Road-related pet peeves

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Cops running nighttime speed enforcement who turn off all of their vehicle lights to use the dark as cover to prevent you seeing them until it's too late. Even as a non-habitual speeder it's incredibly jarring when a car pops up out of the darkness that you weren't expecting.

[kphoger]

I've resorted to putting on my blinker and acting like I don't see them to get them out of there.

I'm of the opinion that, if a driver is OK with not using his headlights at dusk or during rain, then he must also be OK with my not seeing him and moving into his lane.

[VTGoose]

Related are jerks who roar up in the left lane so there isn't enough time or space to move left to pass a slower vehicle -- then sit in your blind spot or next to you instead of continuing at their closing speed to complete their pass, blocking you in behind the slower vehicle.

Obviously, this is a terrible thing to do intentionally, but in my experience, when this occurs it isn't usually intentional. Or if it is intentional, it's to prevent people from passing on the right, which I understand, but also think it's something people tend to get too worked up about.

Nah.  If I read the complaint correctly, people hanging out in my blind spot in the left lane while I'm stuck behind a slow car in the right lane -- that is indeed angering.  I've resorted to putting on my blinker and acting like I don't see them to get them out of there.

I agree it's angering, certainly it is if they have open road in front of them, but you don't see that too often. Usually it's just due to a pre-existing stack of slow traffic in the left lane, or occasionally to "keep people from cutting in" which is a more nuanced conversation (in that I don't agree with it, but can see both sides).

I get it if there's a line of cars on the left -- that's fine and just makes me impatient for them to finally get by me.  But someone just poking along in my blind spot, keeping me from going the speed I want to go at?  A circle of Hell awaits their arrival.

This is what I'm peeved about -- the oblivious driver who doesn't pay attention to the others on the road with them. They roll up, then ride in the blind spot or just off your front fender when there is ample room ahead of them to move on down the road.

Related to that are the people who micro-pass, taking more time than necessary to get around the slower vehicle, then speed up as soon as they move right.

[Big John]

Or a slow-moving vehicle who decides to speed up when you try to pass it.

[kphoger]

Or a slow-moving vehicle who decides to speed up when you try to pass it.

Fortunately, on two-lane roads, that's illegal.  But one time, when I was driving a box truck, I had a driver speed up while I was passing him.  The truck was an Isuzu cab-over turbo-diesel, and the fastest I ever got it up to was on a long downhill with a stiff tailwind and the accelerator all the way to the floor—77 mph, if I recall correctly.  So there was basically nothing I could do but just fall back behind the other driver, because putting the pedal to the metal wasn't doing any good.

[webny99]

Related to that are the people who micro-pass, taking more time than necessary to get around the slower vehicle, then speed up as soon as they move right.

Well, it's much, much worse when they don't move right. At least if they're on the right, you can still pass them. To speed up however much is needed to ensure no one gets past and then slow down to pass other traffic is a level of control freak I can't even comprehend.

[pderocco]

Ramp meters that are red by default. When traffic is light, a lone car approaches the red light, and has to come nearly to a stop before the light turns green, even though there is no traffic to meter. They should be green by default, and should turn red as a car breezes through it. Once traffic gets busy, the light will behave as it currently does.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Ramp meters that are red by default. When traffic is light, a lone car approaches the red light, and has to come nearly to a stop before the light turns green, even though there is no traffic to meter. They should be green by default, and should turn red as a car breezes through it. Once traffic gets busy, the light will behave as it currently does.

In the Twin Cities the ramp meters just continuously cycle whether anyone is there or not.

[hbelkins]

Ramp meters that are red by default. When traffic is light, a lone car approaches the red light, and has to come nearly to a stop before the light turns green, even though there is no traffic to meter. They should be green by default, and should turn red as a car breezes through it. Once traffic gets busy, the light will behave as it currently does.

Fixed it for you.

[PColumbus73]

For me, when someone uses their turn signal *only* as their turning.

For example: I am at a red light, and the car on the opposite side of the intersection does not have their signal on, but once the light turns green, they suddenly turn on their turn signal.

[Big John]

^^ or worse, someone cuts you off while moving into your lane, then turn on their signal after they make their move.

[webny99]

^^ or worse, someone cuts you off while moving into your lane, then turn on their signal after they make their move.

