The Most Frustrating Driving Habits
April 24th, 2018
It would be so much easier if we all drove perfectly all the time, but not even a robot (aka an autonomous car) can do that. The best that most of us can do is to try to avoid mistakes and try to be considerate of other people. However, there are some people out there on our roads who have the most tooth-grindingly annoying bad habits behind the wheel, and I don’t mean that they pick their noses at red lights. Not only are these habits annoying to other drivers (and pedestrians and cyclists and motorcyclists and…), they’re also a bit dangerous.
Here’s a list of some of the habits that really get up people’s noses. Which of these get your blood boiling – and which ones are you guilty of and need to stop?
- Not indicating. This one’s my pet hate. Quite frankly, I’d prefer to be behind a driver who indicates when going around a sharp bend than anywhere near one who doesn’t indicate. Not indicating is particularly annoying and dangerous at intersections, especially roundabouts. There’s always that one person who comes up to the roundabout where you have to give way, doesn’t indicate but turns left. By the time they’ve made their move, you’ve stopped to give way and lost your chance to enter the intersection. Even worse is the person who comes up to the roundabout, indicates left and then goes straight ahead – now, that’s an accident waiting to happen.
- Schizophrenic speed. This one gets my husband’s blood boiling every time. Schizophrenic speed happens when a driver goes very slowly around bends and the like. Nothing wrong with that and it’s probably a safe thing to do. However, these people let a long line of cars build up behind them and never pull over when they have a chance. In fact, when they get to a straight bit or even a bit of road with a passing lane, they speed up full bore and even pass the speed limit, meaning that you’re going to have to take all kinds of risks to overtake them… and they don’t want to be overtaken. If you’re a slow and steady type who doesn’t like to corner fast, fine, but stay comparatively slow when the straights come so others can overtake you safely.
- Phone addicts. Come on, we all know that it’s illegal to use a handheld phone when you’re driving, but how many people do you see driving around with a phone clamped to their ear with one hand. Get a handsfree kit, for goodness’ sake! Even worse are the ones who have just a little look at that wee text that just came in because it might be important. We’ve all had those close calls with phone addict drivers. JUST LEAVE THE PHONE ALONE!
- Tailgating. Emergency stops happen. You never know when a cat or a kid will run out on the road ahead. Driving too close to the car ahead is crazy, as you might miss their brake lights going on and not jam your own brakes on in time. Even worse, if it’s rainy or if the road is slippery, then even if you hit the brakes in time, you’ll still ding the person ahead. Honestly, dropping back to a decent following distance won’t make you late for work!
- Red light running and failing to give way. There are no excuses for running a red light or ploughing through a Stop sign unless you’ve got flashing lights and a siren on your vehicle – and even then you have to be careful at intersections just in case.
- Parking where you shouldn’t. We’ve all seen perfectly healthy people walking out of cars parked in the disabled parks, and we’ve probably also all seen cars parked over driveways, on yellow lines, in bus stops… If this is you, what makes you think that the rules can be bent for you? It’s illegal, folks, even if you’re just nipping in for a loaf of bread or to post a few letters.
- Look at my lights! This one mostly gets seen on rural roads at night, but can also be found around town at times. This sort of driver wants to see the road ahead when its dark and only dips the lights at the last moment… by which time, the oncoming drivers are blinking and blinded. The other variations on this theme are the driver who takes the headlights off dip a fraction of a second too soon, and the driver who doesn’t dip the lights for pedestrians and cyclists… who still get dazzled like other people.
- Ignoring things with fewer wheels. Motorbikes, bikes and horses are all legitimate and legal road users, and have as much right to be on the road as you do, even if they are smaller, have fewer wheels and a smaller engine. This means that you have to give them the same courtesy and consideration that you’d give another car. This means not cutting them off, not opening doors suddenly and not getting mad when they have to get in front of you because they want to turn right at the next intersection. Pedestrians also have the right to cross the road, although they do have to give way to you… except at a pedestrian crossing, where you have to give way. You have to give way to them for the whole time that they’re crossing the road, with no waiting until they’ve got to nearly halfway, then going. Wait until the pedestrian has got to the other side or to a traffic island before you go on. And you did check that pedestrian crossing ahead to see that nobody was waiting, didn’t you?
- Open top trailers. I don’t know how many chips in the windscreen we’ve picked up thanks to things flying off the trailer ahead of us and whacking the windscreen. The trailer in question may be hooked to a truck or to a smaller vehicle, but the end result is still annoying. Even if it’s not a stone flying off and chipping windscreens, other debris getting off a trailer is hazardous and annoying (lawn clippings, leaves, dust…). If you’re a gardening contractor or if you’re taking a load of garden rubbish to the tip, then cover that load or at least put it in a bag so it doesn’t blow everywhere.
- Merging morons. When two lanes merge into one, the idea is that Car A, which is in the right-hand lane and is slightly ahead goes into the merged lane first, then Car B, which is in the left-hand lane. Then Car C, which was immediately behind Car A in the right-hand lane gets to go in. If Car C is a merging moron, then he/she will push ahead and force Car B over to one side out of the stream of traffic until someone sensible(Car D in the right lane) comes along. Car B can also sometimes be a moron, racing ahead to try to get to the merged lane ahead of Car A. In all these scenarios, be Car D – the one that’s courteous and keeps an eye out for other drivers rather than having a Me First attitude.
- Litterbugs. Technically, you shouldn’t dispose of any rubbish out of the window of a car. However, I’m willing to wink at organic rubbish that will feed wildlife and break down naturally or grow a new tree, such as apple cores, banana peels and apricot stones. Hey, in 10 years’ time, a forager for wild fruit might thank you! However, there’s an art to chucking biodegradable fruit bits out of the window, the most important part of which is to wait until (a) there’s nobody behind you and (b) your apple core will land in long grass. There is no excuse for throwing out drink cans, papers, plastic bits, or fast food packaging. Cigarette stubs – which are less common these days, thank goodness – are even worse, as they can set fire to dry grass in summer or burn that cyclist you didn’t see (I’ve been the cyclist in this situation).
Any terrible driving habits that enrage you that I’ve missed? And which ones are your pet peeves? Have a good rant in the comments about them!
Level 2, 9 Help Street
GEORGE QUITTNER says:
IMPORTANT MERGING VARIANT….entering a freeway from a slip lane: SOME PEOPLE STOP!!!
And they want to “merge” with vehicles closing at 110kph.
April 26th, 2018 at 6:49 am