So, I read an old discussion on bad driving habits on at-archive, and wanted to see if anyone noticed anything new in the world of driving that wasn't conducive to world peace...

Bad driving habits posted there were:

1) Merging at the last possible second, thus cutting off x number of cars in the process.

2) Expecting an 18-wheeler to be able to slow down fast enough after pulling out in front of it.

3) Cell phones, loud stereos, multi-tasking, etc

4) Driving behind a car, at night (or during the day, doesn't really matter), with high-beams on.

5) Being an "enforcer", i.e., driving exactly the speed limit (or below the limit) in the fast lane, forcing others to pass you by using the slow lane.

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One habit I've been confronted with is someone trying to cut me off on the interstate by passing me in the slow lane and trying to force his way between me and the car right in front of me while passing a slow vehicle. I'll be right beside them, and they'll try to come over in my lane anyways. Usually, a short blast of my train horn rectifies that situation. Nudging my vehicle towards theirs works for those who think they don't care about their vehicles or their lives.

Any others?

getting out of your car to confront another driver

brake checking

I would like to personally execute anyone who gets those extremely bright blue headlights. I'm just waiting for the time when they blind someone driving the opposite way, causing them to crash into the asshat who thinks he needs those suns on the front of his car.

people not using turn signals until they're already turning or not at all

<--road rage issues

i will tail gate or follow people around town goin outta my way that

cut me off unecessarily
--yes i sometimes feel its ok. like if they actually are in a hurry and go as fast or faster then kemo. should you cut me off simply to turn down the next road i will pit your ass into on coming traffic

10 under the speed but wont let me pass
--gaurenteed if they have a christian radio sticker this is one of them

when a lane merges into mine but the other car refuses to get behind me
--i will rarely back off for you and i would like a new jeep so please hit me

slow down for a possum or somethin smaller
--last thing i wanna do is intentionally fit my jeep in your muffler but i will take the time to lather it up correctly should you give me enough notice

does anybody else have "that certain feeling" that the person in front of you is about to do something utterly tarded - not only break the laws of the road, but also break the laws of physics

i do


when i was a kid, and it snowed, i would drive to a massive parkinglot, and screw around for hours, to figure out how to drive, same thing with the rain.


i think its insane that all you have to do to be able to drive, is take a test, and drive a "officer" around for like 10 min

i don't know if it's cause they're worried about their cars or actually just being nice, but in my experience if i'm driving something a lot bigger than them, people tend to yield their right of way and generally be very helpful.

People who change lanes in the middle of an intersection, it's against the rules for a reason, yet so many people do it.

Dirtbags who tailgate me, like, right up my ass, on a two lane road with no traffic. While im in the "slow" lane. Yes, im here, no buddy, im not speeding up. Go around flufftard.

I like to swerve the vehicle back and forth repeatedly to get tailgaters off my ass. Or take my foot off the gas and just coast until I come to a dead stop so they get the hint.

Oh, and maybe not a bad habit, but i've noticed an increase in those little cars with the tail "wing" or whatever it is that retards put on their trunk. Is it to make it aerodynamic or what? I don't get it.

On-ramps are for getting onto the interstate, people go fast on the interstate, you should probably look for a merging opportunity while still on the ramp, you should try to approximate interstate speed while traversing the ramp, on-ramps are NOT for abruptly stopping and trying to figure all of this out.

All of the right of way rules are clearly laid out in your drivers handbook: follow them, they are there for a reason. Please do not yield the right of way to be nice to somebody, even (especially) if that somebody is me. The rest of us are not mind readers and your kindness is as likely to get me killed as it is to save me 10 seconds.

If you can read the fine print on my license plate and you are not an astronaut or super hero - you will be getting a healthy dose of my brake lights VERY soon.

Those things on the side of your car, right in front of the windows, those are called mirrors. Use them, they are 10 trillion times more useful then the thing hanging from your windsheild that is pretending to be a mirror.

