The DC area is notorious for its traffic. It's horrible, and there is no time of day or night that you can be assured of no traffic. Sunday late afternoon, we ran into traffic on the Beltway after going to the Redskins game. (A whole day that Londo and I went out without any kids! That was the first time since the Pookie was born! It was awesome... except that the Redskins suck.)
But it's not even the traffic jams that drive me crazy. I can deal with city driving, highway driving and when parkways turn into parking lots. It's really the crappy drivers in the neighborhoods that make me want to road rage (don't worry, I don't actually road rage).
This week's question of the week is:
What is it about driving/drivers/cars on the road that drives you crazy?
For me, it's the crappy drivers who have this sense of entitlement. They are somewhere between selfish and oblivious. You know the ones. The ones who always assume they have the right of way, even if they don't. The ones who don't bother to read the clearly posted signs or obey basic traffic laws.
I don't mind the speeders, the slow drivers or even the aggressive drivers, just so long as they are aware of what is around them and not obliviously assuming the world revolves around them. If you want to speed, do it safely without riding up my bumper and get on your way. If you want to drive slow, get into the RIGHT lane and let people pass you. If you want to slip into the just-barely-a-car-length spot in front of me, do it without making me slam on my brakes or worry about my safety and the safety of those in my car (I'VE GOT CHILDREN!).
But if you want to do a rolling stop and then keep going through the four-way stop without waiting for your turn? I will honk loudly. If you do not know how to use the traffic circle and don't bother to read the signs CLEARLY STATING to YIELD to the traffic in the circle? I will honk and perhaps gesture rudely. If you are parked on a road and open your car door just as I or other cars are passing you? I will likely yell at you, and you better hope that my window isn't down. And if you speed down a road where children (especially my children) are playing? I will want to do all sorts of things that I won't. Because of the children.
How about you? What drives you nuts about other drivers? Aren't there just too many things to name?
4 comments:
Get into the left lane and let people pass you? I think you are supposed to pass on the left. Sorry - this is my biggest pet peeve - slow drivers parked in the left lane.
Ooops! Total typo on my part! I have now changed the post to correctly reflect that I want people to get in the RIGHT lane and let others pass them. I can't stand it when people go slow in the left lane.
Even though an ex-boyfriend of mine once said, "It's the same speed limit in both lanes," the left lane is really for passing and faster vehicles. As I said to that ex, "Haven't you seen the signs that say 'Slower Traffic Keep Right'?"
I blame the typo completely on my post-baby, extremely sleep-deprived, foggy brain.
For me it's about the cyclists, both motored and not, who are future examples of Darwinian Theory.
For some reason, those on two wheels seem to think that road rules do not apply to them--they go against traffic, weave thru, blow thru lights, etc. I've nearly had accidents at least a dozen times trying NOT to kill one of them.
And don't get me started on people driving up 28 on pocket bikes or driving 66 on a mobility scooter.
I thought it was some wierd American convention!!
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