Personally, I find it endlessly frustrating and even terrifying to be in the passenger seat with a driver who jumps in the car and immediately goes… Then worries about Seatbelts/Radio/AC/Mirrors/Plugging in Phone/etc etc while driving.
When we’re first in line at a red light, and the driver starts doing shit like check their phone.
Wife does this and it drives me nuts - unless it just turned red, you fucking stare at that light so you can GTFO the second it turns green.
…then she gets annoyed when I say “light’s green” when it turns while she’s distracted. -_-
My husband got a ticket/points on his license doing that and that stopped him.
Theres plenty of people who complain about drivers who get ticketed for using a mobile while at lights or stopped in traffic (think of the comments on a particular uk cycle cammer who films drivers using their mobiles then reports them) but it plays heavily with situational awareness & drivers ability to “check back in” to the activity of driving.
I’m all pro not touching a phone while driving, hell, I won’t even plug my phone to charge if driving.
There’s no excuse.
Being first at a red light is a big responsibility. That shit is not to be taken lightly.
My father in law brakes incredibly late. Consequently, he brakes very hard. Drives me (heh) insane, and causes me to reach for the oh-shit bar and the ghost brake every time.
My ex gets distracted easily. She always hated that I would ghost brake, but I can’t help it when she’s not reacting to the stopped car in front of us
Omg, I had an ex that did this too and it gave me a heart attack every time. I totally did the same ghost brake thing too, I couldn’t help it.
My ex would try to maintain an exact speed by slightly ecxelerating then let off the gas over and over, just tap tap tap on the gas. 100 miles of tiny lurches.
This right here. I’ve known two drivers with this exact habit. Spectacularly infuriating.
Just let me out right here. I’ll walk.
I used to have a friend who did this and wasn’t very good at it, so she would constantly accelerate and brake, so much it made me queasy.
They must have taken driving lessons from a thermostat.
Driving digitally. Gas and brake pedals are analog controllers, not buttons.
ffs people with lead feet need to read this
Tailgating and driving fast in parking lots. Some people just do these out of habit, it drives me nuts.
Convsersely, a passenger who takes off their seatbelt when I get close to their destination.
Entering an intersection before they are sure there will be enough space to clear it.
Aw man, I hate when I enter an uncontrolled intersection only to realize that my lane is stopped and now I’m sticking out obstructing cross traffic.
“Look out, everyone, I’m coming!”
People who know damn well they have a right turn coming up in fewer than 30 seconds, but are perfectly comfortable riding that left lane until the last possible second before they violently swoop cut across all lanes of traffic at once to make their turn.
Bonus points if that turning lane is swamped with other cars, but their tunnel vision was so deep they don’t notice until they attempt to merge, and they become frustrated that they either can’t make it, or they have to aggressively steal the right-of-way to force themselves in.
You write like you’ve driven the Garden State Parkway.
Sometimes I can’t believe I survived driving in NJ for a year
You’ve met my ex I see
Tailgating is frightening, especially when it’s very clear that if something suddenly happened ahead the driver could not react without superpowers they don’t have.
When they try to get into the back of the car in front of us.
Drivers seem to forget that they always must maintain minimum emergency breaking distance from the car in front, which changes with weather conditions, speed limit, and the reaction times of the driver themselves.
Twice I had a Lyft driver (the same one both times) try to sell me a vacation timeshare. It’s really awkward being trapped in a car having to hear a sales pitch.
Also, generally don’t like when Uber/Lyft cars are heavily scented to cover up the smell of smoke. Makes my skin itch.
Timeshare (and MLM) salespeople are well-known for their ability to attract and then box-in a potential client. Delivering a pitch while in a fast moving car? That’s next-level diabolical, even for those people.
What I do: I interrupt them. “Hey fucknuts I’m not interested in your time share bullshit. Just keep your eyes on the road and your hands on the wheel and your trap shut.”
That works wonders
Basically all of the things I see other drivers doing when I’m not in their car.
- Distracted driving (e.g. phone)
- Resigning right-of-way in situations that are unsafe, like on highway entrance ramps and inside traffic circles
- Doing unpredictable things (e.g. quickly weaving through traffic, merging/turning without signaling)
- Zero clue about safe stopping distance for their vehicle, weight, and speed
- Cutting off freight, especially at highway speeds
- Generally unaware of what others are doing around them, only to wind up upset with others, then driving angry/aggressive
- Driving fast enough to overwhelm the car’s suspension and traction (wheels leave ground, springs bottom out)
The last one is particularly nauseating and terrifying if you’re in the car.
Sitting at 60 in the middle lane, and then getting angry because people are tailgating and both over and under taking. Have some fucking lane disaplin.
Accelerate, brake, accelerate, brake, accelerate, brake on repeat when on a wide open road.
Some drivers do this seemingly without being aware and once you notice it’s impossible to ignore how irritating the feeling is.
Braking doesn’t even have to factor into it, I can’t stand the feeling of going on and off the throttle. Cruise control exists for a reason, people.
From experience I can tell you that I really hate it when the driver is doing ten over the limit then announces unprompted that he’s not afraid of dying in a car accident because he knows he’s going to be with Jesus.
Maybe he needs to watch this: https://youtu.be/sSIiqn2v7wE?si=NU3QsWpM0xeSjlZz
