Minor things that bother you

[kkt]

Are mosquitoes legitimately the worst physical thing that exists on the planet? It's an abstract question but a real one.

Most things, you can understand the benefit of it and the reason why it exists (beyond "it survived and evolved because it learned to be an annoying and deadly prick" ). The only benefit of mosquitoes is that they feed other species, most of whom have diverse diets anyway. If mosquitoes went extinct tomorrow the world would be a better place.

The only things we find to be a worse nuisance are greenhead flies.  They live in the marshes near the ocean, and when there's a landbreeze, those things come out biting, and there isn't a damn thing that'll keep them off you.  And they'll even draw blood with their bites.

Drawing blood is the least of it.  I've had them remove chunks of my skin.

This makes my even more happy that I live here in the upper Great Lakes area - Yes, mosquitoes can be a real annoyance, and ticks and biting horseflies can be a problem in the northwoods, but overall it's not bad.



Mike

Here, too.  Dry summers + freezing at night in winter = minimal mosquito problems.

[Big John]

Then the mosquito is the unofficial stated bird in such states as Minnesota or Alaska.

[kphoger]

Are mosquitoes legitimately the worst physical thing that exists on the planet? It's an abstract question but a real one.

Most things, you can understand the benefit of it and the reason why it exists (beyond "it survived and evolved because it learned to be an annoying and deadly prick" ). The only benefit of mosquitoes is that they feed other species, most of whom have diverse diets anyway. If mosquitoes went extinct tomorrow the world would be a better place.

Upwards of 750,000 human deaths worldwide each year can be traced to mosquitoes, maybe even close to a million.  To put that in perspective:  even with more than a billion guns in the world, homicides only account for about 500,000 human deaths each year by all methods combined.  So maybe we should change the popular saying to "Guns don't kill people.  Mosquitoes kill people."

[JayhawkCO]

Thankful that they're pretty minimal here outside of being in the mountains near a water source. The Denver area has very few.

[J N Winkler]

The vast majority of deaths traceable to mosquito bites are in low-income tropical countries, which plays a role in the degree to which they are regarded as a threat here and in western Europe.

[bm7]

Foods that call themselves "birthday cake" flavored. "Birthday" is not a flavor of cake, it's an occasion.

[webny99]

I thought we had a thread specific to road-related things that bother us, but I've been unable to find it. Anyways...

It occurred to me the other day that pretty much all of the driver behavior related things that bother me fall under the broad header of "things that deliberately waste other drivers time and make the road network less efficient". Some examples include:

• Not using the shoulder to pass left turning vehicles when it's wide enough to do so
• Not using the shoulder to turn right when it's wide enough to do so, including passing others and allowing them to pass you, depending on the context
• Blocking the right lane at a red light when the left lane is open
• Slowing down when approaching a stale green light
• Missing half the length of a protected left turn phase due to inattentiveness
• Excessive hesitancy to pass in legal passing zones on two-lane roads, including lack of speed differential awareness (i.e. if someone is going 35 mph, overtaking them is not a high-stress, intense affair and is in fact, a calm, casual, everyday maneuver that does not require exceeding 50 mph)
• Hesitancy or outright unwillingness to pass cops, even when they're traveling at or below the speed limit
• Left lane camping
• Brake checking

It probably seems bizarre to people in other countries that this is the type of thing is common in the US, but our driving culture has contributed to a lot of completely unnecessary rigidity. I wish people would just relax and loosen up sometimes and worry less about  being technically correct and more about the overall efficiency of the road network.

[1995hoo]

Using the shoulder in the way you describe is not necessarily legal everywhere. I once used the left shoulder to pass two cars stopped at the end of a line at a red light in order to get into the left-turn lane to trip the green arrow. What I didn't know, because I couldn't see over an SUV ahead of me, was that there was a cop ahead. He followed me around the corner and pulled me over for illegally driving on the shoulder, though he let me off with a warning. So that experience is one reason why I'm sometimes wary of using the shoulder in the way you describe.

