small driving pet peeve

[Lace Neil Singer]

Didn't you know that turn signals are options? Especially on expensive cars/penis extenders?

Not many people tend to mark that tick box it seems.

B

Also, if you are a mother, then you're excluded from all rules regarding driving safely.

[AriRashkae]

It's necessary. Maneuvering a many-ton vehicle while double-clutching a thirteen-speed transmission ain't an easy job. I wish everyone had to get a CDL before applying for their class E permit here in America. At the very least people would treat these behemoths with respect. Just because you zip in front and slam on your brakes doesn't mean it's even physically possible for that freshly-loaded Peterbilt to avoid turning you into an accordion with the help of the car in front of you.

My parents used to haul animals cross-country before I was born. My father still hauls regionally, and my mother drives school buses, usually as a spare, so she's almost never familiar with her route!

I was taught very young to never challenge anything bigger than me (learning to drive the truck on property once I was big enough to see and work the pedals helps! ) In fact, one of the courtesy points I was taught was to flick my high beams slightly when a semi was passing and far enough ahead to pull in front of me without clipping me, since their blind spots are so huge. About half will turn their hazards on in thanks.

[Dreamstalker]

Just because you zip in front and slam on your brakes doesn't mean it's even physically possible for that freshly-loaded Peterbilt to avoid turning you into an accordion with the help of the car in front of you.

Two Thanksgivings ago in NJ, my dad and I were on the parkway. All exits are on the right, we were in the center lane with trucks behind us, in front of us and to our right (somehow everyone is maintaining a safe stopping distance).

Some ass in--yup, a sports car--realizes about 50 feet from the exit that he does indeed want that offramp. He's in the far left lane. So he floors it and threads the needle between us and the trucks I wasn't able to get the plate number, I hope someone did.

[protege]

After seeing what a semi can do to a car, I always try to give them as much room as possible.

For those who don't know, my grandmother got hit head-on by a semi...after some redneck idiot in a gravel truck rear-ended her...and pushed her car into the semi's lane back in 1994. It happened so quick, there was no way the semi could have stopped in time. At least, he tried to--the long skid marks...which are *still* on the highway...attest to that. Gravel truck couldn't stop either. In fact, he continued...hitting a state-owned (PennDOT) truck, flipping it over. Grandma's damn lucky to have survived--the entire front end of her car was gone. I mean, the bumper was through the windshield, the engine fell on the ground (when we lifted the tarp), and there wasn't a straight panel on it. Hell, the spare tire was folded in half

With all of that said, it still amazes me that people still think a truck can stop on a dime...and still do stupid shit like that. Trust me, the last thing I want to see in my rearview mirror, is a semi jack-knifed across two lanes of traffic and skidding towards me...because some dipshit in a car just *had* cut him off while hurrying to Starfucks


Even better are the dipshits who don't give way to the buses on corners. Sorry, but the bus (unless it's one of those weird ones, with the bendy-thing in the middle) *can't* help it. Just about every morning, I get to see the following scenario:

Beechwood Blvd. leads to the parkway (I-376). Quite a few people take that, or one of the many side streets. So does the bus. However, the bus usually has a hard time of it--one of the side streets (the last one with a traffic light before the parkway) is a bit tight. Also not helping, are the idiots who park along the right side--they just *love* to park in the yellow zone.

Every damn morning, and it never fails, this is what happens. The first car at the light, is usually up too far. Bus comes, can't make the corner...forcing the car to either back up (not possible in traffic), or to go forward a bit. Annoying, but workable. However, I've noticed something else. Because I use that street every morning, I know about the bus. I also know that you'll still trip the traffic light...even if you're back a carlength. It never fails that I'll stop back far enough for the bus...only to have some idiot go *around* me...and then have to reverse/proceed to allow the bus clearance

[LewisLegion]

I got boxed in by some semis and a road rager once. Driving cross country, middle of nowhere Colorado. I was in the left lane passing a small bug in the right lane and a semi also to the right. There was another semi behind me and ahead of me was a pickup. Behind the bug was a third semi. To my left was a guard rail.