If it is too big for you to successfully park within the confines of a regular parking space on the VERY FIRST attempt, sell it and buy something you can park.

If you pass me 18 times on a 50 mile stretch of road, please understand that its not ME that is speeding up, answering the phone and slowing down, then speeding up, then slowing down, then spe- oh you get the fluffing point. Most new cars have cruise control, I use mine - learn to use yours or at glance at your speedometer occasionally.

I hate people who dont roll up enough when they are making a left turn, i sit behind them wondering how they can possibly see if the way is clear....

also people who dont move fast when its an advance green for a left turn and only like 3 cars end up going through when 10 could easily pass

Ahhh, yes, I just remembered something else.

You know those exit/on ramps on interstates that look like four-leaf clovers from the air? Don't you just hate it when you're doing 80 in the fast lane, and some shmuck goes waaay faster than she's supposed to on the on-ramp (it's a very tight curve, and you're basically going around in a circle to get on the interstate), which slingshots her vehicle right off the on-ramp, across the slow lane, and right in front of you?


No amount of train horn cures stupidity of that magnitude...

oh you know what i hate?

Cyclists that ride REALLY slowly and way to far out into the middle of the lane.

I also hate people that dump there smokes out of the window.

I also hate cars that are obviously not roadworthy.

I also hate people that think its just fine and dandy to pull up to the middle of an intersection and then suddenly decide that they want to turn with the traffic.

I HATE people that try to merge infront of me when they have to give way to ME by the LAW.

so much hate.

well i feel better now.

I hate all the people that think they know how to drive, get the hell outta my you dumbassed blue-haired wannabe driver.

Move the fluff outta the fast lane if you are going to do the speed limit, it is not their for you to drive the speed limit, it's for passing you dumb fluff.

No, you cannot drive and text at the same time you stupid dumb assed people. I wish they had never put texting on cell phones.

The thing that pisses me off the most is, when the cops can write you a ticket for getting in the lane in front of a semi to close, yet those same semi's will drive up your ass, expecting you to move for them. Though that doesn't happen to me as I drive fast. Just irks me when I see them doing that to other people.

/me thinks perhaps danzig needs to up his medication a bit - and quit posting on the forums while you are driving.

in ontario they banned driving using hand held devices
$150 fine and demerit points

Yeah, nobody seems to be listening to that one, or there's just not enough cops pulling them over.

you have ANY idea how hard that is to enforce?

That's why you make the ticket $1,500 rather than 150. No ones gonna stop doing it then.

/silly canadians

I only drive the speed limit. I got two speeding tickets in a year, came to realize its not worth it to get there MAYBE a minute faster.

i drive 9 over

thats the cutoff for a judge actually seeing the case. no real cop will give you a ticket for 9 over

hey ford: in florida its illegal for them to pull you over on an interstate for going 5 or less over the speed limit... but generally just stay under 85 or so on the interstates there and you wont have a problem.

other than I95, stay under 15 over. i've gotten 4 tickets in FL for speeding, 3 @ exactly 15 over (14->15 is a higher fine and additional point on license), so stay at 14 or less over. my 4th was for 128 MPH on 95... oops. but that was my last, and that was 4 years ago now

i was reading CT laws yesterday cause of this thread, wondering what the differences are... apparently 85MPH+ anywhere is no longer speeding fine and is reckless driving charge with max penalty of 30 days in jail... FL's reckless is max of 90 days in jail, but isnt an automatic charge based on an exact speed like CT is.

also.. my mom got a ticket down the street from our old house in FL for going 5 over... so on side streets they *can* pull you over for anything. those cops were being fluffs though, they had just lowered the speed limit that WEEK by 5MPH and set up speed traps... it had been the old rate for the entire previous 30 years my mom had lived there... but generally under 14 over and you should be fine :)

128mph - nicely done llaar :)

my last/best was 84mph 15 years ago, failing to stop for police, wrong side of road, asleep etc ... got a slap on the wrist for that ... slapped with a trout by boss :/

couple of weeks from that, deliberately drank a lot too much to see what it was like driving utterly shedded (in an off-road car park) ... to be perfectly honest, i think i'd prefer to be very drunk driving than asleep as long as i live. I know a lot of people aren't in any shape to drive despite being totally sober.

