Driving Us To Distraction

These are examples of thoughtless, rude, and just plain selfish driving for which there is no justification. There are also rants about the general state of roads and road laws, transport policy, you name it. There's plenty more like this on ChrisL's Homepage but CACSADE simply wouldn't be complete without a driving page. Read these and then next time you're out driving, consider what you're doing and how it might be annoying other drivers.

What? There's Someone Behind Me?

From: CACSADE
In The UK we have a speed limit on most major roads of 60mph. So why is it that I am forever getting stuck behind some idiot doing 40mph? The speed limit is 60. This means the government's road safety experts have decided that 60mph is a safe speed on that road. If you don't feel safe at that speed then get off the bloody road, you shouldn't be driving. If you're not in a hurry, just think about the people behind you who are. It's plain selfish to hold people up because you don't want to go any faster. I remember being stuck in a queue on a major road at 35mph. At the front was a woman just driving like she didn't know we were there. It took us 45 minutes to get past her and must have added half an hour to our journey time, and we were quite near the front of the mile-long queue that built up on this windy road. If you were that woman I hope you realise how many people arrived late for appointments because of you.

Trucks Must Be Slowed Down!

From: CACSADE
This might be controversial among people who live on major roads but let me get this one out because it's a point of common sense. Many many trucks are now limited to 55mph. This firstly causes problems like the one discussed above, but secondly it is what causes the nightmare that British motorways have become. Let me explain. Truck A is rolling along at 50 mph with a full load. Truck B comes up behind Truck A at 55mph and pulls out to overtake Truck A. Suddenly both trucks hit a hill. Both trucks start to slow down because they were going too slowly to build up any momentum before reaching the hill. Halfway up the hill Truck A is doing 40 mph and Truck B is doing 42 mph. What does this mean for the rest of the traffic which is travelling at between 60 and 80mph? It all has to squeeze through the gap in the outside lane. For the whole distance that it takes Truck B to overtake Truck A (several miles) the motorway is a single-lane road. Traffic is coming up behind the blockage at twice the speed the blockage is moving. There is no outcome possible other than a huge tailback. And if you think I'm making this up, try doing my daily journey to work between junctions 23 and 18 on the M25.
So what's my remedy? The obvious one is to allow trucks to go faster. But my favourite is to put freight back on the railways, where it belongs. This of course will never happen becuase the road lobby in this country is too powerful, which is another example of how greed and self-interest make life hell for everybody else.

This is MY Lane!

From: CACSADE
Here in the UK we have a rule that forbids passing on the left. We also have a whole section of society who think that the left-hand lane is for slow people and that they have a God-given right to drive in the outside lane all the time no matter what speed they're doing, thereby holding up everybody behind them. One of CACSADE's first actions will be to encourage people to undertake these assholes while displaying a banner in the car saying something like "Don't Hog The Outside Lane, Asshole".

Don't Leave It THERE!

From: Mr. Wild Pants in Farmborough
I'm stressed. Stressed with car users. Its not enough for them to have all the road in the first place, they have to and park their infernal little shit buckets in bus lanes during rush hour rendering us ecologically sound bus users just as screwed as the rest of the population when we're commuting. The only people who can do anything about it are the police, and seeing as there is only one policeperson in the whole of the UK now (and they're stoned) we are living in a society where we're completely at the mercy of idiots WHO CAN'T PARK THEIR FECKING CARS TO SAVE THEIR LIFE!!!
Sorry about that. I'm off for some more prozac.

Beep!

From: Richard Smeltzer (aka Bagpuss) in Guisborough
OK, so this is a specific occasion, but it annoyed me. Not long after getting my car, I came to Saltburn bank and thought, "hmm, steep hill second gear," whereas I should have thought, "hmm, very steep hill with sharp bends first gear." Predictably, I stalled, cursed, restarted the engine and promptly stalled again. At this point the woman behind me beeped her horn. Why? Was I unaware of her presence? Did my car pose a danger to her? Had I done this deliberately to slow her down? I don't think so. So what possible reason could there be for this honking? Who knows?
Editor's Comment Think before you honk. Let's not go around harrassing people who are clearly already being harrassed by their machinery. You may be annoyed with them, but they are stressed already. Relax.

Big Load of Shite

From: Si in Cheltenham
If farmers work such long days, why the hell do they choose the rush hour to take their tractors along main roads? Nothing pisses me off quite so much as getting stuck in a mile-long queue of traffic for half an hour only to find that it's been caused by some fuckwitted farmer who thinks 8.30AM is the perfect time to trundle twenty miles up the A34 with a trailer full of horse shit.

Run 'Em Over!

From: Geoff Buer in Devon
Why do they have to take the little darlings to school, I walked to school every day winter, summer, rain, shine. What these people don't seem to understand is that it's four journeys a day, can't they get the bus.

Reaction! Reaction!

