I'm So Mad I Could......

[shawnsmc]

For the first one, merging traffic must yield to oncoming traffic. And the second one that's just messed up. But if you were on a freeway slower traffic must get over to permit passing on the left. Even if you are doing twenty mph over the speed limit and someone is doing thirty over coming up behind you you need to get over to permit passing. Try being a truck driver in the San Francisco bay area and dealing with jerks and ignorent people every day.

[shawnsmc]

So if another driver does not do the speed limit in front of you it upsets you?

Sounds like you have a problem.

The speed limit it the uppermost limit in speed, nowhere does it say anyone has to or needs to travel at that speed.

Next you're going to be upset because the driver in front doesn't travel 5 mph over the limit, which most Patrol Officers let folks get by with.

What really upsets me is when they won't let you get around them. Then when I get tired of them I ride them real hard until they have had enough and finally let me by and usually get the number off the back door and call my boss. I don't care if they want to go slow but no one should force another person to drive at their comfort speed.

[waksupi]

You guys would hate to be behind me. I drive the speed limit, or slightly below. Just to piss off people behind me.
I also do a full stop at stop signs. Boy, does THAT bother people!
By the way, in Montana, citizens get a bit of leeway with the highway patrol. They WILL stop out of staters much quicker for speeding.

[shawnsmc]

I learned when hunting out of state to always take my plates off before heading out in the field. Troopers and wardens seem to be more likely to pull over someone with California plates rather than a vehicle without plates. Works good so far even locals think we are locals. LOL

[fatelk]

So if another driver does not do the speed limit in front of you it upsets you?

I have to agree with shawnsmc; it's usually not the speed that bothers me, but the lack of courtesy. If someone is not comfortable going more than 45 in a 55, then they shouldn't. However, if there are vehicles behind you obviously wanting to go faster, its a bit rude not to slow down and hug the shoulder to let them by when you get a chance. If someone comes up behind me wanting to go faster, I do just that. I don't care; I'd rather have them in front of me than behind me. Go for it, leadfoot.

For the last year I have been driving a lot further to work. For a while it started to really get to me how people drive on the interstate. I think a good 10%+ of drivers have absolutely no business with a driver's license. It would especially tick me off when I was behind a line of traffic passing a truck, and some jerk driver would zoom up past me on the right and cut in. I found myself tailgating the guy in front of me to prevent him, maybe "teach him a lesson". I got out of that pretty quick, realizing how stupid it is.

The purpose of my trip is to get home in one piece. I'm not a cop; deliberately slowing someone down, trying to enforce traffic laws or teach some idiot a lesson is just flat out stupid. If someone's driving drunk or reckless, call it in (I have), but I'm not going to risk my safety on the road.

You're right about the slow thing. Too slow can be as dangerous as too fast. I had a situation on an on-ramp recently similar to yours where the car in front of me nearly caused a pile-up by merging into interstate traffic at about 40mph. I pulled off to the side of the on-ramp to avoid being involved in that.

Just a few hours ago on the way home someone was obliviously driving along in the fast lane, forcing everyone to pass them on the right. I guess they thought that since they were going fast enough they could drive in the PASSING lane as long as they want. I was once riding with an off duty police officer friend of mine, and someone was doing that. He was furious, to the point of tailgating and tapping his horn at them. He didn't seem to have a problem with speeding or tailgating, but he was not going to pass on the right!

[CLAYPOOL]

A cop really looked us over on our first trip to South Dakota on the interstate to dog hunt. We were only doing 65. I guess he though we were up to something. Slowest thing on the road.

[lead-1]

I'm a small town guy and a little over a year I was on the Dan Ryan thru Chicago. WOW, I still have a nervous twitch and I was on the passenger side, lol.

[StrawHat]

When I was in construction, my territory was ocean to ocean, Gulf to Great Lakes. I learned that getting home safely was all I cared about. If the sign read 65 that's what I drove, if the weather permitted it. Don't like it? Too bad.

