn’t you?

 

[usagora]

Well I always have. Because why wouldn’t you?

Many reasons, depending on the specific situation. If a person's driveway is in a consistently non-busy area with clear visibility, for instance, it wouldn't make any difference. For other people, depending on when they come and go normally, it may be more risky to back in their driveway than it would be to back out, depending on traffic conditions at those times. For others, perhaps when they come home, there are often young children running about in the vicinity, where backing up would increase the risk of them hitting one of them, etc. Then of course there are those of us who are fortunate to have semi-circular drives with two exits/entrances, so we can pull forward both in and out.

 

[mollyc]

Well I always have. Because why wouldn’t you?

We would likely stop traffic if we had to back in regularly; as I park my car in a garage, it is definitely easier to pull in straight to that than to back into the garage; and if I did back in, I'd never be able to open my trunk in the garage. I think backing in or forwarding in is really dependent on your street and driveway configuration.

 

[sam_dean]

Most of those drivers who have no business driving suffer from the Dunning-Kruger effect, so I imagine they would simply ignore trains.

Even a >20% reduction will help.

 

[Herdfan]

Not in California. And certainly not in West Phoenix, where I live. We do have light rail and bus.

I'm just glad they finally got the SkyTrain running from the airport to the rental car center.

Of course my next flight is out of Mesa so I won't get to use it.

As for Phoenix traffic, while I don't live there, I have been there at least a dozen times in the past 2 years, I don't think it is nearly as bad a many cities its size or smaller. Granted, I have mainly been on the east side so no idea about the west side.

 

[Herdfan]

This may be more of a California thing as I am not sure how many other states allow lane splitting. I do not ride a bike, but as a driver who does often look out for motorcycles since lane splitting is allowed, t

I had to warn my daughter about that when she moved there. But even though she knew, it scared the 💩 out of her the first time it happened.

I used to ride, but would only lane split at stop lights. I never would have done it on a highway at speed. Edit: I guess it called lane filtering.

 

[cthompson94]

I had to warn my daughter about that when she moved there. But even though she knew, it scared the 💩 out of her the first time it happened.

I used to ride, but would only lane split at stop lights. I never would have done it on a highway at speed. Edit: I guess it called lane filtering.

Same exact thing happened to me when I moved out here except I didn't know lane splitting was a thing and my first encounter was in traffic and a huge/loud Harley comes by and revs up for people to move out of the way. I would be lying if I said that I didn't jump a bit and my friend in the passenger seat laughed and told me that will be pretty normal

 

[tranceking26]

As a pedestrian, I get annoyed with people not stopping when they should at zebra crossings.

Also sometimes it's like "watch my feet" when they turn into a road and mount the path a bit!