From: Robert in Minneapolis, MN
Fuck you if I'm not breaking the law fast enough!
Tailgaters are bad enough. But people who tailgate me when I'm already 10-15 mph OVER The speedlimit should crash and die! Excuse me for not breaking the law a little faster!
[Editor's Comment] Seeing as it was me who ranted about people driving too slowly and hogging the lanes, I get the chance to respond. I think we have a misunderstanding caused by differing driving laws in our respective countries. In the States, people choose a lane and stay in it. People can pass on both sides. In Britain, the law is that you drive in the left-hand lane unless you're overtaking someone. Passing someone on the left is illegal and is also highly dangerous because people don't expect you to do it. So if someone is drving in the middle lane and the left hand lane is empty then I cannot pass them without breaking the law and risking having my car driven into (assuming there's the usual queue in the right lane). Yes, speeding is breaking the law but it's not selfish. Not getting out of my way when you could do so without even thinking about it and it causes you no hassle is.

How Are The Signs?

From: Dan in Providence
My number one driving-related peeve would have to be the usage of turn-signals -- or rather, the lack thereof. People who don't use the turn-signals so thoughtfully provided with every single automobile manufactured in the last 60 years are idiots.
If I'm driving down a multi-lane street, I can easily get in another lane if the car in front of me is going to slow down and turn off. How can I do that if they don't signal?
If I'm trying to make a turn onto a road and another car is turning onto the street I am turning off of, I can make my turn before they actually get to the turnoff (and are 100 feet down the road or so). How can I do that if they don't signal??
I admit that it's rare that not signalling causes any actual danger, but it costs time for all the drivers around you, so use your turn-signals!

A Situation of Gravity

From: Wayne in Kentucky
We have a hill on Interstate 75 affectionately known as "The cut in the hill", or, more appropriately, "Death Hill". This was a steep hill with fairly sharp curves for the type of road, that leads to a bridge from Kentucky to Ohio (It is cut into the hill, making the turns almost blind - recently it was improved, making it straighter and less steep). For some reason, truck drivers on that road seemed to think that the steep hill was a good place to gain speed. Not to mention that they would pull right up on someone's bumper in the process. This led to numerous accidents and many deaths. Yet many people I know who drive trucks say car drivers are usually to blame for accidents. I do not claim that all accidents are the fault of truckers, I have seen quite a few cars cut off trucks with complete disregard for their size and momentum, but come on, guys, take your share of the blame, too.

I'd Rather Chat than Concentrate

From: Joshua in Columbus, OH
Okay...I know motorists have no respect for motorcyclists in the first place, but having a driver's license implies some basic driving skills.
I'm on a 3-lane highway on the east side of Columbus, in the center lane. There's a woman (let's face it, guys...female drivers are much worse than male ones) in a minivan (and let's get this fact straight: minivan drivers are by far and away the absolute worst drivers on the road) was in the right lane. BIG, BIG signs are on the side of the road that say RIGHT LANE ENDS MERGE LEFT a good mile before the lane actually ends. I was boxed in...there was a slow-moving car in front of me, and a car was coming up on me in the left lane. Being such a good driver, I decided NOT to get in the left lane and cut him off.
So, about 1/4 mile BEFORE the lane actually ends, the woman in the minivan decides she wants to merge left. A normal thing to do would be to signal, turn your head, and LOOK to see if there's any traffic next to you. The moronic, DICKHEAD thing to do would be to just merge, no look, no signal. Take a guess as to which she did.
That's right, she decided to do the DICKHEAD thing. She's blabbering away to her passenger and starts pulling into MY lane. Not much I can do but cut off the guy who's coming up on me on the left and lay on my horn. Then that stupid minivan-driving, no-clue having, DICKHEAD had the nerve to glare at me like it was MY fault. I was in my own damn lane. So what's the moral of my rant? Female minivan drivers are dickheads and should have their licenses revoked.

What? People Wanna Use This Road?

From: Lazarus in Calfornia
The city council in the area I live must be the least intelligent beings in existance. They managed to decide they would repave a rather heavily used road (right off of a freeway as well) during what is most people's lunch hour on a work day. Intelligent, no?
I mean, jeeze, why couldn't they do it some other time? like in the middle of the night or when there IS no traffic in the business district (umm... weekends would be good).

This is MY Lane! #2

From: Artemis in Atlanta, Georgia, USA
It really, REALLY pisses me off when I'm driving on the 285 loop around Atlanta (or any other highway for that matter), that when I put my turn signal on to get out into a faster lane so that I can get where I'm going the stumblefuck in the lane next to me (who was a car length and a half behind me) feels the need to floor it so that I can't pull in front of him! Look here, you stupid sonuvabitch, it's assholes like you that are the main reason for road rage and highway shootings! Dammit, I'm a peacable person, but I wanna pop a cap in your ass the minute you get along side of me. The turn signal means "Yield, I'm coming into your lane" NOT 'I'm gonna try to come over so be a prick and speed up'.

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