Driving pet peeves

One of my favorites is the brain dead or assholic guy who's going about ten miles over the limit in the far left lane and right at the exit, decides to cut across three lanes of traffic to get off. Nevermind all the other cars, they'll slow down, right?
Since that happened nearly once a week, it's hard to imagine it's just circumstance.
Best moment was when a CHP was hanging about four cars back and some jackass pulled that move and the cop exited right behind him. Have a nice day, jerkoff!

I calculated that during my career, I commuted ~750,000 miles in private car, carpools and van pools. In Bay Area, California. Saw some crazy shizz.

 

Its all nice until you burn up your housing.

 

I've been guilty of this numerous times...

I'm sure we all have...

Blasting your horn at the vehicle in front of you without properly assessing the situation and/or knowing why exactly the vehicle is stopped...

This happened to me earlier today in Doylestown. My boss sent me to run an errand and I didn't even make it a block before I realized I forgot something at work. The bar where I work is located on a one-way alley, and instead of driving all the way around the block, I opted to make a right turn and go the wrong way on this one-way alley. Before you criticize me for "breaking the law" out of laziness, please consider this...

There is a parking lot on that alley, and as long as there is nobody coming from the other end of the alley, it is basically 100% acceptable to make a right up the alley if you are parking in one of those spots. People, including cops, also tend to look the other way if you go all the way to the top of the hill but make a right or a left about halfway between the entry and exit to the alley. If you speed in this alley in either direction, or drive the entire length up the alley in the wrong direction, police and locals alike to do not take too kindly to that. Everyone in town knows my truck, and everyone who lives and works in town drives the wrong way up the alley to park...

I was on a one-way street about to make a right onto a one-way alley. There was a silver 2006-2010 Dodge Charger behind me. I put on my signal to make a right turn, but saw that my friend who works as delivery driver at a nearby restaurant was backing his Honda Pilot out of his spot and was about to drive the "proper" way out of the alley. I stopped the Tacoma and proceeded to wait patiently while my friend backed out. Meanwhile, all this person in the Charger sees is a guy in a pickup truck who is not only seemingly preparing to make an illegal right turn onto a one-way street, but blocking traffic as well.

All of a sudden, seconds after I stop, I hear a "HOONNNNK!" At this point I knew it was the silver Charger that had beeped, but I was unaware of who was driving that car. I rolled down my window, stuck my head out, looked right at the driver of that Charger (turned out to be a 30-something woman), and gave her one hell of an angry look. At the same time, my friend pulls out onto the street, rolls down his window, and tells the woman in the Charger "It's okay. He was just waiting for me."

I say again, I have been guilty of doing the exact same thing the woman in the Charger did, more times than I care to mention...

But I am improving and haven't done that in a while...

What sucks is that I can't change other people...

 

@Plain Jane Taco

Driving in Doylestown Borough in general...

My parents have both been driving for more than 40 years, and even they consider Doylestown Borough to be a unique situation.

Today, for example; I witnessed a new Mercedes roll a stop sign, make a right turn, and come within a few feet of running over an old man in a crosswalk. Ironically, this was in the very same intersection where my Tacoma totaled a drunk guy's Mercedes-Benz.

Just last week I encountered a drunk 20-something guy who'd just left a bar moseying (jaywalking) across Main Street to his car parked on the other side. I slowed down and didn't beep, but I did turn on my high-beams to let this idiot know I was there and to make sure there weren't any more people I couldn't see. I probably should have only flashed the brights instead of leaving them on, but I didn't directly confront this guy or even flip him off...

He sees my brights as a challenge or personal insult of some sort, throws up his hands and gives me was a "WTF?" look. He then proceeds to approach my truck as I go slightly out of my lane to avoid him (he is still in the road and thus impeding traffic)...

I just ignored him, looked straight ahead, and kept going.

However, encounters with drunk idiots in a town that has almost 30 bars are inevitable. I've just learned to go out of my way to avoid them so they can't get near my truck, and then laugh it off...

The problem with Doylestown isn't even asshole drivers. Those are everywhere...

Doylestown dates back about 300 years, and the overall design and layout reflects this. In layman's terms, this town was not designed to accommodate so many people and their modern "horseless carriages."

Everything is just so tight and close together that tensions (and tempers) tend to rise...

 

Elderly drivers, typically in 2½-ton to 4-ton land yachts made by car companies that don't even exist anymore, who have no idea how to back up or make a turn! Typically, they're in a Mercury Grand Marquis or a Buick LeSabre, but occasionally they're in a smaller vehicle. One time, an old woman in a 1993-1994ish Corolla wagon almost backed into my Tacoma in the parking lot of McCaffrey's Simply Fresh earlier this year. She just blinded back up, straight out, and I had to lay on the horn...

There's an elderly couple who lives in a house near me, and they have a mint condition 1980s Lincoln Town Car. This car is black with wire wheels and whitewall tires. The car is absolutely beautiful, but I doubt it'll stay that way for long the way the owner drives. His house is on a busy road, and on at least two occasions he has made a right turn out of his driveway while I'm driving to work, and will proceed to go about 10-15 MPH below the speed limit.

