Where are all the good drivers?

They’re not in NY. I was nearly killed three times on the drive in. And that’s below average. Plus some idiot tailgated me for the last three miles and then passed me in the left turn only lane. While I was doing the speed limit. I want an RPG to deal with these morons. There have been some other incidents I’ve mentioned in the past, but i’m supposed to let those go.

Dead, killed by the bad drivers.

@Adirondackwannabe I hear you! I’m not in NY, far from it, but actually I’ve had many accidents ironically all while doing the right thing!
One time I was rearended at a red light, imagine the nerve, another time I was driving through a green and the guy decided to try to beat me around the corner first..well he didnt!

My point is that on this thread let it all out, do not let it go! :)

I have often wanted to throw my cup of coffee at another drivers car, but I like my coffee too much and usually I paid for it, sometimes I think about throwing the litter at them but I care too damn much about the earth. Some guy threw a banana peel at me once while we were sitting at a red light I thought maybe he didnt see see me but it was made apparent that he did since he looked right at me. I guess he didnt like my car or the way I looked or something. Disrespectful jerk.
Oh wait, and I just have to add that this is all in a town in Canada that is in an uproar because they are offended by Katie Perrys firework boobs billboard on the side of the bus..I find this town hilarious.

Florida cut Driver’s Ed from public school about 15 years ago.

We’re fucked.

I just got done taking a driving course. There has been numerous studies done, that show that tired drivers are as bad driving when drunk. It explains all the bad driving you often see first thing in the morning and after work. Add being tired to being in a hurry to get home and you have a really bad driver.

Then you are also bound to run into the driver who is passing by but who has been on the road for hours and is tailgating you. If you notice they are staring at your taillights for some time, then move your car. Long distance drivers will do this and lose perception of distance. To them they think you still have the same space between you when they first got behind you. They kind of hypnotize themselves by staring at your taillights.

These two little facts has helped me to better deal with tailgaters and bad drivers.

@nofurbelowsbatgirl Not on a Friday morning. Pandora was the one that told me to let it go by the way.

@Adirondackwannabe Ok. I understand. But I am here for you :)

Here I am, with my perfect driving record.

I dislike big rig drivers who try to run you off the road. (Many are great drivers and very kind as well.)

I dislike people driving mopeds down I-44 at 40mph in a 70 mph zone.

Basically, anyone who gets in my way while I’m following proper procedures- lol

Not at fluther, they’re frequently going down ;-}

Safe driver here. The last time I had to renew my driver’s license I got to do it through the mail. Safe drivers in Illinois get a renewal sticker to put on the back of their license. I have never been in or caused an accident.

I can’t stand impatient drivers. Tailgaters and people that pass me in no passing zones irritate me the most. I’ve seen too many close calls that put me and my passengers at risk. I also hate people who throw their cigarette butts and trash out their car windows. It’s disgusting and lazy.

Drivers are so rude. I’m riding down the street, and they rush to pass me, then pull over at the stop light, leaving me no room to get between them and the parked car. Why are they so impatient? Now I have to ride around the outside of them.

Sometimes it just seems like they are in a mood. They’ll honk for no apparent reason at all. Maybe they don’t think bicyclists should be on the road at all.

Whenever I drive, I am very respectful of bicyclists. I’ll stop for them. Let them ride through the stop sign and so on. I know the physics are very different for them. Stopping is horrible for bicyclists, but for cars, it’s no big deal. We should give bicyclists more room instead of squeezing them. Slow down for them, instead of honking at them. Pass them with extra clearance because they have to watch out for opening car doors that can really cream them.

We should share the road with bicyclists, and be extra kind to them. Remember, they are not using up resources and gasoline the way we are.

@wundayatta I completely agree. My rural town connects to a larger town and is mostly flat with very small hills, and the scenery is gorgeous, and we have bike routes throughout.

I have noticed that some drivers are incredibly rude and dangerous and think they shouldn’t have to share, it’s crazy and dangerous, especially the ones with children in the riding carts. People, I swear…lol

As a defensive bicycle rider, I try to find the least used routes through the city. This was especially important with I had a child in my bicycle cart. Fortunately, I’ve only had one incident in the twenty some odd years I’ve been living in this city—I got doored once when riding on a main road with a trolley track. The trolley track makes it impossible to ride further out in the road.

But that was a long time ago when I first moved to the city, and I’ve learned my lesson and am more careful now. I’ve learned which intersections make drivers go crazy, and I avoid them. I’ve found the side streets that I can go down with less traffic and relatively few stop signs.

But in the country, you may not have as many options for alternate routes. Still, you want roads with wide, paved verges. It’s a whole different approach out in the country. I grew up there, riding my bike. But I haven’t done any country riding in years.

You just tend to notice the bad ones when they pull out in front of you or whatever.

My biggest driving peeve is not using turn signals, and out here in the hills where I live, people pushing your ass down the highway when there are gazillions of deer leaping about.
Deer rule #1, if you see ONE, there WILL be MORE following!
I always pull over if at all possible, so I am not the leader of the parade who will take all the hits if I have to brake for a deer leaping across the road.

