How Would You Like to Educate Your Fellow Drivers?
On Dennis Prager’s radio program yesterday, he devoted the entire third hour to a discussion of the annoying tendencies exhibited by many of the drivers with whom he shares the roads. At the top of his list was the driver who, while waiting to make a left turn at an intersection where there is a left-turn arrow, refuses to proceed with his turn after that arrow goes out. The lesson: unless there is a red signal indicating you have to wait, it is permissible to make your turn even after the green arrow is no longer illuminated; you just have to yield to oncoming traffic as you would at an intersection where there is no left-turn arrow.
Related to this and just as vexing to those unfortunates stuck behind such people is the driver who, when making a left turn, remains at the limit line when the light turns green rather than pulling into the intersection while waiting for traffic to clear as the law and common sense allow, thereby leaving the drivers behind him with no chance to make their turns before the signal changes to red. Mr. Prager said he takes it as a “point of pride” that as many people as possible are able to make their turn behind him, an opinion I wholeheartedly share.
High on my own list of driving frustrations, owing to my profession, are those drivers who refuse to pull the right and stop for approaching emergency vehicles. I’ve seen people here in Los Angeles who seem to think that a police car, ambulance, or fire engine going down the street with its emergency lights ablaze and its siren wailing is there to serve as their escort through heavy traffic. I once even had someone pass me as I drove code-3 down Central Avenue, apparently figuring (correctly) that if I was in such a hurry to get somewhere, I would not take the time to stop and ticket him. The lowest pit of Hell awaits him, whoever he is.
And now I put it to the Ricochet community: What are your pet peeves about your fellow drivers? (As time allows I’ll try to answer any questions you may have about the traffic laws.)
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Comments:
Jan '11
Re: How Would You Like to Educate Your Fellow Drivers?
Tailgate me and my wrath awaits.
Dec '11
Re: How Would You Like to Educate Your Fellow Drivers?
People who obviously dont have anything to do, and do not really care much about whether you do or not.
Mar '11
Re: How Would You Like to Educate Your Fellow Drivers?
"The liberal impulse is to yield right-of-way."
Aug '10
Re: How Would You Like to Educate Your Fellow Drivers?
The nimrods occupying the left lane on interstate highways , oblivious to the world . Flashing them , turn signals , all ignored with the result of the dangerous right lane pass-- argh moron !
Edited on March 17, 2012 at 12:57amRicochet continually impresses with it's roster .Welcome officer .No, that's not mine , but I did fly in on a Virgin Air flight.
May '10
Re: How Would You Like to Educate Your Fellow Drivers?
Since you are a professional, let me suggest something that has puzzled me for years. Police officers ought to be much more proactive in ticketing slow drivers, drivers who poke along in the left lane, and those who generally obstruct the free flow of traffic at "regular speeds"....whatever those may be.
My rationale is that it is these cautious drivers, or those who feel duty bound to obey the letter of the law and ensure that everyone around them does too, who cause lots of other drivers to get frustrated to the point of doing something stupid. In essence, they obey the law themselves, but are responsible for creating hazards by what they provoke.
Re: How Would You Like to Educate Your Fellow Drivers?
Tom,
I work the streets, not the freeways, so I don't get the chance to nab people driving as you describe. But I couldn't agree more. Such people should be hung from the lamp posts lining the highway as a warning to others.
Jan '11
Re: How Would You Like to Educate Your Fellow Drivers?
If you see a lane closed ahead, don't merge too early. This creates many nodes of instability as opposed to one node near the merge point. Fill all lanes completely, then alternate at the point of mergeDon't tailgate, this produces phantom braking which gets passed along the line behind you. Very badSignal your intentions. Don't turn on your left turn signal after the light turns green. There is a place in the underworld reserved for youBe courteous. We can all reach our destination faster if we drive cooperatively and with intelligence.
Jan '11
Re: How Would You Like to Educate Your Fellow Drivers?
I also forgot - please avoid "4 way stop amnesia". Remember who's next
May '11
Re: How Would You Like to Educate Your Fellow Drivers?
