What Bothers You Most on the Road?

[maureen]

I've never been to Atlanta, but I have a friend for there and she says the same thing. I don't know how my sister does the drive into town, but she's got nerves of steel. This last time visiting the family, I think the scariest part of our drive was between San Antonio and Lafayette, La on I-10. Once we got to Lafayette itself to visit relatives, driving was alot more down to earth and relaxing again. Believe it or not, it wasn't that bad through Baton Rouge, but I was afraid it would be before we set off, since traffic does get bad there. Those pick up drivers are just as bad as the people I mentioned above too.

[barbaramol]

The thing that bothers me the most is when I pass a car on the highway while I'm using my cruise control and the other car immediately speeds up and passes me then as soon as they're in front they slow down again. So irritating! Just let me go by!

I hate driving in Boston too! I always got lost there before I got my sat nav. One time I took a wrong turn, so I decide to turn down the next street to try go around the block and get back on course. When I got to the next street I looked to the left and saw a one way sign pointing to the right. No problem ... then I look to the right and there was another one way sign, but this one was pointing left! Why? Why would they do that?! The only city that I hate driving in more than Boston is Washington, DC. Driving in DC makes me want to hurt people.

By the way, it actually is illegal to pass on the right in some states (if not all) in America. It's just not enforced for some reason, so people mostly ignore it. I know it's illegal in Massachusetts and Connecticut, but everyone still does it.

[maureen]

Hi Barb and welcome to our humble home. I hate when people act like that too. It's like, pick a speed, will you? I remember there are some states that don't allow the right lane overtake, but most of the ones I've lived in or driven through usually either ignore it too or don't have it. Welcome aboard and we'lre glad to have you here.

[barbaramol]

Hi Mojo, Thanks for the welcome. I love it here!

I'm slightly bitter about the passing on the right thing because I didn't realize it was illegal in Massachusetts until I got a ticket for it. I was stopped for speeding, but he added passing on the right to the ticket because I moved over to pass him on the right, obviously not realizing he was a police officer until it was too late. Oooops!

My husband was actually pulled over once for *not* taking a right on red when he had the opportunity to. The police officer said he was being too cautious. Whaaa??? Is that a bad thing?

Where did you live while you were here?

[barbaramol]

I forgot to add ... as far as city driving goes, I love, love, love driving in New York. The grid makes it easy to navigate and the tall buildings make you feel like you're in a video game. ;D

[maureen]

Jan 25, 2009 5:10:18 GMT barbaramol said:

Hi Mojo, Thanks for the welcome. I love it here!

I'm slightly bitter about the passing on the right thing because I didn't realize it was illegal in Massachusetts until I got a ticket for it. I was stopped for speeding, but he added passing on the right to the ticket because I moved over to pass him on the right, obviously not realizing he was a police officer until it was too late. Oooops!

My husband was actually pulled over once for *not* taking a right on red when he had the opportunity to. The police officer said he was being too cautious. Whaaa??? Is that a bad thing?

Where did you live while you were here?

Hi Barb

That's ridiculous how Nazi like traffic cops can be. I have to add them here as well. Getting pulled over for driving cautiously??? That's no reason to pull someone over. That happened to an old friend of mine in Texas who was going the speed limit. The cop said he was going too slow. He was going the speed limit for crying out loud. Grrr! One time, my husband got pulled over because the guy passing him up set off the cop's radar and my husband, being the honourable man that he is, pulled over like the law says and he ended up getting the ticket. He'd never gotten a ticket in his life until then, and it wasn't even his fault. As you can tell, Barb, I hates traffic cops. They're paid bullies as far as I'm concerned. I'll send you a PM in a bit. Until last summer, I'd never been to Boston. I know I never want to drive there, but I fell in love with the place instantly. I love the culture and the subway systems. The people I met there were pretty down to earth as well.

[(Ali)]

Jan 23, 2009 20:28:39 GMT barbaramol said:

The only city that I hate driving in more than Boston is Washington, DC. Driving in DC makes me want to hurt people.

