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.
Not keeping proper distance to the vehicle in front or behind them
How does a driver choose how close someone follows them?
The nerve of that guy driving so close to the car behind them!
I was taught to adjust my speed until the distance is safe. Most people eventually either overtake, or get the hint and back off.
Don’t break check though! It can cause people to panic and swerve, causing an accident.
Brake checking the person behind them. But yeah, it’s a lot less common than tailing I guess
Ah, that makes sense
Motherfuckers who turn their head to talk to others in the car while they’re driving. Keep your eyes on the road, dumbass.
In movies sometimes they do it for freakishly long, obviously because the car isn’t actually driving or because it’s sitting on a trailer. It’s become a trope, some films parody it.
Lloyd’s first conversation with Mary in Dumb and Dumber. Should be required viewing in driving schools.
Only the necessities
Yeah and it still gets me a bit nervous seeing those scenes, even though I know it’s fictional.
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.
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, weaving through lanes to pass other cars and get to our destination zero seconds faster, fucking around with their phone. General “bad driver” stuff.
My husband regularly continues accelerating toward the vehicle in front of us while said vehicle is braking. He also tailgates. It’s terrifying and I rarely let him be the one to drive.
Granted I’m a lifelong loner but…how do you deal with this? I don’t know for sure, but I don’t think I could ever have a partner who drives so egregiously dangerous. Not only is it dangerous, but it also indicates a severe lack of empathy for other human beings. I don’t know how I could reconcile a severe lack of empathy in a partner like that.
I guess it depends. Does he tailgate out of aggression or because he’s not paying attention? Not that one is necessarily better than others, but the intent is different. One just implies stupidity while the other implies lack of empathy.
I deal with it by being the one to drive more than 99% of the time. It would be a problem if he wanted to be the one driving, but fortunately he doesn’t.
I don’t know why he tailgates. He doesn’t recognize that what he’s doing is dangerous. So I guess stupidity…
The last time I was a passenger in my brother’s car, I remembered that he tends to drive in a way that makes me feel unsafe, like what OP described. Unreasonable acceleration, tailgating, swerving. He laughed when I was physically bracing myself and said his partner does the same thing. I told him I just won’t be in a car when he’s driving anymore. Of course, it’s easier to do because I don’t see him too often.
IMO when I’m driving, I not only have a responsibility to keep my passengers safe, but to make them feel safe. I might feel safe because I know I’ll brake in time, but my passengers don’t because they’re not controlling the vehicle.
Not the one you’re replying to but my SO was a terrible driver and still has issues. At first I brought it to them calmly but over the years it turned into nagging. That being said, their driving has improved significantly. Much safer than it was but they still get mad at other cars who were being oblivious. They also admitted they have problems seeing at night so I always drive at night now.
They’re aware I have a problem with their driving and it is a source of contention in our relationship but not enough to break up over.
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.
Add in hysterical, blood-vessel-throbbing shrieks at the person in front, and you’ve just described my mom’s driving. It’s terrifying to ride anywhere with her.
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.
Not allowing enough flashes of the turn signal before turning or changing lanes. I aim for three blinks minimum, usually four. One or two blinks just doesn’t seem like enough opportunity for other drivers’ busy eyes to see the indication.
Oh god, tell me about it.
I know someone who gets absolutely red hulk faced full of rage because the cars beside them wont let them over.
But the problem? THey dont understand that the goddamn indicator is to INDICATE THEIR INTENTIONS to the other drivers… So they don’t turn the indicator on at all, until they are in the middle of changing lanes, while screaming adn cussing up a storm about “entitled” drivers who wont let him over…
And trying to tell him to turn on the fucking turn signal so they know he WANTS to get over is like trying to explain pi to a brick wall.
THANK YOU.
It’s a turn INDICATOR, not a turn REQUEST. I am signaling my intent, not asking permission. If I have room to make my indicated lane change I’m usually going to follow through, and if the driver that will be behind me after the lane change tries to close the gap AFTER I have signalled, well they better be ready to hit the brakes.
It’s a turn signal. It signals an intent to change lanes, but that doesn’t mean it’s always safe or courteous to do so. If your speeds are mismatched, it’s not irrational for a car going faster than you in that lane to speed up so you have space to merge behind them.
If you merge in front of them anyway, they’re still responsible for not hitting you, but you still cut them off.
We’ve all been cut off and we’ve all probably cut somebody else off too. Driving in traffic kind of sucks.