I do agree with you about slowing down approaching a green light and hesitancy to pass on two-lane roads. I started a thread once asking whether passing on two-lane roads is a lost art because so many people seem unwilling to do it nowadays (recognizing that often when I'm on a two-lane road there's too much traffic to pass anyway).

Something I would add to your list: Leaving big gaps when stopped at a red light, thereby preventing people from getting into the turn lane, and going ballistic when someone honks to ask you to move up so he can get into the turn lane in time to trip the green arrow.

[kphoger]

I thought we had a thread specific to road-related things that bother us, but I've been unable to find it.

Road-related pet peeves

Not using the shoulder to pass left turning vehicles when it's wide enough to do so

Illegal in some states.

Not using the shoulder to turn right when it's wide enough to do so, including passing others and allowing them to pass you, depending on the context

Illegal in some states.

Blocking the right lane at a red light when the left lane is open

"Blocking"?  How do you know that driver isn't planning to make a right turn a half-block after the stoplight?  Besides which, I keep right except to pass as a general rule;  what do you expect me to do? change lanes every time I see a red light? and then be in the way of a faster driver behind me when the light turns green?

Excessive hesitancy to pass in legal passing zones on two-lane roads, including lack of speed differential awareness (i.e. if someone is going 35 mph, overtaking them is not a high-stress, intense affair and is in fact, a calm, casual, everyday maneuver that does not require exceeding 50 mph)

Fortunately, my willingness to pass both of them often makes up for that driver's hesitancy...

[GaryV]

Excessive hesitancy to pass in legal passing zones on two-lane roads, including lack of speed differential awareness (i.e. if someone is going 35 mph, overtaking them is not a high-stress, intense affair and is in fact, a calm, casual, everyday maneuver that does not require exceeding 50 mph)

Fortunately, my willingness to pass both of them often makes up for that driver's hesitancy...

Illegal in some states   

[kphoger]

Excessive hesitancy to pass in legal passing zones on two-lane roads, including lack of speed differential awareness (i.e. if someone is going 35 mph, overtaking them is not a high-stress, intense affair and is in fact, a calm, casual, everyday maneuver that does not require exceeding 50 mph)

Fortunately, my willingness to pass both of them often makes up for that driver's hesitancy...

Illegal in some states   

Interesting.  A faint bell is ringing in my memory about that, but it's really faint.  Can you point me to a state vehicle code that limits overtaking to one vehicle only?  I'd be interested to read it.

[GaryV]

Excessive hesitancy to pass in legal passing zones on two-lane roads, including lack of speed differential awareness (i.e. if someone is going 35 mph, overtaking them is not a high-stress, intense affair and is in fact, a calm, casual, everyday maneuver that does not require exceeding 50 mph)

A quick Google search popped up that it was illegal in Minnesota, but when I looked at it again there was another reference that it was not illegal. So perhaps it's OK. It is allowed in Michigan.


Fortunately, my willingness to pass both of them often makes up for that driver's hesitancy...

Illegal in some states   

Interesting.  A faint bell is ringing in my memory about that, but it's really faint.  Can you point me to a state vehicle code that limits overtaking to one vehicle only?  I'd be interested to read it.

[Hunty2022]

A temporary forum related one:

How I (and I think everyone else) can't mark messages as read.

[vdeane]

Assholes who get away with being assholes.  I can think of one particularly forum-relevant case right now, but I can think of others too from all over my life and beyond.

Further, the ephemeral nature of modern social media (and elsewhere on the internet, but especially social media).  Instead of Europe's "right to be forgotten", how about a "right to not forget"?

Using the shoulder in the way you describe is not necessarily legal everywhere.

It's not even legal in New York state.  People just ignore that law around here.

