Asshole Drivers

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[parked car][parked car][parked car][parked car][parked car]
[garbage truck emptying dumpters]-->facing wrong way for this lane

[guy double parked, sitting in car]
[parked car][parked car][parked car][parked car][parked car]
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I marveled at the spot the guy picked to double park himself in, exactly opposite the garbage truck. It was like a work of parking art.

I spent a little time in C. America and was refreshed by how everyone used their horn as a device for greeting, friendly warning, general 'heads up'.

In North America you can be stopped behind some horrible trophy wife in a [i'm not going to caricature people I don't like with the autos they drive because that's tacky and given the chance I'd drive them too] that's talking on a cell, watch her be totally oblivious to the light turning green, and after ten seconds you give her a little reminder 'honk!' she instinctively fingers you like you're a really impatient, intolerant prick. She's a grown woman, dontcha know!

Outside the topic header I know, but ban all choppers or overloud harleys. I'm not enjoying the muscle-bike renaissance of late, as it's common to have conversations interrupted, no, blown fucking away by one of these guys trying to capture the old, wild America on your block.

Also, dicks who have to squeeze just that LIIIITLE bit further forwards in urban traffic blockage, by parking over the pedestrian crossing. My favourite game is slapping the bonnet of their car while pointing to the little green man sign.

WHO THE FUCK SEND TXT MESSAGES WHILE DRIVING????

She got off, amazingly. I dont think she should have.

Now you're just making me regret not mowing you down when you were crossing Gough that time.

I'm confused about this too. Yes, they will have an easier time pulling out when leaving, but is is really worth all the extra effort?

safety difference between driving back out into the traffic, looking where you're going, or reversing because you were too lazy/crap to park properly in the first instance: immeasurable.

Parking in a parking lot: Is backing out so difficult? You're not actually backing out into "traffic"--maybe one or two cars will be coming by, but one would assume that they would see you, even if you didn't see them, and break/speed up accordingly. Backing into a spot just seems really showy offy to me. (And when I see people do it, yes, it takes a lot longer than pulling in straight away--people have to get lined up perfectly because they are anal.

what about pedestrians? children? it's a parking lot. there'll be small kids who you might not necessarily be able to see below the line of your window.

and ... i'm sorry, you drive based on "assumption"? you "assume" other drivers will react in a certain way? holy fuck.

Backing into a spot just seems really showy offy to me.

choosing to reverse out of a space because you can't be arsed doing the sensible and safe thing - ie reversing in - strikes me as a perverse combination of laziness and insanity. i mean: it's a choice between a safer way to do it, and a more dangerous way. isn't that a bit of a no-brainer?

gear's story is of a dick, though

typing this I just heard a big bang outside of my window (I live on a busy road and near some traffic lights (quite a few accidents)) and looking out see a car of two ladies hit the open car door of one man and they are shouting and waving arms at each other stupid car people

The only accident I've had, incidentally, was when someone pulled out of a parking space without looking, into the side of my car. However, he was driving *forwards* and still didn't see me. Twat.

i hate other drivers.

My dad always did the back-in thing--into our garage--I think pride had something to do with it. (It's not like there was much danger of another car running into him in our driveway.)

Anyway what is it with people who don't signal at roundabouts, especially when you're waiting patiently for a gap in the traffic and some wanker keeps you hanging on cos' they don't signal right.

I think if you're hovering, stationary, with your reversing lights on next to a parking space, people will keep out of the way and let you get on with it. I've always reversed into parking spaces, without much thought as to why. Grimly's rationale makes sense though.

Billy OTM about twunts at roundabouts. I also hate people who ignore road markings and stop signs and one way signs in supermarket car parks. You wouldn't do it in the road, so stop doing it in car parks. If I want to drive out of my space and go out of the car park the right way, I shouldn't have to look for idiots driving the wrong way up one way lanes. And don't fucking expect me to reverse back into my space to let you past either. You got it wrong, you get out of MY way.

After driving home from Birmingham up a crowded M1 yesterday, my new Biggest Asshole Driver Annoyance is: drivers who, in queuing traffic, will switch lanes whenever another lane is going *slightly* faster than theirs - and always expect you to let them in.

