We Love Cars, but These 6 Things Really Grind Our Gears
There are a lot of things to get angry about in the car world, like gas prices and out-of-production parts and careless owners and stuck bolts. We try not to focus on those too much, but each of us still have those little things that just … ugh. They just get on our nerves. This week, we decided to get nit-picky. In the spirit of good humor, we’re sharing our automotive pet peeves: the various features, behaviors, and perspectives that get under our skin way more than perhaps they should. No—on second thought, we are exactly as irritated as we should be because double parkers are the actual worst.
Pet Peeve #1: Switch Blanks
This is petty, I know, but for me, it’s switch blanks. Those are the little rectangular inserts, usually black plastic, that cover up where a switch for a control—whatever, be it a turn-off for automatic start/stop; fog lights; traction control—was supposed to go, but this particular vehicle doesn’t have that feature.
A switch blank bothers me for two reasons: One, it messes up the symmetry of the dashboard or console to save the manufacturer the small expense of covering it up by design, instead of a plug, and two, it advertises the fact that no matter what you spent on the car, there was some feature or features you couldn’t afford. Your car is loaded? No, it isn’t, because you have an eyesore switch blank. And it isn’t just cheap vehicles—I tested a $223,000 car a few weeks ago that had a switch blank. OK, end of rant. — Steven Cole Smith
Pet Peeve #2: Stereotyping a Person Based on Their Car
Saying X car is for Y kind of people. Based on the stereotypes that run with my car history, I’ve been a hairdresser, a redneck, someone who doesn’t know how to use turn signals, a retiree, an NPR listener, and who knows what else. (Bonus points to anyone who can accurately guess the cars I’ve owned based on the above.) What someone thinks about others based on their car often says more about the observer than the observed. — Eddy Eckart
Pet Peeve #3: Doing a Burnout Leaving a Car Show
Not exactly a controversial opinion but … doing a burnout when leaving a car show. You don’t look cool. You’re not cool. Nobody above the age of 15 thinks you’re cool. You’re making the rest of us look bad. You’re making the venue nervous. You’re annoying the police and the neighbors.
These kinds of burnouts are dangerous, and not the sexy, glamorous kind of danger but the pointless, sad kind. Oh, and all those people lining the road recording your obnoxious exit? They’re there to get a clip of you crashing and looking like an idiot. — Andrew Newton
Pet Peeve #4: Unpredictable Drivers
I get annoyed by car owners who don’t want their car to be touched. It’s just a car, but since you keep calling it “your baby,” let’s face it, you were—happily—going to wash and wax it for a third time this week anyway, so calm down.
Pound for pound, however, it’s the people who don’t understand right of way that win top prize: Four-way stops are all too often an exercise in frustration, and heaven forbid the power goes out and the traffic lights start to blink.
Drivers who stop to let pedestrians cross mid-block, making wild assumptions that everyone else will stop, too. Be predictable, not polite.
Oh, and there’s a special place in hell for drivers who come to a stop on freeway on-ramps. — Stefan Lombard
Pet Peeve #5: Multi-Spot Parking Job
I considered a handful of answers for this question as I drove to the grocery store to run a quick errand, but the RIGHT answer smacked me in the face as I pulled into the parking lot.
Hands down, my biggest pet peeve is folks who intentionally park their cars to take up multiple parking spots. Oftentimes the perpetrators here are just regular pickups, SUVs, or cars; there’s not anything inherently priceless about them. You just couldn’t be bothered to be considerate of anyone but your immediate self.
I bet you don’t return your shopping carts either. — Nate Petroelje
Pet Peeve #6: Maniac Merging
Some onramps around metro Detroit are criminally short, or curved, or both, and construction is omnipresent, but merging should not be this chaotic. Whether we’re merging left to right to avoid construction, or right to left following an onramp, Michigan seems to completely misunderstand merging. You’ve got the aggressively proactive law abiders, who move over the minute they see any sign, even the ones reading “lane ends in one mile,” and you’ve got the normal people who wait until the lane is actually about to merge—when they can actually lay eyes on the light-up arrow signs, or because they counted down on their GPS or odometer from that “one mile” sign, and are planning to nudge over, at speed, with a comfortable 0.2 miles to go.
