Driving habits that annoy you the most (with poll!)

[corco]

So no one thinks lane changing without signalling is bad?  If I become world totalitarian dictator, those people will be the first to get tortured a slow painful death, since people who fail to signal most likely rape others and molest small children.   

It's marginally annoying, but I've never been in a situation where I felt endangered by it, so I'm fairly indifferent.

[KEK Inc.]

So no one thinks lane changing without signalling is bad?  If I become world totalitarian dictator, those people will be the first to get tortured a slow painful death, since people who fail to signal most likely rape others and molest small children.   

It's marginally annoying, but I've never been in a situation where I felt endangered by it, so I'm fairly indifferent.

Left-lane hogging isn't really that dangerous, but it's annoying.  Also, some people cut people off, and in heavy traffic when there's more than 2 lanes, it can be dangerous.

[corco]

Left-lane hogging isn't really that dangerous, but it's annoying.  Also, some people cut people off, and in heavy traffic when there's more than 2 lanes, it can be dangerous.

Good call- I should have added "impeding," which left lane hogging definitely is- somebody who doesn't signal doesn't slow me up at all either, which also makes me indifferent. Left lane hogging is definitely dangerous though, if only because it forces people to pass on the right. It also causes people in the left lane to brake as they approach, which is in no way safe on an urban freeway.

Cutting people off is annoying and dangerous whether they signal or not. I'm not soothed by somebody flashing their blinker once and then cutting me off.

Obviously, I'd rather they signaled, and I'm a religious signaler, but for whatever reason I just don't care that much when somebody doesn't

[KEK Inc.]

Even impeding isn't dangerous.  Just annoying... 

Hmmm.  I always cared, and I'm a religious signaler as well.  When I went through the Shasta and Siskyou mountains, I always took the inline curves when the road was empty (it was an overnight drive), but I still signaled. 

[corco]

When I went through the Shasta and Siskyou mountains, I always took the inline curves when the road was empty (it was an overnight drive), but I still signaled.

I used to do that but eventually decided it was pointless. I do still signal religiously at the end of passing lanes when the right lane ends, however, even when there are no other cars. 

[triplemultiplex]

Traveling on a rural freeway and encountering a person driving inconsistently.  The person is clearly not using cruise control and doesn't seem to have the ability to drive at a steady rate.  The result is you wind up passing each other 4 or 5 times and you find yourself behind this speed waffler as your both passing slower traffic.

I love using cruise control whenever conditions allow and any event that requires me to switch to manual is always a bummer.

Here's another example.  Things are moving just fine on the highway, everyone's doing a nice reasonable speed, passing well and moving over; everything's cool. Then a state trooper comes into view and suddenly everyone in front of you jams on their brakes forcing you to slow down with them.  This always occurs long after the cop has got his reading and slowing down like that isn't going to change the outcome.  My reasoning is if you think you can get away driving at that speed when you don't see a cop, what makes you think you won't get away with it if you do see 'em?  You're not fooling anyone.  The trooper's not gonna pull you over for doing 70 in a 65 anyway, so keep on trucking people.

[agentsteel53]

So no one thinks lane changing without signalling is bad? 

I only signal when it is necessary to prevent people from being surprised.  If I can make the lane change with everyone generally indifferent towards it, I will likely not signal. 

as for taking racing lines - I certainly will not signal then, because if I am switching lanes to hug the curves more efficiently only when there is no other traffic.  In that case, I may very well cross double-yellow every once in a while. 

[agentsteel53]

Then a state trooper comes into view and suddenly everyone in front of you jams on their brakes forcing you to slow down with them.

the problem here is not that people jam on the brakes, but rather, that they tap.  It can be proven with feedback theory that this *will* cause an unstable chain reaction from the people behind them.  Each will be on the brakes fractionally longer than the one before, with good probability. 

brake lights, are subtly imperfect, as they give the same exact reading for a slight tap (to take the car out of cruise control, for example) and an all-out panic stop.  Alas, the solution that would immediately come to mind (light intensity in proportion to how heavily one's foot is on the brake pedal) would require far too much standardization - one car's faint reading would be another car's bright, and then throw in distance and visibility arguments and the math gets awful hairy.

however, there should be enough hysteresis in the brake light circuitry that a short tap, just to take off cruise control, or instinctively to slow less than 1-2mph, should not activate the brake lights and freak out the cars behind. 

[bugo]

Good call- I should have added "impeding," which left lane hogging definitely is- somebody who doesn't signal doesn't slow me up at all either, which also makes me indifferent. Left lane hogging is definitely dangerous though, if only because it forces people to pass on the right. It also causes people in the left lane to brake as they approach, which is in no way safe on an urban freeway.

It slows you down when you're making a left turn and somebody who is making a right turn onto the same street doesn't signal.

