How is the summer going for you guys? Enjoying the drives? No? Me too. Summer is a mixed blessing here in the Greater Taranna Area aka (not Grand Theft Auto, but some days it feels like it) GTA. It’s great to have the feeling of summer, but it’s mostly construction season in the GTA so the winding road becomes narrower and narrower by the second as you see a mass of construction up ahead. Also, it seems a lot of the dickheads come out to drive (I’m looking at you snot nosed teenage males.)
The special burn in hell driver for me is the idiot who decides to race or be a dick. Same thing I guess. Here’s the situation, the guy in front of me is going slower than I want so I change lanes to pass him (it’s always a goddamn HIM) and then as I’m trying to give myself enough room to clear the car suddenly he accelerates to close up the gap between me and the open road because he’s feeling insecure about his manhood (sorry shorty, but you just gave the game away.)
It is fortunate that I drive an electric car. Sure the range is not the best, but the short term acceleration will beat most cars except a high end Sports Car. A few days ago, I passed then cut off an asshole driving a Dodge Charger GT doing exactly what I described. Suddenly Mr Aggressive backs off and gives me all the space in the world… where the hell was that a minute earlier?
I swear sometimes that driving has become a dominance game between apes. Apparently, when I’m driving I end up being the baboon with the reddest ass and quickest feces flinger.
So Deadsplinter folk, what type of driver annoys you? Or whatever is on your mind.
We’ve had several road rage shootings here in the past couple of weeks. And another in Louisville where a child was shot. I don’t mess with anyone. You want past me? Be my guest. Cut me off? I won’t even give you the finger. Too many crazy people with guns.
Agree. Traffic altercations are too dangerous. I’m getting wary about blowing my horn when the fool at the stoplight is texting and doesn’t go on green.
Slow drivers. It’s always slow drivers. I live on a big loop that used to be a golf course, and recently they installed flashing speed signs that clock your car and show the speed. Which, whatever. 30 mph is too slow, so I go 35-40. Some people go 50 or more — that I do not condone.
But since the signs went in we’ve got some people who apparently think they’re tied into local PD or something. They lock up their brakes and creep along at 29. Then there’s a section where it drops to 25. That’s WAY too slow for anything but an active school zone. Getting stuck behind one of these drivers is agonizing.
I have been known to blow past them on the double yellow line. I am working on curbing my impatience, though. But 25 is ridiculous. Bicyclists are passing us.
For me, it’s the jerks like you mention, the assholes who just WON’T put the damn phone DOWN when they drive, and ping-pong back & forth on the land lines acting like Pac Man “eating” all the white lines…
And here *in* Minneapolis, both the dumbasses who “want” to make a left-hand turn, but apparently *can’t* navigate their vehicle out into the intersection *without* turning the steering wheel to the left, so that they’re stuck in the CROSSWALK, waiting to turn, through the whole damn light cycle, even though there *were* plenty of gaps in traffic they could’ve gotten through, had they *JUST* gotten their asses out INTO the damn intersection FIRST!!!(😒🙄😠😡🤬)….
ANNNNNND the Red-Light Runners, who *then* make it unsafe & *impossible* for ^^that^^ dumbass to turn, because the Red-Light Runners will speed UP and continue driving THROUGH, even though I KNOW that damn light’s timing, and I *ALSO* know it was RED when the asshat was a good HALF A BLOCK back from the light.
Those Assholes?
I WILL honk at them, stare at them, and make a “WTF!?!?” gesture at them–like I did to the middle-aged asshat who did it yesterday, and had the nerve to look at *Me* like *I* was somehow “in the wrong” for honking at *his* stupid, near-miss creating ass.
I was the second car at the intersection, not the first.
Douchebag driver was a SOLID half-block back, when that light went red. He was trying *hard* to not make eye contact, and looked pretty surprised, and not just a *little* abashed, to have been honked & yelled at by a middle-aged white woman in a Minivan, when the *nice* person in the first car didn’t do a thing😈😈😈
I don’t CARE at this point, and at *that* specific intersection. TOO MANY people in that spot seem to think a solid red light is a “Suggestion” there, rather than a stop.