These opposite behaviors produce the strangest dynamics: People slamming on their brakes to merge as soon as they know a merge is coming, no matter if it’s a mile or half a mile away, and get behind each other in the most courteous yet most dangerously chaotic way, and the others shotgunning past those obsessively orderly cars, who of course honk at anyone who “cuts” the line. Anywhere else, that cutting would just be regular merging! — Grace Houghton
Blanks? Buy the option you skipped.
Stereo type. I never had an issue till I bought a Corvette. To be honest the stereo type is too often true. I claim to be a Pontiac owner who just owns a Corvette. I work on my own cars and I don’t own a pair of New Balance.
Not a burn out fan at shows or places not appropriate. I was taught losers spin tires those who hook up the tires win.
I don’t like people touching my freshly color corrected black car. But is do hate people who can’t drive. They yield in round a bouts where they should go and drive 10 under the speed limit.
I park out in a single space.
Merging is an issue many places. I try to give room for on ramps. But construction zones are designed to be a Zipper but human nature is take your turn. The designers of these need to take that into consideration.
Many who design roads must not drive or understand how the real world works.
I have always equated spinning tires with bad driving. If you want to drive on the spirited end of the spectrum and not have conversations with law enforcement… don’t break traction.
Losers either way.
Disagree with the burnout. Exhibiting speed is always cool. Unless you are on the track, then you do a big burnout to heat tires so they don’t slip. Not the case leaving a car show. Light them up, get a little sideways then calm down. BTW, 63yo 66 mustang fastback owner in case you want to stereotype.
LOL! You have proven stereotypes exist for a reason. LOL!!
Stereotypes Indeed. I recall Click and Clack in the ‘90s doing a survey of their listeners about what brand of car had the worst drivers. Their mostly northeastern listeners said things like VW Passat owners. Here in the Midwest and everyplace else I’ve ever driven, THE most idiotic drivers are those who drive Mustangs and more recently, in addition, Dodge Chargers. Even at 63, you’ve upheld my long-lasting observation!
Rusty-You have proven stereotypes exist for a reason. LOL!!
BTW, a local “Cars and Coffee” was denied further use of a church parking lot due to some of the participants “burning out” as they left, endangering bystanders and traffic and creating noise and disturbance. There are consequences to sophomoric behavior from a few idiots spoiling what was a really nice event for everyone!
Yes same happened in Calgary Canada, resulting in the loss of the parking lot for the weekly meeting. Video of the incident on youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0rhf6UMRWo
Nope.
I just nabbed a Lamborghini for opening it up leaving a car show. 46 in a 25 but he’d scrubbed off about 20 mph by the time the radar locked. The show was a fund-raiser and the driver was contrite so he got a warning.
I’m getting soft in my old age.
Why did you clock the Lambo? Oh right, it was the ONLY one speeding. Guys like you give LE a bad rep…
Hate it when drivers entering a freeway are only going 25-35 when the on ramp is for getting up to the speed limit and merging!!!!
Better yet, they come to a complete stop and want to look back ( obviously every mirror they have is broken ) at oncoming traffic before a merge. Maybe it’s only a NoCA phenomenon ??
And then there are the brainless who think they must, must, let everyone merge, so they nearly cause a pileup by jinking left without considering present or oncoming traffic. Then they resume driving 45 as though nothing happened.
I grew up and learned to drive in Detroit. The freeway on ramps were pretty short downhill runs and you needed to pick your merge spot at the top of the ramp and accelerate into it. I was following a Cadillac on the on ramp and the driver stopped at the bottom. Heavy traffic was doing 80 MPH with 3 or 4 car lengths between cars. The Caddy laid rubber to fit in a spot. There I sat, in my 40 HP (when new) ’62 VW beetle. You can imagine the horns and gestures when I finally found a spot to try “accelerating” into traffic.
