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Which driver annoys you the most?

  • Drivers who drive slow in the fast lane

    Votes: 38 34.9%
  • Drivers who speed up to make it through yellow light

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Drivers who leave their directional signal on

    Votes: 4 3.7%
  • Drivers who tailgate

    Votes: 34 31.2%
  • Drivers who abruptly change lanes

    Votes: 11 10.1%
  • Drivers who take on their cell phone

    Votes: 18 16.5%
  • Drivers who speed and "blow your doors off"

    Votes: 4 3.7%

  • Total voters
    109
If I could, i'd vote for all of them. Alas, sometimes things just can't be helped. Except for the ******s who always have to give you the finger cause you're driving 10mph faster than the speed limit but not fast enough for them.

One of my biggest annoyances is actually parking. The hummers that take up two spaces, and the *******s who take the handicapped parking places are realllly really annoying.

Number 1 on my list are the people who cross the street in a particular way. There's one intersection I'm at where people do this a lot (it's olympic & western, in the middle of ktown in los angeles), and I'm not sure if it's because the signals were recently changed or they just have no common sense or what..but... Essentially what's bugging me is that said intersection is always busy, they just recently changed the signals to put in dedicated left/right turn signals because it's impossible for more than one or two cars at most, if at all, to make left turns there otherwise, and there's always a long line of like 7 or 8 cars that want to (before the change, I remember waiting like 5-10 minutes to make a left turn). So while the left turn arrow is green, people aren't supposed to cross the street, and other drivers are supposed to wait, and you're supposed to make a left turn. Then the arrow turns yellow, and then you're supposed to yield to oncoming traffic and pedestrians who are THEN supposed to cross the street until you have another opportunity to make a left turn before the light turns red.

HOWEVER, some idiot pedestrians decide to cross the street and not wait for the "walk" signal, ever, from both sides. It's not even all of them, the mass majority of them wait, because they know what's going on. But what ends up happening is that you're trying to make a left turn but can't because a couple of people are in your way. So you can't make a left turn and the light turns green for everyone else and you're stuck blocking the intersection because now some more people are in your way. So all the drivers that you're blocking get mad (and of course it's never just you, it's also the car(s) behind you trying to make the left turn as well), and the random pedestrian gives you a dirty look cause you're screaming obscenities at them.

Of course, when you wait expecting people to cross the street, even though you're supposed to be making a left turn, nobody ever does cross the street and people give you the finger.

I know I suck at describing this, so here:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=...804,-118.309144&spn=0.000987,0.00302&t=h&om=1

The little pointer thing is the intersection, the street going east/west is Olympic, the street going north/south is Western. i'm usually trying to make a left on Western to get onto Olympic to get to that building in your bottom right-hand corner. The line of 6-7 cars up at top is all the people trying to make left turns, and people usually cross the street behind where the red car is. PEOPLE ALWAYS FLIPPING CROSS THE STREET!
 
Tailgaters for sure. Drives me nuts. That and the people who have to swerve in and out of lanes like maniacs, without using their turn signals. Get over yourselves, seriously.
 
A few to add to the list...

Drivers who think that the entire universe wants to hear the music blaring from their stereo. If I stop at a red light, and the "music" from the car behind me makes my windows rattle, I'd like to shoot them. I keep a selection of songs on my iPod, for those occasions when I can pull up next to them (Tiny Tim seems to work wonders).

Adding to the note about parking in handicap-designated spots (just park behind them and call the cops...you'll do a good deed AND piss them off...win-win); Motorcycles and mopeds that park in the striped loading zone beside those parking spaces. That zone is part of the handicap-designated zone, idiots! If you see such an offending vehicle with a big puddle of spit on the seat - I did that.

And then there are those nighttime drivers who think that there is a specific distance they have to reach (seems to be 10', these days), before turning their high beams down. If I can see your headlights and you can see mine, I expect you to turn your lights down. And trust me, those purple-hued metal halides do NOT impress me.

Let's not forget those folks who can't stay in their own lane, when making a turn. If you're inner land, STAY in the inner lane when you turn. Same goes for the outer lane. Those people who swerve across 3 lanes of traffic when they turn need to have their ankles broken.

How about people who speed through school zones or pass a stopped school bus. Let's forget the points on their license - let's just drown them.
 
janey said:
...some idiot pedestrians decide to cross the street and not wait for the "walk" signal, ever, from both sides...

-janey

I've had a particular temptation since I started driving, and every now and then it crops up and I start thinking about it again. It is the temptation of installing a set of truck air horns in addition to the OEM horn in my car.

So I'd have a "Honk" and "Seriously Honk, get the frack out of my way moron! Honk".

Where I used to live in Chicago, in Greektown, idiots would be walking around out in the middle of Halstead. Oh, boy, gimme that horn, I'd clear the street.

