I'm 100% in agreement with everything you said here. Which is why I insist taking my car and driving whenever it's possible.

 

This is such a simple concept.

Some of this stupidity I feel like I have to forgive because no one on the road these days is driving anything smaller then an SUV, and therefore does not have the stopping/accelerating ability of a Miata.

 

I can't stand driving with others. They really do just seem to not pay attention at all to what is going on. I get that feeling of wanting to press an imaginary brake pedal on the passenger side.

+1 to all that was said.

Sometimes I get so mad I just drive like all the other ******* and be a total ------- just to make myself feel better.

The thing that gets me is this:

You are in the right lane, going 5 or so over the speed limit. Some jackass in the left lane a bit behind you speeds up, gets in front of you, and immediately slows down for a right turn. WHY DID YOU NOT JUST PULL BEHIND ME AND NOT R------- SPEED UP AND MAKE ME SLOW DOWN TOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

With high heels. Yup, that's the image in my mind. Maybe she's a rally driver?

This!! Especially at that American abomination, the 4-way stop sign. When I'm behind another car at a 4-way stop sign and he and the other driver are in that infinite loop of indecision, I will HONK to get one of them moving. One time, they both jumped and started moving and nearly hit each other! I pissed myself laughing.

 

What is it about American drivers and timidity? Have the too-low speed limits and cops beat them into submission? Have the stupid over-used 4-way stop signs that litter the landscape made drivers programmed to constantly stop instead of think?

There was a situation I saw in Brazil that got me thinking about a comparison with US drivers.

On a freeway in the USA if the rightmost lane is blocked for any reason, the timidity means that drivers in the right 2 lanes that approach the blockage will come to a complete stop and each will take 5 seconds to decide whether to change lanes or to let the other car merge and go. The end result is that traffic will back up in all lanes for miles.

I saw a rightmost-lane-blocked situation like that in Brazil at a time of day when all lanes were almost full. Did traffic back up in any lanes? Nope. Not a one. The 4 lanes of cars merely temporarily squeezed together into the remaining 3 lanes of space to get around the obstruction, with nary a single car missing a beat. It's like all the drivers saw what was coming and the collective realized that if everyone moved a bit over to the left everything would be fine and dandy. What sort of driving culture does it take to get the majority of drivers thinking like this?

 

One that doesn't program every loser to think they are "special".

 

Smaller cars. Too many people are driving vehicles that they have no idea what the limits are. They don't know where their car ends or begins. So they can't make those quick judgements that rely on the driver knowing what space their vehicle occupies.

 

I went to the kart track last night and everyone laughed that I pushed the seat as far as it would go so I could get the wheel in my chest. I then, first time to drive a kart for more than 3 laps, got on the weekly leader board, lol.

 

I've read a few studies that boil down poor driving to one thing.

Most people driving in traffic are focused on the *** end of the car in front of them, and on nothing else.

With no car in front of them, most people focus on the ROAD about 100 feet in front of their hood, and on nothing else. This is where their eyes focus and what they see directly in their vision. People see the cars around them in their peripheral vision only. Over time, the brain develops patterns of what should be where and how things behave in the peripheral vision based on how fast their eyes see the road going underneath the hood. When something is out of place, they look up/over and evaluate, then it's right back to 100feet in front of the hood.

This is something that is learned in the first few weeks of driving with a parent or instructor where the kid is death-gripping the wheel and staring straight ahead at the road in front because their brain simply can't process anything else, and they never unlearn it.

AS tip my Dad employed when I learned to drive was to put cardboard over the instrument panel so I would learn not to care how fast I was going and instead concentrate on actually driving. I learned that if I was going faster than the cars around me, there had better be a reason... otherwise it really didn't matter how fast it was as long as it was safe for conditions and reasonable.

 

This gets me so damn angry

I swear, I literally spend 90% of my passenger time feeling nervous/scared and smashing the imaginary brake.

Story time: Driving from Savannah to go to Medieval Times in South Carolina.

Ford Explorer, women driver (first mistake). I was in the back seat, my friend Joe in the passenger seat and his GF "**** face" in the driver's seat. She was adamant about driving because she always got ---- for being a bad driver (because she is) and wanted to prove that she was a decent driver.

We got out on the highway; bad traffic, lots of stop and go. I'm in the back seat listening to my ipod because "**** face" was screaming along with her new Taylor Swift CD. I look up and see that she is following WAY to damn close to the car in front of us and is constantly using the throttle as an on/off switch then slamming the god damn brakes.

I get pissed and tell her, "**** Face, stop that ----. You're following too close."

**** Face-"I am not! Don't tell me how to drive! Joe, tell him to stop yelling at me!"

Joe-"He's right, slow down and stop tail gating."

**** Face- "whatever...."

Not even 5 minutes later- "LOOK OUT!!!!!"

Rear ended the same car we've been following for the past half hour Probably slammed into the poor car doing 30mph while it was doing maybe 5-8mph. We both went straight off the road into the guardrail.

Police came, car towed and we took a cab to Medieval Times. Joe made **** Face paid for the cab fair

 

I hate when people don't or can't, 'cruise'. I'm gay about smooth throttle inputs.

waaaa! waaaa! repeated!

 

+1 to everything. I usually won't ride as a passenger at all unless it's with another gear head, because they pay attention and understand how to drive correctly.

Example: I rode in a rally prepped car with a total stranger (not a pro by any means) at TON rally school and was totally comfortable going sideways through the woods. I get completely nutso riding with a mouthbreather (aka crappy driver) across town at 30mph.

My wife doesn't get it, but I'm far more comfortable riding shotgun on a road course with a competent driver than going to target with a moron...

 

Have you seen the statistics about how airbags kill women wayyy more than men?

It's because many stupid bitches sit six inches from the steering wheel.

 

And boobies.

 

Have you ever felt a pair? Your own don't count.

 

I can't stand when drivers go slower than traffic speed in the left lane on the highway. Unsafe passing ends up happening in the right lane because a driver is too oblivious to move over for faster traffic. Saw way too much of this coming up I-81 N yesterday. The right lane is for slower traffic and the left lane is for faster traffic and passing.

I read something attributing the safety of the autobahn to the lawful necessity of passing in the left lane ONLY and religious adherence to getting out of the way. Too bad most Americans have no sense for this.

 

I hate following people who go from gas to brake to gas to brake to gas to brake just to maintain a speed. Your brake light is not a rave dance party effect, just use smooth throttle, and only brake for corners that actually need it! I don't notice it quite as much in the car most of the time, but I do sometimes and when I do it is just as annoying.

 

What about the people who randomly brake while driving down the highway? You know, the ones who will have no one in front of them and out of nowhere just tap the brakes. Generally anyone who just taps the brakes for 1-2 seconds with no reason. I've taken to hitting my high beams "randomly" when someone in front of me is doing this. Either use the brakes for something or simly let off the throttle if you are speeding up too much.

As for riding with people- riding too close to the car in front gets me UNLESS they are trying to intimidate a car in the highway to get out of th eleft lane.

 

What bugs me a lot is when the person either does rough throttle or no throttle.. by rough throttle i mean like 15-20% throttle jab every time they get on the throttle where it quickly goes above the speed the person wants to go... Then lets go of the pedal when hes going too fast, when he gets 5 bellow slams on the gas again to repeat the experience...the entire time hes driving.

 

I've always assumed these people are trying to cancel their cruise control and don't realize there's a button for doing this.