Realize too late as I'm passing the slow semi that he's in the middle of an argument with the pickup driver who is swerving and gesturing furiously. The semi guy is yelling and also gesturing in unkind ways. And apparently he got on the horn to the other two semis because the one behind the bug swerved onto the right shoulder around her and then pulled up beside me. The first semi sped up and got in front of the pickup, nearly running it into the guard-rail. The semi behind me also sped up to the point I could not anything in my rearview but its grill.

So now its a semi in the left lane, the pickup, me, a semi, and a semi blocking the right lane. There are literally inches between my front bumper and the swerving pickup, my back bumper and the tailgating semi, the semi to my right, and the guard rail to my left.

Meanwhile the second truck driver on my right and the pickup guy are still shouting and screaming. I can't slow down...tried, but the semi on my back end stayed right on me and I didn't want to get rear-ended...he would have taken me apart.

For nearly five minutes I'm trapped in this box o' death, going 75 down the highway, wondering when the semi in front is just gonna slam on its brakes and make me and ass driver a road sandwich, or when the ass driver is gonna swerve wrong and create a pile-up, and praying for the guard rail to end so I can pull onto the shoulder and let the whole mess pass.

Finally the guard-rail ends, the pickup swerves onto the shoulder in a cloud of righteous fury, and the semi behind me slows enough that I can get out of the sandwich. The lady in the bug looked at me as I fell in beside her with MASSIVELY huge eyes, pale as heck. She could see everything that was going on and I'm sure she was as ready to witness my bloody death as I was to experience it. Got off at the next rest stop and just shook for half an hour.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

Phew, close, yes. But the skill some of those semi-drivers exhibit in manuvering their trucks is amazing!

Or positively scary, depending on one's perspective.

Try to imagine the back of our shopping center. It's kinda narrow and there's a line of trees on one side (we have several apartment buildings behind us) and the trucks have to drive past the back of the store and then back up to the dock, which is on the side. Meaning the truck has to aim toward the left and then straighten out to get to the dock just right.

One Wednesday morning, back when we were still receiving our Keebler deliveries on that day (since changed to Mondays now as of this week) we had a SEFF truck (SouthEast Frozen Foods) truck that was parked behind the store and a Nabisco truck at the dock.

In flew Chuckie with the damn cookie truck (28 foot box trailer, similar to the Miller beer distributor's trailers size-wise) and FLEW by that SEFF truck (and it had a 53' trailer that took up quite a bit of length) so fast (SEFF driver let Chuckie go first for some reason) that I swear there had to be maybe 3 inches width between the two trucks.

Then after passing the back of the store, he shifted and started backing up (we already had the roll up door on the dock raised up, so we could see what was coming) and more or less flung the trailer to the dock. It's a wonder he didn't hit the dock (we have those plastic-covered foam buffers on the sides) and really cause some damage.

Even worse, he was bouncing around the dock worse than Beavis doing the Great Cornholio mumbling he'd overslept/the baby kept him and the wife up all night/he had a bunch of stops and he couldn't slow down for one second . . .bloodshot eyes, the works (we were actually suspecting he might be on something and that's dangerous behind the wheel for EVERYONE.)

Some people shouldn't be behind the wheel . . . .

[PepperElf]

that's true. sometimes driving tired/exhausted is just as bad as driving under the influence
your reaction time is down and you aren't really focusing properly

[Arm]

AMEN!! Not only do people tend to get close to the cross traffic lanes while turning left, there are plenty of drivers who don't understand that the bike lane is for BIKES only, even if you're about to turn right, you should look over your shoulder to make sure there's no cyclist there. It's so bad that if I want to ride a bike, I do so only on the bike path at the beach, or at the gym.

speaking of which...

what the hell is WRONG with most cyclists around here, anyway? The cars are BIGGER, it doesn't matter if the cyclist thinks they have the right of way, that's not a fight they can get into and win, you know? Yes, the driver that hit them will get a ticket and/or possibly jail time, IF the cyclist did in fact have the right of way, which usually they do NOT, but the cyclist will be incredibly lucky if all they get is a few months in the hospital.