PS- My Brother in law has a train horn installed in his van - twice as loud (300db) but I'm sorry, not as scary as a truck horn.
 
patrick0brien said:
I've had a particular temptation since I started driving, and every now and then it crops up and I start thinking about it again. It is the temptation of installing a set of truck air horns in addition to the OEM horn in my car.
Oh my god, I want that so bad :D it would look sooo funny lol
 
janey said:
Oh my god, I want that so bad :D it would look sooo funny lol

-janey

:D :D I've always wanted to see the look on the faces on those blasted with it.

...
Dullard walking
Honk
Honk-honk
BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!
Dullard picks himself off of the pavement.
 
You need to have a little patience with people out on the road who might make a mistake, get distracted or are just having a bad day -- if not for their benefit, then for your own peace of mind. Remember, tomorrow it could be you. The people that really bug me are the ones who just don't care. That's why I chose speeding as my driving pet peeve. People who speed just don't care, which makes them among the most dangerous drivers on the road.
 
Though in the UK - traffic lights when turning green they show red&yellow together beforehand which is quite useful for getting into gear before moving off.

But a lot of people I've seen take avantage of this, some move off way too early before the green light appears and on high speed roads from a distance they see the lights showing red&yellow knowing they'll turn green without bothering to slow down. This I feel is dangerous you shouldn't really go through traffic light junctions at 80-100mph in case there are pedestrians crossing the road without waiting for the green man signal...

I feel that British traffic lights should go straight from red to green like those in Ireland and Jersey. This should stop drivers from moving off too early and forcing speeders to slow down as the lights instead would be showing red alone that they won't have an idea exactly when the green light will appear.
 
Southerner said:
Though in the UK - traffic lights when turning green they show red&yellow together beforehand which is quite useful for getting into gear before moving off.
In Japan, Green means go. Yellow means go faster. Red means floor it! ;)

On a serious note I've gone through a red light (one changing from green to yellow to red) many times. In fact I had been filming some driving around Japan to show my folks back home. When they saw the film, they all chastised me for doing it. However, they were a bit perplexed when I stated that if I had stopped I would have been rear ended by the 2-3 cars/trucks behind me that followed me through the red light.

The scariest ones are the little kids who put up their hand and then walk out in front of traffic. By Japanese rules they have the right of way. However, metal beats flesh every day of the week so while they may be right they are dead and since you are considered a professional driver you have a high chance of going to jail for a long time.

For me the pet pieve is old men/women on a bicycle. Scary!
 
sushi said:
In Japan....The scariest ones are the little kids who put up their hand and then walk out in front of traffic. By Japanese rules they have the right of way. However, metal beats flesh every day of the week so while they may be right they are dead and since you are considered a professional driver you have a high chance of going to jail for a long time.

In South America, pedestrians take their life in to their own hands when stepping off the curb in to a street of traffic. What's even worse, they will almost always step first and look second (to their right, the opposite direction of any on-coming car).
 
I'm guilty of tailgating. I do it fairly often. I realise the dangers but I don't care.

I'd rather die tailgating to annoy the hell out of someone that's stuck in the fast line for no good reason than let him get away with it. I absolutely have to, in any way, shape or form, point out other peoples mistakes wherever possible.

I can see tailgating and fast lane hoggers are both popular choices in this poll. My theory is tailgating is a result of bad drivers hogging the fast lane. So... Let's tackle this by getting to the root of the problem: STOP DRIVING SLOW IN THE WRONG LANE!
 
TMA said:
I realise the dangers but I don't care.
Nice. I wonder if you'll feel the same way after you rear-end someone and your insurance has to pay for their car being fixed (possibly yours as well) and whatever injuries that driver and those passengers might have incurred.
TMA said:
STOP DRIVING SLOW IN THE WRONG LANE!
What if I'm already in the slow lane? I drive in the slow lane unless I need to turn left or to pass another car. But I still get tailgated. :rolleyes:
 
devilot said:
Nice. I wonder if you'll feel the same way after you rear-end someone and your insurance has to pay for their car being fixed (possibly yours as well) and whatever injuries that driver and those passengers might have incurred.

That's nothing compared to the suffering I would go through if I let them get away with hogging the fast lane and carry on being bad drivers.


devilot said:
What if I'm already in the slow lane? I drive in the slow lane unless I need to turn left or to pass another car. But I still get tailgated. :rolleyes:

Slightly different in the UK I think, but the principle is the same. Fast lane is on the right. If you're in the 'fast' (fast isn't really a good word for it, but it's the easiest and most commonly understood) lane to turn right or to over take then that's fine. I wouldn't tailgate in that situation.

