What Are The Driving Bad-Behaviors That Frustrate You Most?

Stressed Woman Driving
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“Don’t get me started,” amirite? As we can all attest, it’s just about impossible not to encounter ding-dongs of varying levels of ding-dongosity whenever one ventures out onto the roads. No matter how brief the trip, you’ll probably have at least one interaction with another motorist that causes you to experience at the very least mild dismay, at the very most complete brain-bogglement — or, somewhere in between, annoyance and full vein-throbbing outrage.

Vintage Driving Composit
Obviously, what you want to do in these situations is yell, “HAY, watch it!” (top image) and floor it while holding the horn button down (bottom image). It’s in the manual. Image: Etsy seller

Hopefully we’re all able to keep our emotions in check while we’re on the road (unhinged is never a good look), but it’s only human to feel frustrated when the other drivers you’re counting on to be safe, aware, and courteous (or at least not-dangerous) aren’t holding up their end of the bargain. And so we ask, what bad behaviors do you find most irksome when you’re behind the wheel? Obviously street racing, drunk-driving, or otherwise being willfully reckless are total no-goes–we’re talking about the day-to-day stuff isn’t wantonly illegal but just makes you nuts. Like driving down the street with daytime running lights and no taillights. Come on!

To the comments!

Top image: Guillermo Spelucin/stock.adobe.com

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215 thoughts on “What Are The Driving Bad-Behaviors That Frustrate You Most?

  1. I went to lunch with my coworker yesterday. AS soon as we got in his car, he turned on a tablet he had mounted o the dash and started to stream TV. While driving. Look to the lane, look to the tv, look to the lane, look to the TV. I’ll never ride with him again.

  2. People riding my bumper in traffic when I’m already going 10 over or behind other traffic. Either pass me or chill the hell out, what do you think you’re accomplishing? Likewise I don’t understand people that fly up to an intersection and roast their brakes, particularly if there’s not a stoplight about to change or something. I just don’t get the impatience, this isn’t F1, the half second you may or may not save is not worth the wear and tear you’re putting on your car.

  3. Read the headline and a dozen things popped into my mind. Got to the comment box and suddenly lost the urge to vent. I suspect it’s all been mentioned at this point anyhow. I think the biggest thing for me, and I am really trying to make an effort in this regard, is not getting too worked up about any of this crap.

    1. Take the “Zen Driving” approach: Other cars are not being piloted by humans you can have a beef with. They are nothing more than rocks in the stream, to be negotiated like any other inanimate objects.

      Ommmmmmmmmm……..

  4. In no particular order:
    – People flocking to the middle lane of a three-lane freeway when both outer lanes are open and traffic in them is moving far faster than the center lane.
    – People traveling 10+ MPH under the speed limit on unmarked nonresidential roads. In Michigan, the general speed limit is 55MPH – not 45.
    – People merging onto the freeway across the solid lines that define the merge lane instead of driving until the merge lane meets the freeway. This is especially prevalent during rush hour traffic.
    – People cruising at the speed limit in the leftmost lane on the freeway.
    – People driving at 45MPH for the entire length of a freeway entrance ramp before going WOT to accelerate to freeway speeds after they’ve merged.
    – ‘Helpful’ octogenarians ceding the right of way by waving traffic ahead at intersections in an attempt to be kind.
    – Pedestrians doing the same at residential crosswalks.

    Maybe I should just relax.

    1. #3 i get that one.There are way too many idiots not merging well.Screw them, i’m crossing the line early to merge (in a safe gap) rather than be jammed behind said idiot.
      I’ve done this a few times.It wouldnt surprise me if some do it all the time.

  5. Every time. EVERY TIME I drive in this city, someone is guaranteed to drift into my lane without checking or indicating. You develop a sixth sense pretty quickly about spotting people that are likely to do this, and giving them plenty of space to play out their idiotic maneuvers.

  6. The one that gets me the maddest, the oh-how-I-wish-I-could-get-just-one-JUST ONE-don’tbrakeandplowthemintoaditch-penalty-free moments, is when someone aggressively pulls out in front of me from a lot or gas station or whatever, forcing me to slam on my brakes, only to look in my mirror to see no cars behind me and that they could have just waited 4 GD seconds

    and thank you for the opportunity to vent these things

  7. Merging onto the highway way below highway speeds is my biggest complaint. I try to stay in the right lane and yet there is some dumbass pulling onto the highway at <45 mph.

    1. Fast Lane Discipline. In my perfect little world, the fastest driver in the left lane of a multi-lane highway has the right-of-way. I don’t care if you’re doing 20 over posted, if someone is closing on you, get out of the way. Drivers will have to watch their mirrors to do this, which may be nearly impossible for most. Respect the flash.
    2. Get off the F-@#ing Phone! I got pushed 4-wheels onto the shoulder of I-10 two weeks ago by some dip$#!+ on their phone. I was overtaking, with my front bumper passing their mirror when they came left into me. No head check, no mirror check, just change lanes and keep yakking. They were wearing a very stylish hat though.
    1. Re your 2., Ian Fleming’s Goldfinger has perhaps the first recorded description of road rage. As Bond finally blasts past the idiot, he notes how the guy is wearing a hat in his car, reflecting that this is always a sure sign of a bad driver!

