Bad drivers, mean drivers, old drivers, funny drivers.

[d962831]

Here are four short tales a sucky drivers I've been witness to and encountered.

Numero uno:
I'm heading to school in the morning. I need to take a right and I'm on one of those little curved things that branches form the main road so that people don't get stuck behind others who are just turning. A few cars go by and then there is a LARGE space before the next car comes. I think sweet, I've can go. I begin to pull into the lane of the street I'm turning onto. The street I'm turning onto has two lanes, therfore there's one for people coming from the left and right, of course people from the left always swing into the far one before they even reach the road so I wait.

You remember that LARGE gap, well the lady driving the car at the end of that gap, sees me begin to pull into the streets and apparently has a melt down at the sight of it. She guns it, whips around the turn and nearly runs me off the road. I go up onto the curb a bit and bent the rims of my tire. Again, this lady, about fifteen feet away from the line where one stops on red freaks out, accelerates, takes the turn going forty and swings into the lane I'm pulling into. Oh and the best part is this nasty look she gives me afterwards. Instead of speeding up so she can get on her precious way without me apparently obstructing it, she then slows down to a near stop, looks over at me with her mouth hanging half open in disgust and then guns it up the street only to come to a schreeching halt at a red light, nearly hitting the car in front of her....bitch.

Numero dos:
Ah, what a gem this one was. ON a scale from diamond to turd, this one is the turd of the turd.
I'm heading out of town back to my house, it's been a pretty good day, of course there's still quite a few people on the road. I'm in the right lane going a little over the speed limit, there's loads of people in the left passing me as they're rushing to get home so I can't get into that lane. I pull up to a stop light with a few cars in front of me. Now I don't know what was running through this womans head at the time or if she just was felt like pissing me off was okay because I'm younger than her but whatever.

The light turned the cars started going. She stayed put for a bit longer than neccesary. I think no big, maybe she was switching radio stations and didn''t see. Boy did I get it wrong. We hadn't gone twenty feet when she started to tap her breaks. I slowed thinking maybe a deer had just run in front of her. Nope, no deer, she just tapped it a few time then went about another twenty or thirty feet and did it again.

You know that feeling you get, it's a strange sensation that you can't quite place. It starts as a small thrumming in the back of your head and slowly grows louder and begins to go from thrumming to banging erractically. It then becomes painful to the point where you want to start screaming until all the world knows your pain and then you want to choke the life out of someone just to prove how painful it is. Such is the pain this turd of a turd lady caused.

I ended up going about five miles stuck behind this lady until I finally reach a point where I can pass her, but it doesn't get that far quite yet. Before I can reach my salvation there is an intersection. The light turns green the cars ahead move forward, this lady taps her breaks and then moves into the intersection and STOPS. I can see her head tilted back in laughter through the back window and then she ever so slowly begins to move through the rest of the intersection. It then comes to an off ramp and she begins speeding mercilessly down it. I'm pissed and so before she's out of sight I speed up (I have to go about 80 to reach and stay with her) As I pass by I flip her the bird and curse, I think quite loudly enough to be heard several miles away.

Whew, I would have rather strangled her, but that will have to do.

Three:
Finally, one that doesn't involve jerks, just people who probably shouldn't be driving.

I was on the highway heading into town, when it suddenly seems I'm advancing quite quickly on this old whale of a car. I check, nope going the speed limit. I pull into another lane and pass by and as I look in it's and old guy driving with his wife in the passenger seat. He's squinting and leaning over his steering wheel and turning it back and forth quite a bit.

I get up to the stop light, it turns green I go and then FWOOM! The same car I saw only a minute ago going about 30 in a 55 is now going about 70 in a 45 (the speed limit changed as the highway entered into town). If you can't drive at a consistant speed don't drive at all!

Four:
This one's short and a bit funny.
My moms driving and I'm in the passenger seat. We're on the highway and we pull up next to a van. The van is packed! It's so full that the driver actually had the seat so far forward that his/her (can't remember the gender) body was touching the steering wheel, and the seat was inclined forward so that his/her nose was literally about an inch away from the windshield. Try to imagine that. It was hilarious and we were cracking up about it the whole way home.