We have bike lanes. So, they don't use them. They'll ride on the sidewalks and make the pedestrians dodge. OR, they'll go the WRONG WAY down the bike lanes. Because that giant white arrow clearly doesn't apply, right? And stop signs? Those are for cars, man. Bikes don't stop! Man, that thing weighs like twelve pounds, you can't stop THAT. Just gotta ride through the intersection and hope my two-ton Explorer can dodge, right? Doesn't matter if I didn't see them- why should a cyclist try to pay attention to blind spots?

There's a four-way stop sign near where I live. It's not unusual for me to come up to it, stop, start to go, and have a cyclist from one of the nearby apartment buildings just zip across in front of me, going down the cross street. I assume it's the same one each time... Darwin will catch up to him eventually, but hopefully not while I'm driving.

[Kogarashi]

The cyclists do that all the time around here as well, Arm. Some, to their credit, will at least look as they approach the intersection, but then they still zip across, running the sign/red light. Makes me want to smack them and remind them that bikes in the road are subject to the same rules as cars.

[RootedPhoenix]

Makes me want to smack them and remind them that bikes in the road are subject to the same rules as cars.

Indeed, they are. I always tried to pay attention to what was around me. Can't be right if you're dead, you know?

[AriRashkae]

Sounds like it's time for a discreet call to the local PD. Something along the lines of "danger to themselves and everyone around them."

Hey, if the best friend's neighbors can piss and moan and get a speed trap set up for cars (and end up getting caught in it themselves! ) why can't you drop a line about this "dangerous" intersection?

[Buglady]

Makes me want to smack them and remind them that bikes in the road are subject to the same rules as cars.

Those of us who do keep that in mind are just as pissed off at the idiots, if not more so. I've been known to sprint to catch up to a light-running idiot and chew him out.

(I ride a 25 year old 5 speed English style bike. I do NOT look as though I can catch up to a racer wannabee. They are usually so shocked that they just let me lecture them... )

Cyclists who behave dangerously are in the minority, but the hostility they engender affects ME, and I'm not happy with that.

But - yes, bikes in the road have the same rules as cars. They also have the same rights. So please refrain from buzzing close and/or yelling at us if you are driving and you haven't actually witnessed the individual you are yelling at breaking a traffic law, thanks! Not all of us are idiots and we appreciate it when drivers help to keep the roads safe for everyone

[Kogarashi]

Thank you, Buglady, for being one of the sensible people.

I only ever yell at the people who I see break the rules (otherwise, how do I know they broke the rules?), and they can't hear me anyway because I keep the windows up and don't follow them or anything. It's more to let off steam. I get that from my dad, actually. The most "road rage" he's ever done is yelling and smacking the steering wheel with his hand, but he doesn't drive crazily or get out of the car shaking his fists or anything like that.

And the last thing I need is to accidentally hurt someone while trying to "teach them a lesson." Bad mojo all around there.

[EricKei]

The trolley line I take most of the time crosses a couple streets above ground. The signals are set so that greenlights for the trolley and cars rarely coincide (if they do, then the cars have right-of-way as long as they actually have a green light).

Trolleys? We call them "streetcars" down heah. They actually have their own, separate set of lights. I believe they just automatically get right-of-way here (there are a couple fo intersections which explicitly say this), and, even if they don't, woe be to the fool, who tries to cut them off >_> I think they may actually have devices in there that allow them to turn all other lights to red so that they can go thru, at certain intersections.

[Salted Grump]

It's kinda sad, but in my only experience with a Dipshit bicyclist, the Moron Doored Himself on my car, then tried to claim he'd sue me. I simply countered by waving at the traffic camera that picked up the whole thing, Combined with a polite rebuttal about deliberately ramming a parked car when someone was getting out of it.

Said moron slunk off, tail between his legs and a useless bike trailing along behind him. (he put a nice crease in the door, but hit the underlying frame perfectly; the Front wheel of the bike was roughly eight inches off from circular.)