[florida]

Sudden braking for no good reason

This was my choice because of the daily jaunts I have to take down FL 436 to Orlando International. Between Lee Vista Blvd and Frontage Road (less than a mile), there is quite a bit of this going on in the left lane mostly, with idiots who can't decide whether to visit Cracker Barrel, two overpriced gas stations, Walgreens, Starbucks, or the plethora of pricey hotels. Map out your route before leaving! Not to mention, coming to a screeching halt one night when someone decided to get out of a left turn lane, at the last minute, with a barrage of cars coming (or vice-versa). Seriously!?

Last minute exiting from the far lane

This is a very close second only because it is part of the 'anything goes' driving mantra down here. What could be added here is people who pass you (when there is enough room behind you, mind you) just to end up turning into a plaza or side street. My personal favorite are people who play chicken with the gore and its exit sign.

"stopping on entrance ramps"

that's not annoying. that's dangerous.  

throw in there "leaving your car parked, lights off, in the dead of the night in the number one lane on fucking interstate 680".  Yeah, that was a quick swerve followed by an immediate call to 911.

I prefer "car flipped on its side, blocking both interstate lanes, late at night, with its underside on fire". That I-10 is a bad road.

Living in south Florida, ALL of the above!

yeah, if we're going to go with Miami driving behaviors, let's go with "running a stop sign, screeching to a halt in front of me to block my path, getting out of the car to yell obscenities, and then forcing me to back up and go around him" would be on the list.

The drivers seemed so cautious and reserved in the southern suburbs! Maybe it was a charade? And I've heard rumors that the reason there are sometimes 24 signals at one intersection (6 facing each direction) down there is because of the elderly (or that's who they WANT you to think is at fault).

[agentsteel53]

I prefer "car flipped on its side, blocking both interstate lanes, late at night, with its underside on fire". That I-10 is a bad road.

hey now, at least that driver was courteous enough to light up a signal flare!

[Scott5114]

I won't be offended in the slightest if somebody important decides to remove this post.

There are important people here? When'd that happen?


Nobody's mentioned what I call the "drama queen turn" yet. When people unnecessarily (i.e. not waiting on traffic to clear) come to almost a complete stop before making a turn. It's almost like they're showing off. "HEY! LOOK AT ME! GUESS WHAT I'M DOING! YEAH, I'M TURNING!!! SEE IT? SEE IT??? LOOK, I'M SLOWING DOWN. SLOWING DOWN. WATCHING ME? HUH? HUH? SEE IT? SEE IT? I'M SLOWING DOWN. NOW LOOK. I'M GOING AROUND THE CORNER NOW. YEAH, GOING AROUND THE CORNER. STILL WATCHING? GOOD, I'M STILL GOING AROUND THE CORNER. ALL RIGHT HOW'S *THAT* FOR A TURN???"

[realjd]

Speaking of turn signals, I also hate it when people slow down for a turn and then signal. Turn signals are supposed to be used to tell people what you're about to do, not what you're already doing.

[The Premier]

Cell phone usage is the biggie on this one. Left lane hogging is the other, but I rarely use the left lane as I like to drive the limit.

[corco]

Nobody's mentioned what I call the "drama queen turn" yet. When people unnecessarily (i.e. not waiting on traffic to clear) come to almost a complete stop before making a turn. It's almost like they're showing off. "HEY! LOOK AT ME! GUESS WHAT I'M DOING! YEAH, I'M TURNING!!! SEE IT? SEE IT??? LOOK, I'M SLOWING DOWN. SLOWING DOWN. WATCHING ME? HUH? HUH? SEE IT? SEE IT? I'M SLOWING DOWN. NOW LOOK. I'M GOING AROUND THE CORNER NOW. YEAH, GOING AROUND THE CORNER. STILL WATCHING? GOOD, I'M STILL GOING AROUND THE CORNER. ALL RIGHT HOW'S *THAT* FOR A TURN???"

On that note, I hate the hook turn. That being people who swing out (often coming near opposing traffic), particularly for right turns. Seems to be a Montana phenomenon more than anywhere else I've been. My old boss used to call it a "Montana turn"

You're driving a Geo Metro- you don't need the same berth as an 18-wheeler.

[signalman]

^Those are great.  I always say they must be pulling an invisible trailer. 

[TheHighwayMan3561]

For me it's both cell phone usage and people slamming on their brakes or otherwise driving like a granny when they see a cop.

Case in point, back in June I was driving north on MN 101. There was a guy in an SUV getting on northbound from CR 37, coming down the loop. I slowed down to let him in front of me when I noticed a cop sitting up on the bridge embankment far off of the right side of the road. The SUV I let in front of me proceeded to drive about 40 MPH in the 65 zone while he passed the cop, even though he had had loads of time to accelerate. I was pretty irritated watching this happen.