[BookstoreEscapee]

Funny as it may look that last one's just asking for a tragedy. First of all, driving in that position probably doesn't make it easy to see around you or properly use your mirrors, and if they were to get in an accident they are practically guaranteed to get their internal organs crushed by the steering wheel.

I will never understand what possesses people to purposely try to piss other people off while driving 2 ton steel death machines. You make a wrong move and cause an accident, or your mess with the wrong person and trigger retaliation. Either way it's just stupid and so not worth it. Whenever I see someone driving erratically, or too fast or too slow for the conditions, all I want is to get away from them. All the more so if they seem to be doing it on purpose.

[IT Grunt]

This reminds me of a couple incidents I've run across:

First, I was heading down the ramp to get on the interstate. I'm speeding up to merge when I notice that the old guy in front of me has slowed down, and then I noticed he's stopped at the bottom of the ramp. I'm already up to 55, so I slam on the brakes and put up a nice cloud of smoke as I stop just a few feet from his bumper. I think about what could have happened if I'd reacted a second too late, and then wonder what the hell was going through this guy's mind. The kicker? Traffic was minimal. He stopped because he saw a car nearly 200 yards back, and was going to wait for it to pass. Freakin' idiot.

Second, I'm following along behind another old guy onto a highway overpass. Next thing I know, the guy is braking to a stop and putting on his turn signal, to turn onto the exit ramp. I manage to get around him, but thankfully this guy realized what he was doing and moved up to the entrance ramp. Good thing, too, otherwise that could have been messy.

[Geek King]

My driving-to-work pet peeve: People who don't know how to merge on the highway.

People, honestly, if you're going to get on the highway, don't start slowing down at the bottom of the ramp! I swear, I'll let you over! I do it everyday. If you start slowing down just as you get to the bottom of the ramp, I start getting worried that you'll miss me in your blindspot and sideswipe me. When I speed up to buzz ahead of you and get out of the way, don't then act like I cut you off. By law, I don't have to even adjust my speed for you. The driving laws basically state that merging is the resposibility of the merging driver, not the drivers already on the road, unless two roads are becoming a new road. I could merrily think, "go f*** yourself," and go my merry way, but I try to be a nice guy. Do your part and keep your speed up with the traffic you're merging with.

DISCLAIMER: I know there are jerks who will purposefully mess with meging drivers, I'm talking about general behavior. Also, Newton's Laws of Mass and Momentum still trump the driving laws. Not going to tangle with a semi (lorry for the brits) if I can help it.

[Inker]

Ah, the joys of driving....I used to commute in the DC area, and think i've seen just about everything. I only really snapped once, though. I stopped just before an intersection at a green light to avoid gridlock. The guy behind me started flipping out and honking his horn and screaming at me. I got out of my car , turned around and screamed "It's called gridlock a**hole!" and got back in. He stopped yelling. It had been a long day.

I've had to teach myself not to flip people off, though. The last time I did it, the other driver decided to have "fun" with me and ran me off the road, nearly into a jersey wall.

[PepperElf]

Funny as it may look that last one's just asking for a tragedy. First of all, driving in that position probably doesn't make it easy to see around you or properly use your mirrors, and if they were to get in an accident they are practically guaranteed to get their internal organs crushed by the steering wheel.

Back when I was in high school one of my classmates was tiny - stopped growing somewhere in grade school i think. And yes, the steering wheel will kill you when you have to sit that close to it. She passed away right before exam week in our junior year. :(

[Shabo]

Ahh, merging on the highway is my biggest pet peeve too. Also tailgating when the person in front of you is going at least the speed limit. The thing I've seen the most that irritates me with merging on the highway is the route I normally take to get home. It is a two lane highway, and not heavily populated at the point I hop on. I have seen people in the right lane *SLOW DOWN* to about 35-40 mph to let the person merging onto the highway in... when the left lane is COMPLETELY clear. Yes, I understand it's not the travel lane, but it's the passing lane, and also the "get the hell out of the way of the people merging onto the highway lane (when it is safe to do so)".

