Driving Pet Peeves

Edumacation, My Life Add comments

thebaddrivershandbook.jpgCalgary has some of the worst drivers I’ve come across. For the most part it’s the overcautious drivers and the left-lane hogs that make me most crazy. Here’s a list from AOL.com:

  • Tailgaters: We have enough problems with people breathing down our necks on supermarket lines, train ticket lines and (sometimes) unemployment check lines. We don’t need them breathing down our necks on the highway, too.
  • Road Rage: Spontaneous road-battles are the worst. When dealing with someone with road rage, suddenly you’re expected to dodge insults, trash and who-knows-what-else in a chariot battle right out of Ben Hur when all you wanted to do was hit the local Stop N’ Shop.
  • Grooming While Driving: Has anybody actually met someone by exchanging glances on the road going 60 mph? It’s like a car is a dressing room for some people — people that need perfectly manicured hair and flawless skin at all times. I don’t know how impressed I’d be if someone swerved into me while primping in the vanity mirror. But maybe that’s just me. Maybe someone out there actually wants to have their insurance rates raised.
  • No Turn Signals: Have you noticed that there are two types of drivers who don’t use turn signals? There’s the bunch who don’t use their signals because they’re trying to be sneaky and grab the incredibly tight space in front of your car in bumper-to-bumper traffic. Then there’s those who just don’t seem to remember or care to use their signals, like the guy who veers into a turn in front of oncoming traffic and freaks everyone out at the intersection. For the latter, maybe driving a car simply just isn’t engaging enough to demand their attention like it should.
  • Slowpokes in the Fast Lane: Is there any simpler way to phrase it? “Keep right except to pass.” Some drivers just don’t get it. They just love that left lane, even when they’re rolling along 20 mph under the speed limit. Maybe they get nervous when cars whiz past their window. The left lane’s no-traffic shoulder may seem friendlier.
  • Driving Greedy: About a year ago, I saw a driver so protective of his space behind a tractor trailer that, while maneuvering to keep someone else from merging, he actually impaled his bumper on the back of the truck. The truck pulled away and yanked the whole bumper off. And the other car jumped into the space anyway, rubbing some salt in the wound.
  • The Multi-Lane Dash: Don’t you just love it when a car makes a desperate diagonal bee-line across three lanes for an exit? It’s like there’s going to be an epic 50 miles until the next chance to exit and turn around. Granted, in some remote places there actually could be 50 miles between exits, but in major metropolitan areas? Perhaps they just enjoy the thrill of cutting everybody off on the road at once.
  • Staggering Merge: You have to wonder if people had the same driver’s manual as you did. Maybe they got their license in a different age, one where you could get three-quarters of the questions wrong on a permit test and still be approved to drive a vehicle. That’s what I wonder when traffic gets hot and heavy and one lane is forced to merge with another. My book years ago talked of cars taking turns to form a staggered merge, one car from one lane going ahead, followed by one car from another lane.
  • Meals on Wheels: My driver’s education instructor once ate a salad, utensils in either hand, while driving. He lowered the steering wheel as far as it would go and simply steered with his knees. Insane, you say? Absolutely. I think he wanted to give us a little scare after all the grief we’d put him through. What’s astonishing is all the people eating in their cars on their morning commutes. Frankly, hash brown grease and ketchup only coordinate with your suit and tie if you’re under 10.
  • Talkahaulic: The Cellular Phone User: Now that the 1980s are over, the whole rich and influential power-broker look with a cell phone attached to your ear is a tad passe. Do people really need to flaunt their handheld cellular phones as they steer with one hand nowadays? If drivers really want to broadcast “I’m-so-successful-and-busy-and-everybody-needs-to-do-business-with-me-even-when-I’m-driving,” why not hire an out-of-work actor to dress up as a personal assistant and furiously take notes for them as they drive?

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