I've done the second part a time or two, mostly just so other drivers don't think I'm one of those people who refuses to use my blinker.

[Quillz]

Having spent the weekend in the Ft. Worth/Dallas area, span wire signals. They feel very "temporary" and I find them really hard to see. They feel like they are only in place until a proper mast arm installation, but I guess that rarely happens?

[mgk920]

Having spent the weekend in the Ft. Worth/Dallas area, span wire signals. They feel very "temporary" and I find them really hard to see. They feel like they are only in place until a proper mast arm installation, but I guess that rarely happens?

I'm thinking that permanent span wires are mainly used on signals in areas that commonly see tropical cyclones, they would be most resistant to damage in such cases.

Indiana also uses span wires as 'S.O.P'.

Mike

Mike

[VTGoose]

For me, when someone uses their turn signal *only* as their turning.

Too many people ignore this:

1) signal turn into turn lane
2) pull into turn lane
3) brake

Not vice versa.

[1995hoo]

Having spent the weekend in the Ft. Worth/Dallas area, span wire signals. They feel very "temporary" and I find them really hard to see. They feel like they are only in place until a proper mast arm installation, but I guess that rarely happens?

Permanent span wire installations have been very common in Northern Virginia for as long as I can remember, although newer installations tend to use mast arms instead.

What I find annoying about the span wire installations is that VDOT is apparently unwilling to hang a street sign from the span wire (which certainly can be done, as I remember it being common in Raleigh in the 1990s when I was in law school). VDOT will mount a nice big street sign on a mast arm, but if an intersection uses span wire, there will be a dinky little blade-style street sign mounted either on one of the poles that support the span wire or on a separate small pole at one corner of the intersection.

[wanderer2575]

Motorists using their turn signal when exiting a freeway (not necessary when you're not moving into a previously-existing lane) and then not turning it off.  If I had a nickel for every idiot turning left onto the crossroad with his/her right turn flasher still going...

Drivers who don't turn on their lights when it's getting dark or foggy.  Clueless on the concept that it's not just about whether you can see, it's also whether everyone else can see you.  And I don't care how bright your running lights are; how can you NOT see that your headlights aren't on at night?

MDOT Metro Detroit's maddening practice of using VMSs exclusively for long-term construction messages instead of real-time updates of current conditions (such as travel times).  Yes, I know I-696 is down to two lanes until I-275, and then down to one lane past that.  I know the ramps from M-10 to ebd I-94 are closed.  They've been that way since February.  How about some travel times so I know if traffic is backed up more than usual and maybe I want to think about using another route?

[CtrlAltDel]

Motorists using their turn signal when exiting a freeway (not necessary when you're not moving into a previously-existing lane)

Is this the law, or your own incorrect personal opinion? 

[pderocco]

People who don't use cruise control on freeways.

They can't keep a constant speed, and they keep creeping past me, then falling back, sometimes influenced subconsciously by the tension they feel when they get next to another car at 70mph. Many seem to keep their foot in a particular position as they begin to climb a hill, and don't notice that they've slowed down, or race down the other side. Is it even possible to buy a car nowadays that doesn't have cruise control?

[Bruce]

Having spent the weekend in the Ft. Worth/Dallas area, span wire signals. They feel very "temporary" and I find them really hard to see. They feel like they are only in place until a proper mast arm installation, but I guess that rarely happens?

Seattle has tons of wire signals instead of mast arms, especially in downtown and other dense neighborhoods. I think they're fine and actually help avoid cluttering the view from streets; we already have trolleybus wire, so more wire is less jarring than a mast arm.

[Rothman]

People who don't use cruise control on freeways.

They can't keep a constant speed, and they keep creeping past me, then falling back, sometimes influenced subconsciously by the tension they feel when they get next to another car at 70mph. Many seem to keep their foot in a particular position as they begin to climb a hill, and don't notice that they've slowed down, or race down the other side. Is it even possible to buy a car nowadays that doesn't have cruise control?

It's amazing to me how common this still is.  Hit a slight upgrade on the Thruway and there's inevitably a slowdown, even with only a few vehicles on the road because of this.

"I know how to drive better than a car and I'm a good driver and I know how to drive and save gas and blah blah blah nonsense..."