Road rage is also a terrible thing. People should be given some sort of a personality test before they are given a license. Like one that measures blood pressure levels as they get pissed off or something.

[air914]

is it really the law that you don't have to adjust your speed for merging drivers? It just seems like common decency and sense to do so. It pisses me off to no end when I'm driving for a long period of time with my blinker on trying to get over and the other car either won't speed up or slow down - and THEN decides to cut me off so they can exit. If they had let me in, I would have let them in - we could have switched places. OR they could put their freakin' turn signal on so I could figure out what the heck they were doing!!!

People who don't use their turn signals infuriate me. How the heck are all the other cars on the road supposed to "magically" know that you are going to come into their lane? If you put your signal on, we could react instead of screeching to a halt as you barrel yourself in between us and the other car - which there isn't enough room to do anyway.

I also drive on the expressway a lot and can't for the life of me figure out why we're going 60 miles an hour and then we dead stop - then go about 50 miles an hour - dead stop. I've learned to leave lots of space between me and the next car, but I just don't understand how the highway dead stops. Traffic is one thing - nobody is moving - but moving fast and then stopping and moving fast and then stopping - it drives me nuts :)

Still in all of this, I've never flipped anyone off. You never know who's got a gun, or a temper, or is just plain insane.....

[Seshat]

is it really the law that you don't have to adjust your speed for merging drivers? It just seems like common decency and sense to do so.

Disclaimer: cultural and legal background is Australia. Non-Australians may find this answer doesn't apply to them.

Legally, yes. The onus is on the merging-in driver, not the drivers already on the highway/freeway/whatever. However, the drivers on the highway can be charged with dangerous driving, negligent homicide, or whatever other thing can be thrown at them.

The legally-expected behaviour of the highway cars is to remain predictable. Stay doing what you're doing, stay in the lane you're in, so the merging driver can plan their merge.

The courteous behaviour on a mostly-quiet freeway is to get into the passing lane, let the merging driver have the main travel lane, and get back into the main travel lane once you're both at highway speed.

The courteous behaviour on a busy freeway is to figure out where the merging driver intends to go, and give them a little more space if you can safely do so.

However, remaining predictable is more important than being courteous. If everyone's predictable, we all stay safe.

[protege]

I can't stand the idiots who can't merge either. Nearly every damn day, when I get on the parkway, the ramp is bumper to bumper. Never mind that the parkway itself is moving quickly...and that the parkway goes from 2 to 3 lanes there. The ramp becomes its own lane for a few miles. Nope, what holds things up, is the dumbasses who *slam on the brakes* about halfway down the ramp to look for traffic :rolleyes:

About the ramps--here, if you can, you're supposed to move over temporarily to allow traffic to merge. It's not really a law, but it's much safer. Many times, the people trying to get onto the highway will *not* wait, which is *not* a good thing on some of our roads. Many of them were designed to handle 55mph traffic...meaning that the ramps now either aren't long enough, or are too close together.

I have no problem with people doing the speed limit either. It annoys the hell out of me though, to be doing the legal 55 (or 65mph, or whatever)...and have some idiot pull out in front of me doing well under that. That's just dangerous!

[wagegoth]

The key word is "merge." The traffic is supposed to merge. This means the vehicles moving on the highway are supposed to adjust to the vehicles moving onto the highway. Otherwise, the signs would say, "Yield."

Frankly, the combination, at least in my area, of a huge growth of traffic, immigrants (legal and illegal) with few or no driving skills (often with no licenses and insurance), the lack of decent public transit (which means that people who are poor or fearful drivers drive anyway), infrastructure that's always behind the growth curve, and the usual idiots, psychos and stupidity, have made me hate driving.

I've been enjoying letting the bus driver deal with it, although the whole public transit ordeal of having to deal with multiple agencies is a regular pain, but I'm probably going to have to start driving again in a few months, and I'm not looking forward to it.

[Geek King]

The key word is "merge." The traffic is supposed to merge. This means the vehicles moving on the highway are supposed to adjust to the vehicles moving onto the highway. Otherwise, the signs would say, "Yield."