Southwestern Pennsylvania is terrible for the stop… then merge freeway entrance. Cross into Ohio or West Virginia and folks merge normally. Strange but funny in that region.
Thank you! The four lane highway was invented before I was born, there’s no excuse for not knowing how to merge. Existing traffic has the right of way.
In Illinois, BOTH vehicles are responsible for adjusting their speed and lateral position to allow the merge to happen. That’s why there’s no yield sign at the end of the ramp.
BTW-are you the guy who passes at 20 MPH above the speed of traffic, using the right lane, at a merge point? I mean, existing traffic has the right-of-way, right?
What your describing is a different, but also annoying habit. People entering the highway without making any attempt to speed up to highway speed is dangerous and causes traffic jams.
Because people don’t understand its not a on ramp its a acceleration lane,
This should be considered reckless driving.
Yeah, and they think I’m the rude one for not slowing or changing lanes for them. If they’re not familiar with using a four lane, stay off of it, you’re a hazard.
Ref: Burnouts at Car Shows, I witnesed this several times this past Saturday at a show, which was a fund raiser for the people in our community impacted by the recent huracane in Western North Carolina. I plead “guilty” for this generalization: Most of the drivers were under 25 years of age. Hundreds died, lost thier homes and all those drivers could do was lay a strip of rubber leaving the parking lot! Wonder if they even made a donation….the show was free!
“buy the option you skipped” – with who’s money? I’m not spending an extra $1200 for the tow package I’ll never use nor need just so my dashboard has a uniform look to it…
Not only that – this is a CLASSIC car forum. You can’t cherry pick what options you want when you’re looking to buy a 30+ year old car!
but you could probably buy the button or switch for that option and replace the blank one in your dash.
The blank might be a good place to put in a USB charging port.
whose
Make your own sticker!!! Like “EJECT” or something funny! 😆
My pet peeve is drivers who drive 65 MPH or slower in the passing lane on an interstate that has a speed limit of 75 MPH. I live in Az & it’s chronic here.
I agree with you. Returning from Scottsdale to Tuscon, I encountered many left-lane campers even when the middle and right lanes were wide open. I use the left lane to pass and stay mainly in the middle lane
Seriously? Everyone in AZ drives 10-20 MPH over the limit no matter what the speed limit is. That under the limit in the left lane consistently occurs in Ohio where I spend most of the year.
Sometimes there are blanks that have no option….Check out the console of a Macan…Buy every option and there are still a few blanks. The new ones solved that with touch sensitive under black plastic
The blanks slightly annoy me, but it’s a more pervasive problem with European cars that might have options unavailable in our market. Think “rear fog light” as one example.
MY 650 BMW has a warning light on for “right rear fog lamp not working” … BMW said “rear fog lamps??? ” it turns out that while rear fog lamps are not active on the US cars the lamps themselves are there, and should one of the UNUSED lamps go out (and, trust me, I’m aware of how insane that sounds) the car will still throw a code. Changing that particular bulb requires the removal of the rear bumper cover and disconnecting several sensors. As I see it, the warning indicator’s going to stay on for the predictable future.
The warning light is triggered by imbalance – remove both bulbs one time time and the problem is solved
Wouldn’t removing the bulbs be just as much trouble as replacing the bad one?
I have a 2006 vehicle that has buttons for the Navigation system and for the Phone, but has neither! It is worse to have a labeled button with no accessory than a plain blank.
Stereotype as you use it is one word. You’re describing a sound system that utilizes multiple speakers to achieve a separation of sounds.
THANK you.
I agree with all but the first. While I don’t like blanks either, consider the cost to a manufacturer to design build and inventory different “ non-blank dashes” given the multitude of Trims ANY given model offers. Accord, Camry , Malibu etc.
You and or others would be complaining about the cost. It may seem small on a per car basis but what if we make 500,000 over a generation life cycle? Plus the reserve inventory cost over the 10-12 year reserve inventory cycle.
