Road-related pet peeves

[vdeane]

Not only turning from a turn lane that doesn't exist, but feeling entitled enough to believe you can hold up traffic however long you need to to avoid missing your turn.

Wanting to turn left, but didn't get into the left turn lane?  Just sit there in the through-lane, holding up all the traffic behind you, until there's a gap in oncoming traffic!

Wanting to go straight, but mistakenly got into the left turn lane?  Just sit there in the left turn lane, holding up all the traffic behind you, until through traffic clears and you can slide over into the through-lane.



...  ...  Another related one  ...  ...  people who think they can do whatever they have to to avoid going one exit farther and just turning around, feeling entitled enough to believe you can cut across three lanes of traffic and miss the gore sign as narrowly as possible to avoid missing your exit.

Wanting to turn left, but getting into the right turn lane here, so they hold up the intersection until the green ball turns on (which it won't, since it's actuated and will only turn on the arrow unless someone is in the left turn lane).  This actually happened.  After three light cycles and Dad honking the horn a few times, the standoff was only resolved after Dad physically got out of the car to tell the person that the light won't do what he wants and that he'll have to turn right.  We then caught the same driver trying to do the same thing at the left straight lane here.

Wanting to go straight, but mistakenly got into the left turn lane?  Just sit there in the left turn lane, holding up all the traffic behind you, until through traffic clears and you can slide over into the through-lane.

....

Or, at an intersection near my neighborhood, just hit the accelerator and go straight, people in the proper lane be damned. It's their problem to know you got in the wrong lane and that you're going to go straight and it's their problem to avoid you. (That "Left Lane Must Turn Left" sign is fairly new—there used to be no warning, other than pavement markings, on the left side of the road that the left lane becomes left-turn only—but some people still act surprised when they discover it's a turn lane and they just go straight anyway. A disproportionate number of the ones who do so aggressively seem to have Maryland plates.)

I had a case of the reverse recently.  Driver got in the straight lane but wanted to turn left, so at the last second they barge in without warning once already in the intersection.  I had to slam on my brakes to not hit them.

[freebrickproductions]

Municipalities/counties that decide to be cheap and save a few cents by having the signs on a post overlap so they can save a bolt or two. It honestly just looks ugly.

[tmoore952]

Will be brief here.

I see this multiple times every day. Someone cutting across two or more lanes of traffic to go to a right hand exit, cutting in front of cars in all lanes and (especially) in front of those who are in the right lane approaching that same exit. I am often in that right lane group.

A much older gentleman I knew 35 years ago in Warminster PA, he most likely has died by now --- at that time, Warminster had protected left hand turns that had the following light sequence in its cycle:  (1) red light only (most of the cycle); (2) red light AND green left arrow; (3) yellow arrow only; (4) repeat (1)-(3).
Now you could make left turns when either the green arrow and the yellow arrow were lit, but this gentleman would only proceed when the arrow was yellow (which was a small percentage of the total time when "arrows" were on). When we asked him, his reasoning was that you couldn't proceed with a solid red light even if there was a green arrow with it.

He wasn't the only one I saw doing that. If you were behind someone like that, you were lucky if 2 cars could make the left turn.

[Big John]

^^ He didn't understand Pennsylvania phasing?

[tmoore952]

^^ He didn't understand Pennsylvania phasing?

He was oblivious. I actually felt sorry for the guy, he was an easy target for teasing. But he was also rather argumentative, so my attempts to be somewhat nice were not well received (although he was probably wary, the teasers were a couple years older than me).

[Mergingtraffic]

Improperly signed option lanes.  Or option lanes that are hidden. 
Or when a two-lane road opens up to three lanes via an option lane, and the option lane favors the direction that nobody uses. That forces all traffic into one lane forcing a backup.

[kphoger]

Passing lanes here in Kansas.

Signage says "KEEP RIGHT EXCEPT TO PASS".  Which is good.  But striping at the beginning of the passing lane does not encourage keeping right, and striping at the end of the passing lane puts the onus of merging on traffic that actually obeyed the sign.

[GaryV]

Passing lanes in Michigan like this one

https://maps.app.goo.gl/urLodwCApCgWhwfh7

That end right at the top of the hill, before the trucks and other slow-moving traffic get a chance to speed up.

[webny99]

Passing lanes here in Kansas.

Signage says "KEEP RIGHT EXCEPT TO PASS".  Which is good.  But striping at the beginning of the passing lane does not encourage keeping right, and striping at the end of the passing lane puts the onus of merging on traffic that actually obeyed the sign.

If the striping was reversed, I wonder about potential safety issues with a lane starting and ending from the middle of a two-way roadway. I don't see it as a big issue myself, but have a hunch that it might be a factor from a DOT perspective.