I live in DC so I know this all too well and feel the same way all too often. Once I moved down here full time I realized I could never complain about drivers where I grew up anymore because they are SO much worse here.

[lily1895]

Hi Mojo!

I havent' been to Boston yet. But based on the folks I know from there, the drivers must be truly terrifying!

The Washington "Metro" aka "underground" has a map system ripped off from the London maps so it's easy to navigate but full of scary things.

Atlanta sounds like it's takes the cake for monster "X" merges. We have a few around here with 95, 495, 695 etc. If they'd just change the road names so everything didn't end in 95 it would be easier to read the signs.

Hang tough rwhip923! Better have Jezza along to ride "shotgun".

Remember "Mayhemmers Are Drivin' Here!!"

[maureen]

Hi Lily,

I have to say, there are two ways my husband and I differ. One, he doesn't mind traffic lights, but I hate them. Give me a roundabout anyday. Two, he loves freeways and surface roads. I like scenic routes that almost no one else knows about better.

This leads me to driving in Las Vegas. I lived there for five years. At the time, things were still being built up, since everyone in the country (it seemed) wanted to move there, shortly after we did. It just got so crowded and most people weren't paying attention to driving. Believe me, trying to find back roads at the time that lead to anywhere that I needed to go was almost impossible, because most of those lands hadn't been developed yet. I just wanted to cut through the desert from work to home and back without having to sit at another 10 minute traffic light and wait for people to pull their fingers out and hit the throttle. You had to have alot of patience and tolerance of incosiderate acts to drive there most of the time. Last time I went back, it was even more crowded than I remember it. My brother sometimes has to travel between California and there, and he says it's even worse now.

[lily1895]

Mojo,

Vegas! Yikes!

Vegas is a nasty piece of work. I used to have friends there who I went to visit every year. When I got into their community, every single house looked the same and the yards were all gravel. I could circle around for days!

I lived 15 years in an east coast resort town. Resort living gets very old very quickly. I didn't see how living in Vegas was going to make everybody happy, since you can't vacation 52 weeks a year. I can't imagine how nasty traffic is now. Yikes!

Now they're supposed to be running out of water too.

5 years in Vegas gets you the Jeremy Clarkson honorary tank driver medal!

I'd rather sail along through the middle-of-nowhere roads too.

Lily
(Puts on crash helmet and racing gloves.)

[maureen]

Thank you, Lily. Anything from Jeremy would be a great honour. From the way my bro talks now, you almost need a tank to drive there. I can truly believe that they are running out of water there. There are way too many people there to support that kind of water usage. I have to say. Maybe going there on a long weekend would be alright, but I would never want to live there again, that's for sure.

[barbaramol]

I've only been to Las Vegas twice. The first time was 18 years ago and the friend I was visiting lived near the airport. The second time was a couple years later and the same friend had moved to a suburb that was just desert the first time I visited. I was shocked by how much it had changed in two years. I can't even imagine what it's like now. it must be enormous!

[maureen]

It was growing really fast while I lived there too. I can only imagine what it must be like now.

[haddow]

i just hate vauxhalls and people not indicating myself.....oh and little tw*ts in 1.2 corsa's thinking that im going to race them at the lights in my ax just because i look young and they think they can beat it.....muppets

[maureen]

Just curious, what do you hate about Vauxhalls? Or is there a certain type that you hate? I can't stand those Corsa tw*ts either. They think that they're special, but they're not.

[haddow]

im just not a big fan of them thats all lol. only ones i like are chevette hse's, carltons (lotus one so technically not a full vauxhall lol) and properly restored and looked after nova's every other vauxhall in existance has been crap imo lol. god i cant wait to supercharge the ax hahaha

[maureen]

That's alright. Other than the old lady (mine), I don't really care for the rest very much either. They seem to have problems with gas mileage, which is one of my biggest gripes with mine.