Very nearly every freeway ramp I've been on in the US that did not have a light, and every single one in my area, has a yield sign that applies to the ramp traffic.

That said, the decent, and safe, thing is for everyone to pay attention. Much easier if the ramp traffic upholds their end of the bargain. :D

[Lil Bunny]

This reminds me of a couple incidents I've run across:

First, I was heading down the ramp to get on the interstate. I'm speeding up to merge when I notice that the old guy in front of me has slowed down, and then I noticed he's stopped at the bottom of the ramp. I'm already up to 55, so I slam on the brakes and put up a nice cloud of smoke as I stop just a few feet from his bumper. I think about what could have happened if I'd reacted a second too late, and then wonder what the hell was going through this guy's mind. The kicker? Traffic was minimal. He stopped because he saw a car nearly 200 yards back, and was going to wait for it to pass. Freakin' idiot.

Second, I'm following along behind another old guy onto a highway overpass. Next thing I know, the guy is braking to a stop and putting on his turn signal, to turn onto the exit ramp. I manage to get around him, but thankfully this guy realized what he was doing and moved up to the entrance ramp. Good thing, too, otherwise that could have been messy.

*points up* And now you know how my boss ended up with 11 broken ribs, compression fracture and a wrecked truck. He got stopped, idiot behind him didn't though. *shakes head*

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Depending on where the vehicle attempting to merge is, and whether there's traffic trying to pass me, I will slow down, speed up, or move to the other lane to give the merging vehicle a place to enter the freeway.

My dislike is for those people who refuse to give you space to merge in, even thought they could easily move to the other lane, and then tailgate you and get all road-ragey for no good reason.

Like the screaming assbag in an almost brand new Dodge Ram I had the displeasure of encountering one day. Son of a bitch tailgated me, swung out, sped up and passed me, then yanked back into my lane, slammed on his brakes, and flipped me off.

I still wonder how I managed not to rear-end him. Traffic was really light on the freeway so he could've moved over.

I'd also like to re-announce my disdain for metered ramps, which Milwaukee and other large cities have. When they're in use you end up coming to a dead stop at the end of the entrance ramp, and when the light turns green you have to floor it so you don't get blasted by the traffic moving full speed ahead behind you.

[Seshat]

Yes: the whole point of an entrance ramp is to allow you to get up to freeway speeds so you can merge safely.

I've only seen a few traffic-lighted ramps, and they all have the light a decent distance back from the merging point.

[wagegoth]

In California, the land of the freeway, they have merge signs, not yield signs. Otherwise, no one would ever be able to get on the freeway.

Remember the scene from L.A. Story when he finds out it's the first day of spring? If you haven't, rent the movie.

[blas87]

It happened just this morning.

Some senile old fool in a minivan would NOT move over to let someone merging get in. The van was going so slow that they were neck and neck while the car was starting to merge.

There is just enough room on the highway that the car stayed to the right of the van after merging (almost in the ditch!) and then yanked it around the van and sped up.

I can't believe that asshole. There was barely any traffic, no reason to not move over or at least ease off to let the guy in.

[chops]

My dislike is for those people who refuse to give you space to merge in, even thought they could easily move to the other lane, and then tailgate you and get all road-ragey for no good reason.
This happened to me one morning trying to merge onto the highway. The left lane was closed, and there was plenty of space between the car ahead of me and the little Mazda truck behind...until the asshat in the Mazda tried to speed up and attempt to prevent me from merging. He didn't close the gap quickly enough, and I still had enough room to merge. Asshat shook his head in disapproval...because I dared merge in front of him!

[ArcticChicken]

People who don't use their turn signals infuriate me.

You'd hate Jersey. See, there's this thing we Philadelphians like to call a 'Jersey Slide'. Basically it's crossing a lane of traffic without using your turn signal. Bonus points for each additional lane, double bonus points for cutting off a semi.

EDIT: I know of delivery drivers who will change their planned route to avoid anyone with a Jersey plate. They're in upstate NY though. It would be far to impractical to try that here.