  8. People who can’t handle intersections.

    This starts with Americans’ inability to navigate a roundabout. Simple, single-lane ones. If someone is exiting it on the road you’re on, zip into the roundabout to take their spot. I get stuck behind so many people waiting for a written invitation. Ideally, once in the circle, signal your exit, but absolutely nobody does that.

    But then they can’t even handle a four-way stop! The first person to stop at the intersection has the right-of-way. If two people reach it at the same time, the person on the right has the right-of-way. It’s not hard to understand, but with lines at all four lanes feeding in, someone comes up to the sign, stops, then goes after just one other car goes through; or it’s their turn and they’re not paying attention. Or any other number of things that shouldn’t go wrong. (Also, I forget the actual law; it might be that you’re not supposed to go until the intersection is clear, but that wastes a ton of time. When it’s your turn, and your path is clear, take it. Don’t wait for someone to complete their full left turn and leave the intersection when it doesn’t interfere with your quick right turn.)

    1. An increasing trend I’ve seen where I live is that when two people reach a 4-way stop at the same time, it’s the driver who doesn’t bother stopping that just takes the right of way.

  9. 1) Paying more attention to a phone than traffic and holding people up at traffic lights.

    2) Passing, pulling in front, then slowing down. And then when you pass them, they speed up and repeat the nonsense.

    3) Blocking a turn lane rather than pulling forward one or two feet.

  10. Since the request was for things that aren’t obviously illegal, like screen staring, drunk driving, brodozing 20mph over the limit through my city neighborhood, etc. I’m going to go with something lighter.

    People who direct traffic. We have a lot of elderly people in my neck of the woods, and they tend to be the worst about driving in an unpredictable manner in an effort to be nice. It’s nice to be nice! But it’s not nice to come to a stop in flowing traffic to let someone take a left out of a parking lot, when traffic in the other direction isn’t going to let them out anyway. When we all just follow the rules, everyone tends to benefit, even the guy who’s stuck trying to take a left out of the Rite Aid. There are a lot of examples of this.

    1. Good one. Just like the “if you’re being passed on the right, you’re in the wrong lane; move right until you’re not” rule of thumb, “let people out on reds, not greens” needs way more adherence.

      1. In a world of bullying brodozers and general American road rage it seems weird to complain about, but it causes it’s own problems.

        I’d like to think that these are people who are certainly considerate in their own way, so it’s worth bringing up in hopes that they’re willing to change. Whereas the person screaming obscenities at me and flipping me off while I make a 3 point turn in a Burger King parking lot, despite their use of the Burger King drive through road as a shortcut to avoid the traffic at the circle being frowned upon, might be a lost cause.

    2. Yeah–this is a pet peeve of mine as well. You are driving–don’t try to be nice, try to be predictable. Certainly there are times and/or situations where that kind of courtesy is appropriate, but just randomly stopping to concede your right of way is dangerous and confusing.

  11. Edge up when the light is red. Turns green, 30 seconds of DUUUHHHHHHH!!!!!

    Also at the first drop of raid the wipers go to ludacris speed!

    1. If I can jump in here, I’m always mystified by the creepers – the people who, when coming to an intersection, stop like 3 car lengths behind the car in front and then proceed to creep forward haltingly by just letting their foot off the brake.

      For drivers of manual transmission vehicles behind them, this is super irritating. Just pull up and stop!

    2. It always seems to be the cars that don’t have any lights on at all that have the wipers going full-blast too. (nodding my head in the direction of Toyota and the “DRL Off” setting)

  12. The brights being on all the time. Daylight? Brights are on. Dusk? Brights are on. Night time? Blinded again.

    And for some damn reason, it’s usually Hondas that have perma high beams.

    1. THIS. You live in Springfield too?

      ALWAYS a Honda, sometimes a Toyota.

      My biggest peeve is that when I’m matching speed to merge on from a ramp, why does the very right lane person IMMEDIATELY slam on the gas so I cut them off?

  13. There are so many, but most of them just come down to people not paying attention to driving. They are on phones, eating food, yelling at children, daydreaming that they have a clue, I don’t know, but they are not actually driving their car with diligence on the same road I am.

    1. I’m more frustrated when I catch myself doing something that I find irritating when others do it than I am when someone else does it.

  14. When trying to merge onto a highway from an entrance ramp that ends within a short distance, it really bums me out when the person behind me puts the pedal to the floor and speeds around me to merge before me, blocking my ability to enter the highway. Like, really? Would it be so hard to let me merge at the same time and, if I’m driving too slow for you or you’re in such a hurry, pass me once we are both safely on the highway?

    1. That all depends on how fast you were going. The on-ramp is meant for you to get up to highway speeds, not 50mph and then up to 70 over the next 1/4 mile. That stuff irritates me to no end.