Chicago, Boston, Miami, Cleveland, D.C., Atlanta, they can all be fun towns through which to drive. Glad I never had to tackle L.A. or San Francisco.

[Bret4207]

Heh, heh, he, ha, ha, ha, HAR! You guys should try dealing with all your complaints for a LIVING! The ONLY person that knows how to drive is YOU and anything else that happens is somebody elses fault. That last part is a 100% guarantee.

Seriously, 75-80% of the people out there on our roads are suffering from a cranial/rectal inversion. It's not that they're idiots, it's just that we don't even think about driving anymore, much less courtesy.

I'll tell you one thing, since I retired and don't drive more than 50-100 miles a month anymore, much less after dark, I've become much more conscious of my driving. In my professional opinion as a 20+ year Trooper- I stink at driving, especially after dark.

[Pigslayer]

In most places driving an excessive amount under the speed limit is considered obstructing traffic and comes with a fine.

I drive on the Washington, D.C. & Baltimore Beltway every day. Been doing it for 35 years. The speed limit says 65mph. When you come out of the "chute" (on ramp) your butt better be on Rock & Roll!! The State Troopers here will pull you over if you're driving too slow. Too slow is too dangerous on those roads. Many people are doing 80mph. As long as traffic is moving smoothly (even though speeding) and no one is making crazy lane changes the Troopers let things alone.
Because when the Red & Blue lights are turned on, traffic slows. Then we got backups & accidents. If you have to drive slower than the rest of the traffic then get in the slow lane & stay there!! Otherwise wait until after rush hour!!

[Pigslayer]

I learned when hunting out of state to always take my plates off before heading out in the field. Troopers and wardens seem to be more likely to pull over someone with California plates rather than a vehicle without plates. Works good so far even locals think we are locals. LOL

Not a good idea in MD. The cops will tow vehicles with no plates.

[Pigslayer]

Heh, heh, he, ha, ha, ha, HAR! You guys should try dealing with all your complaints for a LIVING! The ONLY person that knows how to drive is YOU and anything else that happens is somebody elses fault. That last part is a 100% guarantee.

Seriously, 75-80% of the people out there on our roads are suffering from a cranial/rectal inversion. It's not that they're idiots, it's just that we don't even think about driving anymore, much less courtesy.

I'll tell you one thing, since I retired and don't drive more than 50-100 miles a month anymore, much less after dark, I've become much more conscious of my driving. In my professional opinion as a 20+ year Trooper- I stink at driving, especially after dark.

I'm a good driver . . . always have been. Not bragging . . . just fortunate. I keep my mirrors adjusted & my service truck in good working order. I drive in traffic everyday that would scare the **** out of most people just to think about. I keep my eyes wide open & always keeping tabs on what's in front of me and what's in my mirrors. I have to. Never in my 30+ years on the D.C. & Baltimore beltway have I had an accident. Then it happened. I wasn't on those crowded freeways. I was on I68 West headed for western Maryland. The Dr. had put me on blood pressure medicine that I told her I didn't need. It made my blood pressure drop too low & I blacked out. I left the road and traveled 100 yds and in the course of that 100yds dropped into two shallow ravines & back up out then slammed into a rock embankment at yes . . . over 60mph (that's what the GPS records show). The utility body bolts broke & the body flew off. Both frame rails bent & ripped and the truck went up the embankment 30 ft. Somehow it came back down and rested on it's wheels. I sufferred from a fracture of the cervical spine (C2), a broken sternum, two cracked ribs & four teeth knocked out. I found out that I was in the 2% club. One of the 2% that live & most of them are in a wheel chair. It was the worst break a person could have. Ask Dale Earnhardt or Christopher Reeves.
The prescribing Dr. backpeddled and said that it was due to sleep apnea. I spoke with two Sleep Med lab techs who had had accidents due to sleep apnea. They both said that if that were the case I would have woke up upon leaving the road. I never came too until after the truck came to rest. Sleep apnea my a**!!
I know my body better than anyone else in the world.
Luckily workmen's comp paid all the bills and am pursuing settlement now. Otherwise I would have sued the **** out of that Dr. Oh, she's no longer my Dr..
Sometimes it's not the other drivers that cause accidents!! Thanks Dr. J!!!

