Do you ever have a need to VENT, then do so and feel better for having done it? Well, I’ve been made a literal cauldron by the antics of drivers during this past weeks snow storm, so I thought I’d let off a little steam. I invite you to join me on this one. Let’s give a literary bitch-slap to those rude, discourteous, dangerous and silly drivers we all encounter on our public thoroughfares.
What got me so frazzled the most this week was watching the incredible number of drivers who rolled right through traffic lights
These are to be recognized, not ignored
that had been disabled by a power outage. Such actions are extremely dangerous and unlawful. I thought I’d mention the unlawful part because based on the rate of violations I saw this week I’m quite certain many people are unaware that when you come upon a disabled traffic light you are to treat it as a four-way stop sign.
Tailgaters always frustrate me. But to tailgate someone while driving on ice is the height of idiocy. If anything you should be extending your distance between your vehicle and the car in front of you when driving on such slippery roads. Under normal driving conditions I will only tailgate for brief moments. When coming up on a slow driver, usually a Subaru driver,
who can’t seem to manage to drive the speed limit I am likely to come up too close to their backside to let them know that I’m there and that I wish to see them drive the speed limit. I’ll then quickly back off to allow for a safe space between vehicles. I might tailgate the discourteous, clueless types who occupy the passing lane of the freeway while not passing anyone; again, Subaru and Volvo drivers seem to favor this practice. Again, I’ll get up close to sort-of say “HELLO?!” before backing off to a safe distance. This just in…in most states it’s against the law to inhabit the passing-lane and not pass anyone. Hello?!
Something that is nearly the entire providence of Subaru drivers and small pickup truck drivers is to merge onto a 55 or 60 mph freeway at 40 miles-per-hour. This usually only affects me if I’m behind this klutz. If on the freeway I’m usually in the passing lane tailgating some other Subaru driver. Were I in the right lane such 40 mph merging practices would put my safety in jeopardy as well as that of the first several cars behind me.
Is there anything easier in life than turning on the
turn signal for a standard vehicle? I think not. And yet people fail to do this all the time. I’ll give Subaru drivers a brake on this one. They’re usually so ultra-safe to the point of annoyance they might be guilty of using their turn signal too much, like signaling to take a freeway exit 1/4 mile before you get there. With turn-signaling you can do it with your pinky finger while maintaining a grip on the steering wheel with your remaining four fingers and thumb. How many things in life can you do with your pinky finger? However long the list, it’s a pretty short list. And whatever is on that list I can’t imagine anything being more significant than turning on the turn signal for your vehicle to signal your intentions to ALL the drivers in front and behind you. It’s easy do it! And do it every single time, please. In instructing my two oldest kids to drive I consider the most sage advice I can give them is to “be predictable for all the other drivers and pedestrians you encounter while operating a motor vehicle“. Be predictable.
Lots of other driver’s habits irritate me. But I thought I’d leave room for you to vent too. Go ahead. You’ll feel better.
Thanks for visiting. Comments are welcome.
Related articles
- Oh, boy, are you peeved behind the wheel! (heraldnet.com)
- Drivers: Tell us your traffic pet peeve (heraldnet.com)
- Tailgating ‘worst motorway habit’ (confused.com)
- Survey finds drivers’ pet hates (autonetinsurance.co.uk)
M Schuett blah blah blah 