Posted on 07/17/2006 8:41:13 AM PDT by Smogger
Are you really a good, conscientious driver, or are your driving habits the behind-the-wheel equivalent of fingernails on a chalkboard to everyone else on the road?
A recent survey of 10,000 drivers conducted by Hagerty Insurance, a company that insures collector cars, determined the 10 things that exasperate other drivers the most:
10. You're taking a carefree spin down the road when you notice that the car in front of you has its turn signal on ... and on ... and on. Five or 10 miles later, your left eye twitching, you realize the other driver is clueless to the fact their indicator is on. You have just experienced the 10th-biggest irritation, according to the drivers surveyed.
9. Ah, men. Running a little late for work, they often can be seen grooming and shaving while driving. To be certain, this is never an issue for those of us of the female persuasion. Heads up, gentlemen. Grooming while driving was ranked as the ninth-most annoying driver behavior.
8. Due to the fact that I get into deep hot water with motorcycle riders every time I write something negative about motorcycles driving in between lanes, I feel it necessary to post the following disclaimer: I did not conduct the survey. Hagerty Insurance did. That said, the survey concluded that motorcycles that split lanes are No. 8 on the list of what infuriates drivers the most.
7. If you have been told on more than one occasion that you are a good candidate for an anger-management class, you should be aware that those of you who take your rage out on the road are the seventh-most disliked drivers.
6. Do you find that reaching up and turning on that pesky turn signal is more effort than you care to expend while driving? Not bothering to use your turn signal is the sixth-most irksome thing you can do when behind the wheel.
5. If you are a driver with a superiority complex, beware. If you speed up to keep other people from changing lanes or passing you, you were ranked as the fifth-biggest irritation on the road.
4. Some drivers weave in and out of lanes for the precious advantage of arriving at their destination two minutes earlier than those silly folks who actually drive safely. Traffic weavers, you have been forewarned -- you are the fourth-most reviled drivers.
3. You look in your rear-view mirror and see another car driving within inches of your rear bumper. If you were to stop suddenly, the driver behind you would no doubt be meeting you in your front seat for lunch. The survey found that the third-most exasperating driver is the tailgater.
2. If you've got to drive slow, you better know where to go. Those who putz in the fast lane ranked as the second-biggest driving annoyance.
1. And the Big Kahuna, the No. 1 act that survey respondents said made them grind their teeth down to a pulp when they saw other drivers doing it? You guessed it -- chatting on the cell phone. Some 28.5 percent of those surveyed would like you to hang it up the next time you hit the road.
i HOPE there are no other qualities you share with SHRILLERY Antoinette de Fosterizer de Marx de Machiavelli de Stalin . . . de Sade!
A woman rearended us at a stoplight once because she didn't notice traffic had stopped - she was using her rearview mirror to adjust a contact lens! Why she didn't gouge her own eye out on impact, I don't know.
I used to shave while driving when I had a 65 mile one way commute............
Because I obey traffic laws, I am unsafe? Uh huh.
If traffic conditions are such that people are moving faster than the limit,
Thereby, breaking the law
you, by insisting on driving at a slower speed while in the left lanes, are a traffic hazard.
I never insist on driving at a slower speed in the left lanes. Never said I did.
Not talking law or legality.
Because you can't, in this case.
Just safety. By sitting there blocking others, you force them into unneeded lane changes and passing maneuvers, thus increasing the risk of going down the road.
Again, I never said that I sit and block the left lane, thereby forcing speeders who willfully endanger the lives of others to change lanes.
When doing the speed limit, I stay in the right lane.
Here in DC I've developed the habit of staying a little farther away from the car ahead of me in front of a stop light than I used to. All to often, they are turning left, and don't signal, except perhaps to note the turn for history.
With extra space, I can often turn around them, traffic permitting, and not lose a light cycle.
I think they do that because you trying to pass them woke them up, they looked at their speedometer and said, "Oh my, I'm going too slow!"
susie
Okay, this maybe true--but the converse is as well.
I'm one of those jerks who drives the speed limit, mostly. I tend to keep to the slower lanes. What peeves me off the most are self-righteous jerks who tail gait you in the slow lane when you're still going about five miles over the posted limit.
So even if I'm going 60 in a 55 mile lane, and the passing lanes are free, GUARANTEED, there's some jerk-wad gunning behind me (often in one of those crappy little rice mobiles). Do they pass me? Heck no.
Motor vehicle laws that require motorists to keep to the right, on the other hand, are intended specifically to enhance the safe operation of the roadway.
What's a "HOV" lane?........Humongous Oversized Vehicle?........
And just how many anger management classes have they made you attend? ;)
Yes, absolutely, it is much safer to drive 75mph than the posted 65mph, for example, on I-95. Speed limits are what they are because the socialists thought they could force gas conservation on us.
Really? Because I obey traffic safety laws?
You are an unsafe driver.
This example is precisely why cell phone bans are NOT a good idea. You wouldn't have felt any better if you were nearly sideswiped by a teen who wasn't talking on a cell phone, would you?
I'm sure she's a bad driver but cell phones just make bad drivers worse. I looked her right in the eye (we were that close) and she was clearly completely absorbed in her phone call and totally unaware of her surroundings. I was an agnostic on the cell phone issue until that happened to me. Now, I've joined the side of big government and limiting freedom (in this anyway).
No. Just go the speed limit. That's all. Not complicated at all.
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