[webny99]

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 a way, this is sort of like the reverse of a pet peeve. Something I might do to help a road operate more efficiently, while realizing it's unrealistic to expect everyone on the road to do the same.

Anyways, I thought of another good example. When approaching a green light, and someone across the intersection is waiting to turn left, if there is a good sized gap behind me but I'm not certain they would be able to complete their turn, I will speed up to get past them sooner, increase the gap size, and increase the chance that they can complete their turn.

[StogieGuy7]

People who don't use cruise control on freeways.

They can't keep a constant speed, and they keep creeping past me, then falling back, sometimes influenced subconsciously by the tension they feel when they get next to another car at 70mph. Many seem to keep their foot in a particular position as they begin to climb a hill, and don't notice that they've slowed down, or race down the other side. Is it even possible to buy a car nowadays that doesn't have cruise control?

It's amazing to me how common this still is.  Hit a slight upgrade on the Thruway and there's inevitably a slowdown, even with only a few vehicles on the road because of this.

"I know how to drive better than a car and I'm a good driver and I know how to drive and save gas and blah blah blah nonsense..."

Yep, and the other thing is that cruise control in newer cars is "smart", using radar to automatically slow down as it reaches the car in front of you. The upshot of this is that one slower car is more apt to cause a chain reaction slowdown than ever before.....because too many people put their cruise control on and then somehow fail to notice that their speed has dropped from 75 to 63.

Two big peeves that come to mind (and there are many): not signaling and.......left lane camping!  Unless you're passing, GTFO of the left lane!!! Wisconsin is horrible with this. For one thing, drivers seem poorly trained up here to begin with. But they also have this smug "do goody" attitude as in "gee, the speed limit is 65 and I'm going to do 64 in the left lane so we all obey."  Self righteous asshollery that is absolutely ignorant of what the lanes are for.

This is why I asked for heat seeking missiles for Christmas. Maybe next year......

[fhmiii]

People who don't use cruise control on freeways.

They can't keep a constant speed, and they keep creeping past me, then falling back, sometimes influenced subconsciously by the tension they feel when they get next to another car at 70mph. Many seem to keep their foot in a particular position as they begin to climb a hill, and don't notice that they've slowed down, or race down the other side. Is it even possible to buy a car nowadays that doesn't have cruise control?

It's amazing to me how common this still is.  Hit a slight upgrade on the Thruway and there's inevitably a slowdown, even with only a few vehicles on the road because of this.

"I know how to drive better than a car and I'm a good driver and I know how to drive and save gas and blah blah blah nonsense..."

Even with cruise control, most cars will slow down a bit going uphill (or speed up slightly going downhill).  But the difference should only be about 3 mph before the cruise kicks in more power and maybe 5 mph by the time the power catches up.  So from 75 drops to 70 instead of 75 dropping to 63.

[J N Winkler]

Even with cruise control, most cars will slow down a bit going uphill (or speed up slightly going downhill).  But the difference should only be about 3 mph before the cruise kicks in more power and maybe 5 mph by the time the power catches up.  So from 75 drops to 70 instead of 75 dropping to 63.

It really depends on the control logic and the type of actuation.  Older cruise-control systems that relied on vacuum actuation didn't really have a prayer of holding speed on slopes, especially at high altitude, because vacuum is at a minimum when the engine is laboring uphill.  At about 9,000 feet or higher (roughly I-70 over Vail Pass), some of them would just quit completely and not accept further control input (resume speed, set a new speed, etc.) until reset at the master switch.

Somewhat newer systems with electrical actuation typically can hold the set speed to within about 5 MPH up arbitrarily long grades of about 5%.  My 1994 Saturn SL2 has such a system, and I set it to about 65 MPH (the speed limit) while on I-70 westbound, climbing the east flank of Lookout Mountain just west of Denver.  I camped in the left lane because no-one was catching up to me.

Newer systems, particularly with electronically actuated throttles, often have hill-sensing logic and will respond before deviation from the set speed reaches 1 MPH.  The 2005 Toyota Camry I occasionally use for roadtrips has a variation that will also attempt to hold speed going downhill.  When I took it over the Fred Hartman Bridge in Houston with the cruise control set to 60 (again, the speed limit), it held that speed as I passed everyone else on the uphill grade, ending up in the left lane.  Then it did the same on the downhill, as everyone else passed me and I worked my way back to the right lane.