"...they had just lowered the speed limit that WEEK by 5MPH and set up speed traps..."


They *just* lowered the speed limit from 55 to 45 MPH for the road we use to access I-10 whenever we want to head westbound, about 2 and a half weeks ago. And a week after that, they had state troopers patrolling that back road, running radar. I was able to detect their radar when one was on the other side of a blind curve, and slow down before he saw me. He was on his cell phone.

We now take another route that deposits us at the same exit, with a nice 55 MPH limit posted on it.

i had so many speeding tickets back in HS and uni, its not even funny

all you parents, a V8 camaro is NOT a good first car for your kid


my best was 147 on a closed section of I-485 while they were still building it. cops had noticed that ppl were racing and what not and posted up under a bridge. lots of ppl got busted that night.

they didnt take me to jail, like they probably should of, but i did have to spend about $1500 on a lawyer to get a wreckless driving charge dropped from my record

I got 2 aggressive driving tickets in the same stop about 6 years ago.

One for not using my blinker as I passed a van in the slow lane and one for honking my horn at an undercover patrol car when he wouldn't go when the light turned green. Each ticket cost me $120, and traffic court dropped the points against my license.


Which is why I got the radar detector and the train horn system installed. I figure if I'm going to get ticketed for honking my horn at a cop, I may as well go all the way.

yeah that speed limit they lowered was from 25 to 20, and they pulled her over for going 25

dibs is a road gangsta!


WATCH OUT! hell bust a cap in yo ass if you dont use your turn signal!


now i agree stupid driving is bad, but its people like you, who are consumed by rage, that are the larger problem

"when i get on the road, it's to safely and efficiently go from point a to point b."

"i ain't going to shoot anybody, but i ain't go no problem with high speed and sliding sideways past you just to flip you the heck off for driving like an idiot. "


make your mind up


you might not be the one to shoot anyone, but you are the one to escalate the situation, and whos to say they dont shoot YOU?



last time i got mad and flipped someone off, they actually followed me and got out of their car at the next stoplight. the gun i keep on my passanger seat made them get back in their car, but i think you get my point. you escalate the situation

I almost rear-ended someone today. Usually, I try to see through the windshields of the car ahead of me to see what the car in front of them is doing, but I couldn't do that this time, for their windows were heavily tinted.

So, its heavy traffic, everyone's slowing down to stop at a red light, I'm in the left lane, when the car in front of me suddenly slams on brakes (it was already applying its brakes to stop for the red light, so I couldn't initially tell it had started slowing down much faster) and swerves to the left, to avoid hitting the car in front, and stops halfway into the median. Because of the angle of the car's rear bumper, I cannot make the same maneuver without hitting it, so I hit my brakes, spot the tiny space between two cars in the right lane that have already stopped (both driven by males, which is always a plus in these situations), swerve to the right, into the right lane, stopping a couple inches short of hitting the car in front of me, and fitting quite nicely in between the two cars in the right lane.

The vehicles behind me had to do the same thing, and mostly ended up in a nice zig-zag pattern, due to the maneuvers they had to take to avoid hitting the cars in front.

im convinced you have to kill to be pulled over on the ohio turnpike. ive passed half a dozen troopers doin 15 over the limit and nothin ever happens

had 4 speedin tickets right outta high school though and was a point from losin my license

my last ticket i basically paid $300 for an ice cream cone. eatin and not payin attention

Yay for resurrecting dead threads!