Excessive hesitancy to pass in legal passing zones on two-lane roads, including lack of speed differential awareness (i.e. if someone is going 35 mph, overtaking them is not a high-stress, intense affair and is in fact, a calm, casual, everyday maneuver that does not require exceeding 50 mph)

Fortunately, my willingness to pass both of them often makes up for that driver's hesitancy...

Illegal in some states   

And not necessarily easy even if it is legal, as two vehicles take more time to pass than one, and the roads with that problem tend to also be the roads with lots of oncoming traffic making passing difficult.

[webny99]

Using the shoulder in the way you describe is not necessarily legal everywhere. I once used the left shoulder to pass two cars stopped at the end of a line at a red light in order to get into the left-turn lane to trip the green arrow. What I didn't know, because I couldn't see over an SUV ahead of me, was that there was a cop ahead. He followed me around the corner and pulled me over for illegally driving on the shoulder, though he let me off with a warning. So that experience is one reason why I'm sometimes wary of using the shoulder in the way you describe.

I actually hadn't even considered the left shoulder in my previous post, as the vast majority of my experience has been using the right shoulder - either to pass left turning vehicles, pass a queue and turn right on red, or to decelerate when turning right myself.

That said, the use of the left shoulder would primarily only be applicable on a divided highway. I can think of one such instance where I've done the exact thing you described - more often to make the green arrow than trip it, but understood either way. But I am definitely more wary of the left shoulder in general, as it's often narrower and with more potential conflict points, depending on the context.

I do agree with you about slowing down approaching a green light and hesitancy to pass on two-lane roads. I started a thread once asking whether passing on two-lane roads is a lost art because so many people seem unwilling to do it nowadays (recognizing that often when I'm on a two-lane road there's too much traffic to pass anyway).

Sometimes I think it just doesn't even occur to people to pass, especially in suburban areas where passing zones aren't the norm. And admittedly, it is almost like a bad joke for passing zones to exist on busy two-lane roads with frequent signals, like this section of NY 250. It's just too busy and too prone to long strings of traffic in both directions to have any hope of passing between 7AM and 7PM. But making use of passing zones is definitely worth it on suburban roads like this one with light traffic and good sightlines.

Something I would add to your list: Leaving big gaps when stopped at a red light, thereby preventing people from getting into the turn lane, and going ballistic when someone honks to ask you to move up so he can get into the turn lane in time to trip the green arrow.

Indeed. I find people that leave big gaps in front of them a particular annoyance at drive-thrus, where leaving a gap often prevents another vehicle from pulling up and placing their order.

And another one in the vein of signalized intersections: not turning right on red when the cross street has their protected green arrow phase... especially when said phase is leading, so if you dawdle during the arrow phase, you're stuck waiting for the cross traffic going straight.

[webny99]

I thought we had a thread specific to road-related things that bother us, but I've been unable to find it.

Road-related pet peeves

That's a good one. I'd be OK with merging this discussion there, although with my list having grown to nearly a dozen items, I'm not sure we can really count all of them as pet peeves. 

Not using the shoulder to pass left turning vehicles when it's wide enough to do so

Illegal in some states.
...

I hate to go so obvious here, but... speeding is also illegal but simultaneously widely accepted. In certain circumstances, there's no good reason why the shoulder line should not be crossed, just like in certain circumstances there's no good reason the speed limit should not be exceeded. I am in favor of double lines being legally enforceable, but single lines not being legally enforceable. They're there as a guide, not a fence.

Using the shoulder in the way you describe is not necessarily legal everywhere.

It's not even legal in New York state.  People just ignore that law around here.

Indeed, like the speed limit, it's so widely ignored that the drivers that don't ignore it are the ones that stand out.

Blocking the right lane at a red light when the left lane is open

"Blocking"?  How do you know that driver isn't planning to make a right turn a half-block after the stoplight?  Besides which, I keep right except to pass as a general rule;  what do you expect me to do? change lanes every time I see a red light? and then be in the way of a faster driver behind me when the light turns green?