I know someone who gets absolutely red hulk faced full of rage because the cars beside them wont let them over […] while screaming adn cussing up a storm about “entitled” drivers who wont let him over…
Meanwhile, in the other cars:
Hey, look at that guy in the fast line. That dude is absolutely PISSED at his friend there. What do you think they’re fighting about?
My husband when changing lanes would wait until he has space, then indicates while turning. He thinks that if he indicates too early, other drivers would intentionally close gaps and not give him way
In my experience, people do sometimes do what your husband says. Not everyone, obviously, but a lot of people really are shitty. So I get that to a degree.
A thing I do actually is that when I’m the first car sitting at a red light and my intention is to turn right, I actually explicitly do NOT use my turn signal. I use it in every other scenario except this one. Because I’ve found that if I use it, I run into the occasional asshole that decides to blare his horn at me for not immediately turning right and getting into an accident with oncoming traffic. When they don’t know whether or not I’m turning or going straight, they don’t honk at me like an asshole.
It’s not that I never make right turns on red, it’s that I just like to make sure it’s safe to do so. I watch oncoming traffic and check the crosswalk for pedestrians. If there is an obstruction to view of traffic (happens occasionally at certain intersections), then yeah I just wait for the green light. But inpatient dipshits don’t give a shit because it took them an extra 3 seconds to get to the grocery store.
This happens to me as well, and just like your husband I’m not one to close gaps on purpose to others.
He should cut them off then!
Because that’s what he’d do if he saw someone signal? Lol
No, he actually doesn’t lol. He’s generally a safe driver and would leave a safe gap if someone signals
Turn signal before brakes is my golden rule.
I fucking loathe the dickheads who slow down (some slamming on their brakes) IN THE LANE before suddenly turning their signal on as they pull a full 90 degree turn, rather than just signal early and coast while moving over into the turn/suicide lane
So much traffic caused by such basic garbage driving
I like it!
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.
I wish they enforced that more in my area.
Being first at a red light is a big responsibility. That shit is not to be taken lightly.
No tolerance for that. Yank the phone from their hand and scold them like a child. That’s ridiculous.
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.
What I don’t understand is people having CarPlay/Android Auto and still doing this. I have CarPlay but honestly my Driving Focus declines notifications not from my wife; the rest of world can fuck off.
What makes those safer to use than the phone itself? Is it because they are considered part of the car so you are “allowed” to use them?
For me personally, I just tap the microphone and use voice assistant when I need to navigate somewhere or shoot off a text before I forget. Mine has the touchscreen that I don’t really use while driving. I’m also not a fan of taking calls in the car.
The point is that it’s very unnecessary to touch your phone at all — I don’t even take mine out of my pocket. So when people have all this tech and continue using their phone (physically) I’m like “wtf?”
Edit: I am however a fan of sharing my ETA via Apple Maps
Driving digitally. Gas and brake pedals are analog controllers, not buttons.
ffs people with lead feet need to read this
My wife’s family drives like this, not just with the pedals but with the wheel too. Instead of turning it to where it needs to be and holding it they turn it to far then over correct back twords center then back to the first spot they turned it to, then overcorrect, and repeat the entire turn. Thankfully I was able to get my wife to stop driving this way when we started dating and now she hates riding with any of her family driving as much as I do.
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.
I’ve had uber drivers who do this in an electric car. If you thought it was bad in an ICE, lemme tell you. With that instant torque its a vomit comet
This right here. I’ve known two drivers with this exact habit. Spectacularly infuriating.
Just let me out right here. I’ll walk.
I’ve definitely had to teach myself to stop doing that. Now I have all the adaptive cruise control stuff which works perfectly fine for this task and saves on consumption.
I’ve definitely had to teach myself to stop doing that
Not trying to sound mean: what in the world made you start doing that?
I’m not sure I was doing exactly what they describe, not sure I was tapping as much as I just wasn’t staying regular and drifting +/- 5km/h to the point I got a couple complaints about it. I never realised it before and after that worked on keeping steady and it came quickly.
Ah, ok, that’s actually a lot more understandable, actually
I’ve known one of the flutter-footers and never thought to ask why
They must have taken driving lessons from a thermostat.
This is how to get your passengers to vomit all over the inside of your car
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.
Convsersely, a passenger who takes off their seatbelt when I get close to their destination.
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.
My wife will not turn off her wipers even when it’s no longer raining. Drives me mad.
Tailgating and driving fast in parking lots. Some people just do these out of habit, it drives me nuts.