Yes i've been tailgated whilst I'm overtaking or about to turn right and it is very annoying, but I bet this kind of tailgating doesn't happen nearly as much as when someone is sat in the fast lane when they shouldn't be.
 
sushi said:
However, they were a bit perplexed when I stated that if I had stopped I would have been rear ended by the 2-3 cars/trucks behind me that followed me through the red light.
Yeah, I know. I went through one yellow->red light once and got yelled at (this was during one of my 6 hour dmv-mandated driver training periods in which I basically drove around anywhere I wanted to cause i already knew how to drive..), until I pointed out that we'd ahve been in a car accident if i had slowed down and stopped cause there were plenty of cars behind me.

Of course, I could have slowed down before I saw the yellow light, but this was in Santa Monica, and for some REALLY bizarre reason all the signals in this area seem to be on crack...part of how i decide whether to keep going or slow down is the flashing of the pedestrian signals while it's still a green light. over here, lights go from green to red in like 3 seconds, and sometimes the moment you slow down expecting the light to turn yellow it keeps staying green and the pedestrian sign thing goes from the solid red hand to the walk signal even though nobody's crossing the street..
It's a real pain in the ass, and sometimes I wonder if I'm the only person who thinks that the lights are crazy. But the one upside to santa monica streets is that at pedestrian crosswalks, they have lights that flash along the path so you can stop. Otherwise, I'd be totally screwed driving around at night...outside of santa monica, i almost ran into a couple of people going like 40mph and I didn't see them at ALL because the residential streets were all dark and trees/cars were blocking my sight.
 
The ultimate road rage list

• Idiots gridlocking a busy intersection, which causes perpendicular traffic to miss their green lights. If you can make it to the other side of the intersection, stop at your line!

• Those "tuff-guys" who swerve half way onto the shoulder in order to see what's holding-up traffic. It's called rush hour gridlock. It happens every day at the same time. Duh!

• Those who do not understand the concept of that little lever marked "turn signal."

• Rubberneckers. Those selfish fools causing massive traffic delays... Sometimes a single police car parked with flashing lights (the cop can be doing something mundane, like clearing a minor fender-bender or helping a broken down motorist) is enough to cause a jam.

• People who must make a lane change right where they are at a given moment. These people slow to a crawl or stop in order to cut into the next lane...usually holding up their own lane until a gap opens up in the next lane.

• While sitting in slow freeway traffic, there's always a bunch of people who try to jam their cars into spaces that don't exist. Usual scenario: I'm sitting about three feet from the car behind me, moving at a slow crawl. Goober driver must get into that space. No turn signal, no polite hey-d00d-can-ya-please-let-me-in-wave. It's either t-bone the loser or slam on the brakes and let them into the space.

• Two-lane highway on-ramps that quickly merge into one lane... rather than merge and pull in behind another car, some arrogant cretins race along the right-side lane, while the road is quickly narrowing down to one lane. Of course, when said-cretin nearly runs off the road trying to cut me off, they get mad at me.

• Those who don't use their headlights in blinding rainstorms. Lane changes and left turns across oncoming traffic are so much fun when you can't see the other cars.

• People who turn out from a side street onto a main road...right in front of me. It's even more enraging when there's not a single car behind me, and they could've waited literally a single second or two while I passed. I instead have the pleasure of slamming on my brakes in order to avoid smashing into them.

• People who park in front of busy storefronts (usually directly under the "do not park" signs). This usually causes a huge mess in a small, tight parking lot, since everyone has to maneuver around these lazy fools.

This list deserves a big -> :rolleyes:
 
How about people who do not quite grasp the concept that you can make a right turn on red after a stop. They are completely oblivious and will sit there until the light turns green to make the right turn. Yes, if there is traffic running perpindicular and you can't make the turn then it's acceptable, but I'm referring to the numbskulls who will sit there with absolutely no perpindicular traffic hindering them from making the right turn.
 
I hate, HATE, when I'm driving on at a nice cruising speed, with NO ONE behind me. Then someone from a side street, who couldn't wait the five seconds for me to pass, cuts out in front of me making me slam on my brakes. And to make it worse, they take a turn onto the next side street that is probably 50 feet where they came out of. This happens almost once a week, and every time I just feel like speeding up and ramming them, but I usually control myself, ;) ...
 
A couple of the posts reminded me of a story from an old tech support co-worker friend of mine. He did support for some mechanical engineering modeling software. A consultant called him up once asking for help with a modeling issue. Turned out he was driving down the freeway talking on his cellphone while modeling a part on his laptop. Now that is a Darwin death waiting to happen.... :rolleyes:
 
TMA said:
Yes i've been tailgated whilst I'm overtaking or about to turn right and it is very annoying, but I bet this kind of tailgating doesn't happen nearly as much as when someone is sat in the fast lane when they shouldn't be.

Of course, to a tailgater, the definition of someone being in the fast lane when they shouldn't, is any time they are ahead of him.
 
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