[mattm04]

I always find it funny when someone with a peace sign or a "no war" bumper sticker is the most aggressive asshole cutting people off and tailgating. Bunus points if it is a hybrid and they keep gunning it and slamming on the brakes.

[Princess-Snake]

About a month ago, my dad and I went up to his dad's house for lunch and late Christmas and birthday celebration. We ate lunch at Olive Garden (I loved the seafood alfredo.) and drove back to Pop-pop's house. (that's what I call Grandpa.) My aunt was riding with us to give us directions back to the house, when this car tailgates us and kept honking the horn. This continues for about ten minutes, then the driver finally decides to stop tailgating and honking for a blissful three minutes. Then, just as we're about to make a turn, the driver speeds up, and cuts right in front us with only a few centimeters away from hitting the car. After completing this, the driver flips us the bird and says, "F### you!" My dad looks out the window to see the offending driver and discovers that said driver was his own sister. Not the one giving us directions, a different one. The aunt in the car with us comments that she found it ironic that when Grandma was alive, she would never let Aunt C (driver who cut us off) drive Grandma's car because of all the accidents that she was in. And now that she's died, Aunt C is currently in possesion of Grandma's car. When we got back to the house, Aunt C apologized because she didn't realize she was flipping off her brother until she looked in the rearview mirror. Then, she and dad started arguing over who was right, while Aunt C's kids fought over a toy camera my mom had given one of them for Christmas.

[K245five]

For most of the reasons already listed in this thread, merging is the part of driving I can least stand.

It makes me nervous, especially when somebody already on the highway will ride neck and neck with you and won't get over, meaning you have to either gun it to get ahead or slow down and slip in behind. Thus, other drivers tend to give you crap for it.

[crazylegs]

It's so full that the driver actually had the seat so far forward that his/her (can't remember the gender) body was touching the steering wheel, and the seat was inclined forward so that his/her nose was literally about an inch away from the windshield.

Well thats an easy way to rip your face off if your airbag activates. Most cars tell you in the hand book to remain a certain distance away from the steering wheel (never a problem in my case unless I want to drive like I'm giving birth).

Onto the merging thread, I'm reasonably sure the highway code states where possible you should move into the centre lane to assist motorway traffic joining, it seems to work quite nicely too.

[Zipporah]

Merging is a big problem, but people who cut me off and don't use a turn signal annoy me too.

Many drivers are immature. When my father beeped at a woman the other day, she beeped back and gave us the finger! People do this often, too. It's like they have to get back at someone for beeping at them :rolleyes:

[Dips]

slow down and slip in behind

That's almost always the correct thing to do in that situation, for several reasons:

1. The guy in the right lane has the right of way. If he is choosing not to yield it to you, whether he's being an asshole or not is beside the point. The law states that you should merge behind him. If there were a collision, you would probably be found at fault for trying to get in front of him.

2. Slowing down slightly and merging behind him is also much safer for you. If you have a limited space and a choice to speed up or slow down slightly, slowing down a bit gives you more time before you run out of room.

3. When a gap opens up in the faster second lane after you've merged, the car in back usually has access to that space before the car in front. You'll likely be able to get over to the other lane and pass the guy who paced you, which can be sweet. :devil:

[K245five]

That's almost always the correct thing to do in that situation, for several reasons:

1. The guy in the right lane has the right of way. If he is choosing not to yield it to you, whether he's being an asshole or not is beside the point. The law states that you should merge behind him. If there were a collision, you would probably be found at fault for trying to get in front of him.

2. Slowing down slightly and merging behind him is also much safer for you. If you have a limited space and a choice to speed up or slow down slightly, slowing down a bit gives you more time before you run out of room.

3. When a gap opens up in the faster second lane after you've merged, the car in back usually has access to that space before the car in front. You'll likely be able to get over to the other lane and pass the guy who paced you, which can be sweet. :devil:

I agree with slowing down and slipping in behind. It's a heckuva lot safer than gunning it and trying to slip in front of the motorist, which is akin to cutting off another motorist, IMHO.

