Driving pet peeves

These have become the preferred design around where I live and although I like the idea and it keeps traffic flowing, there are at least a few issues with the execution (namely they assume rational drivers...):

1. When folks don’t recognize the speed limit with them- flying through leaves no gaps and there are a few that I go through that are dead stopped in certain directions until a semi comes and slows things down for a few moments. There are enough folks that see them as passing lane opportunities too!

2. Winter driving. See note 1, which continues into winter driving. I hate going through them when some dude in a trailblazer and bald tires thinks he can go through them at his already-speeding, dry-conditions rate. RIP lamp posts and signs.

3. Folks too impatient to yield both lanes to semis. I usually stay back from the semi in the left lane to block folks from trying to pass inside. By law here they get both lanes. Surprising how many folks don’t respect that.

4. I think they make navigation hard for folks unfamiliar with a place- leads to mid roundabout lane changes and unpredictable drivers!

 

I do not think you actually know the Bicycle laws. Bicycles (in PA) are allowed to ride on the shoulder (thus removing them from the lane of traffic and pass you when you are in line for a stop) but are not required to do so. This is taken from penndot.gov. So while they are required to follow the laws like they are a vehicle, there are some exceptions such as this.

BTW, I found this on https://www.penndot.gov/TravelInPA/RideaBike/Pages/Bicycle-Safety-and-Pennsylvania-Laws.aspx and it pretty much matches what I expected the laws to be.

 

Thanks for correcting the moronicus that was being an ass to cyclists. Doubt it will change his hatred though.

 

Personally, as a cyclist, I hate the a-hole cyclists more than most people. I hate how it is assumed that "they are all the same" when I personally go out of my way to learn and follow the laws, and that those are the people who give me a bad name. In most places in the country bikes "have to follow the laws of motor vehicles" but then the add a litany of exceptions. Most commons ones are, bicycles can be ridden on the shoulder, and even if the bicycle is in the lane of traffic a car can pass them in a no-passing zone, even though the bike is considered a vehicle. The only restriction on that is it must be safe to do so.

That being said, it is worse when people claim the law, yet they don't actually know the law themselves.

 

I think most people who don't bike assume bikes are supposed to be restricted to the shoulder. They get very upset if a cyclist is in the left turn lane. I mean if they stopped to think for a second, you can't really expect the guy on the bike to make a left turn from the right side shoulder.

 

My annoyance is more the cyclists who hog the road. I dont mind sharing... just dont act like your king of the road.

If you see a long line of cars behind you... be a gent and pull aside for a sec. I try to be polite and move over for you... retuning the favor would be nice.

 

I wish genital warts on every moron that spends the journey from on ramp to off ramp in the left lane driving the speed limit.

 

people that put christmas lights on their car

 

I don't know if it has been mentioned yet because this thread is so long... but the thing that pisses me off most is when people brake before using their blinker.
The purpose of your blinker is to tell me before you are going to slow down & turn! If you already hit the brakes then there isn't much of a point in using the blinker any more now is there!?

 

There was a perfectly good sidewalk for him to use, and I didn’t want to him to overtake my truck and risk getting hit.

 

That does not mean it was against the law for him to do what he was doing. The A-hole in the scenario you described was not the cyclist. The fact that there was a sidewalk he could use is irrelevant to the fact that he was not breaking the law like you described. If you want to quote the law, you probably should actually know the law. Also, I don't know the area but "You are not permitted to ride a bicycle on a sidewalk in a business district (except where permitted by official traffic control devices) or where there is a bicycle-only lane available." which again, is irrelevant to the fact that he was not breaking any law with what he was doing.

And it is not your responsibility to prevent him from getting hit, when you actions made it possible for you to be the one causing that where if you actually followed the laws you were spouting it would have been no issue for you at all.

Stop pretending you have the higher ground here and just accept that the a-hole wasn't the cyclist at all in your story.

 

This was years ago when I was a fairly new driver...

Now I just give cyclists a wide berth and haven’t had a problem!

 

I like that solution much better

Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of a-hole cyclists, and I can't stand them. I just have to stand up for the ones that I see are actually doing what they should be/what is in the laws. Mostly because there is such a bad rap about "all cyclists are a-holes" (since there are a lot, I give you that)

 

Assholes who are either not paying attention or decided to assert their right of way when somebody is backing out of a parking spot...

My boss at the detail shop where I used to work had his first at-fault accident in probably thirty years because some woman in a Hyundai SUV went behind his Dodge Ram while he was backing up...

Virtually no damage to the Dodge but significant cosmetic damage to the Hyundai; Luckily he had accident forgiveness!

 

I used to cross-train with a road bike. I gave it up after a year because of a) asshole drivers that went out of their way to harass bikers, and b) asshole cyclists in the group that would dare you to harass them. I stick to the trails now, where I only have to deal with asshole joggers and asshole equestrians.

 

One time when I still worked as a barback at Puck, I was making a grocery run. I was getting in my truck when this jackass on a BMX bike with no helmet comes zipping through the parking lot of the supermarket. Some guy in a 2013ish Ford Taurus was backing out of a space, and the idiot came within inches of his back bumper and almost ended up under the Taurus. Luckily, the driver was paying attention. The kid on the BMX whizzed by with inches to spare, and the guy got out of the Taurus and started swearing at him but he just rode off without a care.

 

Any cyclist that rides anywhere there are cars without a helmet is trying to die, IMO.

 

Darwin Awards!

 

One time back in the summer of 2011, probably two or three months after I got my license, I got bored sitting at home and drove maybe 15-20 minutes from home to a glorified tourist trap called Peddler’s Village to wander around.

This was when my truck’s factory radio was acting up, and at the time of this incident I distinctly remember that I had Appetite for Destruction in the CD player. My radio, especially the CD player, had developed a mind of its own and would turn on all by itself when powered off. The dealer would later replace the entire radio under warranty, no questions asked, but at this time I hadn’t gotten fed up enough to get it looked at.

So, I was backing up and all of a sudden what I thought was Guns N’ Roses seemed to come on. I slammed on the brakes and looked at the radio, but it was still off. I was dumbfounded until I looked back behind me and saw this woman in an Audi Q7 on my right staring at me. I surmised that she’d beeped at me and i a strange coincidence her horn sounded just like a riff from Paradise City. What’s weird is that she was not there when I initially started backing up, and she seemed to appear while I was looking to my left. I glared at her and continued to back up.

 

I will admit that I’ve flipped people off and shined my high-beams through people’s back windows out of anger. I’ve also sworn at other drivers after they got bent out of shape because I beeped at them and actually started swearing at me first. That’s about as far as I’ve taken it.

I don’t own a gun, but if I did and carried it in my truck, I could never fathom pulling it on somebody unless I felt my life was genuinely in danger. I am also the type of person who would feel immense guilt for shooting someone justifiably in self defense.

Every human being has experienced road rage at some point in their life, myself included, but some people are fucked up in the head and should not have a driver’s license!