Anyways, since the last post, I've bought a 2009 chevy HHR. Mostly due to my job being moved on the other side of town, and the HHR gets twice the gas mileage of my truck. I can install options that didn't come with the HHR because it comes with all the wiring necessary to do so. And, if a wire harness is missing, just order it and install it. The plugs on the BCM and other electronics are there.


Anyways, since I got the HHR, I've noticed a lot more people try to merge onto me than I've noticed when driving my truck. I'm still not sure if it's because they cannot see me as easily, or if they believe that my smaller vehicle automatically means that they have the right-of-way.

The end result is the same, tho. I'll only let you over if you have your blinker on. I WON'T let you come over if you try to merge on top of me, with or without a blinker.

My pet peeves:

1) Asshats who know they have to turn ahead, but instead of changing lanes when they have plenty of room, they creep up beside me and turn on their signal light at the last possible minute, expecting me to hit the brakes so they can get in. There's not even anyone behind me, but I'm supposed to adjust my driving because they can't be bothered to change lanes in advance without inconveniencing another driver, and refuse to slow down to get into the totally empty CHASM behind me. You know who you are, and may the fleas of a thousand camels infest your underpants. EFFIN' CHANGE LANES IN EFFIN' ADVANCE INSTEAD OF EXPECTING THE WORLD TO REVOLVE AROUND YOU!

2) Asshats who crawl along in traffic at a snail's pace because they figure sooner or later they're gonna have to stop anyway. I DON'T CARE IF THERE'S A LIGHT UP AHEAD. KEEP UP WITH THE CAR IN FRONT OF YOU, OR 99 OTHER CARS WILL CHANGE LANES AHEAD OF YOU (AND ME), AND IT WILL TAKE US A WEEK TO GET TO EFFIN' WORK.

3) Asshats who, despite clearly seeing you are coming up quickly in the free lane, change lanes and cut you off. And then give YOU the finger. WTF??? WHEN YOU DO A LANE CHECK IN PREPARATION FOR A LANE CHANGE, TAKE NOTE OF THE SPEED OF ONCOMING CARS - NOT JUST IF THERE *IS* AN ONCOMING CAR. AND IF SAID CAR IS MOVING FASTER THAN YOU, EFFIN' WAIT FOR HIM TO PASS BEFORE YOU CHANGE LANES.

4) Asshats who gab on the phone/text/eat/do their makeup/read maps/etc. while driving. I lost a nephew to this crap, and if you are one of the ones who do it, you should be ashamed. It only takes 1 second of inattention to kill yourself (or worse, someone else). SMARTEN THE HELL UP AND PAY ATTENTION WHILE DRIVING.

5) People who call it a 'meridian'. A 'meridian' is an imaginary line around the earth that allows you to measure coordinates. That concrete thing separating lines of traffic is called a MEDIAN. MEDIAN. Not MERIDIAN. :p

Honestly - the world would be a much better place if I had a flamethrower mounted on my hood. Or better yet, a disintegration laser cannon. :p

Firing automatic weapons at cars that cut you off. MUAHA

Something similar happens every day on a certain intersection (and beyond) I need to cross everytime I drive home from work. Warning: Wall of Text ahead.

See, in a recent construction project that resulted in an additional lane on both sides of I-10--and on the on/off ramps-- around Tallahassee, the architects who designed the whole thing thought it would be extremely funny to build the on-ramps for the westbound side from both Capitol Circle NE and Thomasville Road so that they merged into one, single, on-ramp. Not one, single, LARGER, on-ramp. Just merging 2 ramps into one. 2, single-lane ramps into one, single-lane ramp. With maybe a 200-foot area to merge. For cars coming off THE two most important streets in the city.

Well, before you get on the on-ramp from Thomasville, you first need to cross an intersection, complete with traffic signals, between Thomasville and a big bypass street from Capital Circle (because before the construction project, you could ONLY get to I-10 from Capital Circle). Just before, during, and right after crossing this intersection, is where the fun begins.

