I think there is a relationship between not using turn signals and people not letting others merge. I'm willing to bet that some people think that if they signal their intention to move over, someone will know they want to move over and then not let them in. So if they don't signal and just move over, they can get in sort of by surprise. I'm not saying I agree with this, but I can see the thought process.

My main road gripe? Why won't everyone just get the flock out of my way??

 

I can't believe that I'm agreeing with you.

 

People who won't get out of my way when I'm trying to blow past everyone who won't step down on the accelerator.

 

I lived in Japan for 3 years and never saw any signs in English. My wife and I just got back from vacation in China where we saw very few signs written in English. When I was in Paris for school 5 years ago, I didn't see a single road sign in English.
Usually a road sign can be done with a picture. But seriously, why should we (Americans) have signs, forms, billboards and all that other crap in anything but English? It really doesn't make sense.

 

My daily driver is a motorcycle. I love my MINI, but it's hard to shake a stick at the 50-55mpg my 0.9 litre engine gives me. Lane splitting is not legal here in Florida, and when I'm in the city for something, I never do it. It seems I'm alone amongst my fellow riders in this. Last week, I was on the highway near Tampa, and stuck in traffic. One by one, the bikes, then the tuner cars, and then the SUV's began to buzz down the hazard lane. I resisted the urge. I put good karma into the world and said "I'll wait my turn". Ten minutes later when I reached the accident that had caused the slowdown, there was the FHP with all the hazard lane runners lined up, writing tickets. I can't say I didn't smile inside my helmet.

3cocinas, I'm glad you found the cow thing funny. If you ever get the chance, try it. They really do look at you most oddly. Just remember though, the farmer/rancher may not see the humor in it!

 

I think this is actually true. It is SO annoying to be getting ready to merge, you're driving the speed of everyone else... not slowing things down, you put on your blinker because you see an opening coming up in your mirror and then the idiot (s - plural because when one jumps they all do) jumps out behind you and you can't get over. I find that the times I don't use my blinker I'm less likely to get cut off by the people behind me. Excuse me folks, LET ME IN! It was rather scary for my daughter-in-law yesterday. She's just moved here from a small town and she was getting mad because every time she put on her blinker (she uses them faithfully) the people behind her would cut off her spot, speeding up to get past her... she actually ended up getting off the freeway in an exit only lane once because nobody would let her in. I was with her and she was not slow, not being a poor driver, but just not really agressive. I'm sure that will change in time but for now it's really scary for her.

 

I am stationed in Germany, and to be honest, European drivers are among the most courteous in the world. When I come home to visit, I can't believe how rude, inconsiderate and lazy US drivers are. Not to say that I wasn't possibly like that before I came overseas. I think the US law enforcement and law makers should look at how it is done over here and start making stricter laws.
-Speeding will result in a hefty fine, or loss of your license.
-Driving without a seat belt, or having anybody in the car without a seatbelt on is an automatic license suspension of 7 days.
-BAC limit is .03 The polizie take blood, and are authorized to get it by any means possible. All accidents are considered your fault if you have alcohol in your system.
-Less accidents occur, even though speed limits are higher. Some strecthes of Autobahn have no speed limit, though 130 kmh (80 MPH) is recommended, but if you have an accident while over that speed, you are considered at fault there, too.

Driving here is fun, and with enough twisty roads to keep my MINI happy, I don't plan on leaving here anytime soon.

 

Still staying out of the political side:
In Japan, China, France and many other countries around the world, there is an official, legal, national language. This means a law has been passed making it the official language for that country and all official and legal signs, documents, forms must be in that language and the person must be able to read/speak that language or find other ways to use it. Those governments are not responsible for providing translations for them.

The US, while traditionally an English speaking country, does not have an official, legal, national language. This means that a person does not have to learn English to live here, get legal documents, read the signs, and the government can be required to provide translated versions. Every few years an attempt is made to make English the national language, but it gets defeated pretty quickly every time it comes around.



As for driving courtesies:

Can people please learn to drive with their low beams instead of the high beams all the time??????????? And if you must drive with your high beams, please dim them when meeting--or following--traffic!

 

I gotta agree with 90% of the peeves here, and add one of my own. We live in a fairly mountainous area, and while truckers are usually fairly courteous, they can also be pretty d*&#$d selfish. If one is in the right lane doing 45 uphill, and another is coming up behind him at 47, the second one will always pull over into the left lane, no matter who is coming up the left lane at speed. I've been forced to brake waaay to hard to avoid these clowns, and then wait for several minutes as said clown creeps by his buddy. They act like they would rather endanger other drivers than vary their speed even a little to brake and wait for a safe opening.

 

Morning commute gave me another one:

Dump truck drivers who do not COVER THEIR LOADS ! After getting pelted with kernels of field corn (very hard, for those of you not familiar with it) for a few seconds, I had to drop back at least a quarter mile behind the truck to keep from getting corn-blasted. Of course, makes it impossible to pass !

Also, here's one from last night: A guy doing less than the speed limit for MILES and when the traffic gets to the two-lane portion, he moves into the center of the lane divide to take up both lanes so nobody can get around him. Still can't figure out what that was all about but what an a-hole.

 

U didnt know the dotted white line is to keep your car centered over, to make sure you dont run off the road?

 

Silly me !! I'll have to try that from now on and see what kind of response I get from other drivers. Think I'll get lots of waves ??

 

Probably get lots of waves---with one finger!

 

Eggggggggggsactly ! Kind of like that guy did last night. He made a left turn further down the road and he got lots of fingers and horns as cars went by him.