For some stupid ass reason people not only slam on their brakes when they see cops but then proceed to drive 10-15 UNDER while they pass the cop. It's like "you dumbasses know you can still drive 65 here, right?"

[corco]

I got a new record longest passing attempt ever. Some guy in a hail-damaged Chrysler minivan came up on me at about 1/50th of a mile an hour faster. I had my cruise control on 79, he must have had his at 79.02.

This was on I-90 between Gillette and Moorcroft, Wyoming, which as anybody who has driven there knows has about as few cars as any interstate anywhere.

It took the guy 8 miles to overtake me. It would have been longer had he not been basically parallel to me for about 2 minutes, with his kids staring at me and possibly making faces at me. I started making hand signals to indicate the need to pass, and after a minute or so of me motioning my hand back and forth as if to say "pass me, jerk," he finally gave a tiny bit of gas to overtake. I then watched him do it with another car going substantially the same speed I was about a half mile ahead. That only took 6 miles.

It was so obnoxious- I-90 on that stretch is ridiculously rural- there's plenty of road for everyone to have their own quarter-mile or so of personal space, but this guy just hung out right next to me.

People like that need to die in a fire. On a rural interstate, there is no point in delaying the pass. If you want to pass, twenty seconds is a good cap. If it takes longer than 20 seconds to overtake, you're not doing it fast enough. Even that is pushing it- I try to do it in 10-15. It's not the end of the world to cancel your cruise control for a second to pass a car.

There is real danger involved. What if somebody had an unsecured load and a piece of furniture were sitting on the freeway? What if a deer runs out? If I have both lanes of interstate to myself, I can use them for emergency situations. If some jerk is just chilling in the left lane right next to me, I can't use that space. On a ridiculously rural interstate like I-90 in that part of Wyoming, there's just no reason to do that.

As evidence of the lack of traffic though, in those 8 miles I didn't ever actually NEED the left lane- there was nobody to overtake nor was anybody trying to overtake left-lane asshat.
A lot of people will slow down in that situation to just let him go by, but I don't do that out of stubbornness.

[Zmapper]

Where do right hooking and dooring fall into this? 

[J N Winkler]

The trooper's not gonna pull you over for doing 70 in a 65 anyway, so keep on trucking people.

Sorry, but I have been pulled over for 69 in a 65.  The other drivers may be strangers to the area and may not know what the tolerance is for speeding locally.  For these reasons I am not going to call anyone irrational for slowing down to the posted limit when they see a trooper.  Instead, I see it as my responsibility to maintain a sufficiently long distance in front of my own vehicle that their slowing down does not force me to make sudden maneuvers.  I also leave myself free to focus on the other traffic, without feeling pressed to respond to the presence of a police vehicle, by not cruising above the speed limit for long periods of time.

One thing I do dislike is people relying on brake-light flash to move into the left lane, just so they can be in position to overtake or avoid disengaging cruise control.  This generally works to my disadvantage since I rarely have access to a car whose cruise-control system has a cancel function.  Since I won't turn the cruise control system completely off just to disengage it without flashing the brake lights, cars following me tend to use my brake lights as their signal to move left, floor it, and cut me off.  This forces me to spend several minutes crawling behind the slower vehicle until they complete their overtaking maneuvers and I can move to the left lane.  About half the time I wind up overtaking them further down the road.  This happens especially frequently on rural freeways which operate at LOS C or better, because  I will speed slightly in order to finish overtaking maneuvers quickly, to keep the left lane clear and avoid delaying following traffic.

Edit:  You could argue that this problem is partly a result of my failing to tell that I am catching up to a car in front in good time to speed up, move to the left lane, and overtake without disengaging cruise control.  However, I tend to leave a wider space cushion in front of my own vehicle than most other drivers on the highway and as a result, it is more difficult for me to see speed differentials.  The people who follow me tend to be following too closely, which puts them in perfect position to (1) see my brake lights when they flash, (2) register a developing speed differential, and (3) simply by changing lane to the left, make it impossible for me to move in front of them without cutting them off.  In accidents these tailgaters pay for their inability to plan strategically when they crash and burn with the rest of the platoon, but in ordinary day-to-day driving their misbehavior gives them an undeserved tactical advantage.

[corco]

One thing I do dislike is people relying on brake-light flash to move into the left lane, just so they can be in position to overtake or avoid disengaging cruise control.  This generally works to my disadvantage since I rarely have access to a car whose cruise-control system has a cancel function.  Since I won't turn the cruise control system completely off just to disengage it without flashing the brake lights, cars following me tend to use my brake lights as their signal to move left, floor it, and cut me off.  This forces me to spend several minutes crawling behind the slower vehicle until they complete their overtaking maneuvers and I can move to the left lane.  About half the time I wind up overtaking them further down the road.  This happens especially frequently on rural freeways which operate at LOS C or better, because  I will speed slightly in order to finish overtaking maneuvers quickly, to keep the left lane clear and avoid delaying following traffic.