Small sacryfise I think
Except when the option is only available on the next level up complete package that costs $3K more. I think it was a Porsche review in a recent magazine that the gray seatbelts were a $5K option. I’ll put a sticker on the offending button, maybe for the ejection seat or rocket launcher.
I watch a lot of Motor Trend tv shows. It bugs me when they build a beautiful car and the first thing they do is a burnout and leave about a 100 miles of rubber on the pavement. I always thought that was stupid! Who likes the stinking smell of burnt rubber? Another thing that bugs me about the tv carshows…..is playing loud rock music when they are driving the car and we can’t hear the car! What kind of hold does the musicians unions have on tv shows? I watch a lot of shows and when it gets to the nitty gritty of what you will learn about a case,during the dialogue the loud music comes on and I can’t understand what the actors are saying!!!!!!!!!!!
People who blare their car stereo in parking lots. So much so that I’ve often thought of running off a number of – ‘ Thank you for sharing your bad taste in music ‘- bumper stickers. But I’m not a bumper sticker kind of guy in general so. Seems just plain polite to keep it to a reasonable level and I never annoyed anyone listening to the tappet brothers when Car Talk was playing on NPR. That would be as bad as stereotyping people who listen to NPR as all Saab drivers….Eddy.
Close! Volvo—850 and V70.
I would have guessed Subaru.
Prius
Im going to guess, Miata, Camaro, BMW 3 series, Mercury Grand Marquis, and Saab 9-3.
Burnouts and racing out of car shows is never cool, it’s selfish and pointless. The only thing it does is piss off neighbors, trigger law enforcement to get involved, and jeopardize the car event. Grow up.
People who play their phone conversations over the radio at max volume…
Nope, no stereotypes going on here …. hehe ..
As we say in the boat/fishing world “no one wants to listen to your music”
Eddy, I’m going to guess that there was a Volvo in there somewhere.
That Jeep jackass is precisely why vehicles get “keyed”.
Four-way stops… There IS a rule for them — when two cars arrive simultaneously, it’s the one to the right that goes first.
Finally, for Steven, find a humourous or insulting sticker to place on the annoying blank.
Bonus – the tremendous rise in pedestrian fatalities can be attributed to 1) SUVs and trucks, whose outward visibility is compromised, and 2) the ancient and asinine rule that pedestrians should cross at corners.
It is the TURNING vehicles who neglect careful observation. Crossing in the middle, away from corners, reduces the risk, as you only need to look right and left.
Two! They served me well.
Sorry Carmine. That is just not true. Here in the Nashville, Tn area in the last year there have been about 5-6 people killed crossing in the middle of the block. I have to think most are too lazy to go to the crosswalk or are not paying attention.
It’s about placing the crosswalk in the middle of the street. Not about increasing jaywalkers. If you put the crosswalk in the middle, you reduce the risk of pedestrians being hit by turning vehicles and those racing to beat the light as it turns from yellow to red.
This seems to make sense to me – wonder why it isn’t implemented more often?
Generally, cars travel faster in the middle of a block than at intersection so I will disagree with your thesis. Crosswalks at intersection make more sense especially when there are lights or stop signs.
Not in my area – traffic speeds up coming to an intersection so they can run the yellow and red light before the cross traffic builds up enough confidence to proceed on green.
Pedestrians are not supposed to be walking across then, they have a do not walk at that point.
That would only work if there was a stop light mid-block. Nobody yields to pedestrians at non-signalized mid block crossings.
My peeve is when pedestrians don’t stay on the sidewalk and I need the whole street to make a right turn in my full size truck. My right rear tire gets really close to the curb and if pedestrians are waiting off the curb it is just another thing to need to watch. Especially when they are on the phone and unaware they are creeping on to the street.
YES–cyclists & pedestrians seem to think they need to take 0 responsibility for their own safety–& of course the rules are for OTHER people-
Absolutely true! I’m so old, I was taught “1 – 2 – 3 – GO!” (1) Look left. (2) Look right. (3) Look left again. GO when safe. Nowadays, it’s stare at your phone and proceed regardless!