 

Illegal in many states, but I know they still do it. I actually had about 30 small rocks hit the side of the car I was driving because the driver of the dump truck turned to sharply and his load shifted, some of it coming over the (uncovered) sides. The trucking company's insurance had to pay the damages.

 

This is almost always someone drunk. They are drunk enough to know that they are impaired, not so drunk to be oblivious. They've done research and it shows at this stage of inebriation that drunks slow down and have no concept of their lanes. They feel as though they are driving much faster than they are. When totally drunk they drive like bats out of the abyss.

 

I'm pretty certain it's illegal here in MD, too. I'll have to check. Not that I could ever get close enough to one of them to write down a tag number without risking damage to "Bergey". I might have to invest in a pair of binoculars.

Wow, hope that wasn't your MINI you were driving when you had that bad experience ! But even with a "normal" car, that had to be super aggravating.

 

You could easily be right about that, pm (if I may). Another telling action he took: When he went to make the left turn, he abruptly hit his breaks and then waited until the oncoming traffic was WAY past before turning.

4:45 in the afternoon is not too early to be driving drunk for some folks, I suppose.

 

I think from what everyone has said here it comes down to one conclusion, driver training is severely lacking in the U.S. It's too easy for any idiot to get a license without having basic driving knowledge and skills. The reason that drivers are so much better in Europe is because they are required to go through much more training which is usually very expensive as well, traffic rules also seem stricter from what I've heard.

The reason it's hard to do what Europe is doing is because so many more people here rely on cars for essential transportation. The U.S. is much bigger and more spread out. But I'm a big advocate of creating more public transportation and then giving people incentives to use it rather than drive. For example here in DC as a federal government employee I get free use of the buses and metro for my commute, so it makes no sense to drive downtown and spend $10-15 a day to park when I can take public transportation for free.

 

^^ Good Post.

 

Or someone on a cell phone!

 

Here is SERIOUS pet-peeve of mine. People that do not STOP at a stop-sign. In California, the custom has been the "california roll" for most of my life. This is where someone gets to the line, rolling @ about 5 MPH, and that seems to be sufficient for stopping. Personally, to me, that is not really a stop.

This is where my pet-peeve developes into a problem though. I have to drive through a residential area in Beverly Hills to get from home to work. And as is my practice, I stop for every stop sign. Last night some JERK in a Mercedes-Benz blew his horn for like 10 secinds straight, becuase I stopped or the stop sign. NEXT TO A SCHOOL!!!!

I almost got out, so that I could explain my position to the "gentelmen" in the vehicle behind me.


PLEASE, can we all just slow down a bit, and respect the RULES OF THE ROAD, please? I am not asking for people to do something like spend $3k on a Skip Barber advenced driving school, or anything. Just follow the rules that we are all supposed to follow...

[rant on]Oh and one other thing. When, I had to go the the DMV to get my plates, a woman was there to take her driver's test. She was maybe 50 or so, and had obviously driven herself there. When the woman was told she owul d have to take a written test she replied "How can you exdpect me to know any of the answers to that, I didn't know I would be taking it and didn't study". Uhhhh, lady, the rules of the road shoudln't be somehting that you have to study for. They need to be ingrained in your brain like breathing.

[/rant off]

 

get in where you fit in.

 

If you live in (say) rural England (like I did as a teenager), the nearest town is several miles away, the nearest city was 15 or so. Public transport was so poor that the only way to get to the local town on a saturday was to catch the 9:10AM bus, and then ensure that you caugh the 15:15 one home again. If you missed that it was a $20 (in 1980) ride home by taxi or you had to call your parents.

At 16 I was legally allowed to ride a 50cc moped, at 17 it was a 250cc motorcycle and learing to drive in a car. (it is now a 125cc motorcycle and you are required to undergo training prior to actually hitting the road).

If anything the Public transport infrastructure is a lot better in SoCal than the area of Leicestershire that I came from.

As for the level of training, well I would doubt that the majority (not all) of American drivers could pass the UK test without extensive training and re-learning, whereas most of the Brits that I know have aced the US test with ease after a whole ten minutes of reading the Drivers Handbook.

In my view, the average standard of driving in the US is way poorer and way less aware than in Europe.

 

That's why we refused to send our children to the idiotic 2 week "guaranteed to pass the test" driving school. They put kids behind the wheel after only a few hours behind the wheel. We taught our kids ourself, they all took a defensive driving course BEFORE getting their license and they drove with us on a permit for an entire year before being allowed to get their full license. Twelve years, four drivers and no accidents and no tickets. On the flip side is the guy who sent his daughter off to a school for two weeks, handed her the keys a week after she got her license and the very next day her car was sitting inside my daughter's place of work. She said she got confused about which pedal was the brake and which was the gas! AUGH! (needless to say, my daughter, the only person working at that hour was quite stressed to see a car come through the front window at her... I'm glad nobody was hurt, it could have been bad if it had been an hour later when the afternoon coffee rush hit) But confuse the gas and the brake on an automatic? Excuse me... she needed a bit more practice before you put her on the street with me! (ok, rant over)

Yes, we need a lot more driver training. I personally feel that we have seen a lack of skills develop because we have taken the responsibility away from the parents and said a 2 week driving school is enough. That school doesn't have a vested interest in the vehicle, insurance rate or personal safety that a parent does. Too many parents around me have no clue how their kid drives, they just send them to school and assume they get what they need. They ought to pay attention a little more.