This is one where I recognize that my personal bar for efficiency is a lot higher than most other drivers, and I'm OK with that. In this case, I would say that, as long as I can see (and therefore monitor) the light on the cross street and am aware of any protected phases, I'm confident in my ability to easily get in front of anyone in the right lane and move right in time to make the turn, and I would rather do that than inconvenience someone behind me waiting to turn right.

There are certainly some exceptions, such as areas/intersections I'm unfamiliar with, right turns immediately beyond an intersection, and locations with wide shoulders that can be used for right turns, but in general, when approaching a red light with no one in front of me, where my presence in the right lane would block a right turning vehicle, I try to move left if practical.*

Likewise, I don't regard someone coming up faster behind me as an issue because, with anticipation, I can get enough of a jump start to be clear of any vehicles on my right and move right within a few hundred feet anyways.




*See next post

[webny99]

* This got me thinking, another one adjacent to "hesitancy to pass" is "hesitancy to change lanes". The ability to quickly and confidently change lanes is, to me, an extremely integral part of the driving experience. It was one of the first driving "techniques" I worked to master, and now it's just as much second nature as switching between accelerator and brake pedal. Yet so many drivers appear hesitant to do it or incapable of doing it fluidly so they remain "stuck" in a slow lane, or driving slower than necessary with their blinker on waiting for someone to "let them in", to the point where it's arguably a significant contributor to congestion on major freeways.

I like to think that the most efficient driving experience strikes the right balance between safety and assertiveness. Obviously, using your mirror(s) and blinker(s) when changing lanes is of utmost importance, but beyond that, just trusting your judgment and avoid personalizing your interactions with other drivers goes a long ways towards becoming comfortable with regular lane changes.

[jeffandnicole]

Not using the shoulder to pass left turning vehicles when it's wide enough to do so

Especially when there's not even a shoulder line.  Too often, a car will merge over a little and then decide they don't want to pass even though they have enough room. So now they're blocking everyone from getting by.

In the same vein, cars that approach a red light where there's enough room for two lanes, and they stop directly in the middle.  It's bad enough when they're blocking vehicles from turning right, it's worse when the light turns green and they put on their left turn signal.  Now they failed to put their signal on before approaching the light, they failed to keep to the left of the lane, and they're blocking traffic.

Not using the shoulder to turn right when it's wide enough to do so, including passing others and allowing them to pass you, depending on the context

Yep.  And also, when they get over somewhat but not all the way, so they're still blocking the right lane, and illegally travelling the shoulder at the same time.

Hesitancy or outright unwillingness to pass cops, even when they're traveling at or below the speed limit

This one I tend to notice is a rush hour vs. not-rush hour thing, at least on my commutes.  Especially during the morning rush hour, most people on the road are regulars.  They see a local cop or state trooper in the right lane - they're just going to pass them.  I can tell a lot of departments must have certain policies in place keeping them at or close to the limit, while the regulars are going 10-15 and more over the limit.  At other times of the day, there's a bit more hesitancy to pass a cop - locals are usually fair game, but they probably won't pass a state trooper.  On the weekends, when there's a lot more infrequent or out-of-state travelers, they're not going to pass a cop no matter what.

[zachary_amaryllis]

* This got me thinking, another one adjacent to "hesitancy to pass" is "hesitancy to change lanes". The ability to quickly and confidently change lanes is, to me, an extremely integral part of the driving experience. It was one of the first driving "techniques" I worked to master, and now it's just as much second nature as switching between accelerator and brake pedal. Yet so many drivers appear hesitant to do it or incapable of doing it fluidly so they remain "stuck" in a slow lane, or driving slower than necessary with their blinker on waiting for someone to "let them in", to the point where it's arguably a significant contributor to congestion on major freeways.

I like to think that the most efficient driving experience strikes the right balance between safety and assertiveness. Obviously, using your mirror(s) and blinker(s) when changing lanes is of utmost importance, but beyond that, just trusting your judgment and avoid personalizing your interactions with other drivers goes a long ways towards becoming comfortable with regular lane changes.