(Eisbär, I don't think it's parallel parking that's the problem here, it's reversing into spaces in parking lots that are perpendicular to the road)

I know what annoys my husband - me doing the "it's OK, I'll just walk/take a taxi to the pavement from here"/"which side of the road were you trying to park on" routine to him after he's attempted a piss-poor bit of parallel parking.

i hate this. and often, when it happens, it sends me into a spiral where i start brooding over how i'm always 'letting people in' in life, and getting screwed over, and how its all my own stupid wishy washy fault.

http://peanuts.com/comics/peanuts/meet_the_gang/images/meet_charlie_brown_big.gif

mm. you're obviously confusing me with someone who gives a shit ;)

actually, bugger, i do give a shit. so now i'm going to have to try to explain further. piss.

basically, it's about safe driving, innit? i mean, all driving should, first and foremost, be safe and responsible and courteous. you're propelling a metal box around the place at high speed. you HAVE to be responsible and think about everybody else, not just how quickly/easily you can do it.

i'm not saying i always drive like that - of course i don't. no-one does. but i took the IAM test earlier this year because i think it's important to TRY to be a "good" driver; to - in the words of the IAM themselves - set an example on the roads.

this, necessarily, means people think you're a smug toss/horse's cunt/etc. there's not a great deal i can do about this. mary's argument about backing out of parking spaces was, i felt, barking mad and couldn't go unchallenged. but then as soon as any driver shows any sign of actually giving a fuck about safety/other drivers/etc, everyone gets hyper-defensive and makes snide comments about string-backed gloves etc. for some reason, it's seen as perfectly socially acceptable to be the kind of driver who actively doesn't care about other road users, be they pedestrians, cyclists, motorists or whatever, and that really pisses me off.

so yeh, i guess what i'm saying is i give a mammoth fuck about safety on the roads, but i don't give a flying one if this makes me sound like a wank.

Backing in isn't difficult (you get good at it maneuvering boats and trailers), but it is pretty much always unnecessary, and claiming it deserves some kind of Good Driver safety award is ridiculous.

this is such a sf thing to say!

yes, exactly. but it's like i said wrt RJG's post: the very existence of people like this:

The SUV driver [who] put on the brakes, and then screamed at me, "How the fuck am I supposed to see you?!"

goes some way to proving that there are an awful fucking lot of tremendously shitty and irresponsible drivers out there.

fuck it, i don't care: i'm a driving nazi. i think people should have to re-take a test every five years and face an instant ban for not indicating at a roundabout. and see this 30 quid (or whatever) penalty for using a mobile phone? sod that: i'd have them shot.

etc.

me too!!

all-time parking-lot hate: dickheads who straddle two spaces. WTF, knobs. you think you're meant to centre your car over the white line?

Other things that suck: accidentally cutting someone up yourself because they're going round the roundabout without signalling properly. I try to always look at other drivers' front wheels as well as their indicators, but still make mistakes occasionally.

One of the things that drives me crazy is the kids on my road (who are not drivers, but mini-cyclists). The housing estate I live in has no paths for some reason, so, okay, the kids have limited safe space to play on, but the number of times I've carefully inched around a corner in second gear only to be met by some kid barrelling towards me on its bike and then looking horrified to see me there (A CAR! ON THE ROAD!) is, well, it's too many.

This pisses me off for three reasons. One, their parents are often hanging around outside their houses and will desultorily call to the kids to be careful, which I know is just for my benefit and not meant to seriously imply that they should actually be careful. Two, we keep getting residents' association newsletters with warnings in huge letters about bastard drivers speeding around the estate and knocking over entirely blameless children, but never any letters asking parents to keep their bloody children off the bloody road. Three, even when they see me coming, they still don't get out of the way.

Honestly, sometimes I feel like Lynne Truss, I hate everyone else so much.

If driving straightforward into parking-lot spaces is so dangerous, why do 90 per cent or more of drivers park that way? Why don't they teach us in driver's ed that one should back into a parking space? What is dangerous is people zipping around parking lots at 50 miles an hour. Go slow so that you can stop if you see someone backing up. (I also hate it when you are backing up and people speed up and whizz around you. Would it kill them to wait?)