[webny99]

Another potentially related one, because I have also seen it in passing zones on two-lane roads: when drivers slow down while passing, but speed up while not passing, so that all drivers behind them have to engage in the yo-yo of repeatedly slowing down to pass other traffic while not being able to get past them on the open stretches. I see this as an attempt to control other traffic on the road and figure that anyone that does this must be a total control freak.

[Big John]

Passing lanes here in Kansas.

Signage says "KEEP RIGHT EXCEPT TO PASS".  Which is good.  But striping at the beginning of the passing lane does not encourage keeping right, and striping at the end of the passing lane puts the onus of merging on traffic that actually obeyed the sign.

At least Wisconsin does it right: https://www.google.com/maps/@44.9677565,-89.2036331,184a,35y,338.58h,44.98t/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu

[tmoore952]

Just had one about 20 minutes ago.

Slip ramp from I-270 "local lines" to I-270 "main line" just south of I-370.

I'm on slip ramp, look in rear view mirror, and some guy behind me is driving maybe 70-75 and gaining on me fast. I have to speed up big time.
Suffice it to say when he got to the "main line" he proceeded to do several unsafe lane changes.
How do I wind up being in front of people like that?

[1995hoo]

....

How do I wind up being in front of people like that?

Because you're driving in Maryland.

[kphoger]

Passing lanes here in Kansas.

Signage says "KEEP RIGHT EXCEPT TO PASS".  Which is good.  But striping at the beginning of the passing lane does not encourage keeping right, and striping at the end of the passing lane puts the onus of merging on traffic that actually obeyed the sign.

If the striping was reversed, I wonder about potential safety issues with a lane starting and ending from the middle of a two-way roadway. I don't see it as a big issue myself, but have a hunch that it might be a factor from a DOT perspective.

It's been known to happen.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/6SJ8Bafom3fX7xAs5 (Note that this has since been removed, because the dual-lane portion has been extended, and the right lane now becomes a right-turn-only further downstream.)

[tmoore952]

....

How do I wind up being in front of people like that?

Because you're driving in Maryland.

It's interesting you say that.

No offense intended -- but most of the idiotic driving I see here are people with Virginia plates (but I also understand what I see is a small sample size). I did not see the plate today's driver had, was too concerned about my safety.

[webny99]

I'm just here for the Maryland-Virginia rivalry. 

[RobbieL2415]

What was the logic behind MD enforcing work zone speed limits 24/7 as opposed to just when workers are present?

[Rothman]

I don't like pedestrian signals that go to the full red hand long before the traffic signal switches.

[Big John]

I don't like pedestrian signals that go to the full red hand long before the traffic signal switches.

First, they go full orange, then it is likely an actuated signal which the cycle length is variable so it is set to make sure the pedestrian phase ends before the light turns yellow.

[kphoger]

I don't like pedestrian signals that go to the full red hand long before the traffic signal switches.

What I especially don't like is when a city has a mix of similar intersections where the ped signals do and don't go full red/orange before the traffic signal switches.

[Quillz]

What was the logic behind MD enforcing work zone speed limits 24/7 as opposed to just when workers are present?

To collect the doubled fine revenue.

Haven't some states been caught doing this in the past, just setting up work zones for months without any actual work, just so doubled traffic fines can be collected?

[freebrickproductions]

Passing lanes here in Kansas.

Signage says "KEEP RIGHT EXCEPT TO PASS".  Which is good.  But striping at the beginning of the passing lane does not encourage keeping right, and striping at the end of the passing lane puts the onus of merging on traffic that actually obeyed the sign.

Alabama does it the same way as well, though I don't mind it too much.

[1995hoo]

....

How do I wind up being in front of people like that?

Because you're driving in Maryland.

It's interesting you say that.

No offense intended -- but most of the idiotic driving I see here are people with Virginia plates (but I also understand what I see is a small sample size). I did not see the plate today's driver had, was too concerned about my safety.

I don't necessarily disagree with that in terms of "pure idiotic driving," but the situation you describe smacks of naked aggression, and I think exceptionally aggressive driving is a particular hallmark of Maryland (PG County being the worst, but I see a lot of it on I-270 as well).

The easiest way to avoid aggressive drivers in Maryland is usually to stay in the right lane because everyone else is trying to practice for the British motorways by keeping left except to pass!

[kphoger]

What was the logic behind MD enforcing work zone speed limits 24/7 as opposed to just when workers are present?

To collect the doubled fine revenue.

Haven't some states been caught doing this in the past, just setting up work zones for months without any actual work, just so doubled traffic fines can be collected?

You mean there are states that have work zone speed limits that aren't 24/7?

[jlam]

People turning left into the wrong lane. Not sure why since it happens so often around here, but people are so unpredictable with it.