In the area I live in, passing on a two-lane is fairly routine. We have a few sketchy ones in the canyon itself, but knowing the road better than the person I'm about to pass, helps. For example, I know I can blow by him in a few dots of the the dotted lines, and sail off into the next curve at 65 just fine. He doesn't.

But long straight stretches, where there's just miles of dotted line? Most of the time, if I'm being held up, I'll pass when able/safe. But it also seems like there's times on these roads, where yeah, there's nothing but miles of daylight ahead, but there's some mirage or something, that I can't quite tell if it's oncoming, or just mirage. US 85 in northern CO is one example, and yesterday I was on WY-230, going to Laramie. Same kinda thing.

[1995hoo]

Not using the shoulder to pass left turning vehicles when it's wide enough to do so

Especially when there's not even a shoulder line.  Too often, a car will merge over a little and then decide they don't want to pass even though they have enough room. So now they're blocking everyone from getting by.

In the same vein, cars that approach a red light where there's enough room for two lanes, and they stop directly in the middle.  It's bad enough when they're blocking vehicles from turning right, it's worse when the light turns green and they put on their left turn signal.  Now they failed to put their signal on before approaching the light, they failed to keep to the left of the lane, and they're blocking traffic.

A related one that irks me fairly regularly that is also related to the issue I raised earlier about people who leave too much space when stopping at red lights is people who don't pull all the way to the left or the right within their own lane when they're going straight near the end of the turn lane or near where traffic can turn to one side of a pork chop island. Something like the location seen in this Street View link. I think the fact that there's no dedicated right-turn lane makes some people even more oblivious than they usually are. If people stay closer to the center line, you can access the channelized right turn from reasonably far back at that location, but some people going straight will stop their cars all the way to the right side of the right lane, thereby blocking the right turn. I'd like to believe it's just a lack of situational awareness or a case of general stupidity, as opposed to an attitude of "I have to stop for a red light, so you have to as well" (which wouldn't surprise me among some people, at least, though I'm sure it's not the prevailing outlook).

[CtrlAltDel]

It occurred to me the other day that pretty much all of the driver behavior related things that bother me fall under the broad header of "things that deliberately waste other drivers time and make the road network less efficient". Some examples include:

My behaviors would probably give you and some others here a stroke :

• Not using the shoulder to pass left turning vehicles when it's wide enough to do so

I would never even think of doing this.

• Not using the shoulder to turn right when it's wide enough to do so, including passing others and allowing them to pass you, depending on the context

I would never even think of doing this.

• Blocking the right lane at a red light when the left lane is open

I would never even think of this as thing to do.

• Slowing down when approaching a stale green light

I do this as appropriate since it's better than slamming on the brakes if it turns.

• Missing half the length of a protected left turn phase due to inattentiveness

I agree with this one.

• Excessive hesitancy to pass in legal passing zones on two-lane roads, including lack of speed differential awareness (i.e. if someone is going 35 mph, overtaking them is not a high-stress, intense affair and is in fact, a calm, casual, everyday maneuver that does not require exceeding 50 mph)

For this one, it depends on what you mean by excessive tendency. Head-on collisions are the worst kind of collisions, and so a higher degree of prudence than for other maneuvers is warranted.

• Hesitancy or outright unwillingness to pass cops, even when they're traveling at or below the speed limit

The cost-benefit analysis in this situation, for me at least, is that a bit of slowdown for a while is preferable to a ticket.

• Left lane camping

I agree with this one.

• Brake checking

I agree with this one.

And furthermore,

In the same vein, cars that approach a red light where there's enough room for two lanes, and they stop directly in the middle.

If there aren't two lanes, then there aren't two lanes.

people who leave too much space when stopping at red lights is people who don't pull all the way to the left or the right within their own lane when they're going straight near the end of the turn lane or near where traffic can turn to one side of a pork chop island.

