#3, #4 and #6 are probably my biggest pet peeves. I don't really think of them that way, though, as things that annoy me. I think of them as BIG safety hazards- things that endanger everyone, not things to just be irritated by and shrug off like a peeve implies. Weaving, turning without signalling, and not keeping enough of a following distance are responsible for SO many accidents. If I were to guess the percentage of total accidents attributable to one of these things, I'd say it's the same order of magnitude as the number of alcohol-related accidents.

The turn-signal-on-for-miles entry, #10, should be accompanied, in my opinion, by people who drive with one headlight or taillight broken. When it's a taillight, which happens a LOT, every time you glance up it looks like they're signalling for a turn, which they aren't. If it's a headlight, that's an even bigger safety problem- visibility, mistaking them for a motorcycle, being less sure of which lane they're in or if they're changing lanes, etc. But tons of people drive around with broken taillights. I can sympathize- you just may not notice when one of your taillights goes out. But it's up there with the turn signal peeve- one more unnecesary distraction on the roads.

I'm with you. People who don't merge correctly are so annoying. I had one guy who was probably going atleast as fast as me when he was on the on ramp, and he was in front of me, but for some reason he slowed down, and I was already slowing down a little for him... Grrrr. He totally should have gone in front of me. Once he got on the interstate he kept going really slow, slower than me!
We have a small round-about near my house, so many people come to a stop at it. Just GO people!
I'm surprised people who jump into a lane that's about to end to cut in front of a bunch of people isn't on there.

#2 doesn't bother me, cause I'm very seldom in the left lane. #3 bothers me more than anything. When they stop, I'd like to let the air out of TWO of their tires, and then see what kind of progress they make

#2 has another problem, and it has to do with highways with at least three lanes in either direction: Drivers in the habit of parking themselves in the middle lane, thinking they have "outs" on both sides. But the problem with this is that the caravan of vehicles in the middle lane are inevitably not leaving safe distances with the vehicles ahead, they block drivers in the slow lane who need to pass, and block drivers in the other passing lane who need to get out of the way.


When driving at night, do you give passing transport trucks a little flash of the high-beams to let them know that they're clear to merge back into your lane? I know they appreciate it since sizing up distances by reflected headlights is difficult for them.

hmm... my Dad taught me years ago to turn off your head lights a couple of times quickly to let the truck know they could merge ahead of you. Dont know which is right or if either is wrong.

I would have to say mine are 3,1 and then 4 but most of them are all bad. I used to live in Phoenix AZ and drive to work and almost once a week i would see a driver doing at least one of these, most times many drivers. I passed so many accidents on my way to work i was beginning to wonder if i was going to make it alive! Tailgating just is the most intrusive of the agressive or careless driving traits. When someone tailgates you.......they are now putting you at risk since they are way too close. If you do have to stop or slow down for whatever reason, they are much more likely to hit you.....and then it becomes your problem. I don't let people tailgate me.......if i can help it. I remember a while back some guy was tailgating and i looked back at him with the look of "back off" and soon he knew i wasn't fooling around. It's sad that you have to play this dangerous game with people on the road almost on a daily basis!

That's how the truckers do it--seen it many times. But with so many passenger vehicles now using daytime running lights, it's kinda hard to do, so flashing your brights is the next best thing. Having towed some longer trailers around (no, I know it's not near as big as a semi), I appreciate it when other drivers signal me, or make room when I have to move over.

Kind of a random one but..

How about drivers who ride in front of or follow emergency vehicles? We have traffic signal pre-emption capabilities in most of the surrounding suburbs which uses infra-red and strobe-based actuators to change traffic lights for emergency vehicles. Invariably, we have at least one fruit loop who insists on pulling out in front of me to follow in front and "ride the signals" or follow in my wake too closely to skip through traffic that has pulled over to let us pass. Fortunately, they never seem to realize that there IS a police cruiser often following nearby and such drivers do manage to get their just reward (a ticket) . The number of times I've almost been rear-ended . Or the number of times we've cycled a signal to greena nd the traffic just keeps flying through a red light b/c no one pays attention as much attention to the road as to the kids, Blackberry, Sync, or the numerous other distractions in vehicles today.

Yeah, Mike, that is kind of a random one, specific to you, but around here there's a related corrolary. One thing that always happens after an emergency vehicle goes through is that the traffic lights skip to the next part of the cycle- there's a gap where the ambulence or whatever went through, so people who have been stopped and would have had a green see a really, really long red. They have to wait through an extra cycle of the light (even two if a number of emergency vehicles go by fairly close together).

Some people just do NOT get this. They have all the right reactions to the siren and the lights, they stop, even pull over, but once the ambulence is gone, they act like they can't see the traffic lights and start running red lights because they feel 'entitled' to go after waiting so long, and they end up parking themselves in the middle of the intersection and blocking everyone. This is particularly bad if another emergency vehicle then appears.

Tailgating is just plain wrong and dangerous, and it happens no matter where I am it seems like. I can be doing 10mph over the speed limit and still have some cretin climbing onto my bumper. In my eyes, severe tailgating should be ticketed as reckless driving (and they need to change the name of that charge because it phonetically implies the opposite).

Severe or hazardous driving would almost be the #1 reason why people buy the behemoths they drive on the road. They feel unsafe or acted upon, and they say screw it - argue with this tank! Childish driving also causes accidents, raises in insurance rates, and irritates more people around them into acting like bad drivers.

I have a number of screwy stories, which I might share someday soon, but for now let me share an answer to all the tailgaters of the world. When tailgated wherever I am, I back off from the car in front of me even further - allowing enough time for me AND the tailgater to come to a safe stop. Often, they get even more ticked off at me (whoooopeee) and most go around me and tailgate the guy in front of me. Many times I will also flash my hazards to let them know that they're too close - and some will back off.

It's not a cure, but it will help ease some pain . Drive safely, it does matter to someone besides yourself.