[Wyvern]

Another vote of no confidence for Vauxhalls, and particularly the Corsa, and particularly the 1.2 diesel, which dies when faced with anything other than the slightest of inclines in anything beyond second gear. It hates Plymouth, which is built on many hills. They're just depressing cars.

But I can't hate Vauxhall completely... after all, they did build the Wyvern

[maureen]

Here's one that really hurts, makes it dangerous to drive, and can cause blindness - the reflection of the sun off of a wet road while you're trying to drive. That was horrible this morning.

[(Ali)]

I always have a hard time with sun but even more so with oncoming headlights on a dark road. I'm fine driving at night on highways but those dark country roads always get me because oncoming headlights just blind me completely and people always forget to turn their brights off which makes it even worse.

[maureen]

Lately, Husband and I have both encountered the same problem - people who stop at roundabouts and either park or don't move until someone passes through.

My experience yesterday was a Panda parked and put its hazard lights on just at the industrial roundabout in Thetford on the A11.

Also, some idiot had the nerve to stop in the middle of the roundabout. I was so p*ssed off that I was yelling like Jeremy usually does as I, luckily, managed to get passed it. Grrrrrrrrr!

Husband had some individual who stopped and waited for one of the busiest roundabouts on the A11 to be completely empty of traffic. Not during rush hours, sunshine. Normally, Husband has the patience of a saint (one of the many reasons I love him), but he got so fed up with her that he went around her and gave her the Vs. He was still upset about it when he got home, so now he's playing a video game where he can kill people and get away with it. Yep! He's the one for me.

[alabastersin]

What bothers me most while driving are those people who are behind you, then they pass you only to turn off in maybe 5 seconds or less. Why do they need to pass and cause me to brake?!?!?!

[lew]

When some stupid woman driver hits your wing mirror drives off, leaving me to get nearly killed to death trying to retrieve the said wing mirror casing from the middle of the road before that gets crushed to death, phew !!! gosh I hope she has a bad day thankfully after watching six cars trying avoid it, I managed to bang it back in place

And garages.....sorry must get this off my chest, why is it I can never get away, ALL I WANT IS MY BLOODY CAR not a chat how he uses genuine Ford parts and that something else needs doing (yes I know, that can wait) and everything else in the universe.....feel so much better ;D

[Puss]

Morons. Morons irritate me. And there seem to be more every day.

[maureen]

Mar 11, 2009 4:27:24 GMT alabastersin said:

What bothers me most while driving are those people who are behind you, then they pass you only to turn off in maybe 5 seconds or less. Why do they need to pass and cause me to brake?!?!?!

I can't stand that either. It's like, "why don't you just be patient? It's not like I was going that slow."

[alabastersin]

Mar 11, 2009 11:11:40 GMT @maureen said:

Mar 11, 2009 4:27:24 GMT alabastersin said:

What bothers me most while driving are those people who are behind you, then they pass you only to turn off in maybe 5 seconds or less. Why do they need to pass and cause me to brake?!?!?!

I can't stand that either. It's like, "why don't you just be patient? It's not like I was going that slow."

Exactly!

[incognito]

I hate it when there are a bunch of yobbos shouting lewd things at you over their 'music' in their horribly pimped-out cars. They're so low to the ground I puzzle over how they overcome speed bumps : And also how do they distinguish between which rave track is which? Is it by the frequency of the gerbil-like harpy that seems to come in at some point?
People with playboy emblems somewhere on/in the vehicle irritate me as well.
I think I could just summarise this with "chavs + wheels".

[maureen]

(Fill in any swear you like - I have too many going through my head at the moment) who go up to a giveway intersection, don't wanna stop, and act like the world owes them a living just because you have the right of way and got in their way, then give you the Vs because you exist. *wishes she had the power to decide who lives and who dies*

[ulstermayniac]

Nobends who can't follow street signs and drive up the wrong way up a one way road.

[eshalda]

Yes, I agree there. Met an old lady the other day driving the wrong way into three lanes of one way traffic. She hadn't looked at/seen the signs, better still she was lane hopping, trying to get into an Mand S food store.