I might pull up a bit to allow someone to scooch by, but I wouldn't move from the center of the lane.

[webny99]

In the same vein, cars that approach a red light where there's enough room for two lanes, and they stop directly in the middle.  It's bad enough when they're blocking vehicles from turning right, it's worse when the light turns green and they put on their left turn signal.  Now they failed to put their signal on before approaching the light, they failed to keep to the left of the lane, and they're blocking traffic.

This is a situation I'm not as familiar with. Would this be where a road has been widened on approach to an intersection to allow two lanes, but not striped for two lanes? This is not normally done in NY - there's usually striping one way or another whether it's for two lanes or one lane and a wide shoulder.

Hesitancy or outright unwillingness to pass cops, even when they're traveling at or below the speed limit

This one I tend to notice is a rush hour vs. not-rush hour thing, at least on my commutes.  Especially during the morning rush hour, most people on the road are regulars.  They see a local cop or state trooper in the right lane - they're just going to pass them.  I can tell a lot of departments must have certain policies in place keeping them at or close to the limit, while the regulars are going 10-15 and more over the limit.  At other times of the day, there's a bit more hesitancy to pass a cop - locals are usually fair game, but they probably won't pass a state trooper.  On the weekends, when there's a lot more infrequent or out-of-state travelers, they're not going to pass a cop no matter what.

Interesting observation. I never thought about it much, but I guess I would be more hesitant to pass a cop in another state than I would on my commute. This wouldn't really apply to in-state trips, though, since I have a pretty good idea what to expect on the Thruway and other rural interstates/backroads no matter where I am in the state.

[webny99]

• Not using the shoulder to pass left turning vehicles when it's wide enough to do so

I would never even think of doing this.

• Not using the shoulder to turn right when it's wide enough to do so, including passing others and allowing them to pass you, depending on the context

I would never even think of doing this.

What are shoulders normally like in your area? I'm talking about shoulders that are easily wide enough to pass, like this, or this, where the shoulder has been specifically widened to allow passing. It does depend on the context, but if the shoulder is the width of a vehicle or greater, I see no reason not to use it and wouldn't even consider coming to a complete stop behind a left turning vehicle.

people who leave too much space when stopping at red lights is people who don't pull all the way to the left or the right within their own lane when they're going straight near the end of the turn lane or near where traffic can turn to one side of a pork chop island.

I might pull up a bit to allow someone to scooch by, but I wouldn't move from the center of the lane.

Another one that depends on the situation. I'm familiar with one intersection where, if there's a single car going straight or left, there is enough room to scooch by and turn right, but only if they are pulled up to the stop line and positioned to the left side of the lane. If someone has left enough room for me to get past, I will usually take advantage of it and wave to thank them. (It's also a very long light, so a minute or more can be saved by doing so.)

[CtrlAltDel]

What are shoulders normally like in your area? I'm talking about shoulders that are easily wide enough to pass, like this, or this, where the shoulder has been specifically widened to allow passing. It does depend on the context, but if the shoulder is the width of a vehicle or greater, I see no reason not to use it and wouldn't even consider coming to a complete stop behind a left turning vehicle.

I live in a pretty urban area, so shoulders are pretty much nonexistent. That said, at least in my view, the width doesn't matter, in that the shoulder is not for driving, and so I don't drive on it.

[1995hoo]

If it is illegal to use the shoulder to pass in a given state, then it doesn't matter whether "most people" do it—you have no reason to expect that someone should do it or to get upset when that person doesn't do it.

I did get mildly annoyed this afternoon because when I was third on line at the stop sign seen in this Street View image, wanting to turn right, both of the people in front of me pulled all the way to the far right, with no signal, and then turned left. Why would you pull all the way to the right, blocking the right turn, if you want to turn left? (It's wider than the Street View makes it look. There's easily enough room for two vehicles. If you stop in the middle, that's one thing, but pulling all the way to the far right to turn left makes no sense to me.)