The other day I came out of the library and someone was back-up parking a big pick-up truck next to my little car, and on the other side there was big SUV. Space was tight, there was no reason he had to park right where he did, he could have chosen another row, but he chose to back into this space and left about half a foot between our cars. I glared at him as he got just daring him to graze my car and he gave me a shit-eating grin.

trish, i genuinely think you are one of the most consistently sensible posters on ILX, but this is borderline daft. you're in a car. it's made of metal and can hurt people. pedestrians are made of flesh and stuff and can't hurt your car. ergo the onus is on you, as the person choosing to propel the chunk of metal about the place, to think at all times about safety: yours and other people's.

you can't do anything about some knob who isn't looking where they're going (or, for that matter, some non-knob who doesn't have good vision). but you can do everything about your own car control.

while i sympathise massively with your predicament re: irritating kids tooling about on the road, the same applies. we choose to drive; it's a luxury, and a potentially vastly dangerous one too. the onus is on the (good) driver to do whatever they can to keep things safe - even when they're surrounded by wankers.

anyone who doesn't feel comfortable backing out of a parking space shouldn't have a license

i think you'll find that those of us who have the ability to back into parking places are perfectly "comfortable" backing out of them. it's a question of what we believe is safer - for us and for other road users, be they drivers, pedestrians, cyclists or ... i dunno, fucking hedgehogs :p

that said, i can't fucking believe i'm getting into this argument again. if it continues much longer, i'll be forced to start quoting chunks of the IAM manual. so let's stop it now, 'cos nobody's gonna convince anyone else. [flicks Vs, reverses off into sunset]

hahahaha yes it's amazing! how do you do it?! i've tried but each attempt resulted in a torched out ride and jail time. people believe that foil will protect them from tom ewell sabatoging their 4th reich but that doesn't make it so.

Believe me, I know I'm in a car. And if you read the posts I made where I complained about kids in the road you'd see that I still drive in second gear around my housing estate, and I come to a full stop at every single corner where there could be kids on bikes. I also said that I watch very carefully when I'm returning to my car to see if there are people around and take great care not to run over them (much as I'd love to sometimes). But I hate the "you're in a car, so it's always your fault" argument. When I'm walking in car parks, yes, I do watch out for reversing lights and so should other people. Just like if I'm in a safari park I don't get out and pet the lions and then complain that there were dangerous lions around.

I understand that I am the one propelling the enormous chunk of metal around and therefore am the one with the deadly weapon in this situation, but it just pisses me off when people won't take responsibility for their own safety a bit too. You don't turn into some brain-dead, car-blind, wandering fool just because you're on foot. And if you do, then you shouldn't go out unaccompanied, because you're going to get into trouble somewhere.

And yes, I was parked on a double yellow line when the taxi driver passed and theatrically shook his head at me (but I was not blocking anyone, and the fucking NERVE of a TAXI DRIVER to make faces at someone else's bad parking!!!!) and yes, I did give him the finger, which is why he roared "fuck off you fat cunt" out the window at me. But you know, I run a fucking charity shop. And I had six boxes of heavy books to collect and deliver this morning in the pissing rain, and three sets of shelves to collect and deliver from a different location, and I really, really don't need that kind of shit from fucking people.

There, I've vented.

:)

trish: fuck me, that's a bad day of driving-related wank. but i have to say that this:

the ultimate sin of going back to my car, putting stuff into it, and then going off and doing another errand instead of leaving the space she wanted

is deeply amusing.

as for the reversing-in thing: coo. i don't think anybody's ever taken any of my ILX rants seriously before. wow. thank you.

however, i still drive (and love doing so, although i do endeavour never to make unnecessary journeys), so who's the hypocritical helmet-shiner? why, it's me. fuck.

So what about deaf kids huh? You heartless fuck.

Phew, I knew there was a reason.

at least in l.a., anytime i see an infiniti or a bmw in an adjacent lane or coming up behind me, i know the driver is about to pull an asshole move.

was there a full moon last night? all the drivers yesterday were particularly obnoxious.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bradford/8421478.stm

at least in l.a., anytime i see an infiniti or a bmw in an adjacent lane or coming up behind me, i know the driver is about to pull an asshole move.