How is the outward visibility on an SUV compromised?
Big Mirrors. My JGC has huge blind spots that actually make it hard to see the inside of a roundabout or a pedestrian crossing on my right.
The SUVs that have the huge wide A pillar are a nasty frontal blind spot.
Keying a car is criminal (felony) damage.
A guy at the pavilions got to count his own teeth for “keying” a car with a knife (felony damage with a weapon). Car owner wasn’t amused by the act of civil disobedience.
Your state must be permissive when it comes to criminal behavior to make such a statement about causing felony damage due to poor parking. Park at the back of the lot and walk.
Your response validated one of my heartburn issues… the long forgotten “Rules of the Road “ are no longer taught and our goofy traffic problems punctuate that.
I worked as a driver instructor for CDL license seekers for many years, and was simply amazed with how little so many of the students knew no matter how young or old they happened to be.
Some learned and others just couldn’t handle not being “right” while exercising their own set of “rules”.
Pedestrians are the biggest reason pedestrians die. Vehicles rarely run over pedestrians unless the pedestrians are in the road and if a pedestiran would just look around it’s pretty easy to see a vehicle coming. It would also be interesting if it was required to check if the pedestrian was on their phone around the time of the incident.
Pedestrians walking in the right lane of a residential road with their back to traffic, with headphones on, walking their dog, with leash in their left hand. Stupid is as stupid does.
When I was a kid my dad gave me a talking to. Son, how much do you weigh? Uh, bout 60 lbs dad. Dad says, a car weighs over 3 thousand lbs, if you get in one’s way, who do you think will win? Always watch where you are going and look both ways before crossing any street. Even if you are in a crosswalk, don’t just take off assuming it’s safe.
My personal is drunk and stoned drivers. We get it bad here and I am ok if they ball themselves up into a tree but too often they take an innocent with them, So selfish.
Cops find people passed out on drugs at interactions on weekends. .
Pacific Northwest? So many stoned drivers in left lane going 40mph, weaving all over the place.
Sadly the midwest. I can see it being worse out there with the mess they have made of such a beautiful area.
We’re talking about Stereo types now? Like AM/FM radio, 8-track, cassette deck, CD player? That kind of Stereo types? 🙄
Be nice.
I’m in to theft proof stereos myself. That’s why I’m a 8-track guy.
Well said.
As to double-space parkers, for me it’s people who park almost up against you. Once I had to lower the roof of my Miata and climb in over the passenger seat because some inconsiderate, clueless dumb@$$ parked literally 6 inches or so from my driver’s side door.
Of the six items on this list, only the first is really a “car” peeve. The rest are “driver” issues, and deserve their own list (more numerous than just 6).
Headlamps/foglights which are way too bright/misaligned. These might cross the boundary between car and driver (because some idiot either replaced the legal lamps intentionally or is too far gone upstairs to realize that his lights are misaligned.
Cars which are “under repair” on the road, such as the ones with the blag plastic bag covering the missing/broken passenger – or driver! – door window, or the ones missing bumper skins or (worse) where the bumper skin/other item is flappy around in the breeze.
Loud exhaust, factory or otherwise. By “loud,” I refer to those vehicles which, when stopped at a light, drown out my stereo – with my windows up.
I probably have more, including bad catalytic converters and blown rings/valves, and the resulting noxious exhaust output, but again, some of these blur the line between the car manufacturer or individual vehicle and the driver.
My un-catalyzed exhaust with a modern EFI engine is still cleaner than the state limits for the model year (1979). No NOx test, only HC and CO.
Modern headlights on jacked up trucks, along with drivers that don’t notice their high beam indicator is on.
Drivers blissfully tooling down the street/road at night with only their dash lights on. Why did manufacturers think it was a really keen idea to turn on the dash lights anytime the car is running?
In my 2010 Tacoma, the dash lights automatically dim when I turn on the lights. The law here is to turn on your lights when it’s raining. Follow the law in the daytime and you can’t see the instruments.