Earlier this year (or possibly in late 2016), this elderly couple in a a large late model 4-door sedan blindly pulled out of the parking lot of an Italian restaurant on 611. They didn't even look, and I almost slammed into the back of them. One of my friends who watched the dashcam footage said my airbag would have gone off for sure. If I'd hit them, they would have been buying me a new Tacoma for sure...

Luckily, that didn't happen!

I slammed on the brakes, laid on the horn, and was able to avoid hitting them, but I was still mad as hell. I roared around them and gave the driver a dirty look as I passed him...

 

I live in nyc and hate when drivers are in such a rush to make it to the red light. You see them swerving and tailgating thinking they’re 2 fast 2 furious and then you still pull up right next to them at the light.

 

People who hesitate. This, in my opinion, is one of the biggest causes of accidents. My philosophy is all or nothing. I've had my driver's license for almost 7 years and I can proudly say I've never been beeped at coming out of a side street. This is because I turn on my blinker, look both ways, and make the decision to either floor it or wait depending on how far away the oncoming traffic is.

There are several categories of this:

The driver who waits until the last possible moment to pull out of the side street, leaving you to slam on your brakes and hope for the best...

The driver who doesn't pay attention at all and just blindly starts to pull out, oblivious to the fact that there is a 2-ton lethal weapon hurtling towards them at 45+ MPH...

The driver who initially pulls out with plenty of time to spare, but somehow forgets they are in the middle of a busy road, and block your lane while waiting for traffic to stop so they can get into the opposing lane (I almost T-boned a guy from New York in a brand new BMW in this type of situation)...

 

Entitled pricks who act as though you're pissing on their mother's grave, when all you've done is unknowingly parked in their poorly marked (or unmarked) reserved spot; Or when you're not even parking in their spot, but merely temporarily blocking it so you can load your vehicle...

 

People who drive like an asshole, and then get mad at you when you beep at them, brake-check them, or otherwise dish out some vigilante justice...

I had a guy in another Tacoma flip me off because I beeped at him for making a left turn into an apartment complex, which had forced me to slam on my brakes...

 

I briefly worked at Dunkin Donuts in October-November 2013. One time I was driving into work at like 6:30am (the hours were a big part of why I quit), and I was driving through a 25 MPH zone in a residential area. I was going the speed limit, maybe a tiny bit faster...

A white 2nd gen Tundra (I'm sorry to say), roars up behind me; He doesn't like the fact that I'm, oh I don't know, obeying the law...

He crosses the double yellow line, roars past me in the opposing lane, cuts me off, and then I'm pretty sure he brake-checked me. Furious, I make sure the opposing lane is clear, turn on my signal, and give him a taste of his own medicine (without the brake-checking). He ends up turning left a few seconds later. Jeez, and I thought I was impatient!

 

And, my last post of the night to this thread, at least for now...

People who slow down and/or come to a complete stop to make a right turn!

 

that drives me nuts! or dont use the turning lane and cut across the turning lane while putting on brakes and getting in your way! I also hate the wide over-turn like you are driving an 18wheeler into an off street When you drive a regular sized car. If that makes sense.

 

I'm lucky enough to commute on a 2 lane road most of the way to work. The problem is there are only 3 passing lane sections on this 20 mile section. Almost every day I encounter someone driving 10mph under the speed limit, until the passing lane opens up. Once the passing lane opens this person will either swerve in front of anyone trying to pass them at the last min or race you to the end of the lane. Once the lane merges back they return to 10mph under limit. Then there is the a hole who passes doing 80mph+ and then slams on brakes to turn left once the passing lane ends

 

People that can't parallel park. Girl almost backed into my truck not that it would matter much it's just the point. How do they pass there test when they can't park

 

I was taught and have always left a space cushion when driving, it always gets filled by some A-hole tailgating the car ahead of me.

 

Driving at night!

Especially when you work at a bar like I do, and it is not uncommon for you to be driving home between 10pm and 3am on a Friday or a Saturday night...

Who is typically on the road at that time? Two very different categories of motorist...

Drunk drivers, and cops who are looking for drunk drivers...

I was hit by a drunk driver in my Taco while driving from my second job to my primary job (to say hi to friends), and on St. Pat's in 2017 I hit a DUI checkpoint on the way home from work. A 12-minute drive home turned into 40 minutes of unnecessary anxiety. I was stone cold sober, and I was still absolutely terrified being questioned by that cop...

30-40 minutes stuck in traffic for 2 minutes of having a flashlight shined into my cab and being questioned.

Now I check a website called duiblock.com before driving home from work late at night...

 

U got delayed an extra half hour due to this stop?
That sucks.
Were u swerving or giving some other probable cause?

 

No, I spent 30-40 minutes waiting in line! The actual questioning took only like 2 minutes! They pretty much waved me right through...

The police shut down an entire section of the road I always use to drive to and from work, in both directions! By the time I realized it was a DUI checkpoint, it was too late to legally turn around.

 

Wonderful.

 

Even worse, I got stuck behind a taxi van with those obnoxious multi-flashing LED brake lights. Every time the cabbie tapped the brake pedal, the lights would pulsate. It was seizure-inducing! This was in 40 minutes of stop-and-go traffic!