They bust through it too *fast,* & intent on getting past the stop to react, if you honk at ’em for their dangerous stupidity, and there *isn’t* any way for them to make a right turn & hunt you down for at least 5 blocks…
So I DO honk, yell put my window, “What the FUCK asshole?!?” (Or maybe, “That was a RED light, Asshole!!!”, depending on the day & my mood😉😁), and usually throw my hands up in a angry-looking version of “Shrug Emoticon”🤷♀️
I wouldn’t necessarily do it in *other* places, and DEFINITELY wouldn’t, on the open road.
Too many gun nuts.
But *THAT* specific intersection?
YEP!!!! I’ma Yell, Honk, and “Wtf?!?” You, if you run that light like an asshole–endangering *multiple* people’s lives, as you do so!
Everyone here runs red lights. They’ll do it with a cop car right behind them. The cop will follow also running the red light and not even pull the first car over. I warn people who come to visit because it’s so common. I’ve never seen it done with as much frequency anywhere else I’ve lived.
My city has been putting in a lot of bike lanes and one thing I’ve noticed is how often cutting down two lanes to one, getting rid of dedicated right turn lanes, adding delayed greens, adding barriers to keep drivers in lanes, and things like that actually make traffic move better despite the reduced capacity.
Taking choices and options away from people seems to iron out the weird lane changes and attempts to beat lights by zooming into turn-only lanes and then cut back into the regular lane just as the light changes.
I think it also has forced the streets department to think about traffic flow on streets and intersections that haven’t been reviewed in decades. Do they need to add a dedicated turn arrow? Do they need to fix the signage?
If you’re in front of me and driving slower than me I hate you and wish you dead…and you deserve it because it’s a you thing, not a me thing.
Whenever I see a Dodge Charger or Dodge Challenger, I assume it’s some idiot in the military who has his first big boy paychecks and no sense.
Lately I’ve been dealing with a lot of people who think that the correct choice in the entrance and exit lanes for highways is to slow down to like 20 mph before merging, despite lane space to do it at close to highway speeds. Which of course makes it much more dangerous because now I’m getting on the highway 40+ mph slower than the traffic coming in my same lanes and have to hurry the fuck up to not be hit.
I knew an OT who used to do driving assessments for adults (usually over 70 after they caused a crash). Her absolute, 100% ticket to failing the assessment was when some terrified old shit would slow down or stop before merging onto the highway.
Went on a day trip to visit Mrs Butcher’s mother today. Stopped at a rest area where I saw something I’d never seen before (and hope to never see again): a man was texting while using the urinal.
You know, some things can wait a damned minute.
I play Fortnite on my Nintendo Switch when I’m at the urinal while smoking a cigarette and talking on my cell. I am a multitasker.
I hope you’re talking on a video call.
There are a few women on my floor who will sit in a stall at work and have a fucking conversation on their phone.
I’ve certainly texted before from a bathroom stall, but the thought of being on the phone with someone and hearing the sounds of another person taking a noisy shit and flushing a toilet just would be something totally gross.
you dont want to know how often i see that at work….
i hate the creepers….you know the ones that sit at a crossing or are trying to turn out of a parking lot….and see you coming from miles away but slowly creep towards the crossing hesitating..until you are close enough to be sure that they are going to let you pass….and then they go….so you end up having to jam the brakes to avoid plowing into them
the ones that decide oh hey…thats my offramp and come flying across 3 lanes of traffic and on to the offramp at the very last second are always fun too
and from a pedestrian point of view….i really hate the nice people without situational awareness that come to a stop and wave me across when im waiting to cross the road…then get annoyed at me for not crossing
i mean…i apreciate you trying to be nice mate….but theres still a lot of traffic coming in the other direction i’d prefer not to step out in front of
just keep driving…i know how and when to cross a road