Yes, I am a good driver, only one minor rear end accident and one parking ticket in my life.
My license is always renewed by mail and I haven’t taken a driving test in over a decade now.

Not in my state… In the city I live in, drivers have the reputation of toodling around like they are constantly on a Sunday drive. I’m no speed demon, but it irks me when people drive a good 5–10 under for no apparent reason. There’s also a lot of young college students who have no idea how to drive (or park) Daddy’s Lexus SUV, as well as a bunch of international grad students and post-docs who drive like they’re constantly terrified and clueless. I routinely have people take my right of way by turning left, which is really one of the most basic things you should learn about driving in the U.S… If you drive 5 minutes out of the city in any direction, though, you’re in the sticks, and people who live in the country drive dangerously fast on the 2-lane highways around here.

@Seek_Kolinahr : It must have been more recently than that… I took Driver’s Ed in high school in Florida and I swear I only went to high school a decade ago ;)

The other day, I was waiting on a left turn green arrow at an intersection. Just when it turned green, this guy rushes in from the oncomming lane and blocks the intersection. Now I can’t turn left despite having the signal.

To add insult to injury, he shoves his arm out his window and flips me the bird.

I was so tempted to grab his arm (as he was feet from my window) and speed away, either pulling him out of the car or ripping his arm clean off.

It was a nice fantasy, but instead, I waited patiently through another light cycle until he moved along and I got the green arrow again.

@bookish1 Maybe. I know in my county, while I was in high school (class of ‘03) Driver’s Ed was elective, costing over $200, and was eventually cancelled because no one elected to take it.

@Seek_Kolinahr Here, we take drivers ed as a mandatory requirement in hs. It helped me so much, and to this day I still hear my instructor’s voice while driving. I guess all the train accidents and blood we saw in those films really stuck with me.

Here, in rural NYS. Ten years ago I took a driver’s ed class to expunge the points for the one speeding ticket I had. Aside from me, the class was filled with pimply, surly teen-aged male louts, slouching in their seats and muttering imprecations.

Since then, I am the model driver. Here the young town cops take their jobs and the posted MPH seriously, so I do take heed.

It seems many people all over just don’t want to abide by the rules.

In my city, I couldn’t tell you how many times the people run yellows and reds, don’t stop at stop sign. I mean at advanced greens alone after the arrow has stopped it’s like 5 cars still continue to go around the corner, so the other side who has a green light has no other option but to wait.

And on my way to the gym yesterday, this person was impatient didn’t want to wait. It is single lane traffic on both sides of the street I was on with solid double line. This person decides they are going to pass 2 cars and a transport. All I see is this little black jetta coming at me in my lane. I take my foot off the gas and start pressing the brake and gear down to 4th. This person in a 90km zone had me slow down to 60km and they just about hit my car trying to get back in the their own lane. I often wonder if some of these drivers even have a license. :/
Game of chicken anyone? No thank you.

They are out there, they just don’t draw attention to themselves unless they are on a race track.

It bugs me when people don’t blink. I am not a mind reader! I don’t like it when people drive right in my ass, give me some place, please.

I find motorcycle drivers weaving in and out between cars a pain. That action is now considered legal, so we have to put up with it, but it seems very dangerous to me. They go faster than the automobile traffic and don’t have time to adjust if one of the cars makes a sudden move.

@Sunny2 I’ll go you one more. I was driving on Route 20 in NYS (4 lanes) and three motorcyclists were in front of us. They were pulling extended wheelies at 60 mph.

^^^ Don’t you sometimes wonder if their brains still function?

@Sunny2 I did some crazy stuff when I was a kid, but I did it in a 3000 pound car. Two of these guys had passengers with them. And they weren’t doing small wheelies. They had them close to vertical. I’m guessing testosterone paralyzes the brain at times.

@Adirondackwannabe The other thing is the fact that like probably when you were a kid, like me, there weren’t as many cars. Like when I was a kid it was ok to sit in the front seat no seat belt. It was different rules. But I dont go around placing my daughter on the hood nowadays for a ride, but yet these fools who do wheelies basically play with their lives and our lives and our childrens lives.

It’s a friggen epidemic!

@nofurbelowsbatgirl There were less cars. We used to ride in the back of a pickup truck all the time. Now I think that’s nuts. But yeah, these guys were insane.

Vehicles here should have good brakes and winter tires. Anything else and they are a nuisance at best.

Also wanted to note cyclist courtesy. I drive more then I cycle but I still feel pretty vehement about this and I think it is with just cause.

Do not cycle in the roadway where the speedlimit is over 45. Especially when there are alternatives. That is just being d!€kish. People have places to go appts to make and if they get stuck behind a bike going 20 mph because they can’t use the empty damn bike path, they have every right to be angry at the pretentiousness of the eco friendly holy rollers.

Definitely not here in this country.
(I’m the only one :-) )