Sometimes people who ride in the right when you are trying to merge possibly are oblivious to the fact that they are right next to a merging lane where other motorists are trying to get onto the highway. But, there are the self-righteous people who think "This is MY space, and I am NOT giving it up!" as well.

Where I live, though, we have a law where motorists on a multiple-lane highway are supposed to "keep right and pass left". Unfortunately, I live in Pennsylvania currently, and the Police NEVER enforce this law! Thus, you have people who constantly ride in the fast lane(the left) at sub speed limit speeds. So, that may be another reason why people tend to stay in the right when one is trying to merge. Too many asshats in the left poking along and blocking the flow of traffic. THAT is ANOTHER rant for a future thread!:D

[powerboy]

For most of the reasons already listed in this thread, merging is the part of driving I can least stand.

It makes me nervous, especially when somebody already on the highway will ride neck and neck with you and won't get over, meaning you have to either gun it to get ahead or slow down and slip in behind. Thus, other drivers tend to give you crap for it.

I hate that. Just let me in jackass.



Merging is a big problem, but people who cut me off and don't use a turn signal annoy me too.

Many drivers are immature. When my father beeped at a woman the other day, she beeped back and gave us the finger! People do this often, too. It's like they have to get back at someone for beeping at them :rolleyes:


Same things happens to me all the time. and I only honk for the people to stay stopped at a green light.

[IT Grunt]

The worst merging scenario I hate is when traffic is backed up into one lane due to road construction ahead. Now, in this situation, you'll typically have your assholes who drive in the empty lane and then try to merge in at the last second. They deserve what they get. However, the same can not be said for those who are getting on the interstate from an entrance ramp, and have to find a spot to merge in. They have no choice. I had an asshole who, when a spot opened and I tried to merge in, would zoom up to keep me from getting in. In today's world, that is just begging for road rage.

[Sylvia727]

The worst merging scenario I hate is when traffic is backed up into one lane due to road construction ahead. Now, in this situation, you'll typically have your assholes who drive in the empty lane and then try to merge in at the last second.

The highway/main road near my house is a four lane (two each direction) road that drops to a two lane road. It's been a bottleneck for years, and my city is just now starting to expand it to four lanes. :) Well, during rush hour on this residential road, the right lane will be empty for, I kid you not, four or five miles before the actual cut-off. I get jackasses shooting up the five miles and wanting in at literally the last second every single day. I fight back, with honking and tailgating the car ahead of me. I refuse to let them in normally, but twice they made it in ahead of me because they forced me into oncoming traffic and I decided not to die. Complete with the one finger salute, and I am honestly surprised that my rage does not manifest by shredding their cars into half-inch wide strips of twisted, melted metal. :burneyes: :burnup: :flame:

The other crazy thing I do, and this will probably get my car totaled one day, is when I'm driving 44 mph on 40 mph two lane road, and the car behind me is so close that I can't see the license plate in my rearview mirror. This when I check my brakes. If they still don't get the hint, I drop to 35 mph, and then 30. I've had people pass me in the opposing lane (when the road isn't zoned for it) when I do that. I guess they're in a hurry to meet their maker :lol:

[slavetotheman]

Well, during rush hour on this residential road, the right lane will be empty for, I kid you not, four or five miles before the actual cut-off. I get jackasses shooting up the five miles and wanting in at literally the last second every single day.

:confused: Why would the right lane be wide open for so long? It would make more sense for traffic to be backed up in both lanes, and the drop from 2 lanes to 1 be handled like a merge. Regardless, I'm not sure what's sucky about taking advantage of the 4-5 miles of open road (!) and then merging with the left lane, unless "last second" really is the last possible moment, and not 1/4 or a 1/2 mile early.

[ditchdj]

I'm surprised nobody has ever mentioned this one: When there's a lane merging on the interstate because of road construction, my biggest peeve is when two semis try to "Play Traffic Cop" where they pace each other at 20mph almost 10 miles back and cause an even bigger backup of traffice because they think they own the road and are a little too obsessed with someone trying to "be first". I know that if my wife or kids died because an ambulance couldn't get to them on time because of these boneheads doing that on the highway I'd really be out for blood.