I hate switch blanks too, but that’s just my personal FOMO.
Some of these have been answered, but my guesses for Eddy were Miata, 4×4, BMW, Lexus, and Prius.
Lastly, how did nobody mention slowpokes in the fast lane? Or is that so universally despised that it’s just a given?
Miata and BMW are correct! The others are Camaro/Firebird (three in total), Cadillac, Volvo
You got Miata and BMW right but missed F-250, Buick and SAAB.
Except for the law enforcement idiots, which is my peeve.
I was driving in the far right lane while the middle and left were drafting at ten mph under the limit. Johnny Law pulled me over for passing on the left.
I explained that I’d come onto the road in that lane and noted the slow traffic but had failed to stop and find out why. He went on and on for twenty minutes till I asked him what day we’d be going to court. At that point he gave me the old “I’ll let you go with a warning” routine.
I thanked him very much and asked if he could spare some of his harassment time finding out why the traffic was so congested. He told me to “fudge off”.
Cops in Ohio, probably any state, think Canadians will pay bogus tickets just so the municipality can make budget.
The blank switch plate can often be rearranged to make the blank in the middle so there’s a balance or symmetry. Second option would to stick a decal on it. LAUNCH or EJECT, maybe a simple FIRE.
Don’t get me started on TV screens and no C/D players on new shboxes. Peeve #2
Zipper is the key to the merge theory. If the left-lane person in the last 1/4 mile of the impending merge is not speed matching the right hand side then they are in fact trying to cut in line which breaks the zipper.
I don’t care how nice your car is, you don’t take up 2-4 parking spots in the front half of a parking lot. You want to do that in the far end of a lot, have at it (maybe not at peak holidays). As bad is the people that just invent a parking spot in a place traffic is supposed to flow, people walk, etc.
People that flick lit cigarettes onto the road. No litter of any size should be exiting your vehicle.
Eddy – was going to say Saab and/or Volvo but Saab alone read better. A guy I know pretty much listens to nothing but NPR all day damn near everyday. He’s a short haul driver so his Volvo is a company semi. Not quite the image that most people would associate with the average public radio listener.
The picture of that parking job explains why a lot of people take up multiple spot. Those spots, like many these days, are just barely wider than normal size cars.
I heard the switch blanks called poor buttons in other circles.
I know a lot of Corvette owners (myself included) and I would never say they fit any kind of type
I know there are normal folks out there but since I bought a Vette some of these folks are dead on the type people mock.
I look to join a club and they found it odd I worked on my own car. They drove to meetings just to eat and find little with the cars. The average age was 75. Most had C7 models and all they did was play corn hole. It was just a social group of old people that drove the same car.
NCRS is the only Corvette association (It is not a club) to belong to.
Sorry it “auto-corrected” own to won.
I agree with you, I won a few Cs, tried two different Corvette clubs – All they did was “Meet & Eats”. No one knew anything about older Vettes, the factory racing program, or worked on their own cars. If you didn’t drive a C7 or C8 they wouldn’t give you the time of day.
The few one-day drives were always single-file caravans below the speed limit, which infuriated other drivers trying get somewhere at the posted speed limit as none of the Vette-drivers would let them break into the lane to make a turn – they might lose their way. It was even a posted rule in the clubs newsletters and a two-way radio was mandatory
Keep reading.
To TG’s point. Best selling vehicle in the United States is and has been for decades, a full sized pickup truck. Why are there so many compact spaces in parking lots? Where are the trucks suppose to park?
How about “oversized pickups”? Four-door, long-bed rigs that don’t fit into standard -sized parking spaces. Rarely occupied by more than one person. Worse are those that have been jacked up with huge wheels and tires. Look at how cool I am!
How about a full size, four door, long bed pickup with a 18″ hitch sticking out of the rear? You know, they make those things removable for a reason.