[white eagle]

did one like that last night
pulled up behind a pokey driver
when I follow the are tapping their brake
when I could pass they honk at me
like a moron would

[firefly1957]

Some folks on the road just like to tick others off but I think we would all be surprised at how many of our fellow drivers are impaired by drugs and alcohol. When I drove 50 miles each way to work many of the people I worked with that had substance abuse problems drove 5-20 MPH under the limit. I talked to a deputy I knew about why they never pulled over those people driving so slow and he told me 80% of them had no insurance/licence and if he pulled them over he would have to arrest them. He felt unless they had a accident the law was just to harsh for the offence. Do not know if it was right for him to do but a couple years later one of those drivers with no license or insurance nearly killed a man while drunk driving to work at 5 AM and he did not do a full year in jail for it and the union got his job back!

[waksupi]

Something most of us northern drivers have experienced, are the people who have moved in from down south, and don't have a clue about driving on snow and ice. Most don't even know what black ice is. When the roads are bad, the locals are driving about 45 mph, tops. Of course here comes Bubba passing everyone at 70 mph. You usually pass him in a few miles, as he is buried deep in a ditch.

[Echo]

Even though I have mellowed somewhat in old age, I still occasionally wish I was driving a half-track...

[35isit]

I drive 35 miles each way to work each day. 20 miles on 2 lane country roads and the rest on I75. I know where to drive 25 mph and 70 mph on the country roads. My pet peeve is when someone pulls out right in front of me in such a way that I have to slow down to let them out. There usualyy are no cars behind me and they go less than the speed limit. I don't mind them so much going slow but why did they have to pull out in front of me when there were no cars behind me. My other peeve is slow cars in the fast lane of the interstate. Had one pull over the other day and let me pass and then got back in the fast lane doing less than the limit.

[fatelk]

In my professional opinion as a 20+ year Trooper- I stink at driving, especially after dark

That's a good way to be. I know I am not the world's best driver. I get pretty upset at myself when I make a dumb mistake on the road or a close call I could have avoided. After dark and in the rain- I'm one of those slow drivers people don't like. I would hate to drive for a living, and sure wouldn't make it in a big city. That said, never had an accident in my life (so far), only one ticket about 15 years ago (33mph on the edge of a very small town, though I'm sure there were other tickets I didn't get that I really deserved)

[rockrat]

Time I wish I had pieces of Railroad track as bumpers. I live out in the country a bit and when I go into town, I can't count the number of people that drive 30-35 in the 45 zone and get really torqued when I pass them. If you are going to drive slow, do it BEHIND me please. Of course, those that drive 30-35 in the 45, naturally, once it goes to 4 lanes in town, the speed limit has dropped to 35, but then they speed up to 40-45 or so, so they do know where the accelerator is.
Had a fellow in Texas doing 60 in a 65, so I passed him. Next thing I knew he hit about 80, to pass me, then slowed back to 60. This went on for at least 30 miles or so. Finally, we were coming up on a small town that I knew sometimes had an unmarked LEO lurking. I passed the guy in the truck just before a no passing zone for about 1 mile before the town, so the guy waited till we were almost in town, to pass and he was hauling hind end when he did, but didn't slow down when he hit the edge of town. LEO was there and was after him before I made it into town. I just smiled when I passed the truck

[Suo Gan]

How about the old fart that drives 45 MPH until there is a passing lane and then kicks it up to 65 or 70 MPH. Boy, that really gets folks HOT. This is a control thing.