See, right after this intersection, is the bridge that goes over I-10. An 8-lane bridge (3 lanes in each direction, and 2 turning lanes, both to get on the on-ramp) which has the curious ability to shake for no apparent reason while you're waiting to turn. The 3-lane side heading north is jam-packed with vehicles, most of which want to turn left to get onto I-10. Oh, btw, you need to be in the left lane before you can get to the turning lanes. And the left lane is normally stopped because everyone in the other 2 lanes is busy merging on top of everyone else. So people will gun it in the middle/right lanes, to get ahead of the slow-moving left lane, in the hopes of getting a spot near the beginning of the line. When the light turns green at the intersection, a million gods of death are denied their rightful sacrifices, daily, only because of pure, dumb luck.

Once you pass through the intersection, you have very little time to choose which turning lane you want to get on I-10 (and make sure you don't hit the traffic island that juts out just a little too far in the left lane). You can choose the far left lane, or, the near left lane. The far lane is almost always filled with vehicles, for a reason. The far left lane isn't the lane that has to merge--within 500 feet--AFTER turning onto the on-ramp. The people who choose the near turning lane are hoping to get ahead of the people in the far lane, but they have to merge after getting on the ramp. When the light turns green at THAT intersection, God himself steps down from the heavens to direct traffic, because there have been NO reports of explosions and/or fatalities at the first merge point on that ramp.

Ok, so you turn onto the ramp, to get to I-10. You cross another bridge that goes over Capital Circle, avoiding getting hit by all the mergers in the process. While you're crossing this bridge (which sits right beside I-10, which also goes over Capital Circle), you see that the architects and engineers or whatever have designed it so that the traffic lights for the on-ramp from Capital Circle have been synchronized with the ones for the ramp from Thomasville. Which means, a whole bunch of vehicles, from two different, very important streets, have been specifically timed to collide with each other at the merge point between these two ramps. I suspect it's due to the rising insurance costs due to the hurricanes and crap.

Anyways, if you're on the ramp coming from Thomasville, you're in luck, because you don't have to merge. THEY do. Hey, I didn't say it was good luck. And it's Capital Circle, which has plenty of warehouses and other industrial-type businesses on it, so you have to contend with big rigs whose drivers care less about you than they care about the loads they are hauling (and probably blowing, if the driving of some of those truck drivers indicates). So, everyone's forcibly squeezed into a one-lane on ramp, but at least by this time, you have another 3 lanes of I-10 to pick from. Which, in rush hour, is kinda like saying "Hey, this clan of honey badgers won't hurt me nearly as badly as this pride of lions, right?"

I really hate women drivers!!!!!!!!!

lol @ NukE... Still, you're in Florida and it's warm. I'd happily put up with a lot of crappy merging as long as I didn't have to do it at -35C in six feet of snow. :p

*smacks Bobby*

stonewalling while driving is not fun.

think i finally gave up driving for the commute. please try to avoid having my bus run over you if it's going to add 3 hours to my commute time as the battery in my Duo is only suppossed to last 4 hours. plus, i'll put that segment where Xena yells "KILL'EM ALL!!!!" on repeat for the entire delay.

trying to get to to across lane even 1 of 4 directions is blocked by something so cars couldn't get on that direction and there were alot cars (2 lanes filled) on lights already waiting that blockage gets away but still some smartasses didn't want to wait on other crossing and squeezed forward. i was half-expecting some minor accidents due that but surprisingly all went somewhat smoothly although at some point all directions were blocked cause some cars turning on left had stopped middle of crossing.

I believe there is a special place reserved in hell for those assholes who pull out in front of you and then go 10mph under the speed limit while talking on their cell phones.
Also, if you are tailgating me I will slow down until I come to a complete stop and then dare you to make an obscene gesture to me after you realize what I am doing and decide to pass me.
dumb drivers suck!

Then you developed your skills by delivering tofu on the mountain pass, eventually mastering drifting.