People who drive like maniacs during a snowstorm. It's already a tense situation driving during a blizzard. Cars passing you by going 20 mphs faster than you swerving side to side causes serious white knuckle driving. Also drivers who think yield signs give them liscense to cut you off anger me. They normally get the one finger salute from me.
Re: How Would You Like to Educate Your Fellow Drivers?
My pet peeves include people who drive slowly in the left-hand lane, people who do not understand how a basic yield/merge works (you go, I go, you go, I go) and people who creep up into the pedestrian section of an intersection.
I also see overuse of brakes, which can cause many disruptions, failure to get out of the way of emergency vehicles, and just general selfishness.
Jul '10
Re: How Would You Like to Educate Your Fellow Drivers?
I love it when I'm tooling along at a nice clip, some joker crawls out of a drive or side street -- causing me to jam on the brakes -- and I glance at my rear view mirror to discover miles of empty road stretching behind me. That always makes me smile.
Jul '10
Re: How Would You Like to Educate Your Fellow Drivers?
flownover: The nimrods occupying the left lane on interstate highways , oblivious to the world . Flashing them , turn signals , all ignored with the result of the dangerous right lane pass-- argh moron !
22 minutes ago
Edited 6 minutes ago
When I become the Dictator of the Republic of TEXAS, I will enact a few laws. One of them being that a Driver in the Right lane passing someone in the left lane gets one free shot at their tires. Also, dialing license plate numbers will connect You to the cell number of the car's owner. "How am I driving?" Well, let Me tell you dreckly....
Edited on March 17, 2012 at 1:16amDec '10
Re: How Would You Like to Educate Your Fellow Drivers?
This could take me several comments to fully answer.
There are plenty more. I follow traffic laws scrupulously. It's where I get my sense of moral superiority.
Apr '11
Re: How Would You Like to Educate Your Fellow Drivers?
People who drive with an Obama bumper sticker.
Dec '10
Re: How Would You Like to Educate Your Fellow Drivers?
I am not a sufferer of road rage; I'm a carrier.
Nov '10
Re: How Would You Like to Educate Your Fellow Drivers?
I'm with Nicegrizzly on the tailgating.
We live up a road that turns unpaved, and the speed limit is 35 for various reasons--narrowness, potholes, deer , wild turkeys, ice, mud, and ditches. You would not believe how many times I get tailgated for miles when I'm doing about 37. There is not a whole lot of space to pull over, either, and sometimes I'm afraid to, when it's slick.
Yesterday, a beige station wagon stayed on my bumper despite my brief resort to hazard lights and braking. It's so annoying. I cannot fathom why strangers (or maybe they were neighbors that I know? *blush*) behave so rudely. Once a car came out of nowhere and swooped around me without warning.
It's not as if I'm creeping along at 20 like some older neighbors of ours who make regular trips to town in an ancient jeep. I sure don't like to get caught behind them. But even in that case, I try to keep a polite distance, pass gingerly when he pulls to the right, and tell my girls, "Wave, wave and smile!" to show that my maneuver was not a hostile act.
Jul '10
Re: How Would You Like to Educate Your Fellow Drivers?
The people who jabber away on their cell phones going 10 miles under the limit oblivious to the rest of the world. My favorite was the couple who decided to have a fistfight in the front seat while driving down the road.
Re: How Would You Like to Educate Your Fellow Drivers?
My biggest pet peeve- when the speed limit is 35 in an area where it should definitely be 45.
Question to Mr. Dunphy- I'm playing a video game where you play a cop in 1947 Los Angeles. They have real cars from that period, as well as landmarks (tar pits!) I'm just wondering if you've ever heard of it.
Nov '10
Re: How Would You Like to Educate Your Fellow Drivers?
Ha. Don't judge until you've driven on the road. Make sure your vehicle is an all-wheel drive, or you may not make it very far up in certain seasons.
Dec '10
Re: How Would You Like to Educate Your Fellow Drivers?
I need a bumper sticker that says "I brake HARD for tailgaters"