I notice that too here in NJ, especially the BMW drivers. It can't be coincidence the high rate of aggressive/obnoxious driving that I see from people in BMWs.

ditto on the west coast. maybe BMWs are just more noticeable than most cars, but damn do they seem to enjoy their tailgaiting

Gives legs to that old joke:

Question: What's the difference between a BMW and a porcupine?

Answer: A porcupine has pricks on the outside.

So, I almost got in a really bad accident on the way home from work today. Some jerkbag lady in her Acura SUV refused to let my car merge in front of her when the traffic cones narrowed my lane for construction. The guy behind me was really hot on my collar so I couldn't slow down, and when I sped up to try to get in front of the jerkbag, she sped up so much that – at 30 miles an hour - she was driving less than three feet from the car in front of her. I slammed on my breaks, and came to a full stop, and a cop directed me back in traffic while wagging his head at the jerkbag SUV lady.

I hate people who do not understand merging so much, god. I wish there were citizens arrests for driving shittily.

--------------------------------- <=traffic flow <=
[parked car][parked car][parked car][parked car][parked car]
[garbage truck emptying dumpters]-->facing wrong way for this lane

[guy double parked, sitting in car]
[parked car][parked car][parked car][parked car][parked car]
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I don't think I knew lyra, but I hope she felt better after typing all this.

A woman here got done for killing a cyclist because she was SMSing while driving.
WHO THE FUCK SEND TXT MESSAGES WHILE DRIVING????

Sadly, I have seen someone texting...while cycling. And one dim evening, I saw someone riding a bicycle, with a regular cell phone clamped between his ear and shoulder. *shudders*

WHO THE FUCK SEND TXT MESSAGES WHILE DRIVING????

I constantly see this, constantly. I'm getting really tired of all this campaigning to "stop texting while driving", but never seeing it enforced. Last night on my drove home from work, I gave up after counting 26 people texting while driving on Lake Shore fucking Drive. These people should immediately lose their licenses.

I can understand texting while stopped at a light but not when the car is in motion

texting while driving is actually statistically more dangerous than drunk driving

I mean really, who in their right mind would put their car in motion while one hand was off the wheel and they were staring at something besides the road?

millions of people

people are kinda dumb

I see tons of people talking on their phones but rarely see people texting, at least not when the cars are moving

texting while driving is actually statistically more dangerous than drunk driving

this doesn't surprise me in the least, actually.

To be fair, 90% of the people I see texting while in motion are in semi-backed up traffic that is stop and go, but, still, those situations seem like the times you are more likely to slam into someone when everyone is constantly hitting their brakes quickly.

The Hidden Toll of Traffic Jams

New public-health studies and laboratory experiments suggest that, at every stage of life, traffic fumes exact a measurable toll on mental capacity, intelligence and emotional stability. "There are more and more scientists trying to find whether and why exposure to traffic exhaust can damage the human brain," says medical epidemiologist Jiu-Chiuan Chen at the University of Southern California who is analyzing the effects of traffic pollution on the brain health of 7,500 women in 22 states. "The human data are very new."

So far, the evidence is largely circumstantial but worrisome, researchers say. And no one is certain yet of the consequences for brain biology or behavior. "There is real cause for concern," says neurochemist Annette Kirshner at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences at Research Triangle Park in North Carolina. "But we ought to proceed with caution."

I signalled that I wanted to move lane. After the light became green, I looked behind me, saw that the car wasn't moving, so I went ahead and moved lane. The guy starts yelling in his car, waving his hands around crazily. I told my gran:"Look at this dude, he's out of his mind!" He then goes to the other lane. I look at him while he's passing me and he's YELLING. hahahahaha I mean is that guy for real?

1 I don't hear what he's saying
2 I was in my right
3 Even if I wasn't, NOTHING HAPPENED
4 Wasted energy dude, just RELAX

I told someone who merely replied:"You were wrong." hahaha I mean, EVEN IF I WAS, what the fuck, right?

Today I was apparently to slow merging into the lane. Yes, I was too slow. But you have a fucking BRAKE. Gah!