But on a serious note :O, in Australia currently you have to do 150 hours of supervised driving as a learner before you can take the test to get your provisional license, then it takes three years before you can get you full licence.

The dodgiest thing I have seen in my subburb is where people pull up to the corner and stick out too far, halfway into the oncoming lane.

Doesn't sound bad, but theres one stretch of road where people go too fast, then clip the other car thats out too far, and suddenly you see a car spining through the air like a football for 200m down the road. I don't think anyones been killed yet luckily, but its a real WTF moment when you are walking and see a car flying through the air.

They changed the road from four lanes down to two lanes because people kept crashing into the power pole on the same blind corner...

people who pull up to a red light in the right turn lane, pull past the white line to see if they can turn right on red while youre sitting waiting for your light to turn green and by the time youre in the middle of the intersection they decide thats the perfect time to rip out in front of you.

also when youre driving down a road, with noone behind you and someone pulls up to leave a parking lot or driveway and they decide they just HAVE to pull out in front of you causing you to slow down instead of waiting for you to go by since theres nothing behind you.

lots of drivers anger me, but ill never go off on some road rage fluff. i usually dont even beep.

being old...

merging into a lane that doesn't exist...

trying to form a 3rd land in a 2 lane street.

Roads in Aussie Land

Evo we have 110hrs here now, 150hrs is so much.

The idiots on the road can be really bad, Cutting you off at the roundabout, trucks pulling out in front of you, we had one lot of fools driving down a long dark stretch of road and putting their high beams on when you get closer (not good at all ). Often enough you will go to overtake someone that is doing 10-20ks under the limit and then they speed up and then drop back down on and off.

Driving behind someone that is going slower, so you go to merge over and they merge over at the same time so you are still stuck behind them!!

Biggest one is motorbikes! Inconsiderate I must say, cut you off, hate it when you are stuck in traffic and you cant go anywhere for ages and they go in-between everyone to get in front (yet its the law that you're not allowed to do this). Though its a great pleasure to watch when a policeman gets them.

Oh not long ago I was driving on the highway behind a car full of people and yet the driver is a learner, 3 lanes they could chose from the drive in... Had to drive in-between two lanes, some people just should not be allowed to drive.

I usually drive high, so im not aware of bad habbits i might have :P. Perhaps driving high is dangerous, who knows those things.

K, new one:

When you're on an interstate in Florida, and there are cars coming onto the interstate on a ramp, you DO NOT try to get out of their way by changing lanes when someone is beside you in the other lane. You DO NOT keep coming over, despite the horn blaring at you. And, finally, you DO NOT flip the driver behind you the bird when the other driver has been forced to slow down, due to your stupidity. Because the other driver more likely than not has a cell phone, knows the phone number to the highway patrol, can see that your license plate registration is expired (by several months), and has lots of free time on his hands.

Because I followed this idiot and made sure he got pulled over by a state trooper. I was a few minutes late to work, but it was so worth it.

When i find an asshat i like to give them the Treatment. By that i mean i get in front of them (no matter what it takes) then i get beside an 18 wheeler. Then i pace that big truck for a long time. Usually it winds up being below the speed limit. However, i find it very good punishment for bad driving behavior. I do not use it often but it is very effective.

I love stupid drivers. The Impala with lights + antennas and no marking does the trick every time :)

As a former big rig driver, I have encountered a lot of morons on the roads of America.

The ones who used to really piss me off are the ones that drive on the highways in the Baltimore=Washington area.

For some reason, there is always some suicidal moron on the road when I was hauling a maxed out load of 47,000 pounds of Pepsi, or Campbells Soup, or something else that can max out your weight and they feel that the large space I would leave in front of my truck and the vehicle ahead of me was there for their convenience rather than safety. So, they would inevitably jump their car in there just to see who can cut the safety margin the thinnest and still live to tell about it.

I wonder if Maryland and Virginia Driver's find their licenses inside boxes of Post or Kellogg's Cereals?

Just wondering!