Texting and/or talking with the phone held up to the ear while doing 5 under in the left lane. Which leads to the stereotypical minivan Mom…or “recent arrival”
The guy or gal that just HAS to be in front of you so they speed up to pass, then dive right in front of you and immediately hit the brakes to avoid rearending the car that you were previously following at a safe distance. So you have to hit YOUR brakes also. That’s when I wish I had twin 50-cals in my grill…
The person who jumps out in front of you from the side street so they can do 32 miles an hour…
Especially when you look in your rearview mirror and see that there is NOTHING behind you for at least 1/4 mile – meaning that if the jerk had just waited for you to pass, he/she had all the room in the world to dawdle out without infringing on your momentum – good one, TG!
And then making the next turn off
Turning LEFT with traffic coming no less.
Not sure about this one. My pet peeve is people driving two lane roads that refuse to pass slower vehicles but won’t leave enough room to allow others that actually want to get somewhere today to pass. This then forms a conga line that makes it even more challenging to pass. I don’t know how many times I’ve had to pass 5 or more cars at a time because some clown is driving “at a safe distance” and will never pass. If you want to drive on two lane rural highways and are not comfortable passing, please stay back and leave room. My pet peeve is not directed at the guy at the front of the conga line (he or she is in their comfort zone) it’s the clown behind that won’t pass or leave room for others.
If all are going the speed limit, why don’t YOU slow down and drive the speed limit?
I’m going to guess a Miata or maybe TT, F-series or Silverado or RAM… RAM feels most appropriate (oops, I’m stereotyping—), a BMW (3-Series?) or Audi, a ‘Vette, and I have no idea what NPR is… sounds like an old person thing so the stereotype would hit a Volvo I guess
Two things that just make blood shoot out of my eyes here:
1) The passing lane on any multiple lane highway where there is more than one lane going in the same direction is to be used for….wait for it…..PASSING. You don’t get to hang out there and watch the world go by and you are NOT the speed limit police. “Oh, the speed limit is 70 and I’m going 70 so I’m not about to move over. ” The law in most states if not all specifically says that you must move over for a faster vehicle, IT’S THE LAW!
You’re not teaching anyone a lesson by sitting there at 70 when the guy behind you is doing 75 regardless of the speed limit. Look it up.
2) People who consistently drive 10 mph under the posted speed limit, thereby creating rolling traffic jams behind them oblivious to anything else going on. Please pay attention to the signs! I get it, you don’t have to drive the speed limit on your way to bingo, but please consider others who are on the road with you. And for what it’s worth…I am of bingo playing age…
Ahhh… yes. The self-appointed traffic cop. One of my favorite encounters on the road. The ones that are really dangerous are the ones that will speed up and try to block you from passing in a legal passing zone. I know people who do this and I tell them they are more dangerous than the ‘speeders’.
I think the summation of this is – similar to “find your niche and fill it” – is that for as many stupid, mean, dangerous, rude, illegal and downright jerky things we can think up, there are plenty of stupid, mean, dangerous, rude, and downright jerky drivers who can and will do them – and possibly even invent some things we can’t think of here!
The best thing to do is keep your cool and not end up as a Youtube short
I see this as “there are plenty of stupid, mean, dangerous, rude, and downright jerky PEOPLE who happen to be driving”
I’m never driving my beat-up old panzer when I need it…..
My sister in law would ride the left lane and when told to move over, she would say, “I’ll just speed up.” My brother said to her once, “What if they want to go 125mph? How fast are you really willing to go??” loved it.
Man. you hit mine right on. I see cars merge onto the highway and go right into the left, passing!, lane and stay there doing the same speed as everyone else. Or worse, sitting three feet behind your driver side window preventing you from coming out to pass when needed. Nitwits!
Hi TeutonicScot,
Imagine how exciting such independent-minded leisurely left lane cruisers would find driving the autobahn ….. heading south from Munich to, say, Passau.
B
Oooohhhh yes…. Far too many Americans and Canadians simply cannot drive safely on a highway. I blame the lack of a serious and required driving course of the sort most Europeans have to pass.
That law is mostly applicable only to limited access highways. If the highway has intersections, the law does not apply. I agree in principle though.