  15. I get frustrated when people block lanes in traffic. Particularly a lane that is ending, either for construction or just because the lane ends, and people (especially truckers) decide to straddle the lanes. All they’re doing is making the back up behind them longer. It’s been proven to improve traffic to utilize the entire highway, yet these drivers are so selfish that they can’t imagine someone passing them.

  16. Tractor-trailers tailgating on a fairly empty interstate. Especially when I’m in the right lane doing the 65 mph speed limit. I’m not going any faster since I don’t want a speeding ticket. They can wait at a safe distance for the one other car to speed by them before choosing to speed and risk their CDL.

  17. Indicators, be it lack or misuse. That’s such a small thing that’s so easy to automatize in your driving, and it makes such a difference for the flow of traffic and overall road security. I don’t get how people feel safe driving without using their indicators.

    About a week ago I lost my indicators mid-trip in the middle of the night and it was driving me nuts to drive like that. I ended up just using the stalk as if they were working, and drove extra carefully whenever there were cars around me, until suddenly they came back on after about 30km (which I wouldn’t have found out if not using the stalk didn’t disrupt my driving).

    Use your goddman indicators, people.

  18. Complete lack of indicators. People just stab the brakes then suddenly turn. Thanks, I didn’t need to know in advance you were about to slow down in front of me!

    Also, people who cut the corner when turning right. I’m in the UK so sides of the road are reversed. Imagine the situation; I’m approaching a junction as somebody comes from my left and turns into the street I’m in. They come flying around the blind corner taking the racing line and cutting the corner, almost ripping the front off my car. Is it so hard to turn the wheel more than 45 degrees and take the junction properly? What’s worse is how often (multiple times daily) I see people doing this in ginormous SUVs in the residential area I live in. 2-ton monsters flying around blind corners on the wrong side of the road with zero use of indicators. I’m amazed nobody’s flattened their neighbour’s kid yet, or something.

    For those in the US (or other LHD countries) imagine somebody coming from your right, to turn left into the street you’re in.

    Oh, oh. Tailgating also pisses me right off too.
    The latest example; I was on a 70mph dual carriageway (2 lanes each way). I was in the outside lane as I was passing a truck. I was doing 65mph because the car in front me was. This seemed irrelevant to the work van that approached from behind us all at seemingly triple-figure speeds and sat so close behind me all I could see in all 3 mirrors was grille and headlights. They were sitting so high up they could see clean over the top of my car to see that I wasn’t the one holding them up.
    Did I brake-check them? Yes, a little bit. Was that wrong? Yes. Did they back the fuck off? Yes. They did.

    1. I never break check anyone. Too afraid of getting hit (and/or shot). However, if someone is egregiously tailgating, and conditions are right, I will just slowly let off the accelerator. Going 40, 37, 32, 30, 24, 22 … Makes me chuckle.

    2. I don’t brake-check people, because I don’t trust that they’re not going to hit me. However, I will give tailgaters the brake-light check. I just gently tap my foot on the brake pedal enough to turn the brake lights on, but not enough to slow myself down. I’ve found that a simple tap-tap-tap-tap on the pedal will back most tailgaters off, without endangering myself or them. I figure my flashing brake lights communicate “Hey Pal, you’re too close” without being aggressive.

  19. Yay, group driving therapy! Here are some of my daily annoyances, venting them might help me keep what’s left of my sanity. Here we go:

    1) People on foot holding parking spots for someone else. An open invitation for confrontation.

    2) This one is twofold: on one hand, people cutting in front of traffic for a jammed exit sucks big time. On the other hand, if you legitimately miss the tail of traffic for the exit, no one will give you an opening.

    3) Another two parter: people distracted by their phones on a traffic light. This leads to drivers blaring their horns behind anyone (phone or not, since you can’t really see it) the second the light turns green.

    4) Parked cars on bike lanes.

    5) People that stop just way away from the ticket machine, and then try to reach it from their open window, putting half their bodies out. Kinda funny, but grinds exit traffic to a halt.
    5a) People that decide to pay the ticket at the exit.

    6) Bus leaving passengers meters away from the bus stop, in the middle of the traffic lane.

    7) People getting in or out/loading their cars on the side of traffic, with a fully open door, taking up another lane.

    8) TROWING DEBRIS OUT OF THEIR CARS! MANIACS!

    9) Driving on the shoulders of a road during a traffic jam.

    10) Driving like a glacier on an one lane street where people can’t pass you. You have the responsibility of not clogging the way, you cholesterol!

  20. The most egregious example I can think of this past year exemplifies the type of driver that drives me up the wall. This winter, there was maybe 4-5 inches of snow on the road. Some idiot in an F-250 was cutting people off, slowing down, accelerating again, and then drifted multiple times dangerously close to oncoming traffic. He may have been completely hammered but cutting in front of someone then slamming on his brakes makes me think he was just trying to intimidate people.

    Moving past assholes in brodozers (no offense to the people who drive trucks well) I absolutely hate seeing more than one or two cars run a red light when I already have a green. The record this year was about 10 cars entering an intersection to make a left when I already had a green (double left turn lane, but still).

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