Wouldn't the easiest solution to that be to just turn off cruise control? If you cancel it's one button to push to re-engage (or re-acceleration to have it re-engage, something I have never been comfortable having happen), but if you turn it off it's only two buttons, which doesn't seem like that much more effort.

If I see somebody braking on the freeway I assume they are slowing down. I don't mentally associate brake tap with shut off cruise control (as a reflex, I have always just turned cruise control off, even in a car with a cancel button), so if I see somebody braking and I can't figure out why, I assume they are slowing down for whatever reason and proceed to pass them, if only because for every person tapping their brakes to shut off cruise control there are five people who are serial brakers who constantly brake for no reason to slow down one to two miles an hour. I can't distinguish between the two, so I assume all are serial brakers and overtake them as quickly as possible because it's really annoying to be behind the latter.

If you approach a slow vehicle and brake instead of moving left to pass, that's something that's abnormal behavior. If I were behind you and the left lane were clear, I'd assume I could move left because for whatever reason (maybe your exit is coming up, maybe you want to be behind the semi-truck to get better gas mileage, whatever) you have indicated an intent to slow to the speed of the truck. If I'm behind you, I then have two options, because again I can't distinguish between a cruise control off tap and an "I'm actually braking" tap, so I HAVE to assume the latter in the interest of my own safety. Do I brake as well to give you an opportunity to pass? Do I just go ahead and pass you as well? The latter is far easier.

[J N Winkler]

Wouldn't the easiest solution to that be to just turn off cruise control? If you cancel it's one button to push to re-engage (or re-acceleration to have it re-engage, something I have never been comfortable having happen), but if you turn it off it's only two buttons, which doesn't seem like that much more effort.

To an extent it depends on the ergonomics of the specific cruise control system, but in general no.  If I cancel or tap the brakes, I know the cruise control system is still active and still has my set speed, so I don't have to hunt for an on/off switch, check correct setting using a telltale lamp, and reset my previously set speed, all of which take attention I would rather allocate to other driving tasks.  On one car I have driven, the ON/OFF switch for the cruise control system was on the dashboard and I had to lean forward to flip it.  On another car, the ON/OFF switch was a slider mounted on the steering wheel with the telltale right next to it, both of which were hidden from view.

If I see somebody braking on the freeway I assume they are slowing down. I don't mentally associate brake tap with shut off cruise control (as a reflex, I have always just turned cruise control off, even in a car with a cancel button), so if I see somebody braking and I can't figure out why, I assume they are slowing down for whatever reason and proceed to pass them, if only because for every person tapping their brakes to shut off cruise control there are five people who are serial brakers who constantly brake for no reason to slow down one to two miles an hour. I can't distinguish between the two, so I assume all are serial brakers and overtake them as quickly as possible because it's really annoying to be behind the latter.

My experience does not match yours at all.  When I am on a relatively uncrowded rural freeway between exits, and I see a sudden flash of brake lights up ahead, nine times out of ten that is someone disengaging cruise control in a car which does not have cancel functionality.  The brake lights tend to illuminate for slightly longer in "caught up with a slower vehicle, underestimated the speed differential" and "exit coming up, slow vehicle ahead, don't want to overtake and then have to swoop back for exit" situations, and there are usually other contextual cues, such as advance guide signing.

If you approach a slow vehicle and brake instead of moving left to pass, that's something that's abnormal behavior.

Not necessarily--if I want to check that it is safe to pass without sacrificing my space cushion, and I am already too close to the vehicle in front to hold my speed while I plan and execute a lane changing maneuver, I have no choice but to disengage the cruise control.  What would be abnormal and dangerous would be just to move left without a full mirror and blind-spot check.

If I were behind you and the left lane were clear, I'd assume I could move left because for whatever reason (maybe your exit is coming up, maybe you want to be behind the semi-truck to get better gas mileage, whatever) you have indicated an intent to slow to the speed of the truck. If I'm behind you, I then have two options, because again I can't distinguish between a cruise control off tap and an "I'm actually braking" tap, so I HAVE to assume the latter in the interest of my own safety. Do I brake as well to give you an opportunity to pass? Do I just go ahead and pass you as well? The latter is far easier.

The way I see it, I don't really have a right to object if the vehicle that is overtaking me was already catching up to me from behind with a fair speed differential.  What really gets to me is the dozy fool who, for whatever reason (cover from state troopers, perhaps?), catches up to me gradually (at a low speed differential) and then decides he will ride on my tail.  Then, when I see that I am about to overtake the car in front (I will not ride on anyone else's tail if I can possibly avoid it), and tap the brakes to give myself a little working room, the fool changes lanes and cuts me off.  Pure opportunism.