Hagerty Insurance lists the Top 10 Driving Pet Peeves
Hagerty Insurance,arguably best known for their accomodating policies for vintage and competition vehicles, polled its customers to develop a top-10 list of things that tick them off while driving:
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Distracted drivers talking on cell phones
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Slow drivers in the fast lane
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Pushy drivers who tailgate
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Drivers who weave through traffic to gain one or two car lengths
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Obnoxious drivers who speed up to keep you from changing lanes
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Hasty drivers who change lanes without signaling
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'Road Rage'
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Motorcyclists who race down the middle of a lane, between cars
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Women applying makeup and men shaving
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Drivers who leave their turn signal on for miles
While it's nearly impossible to disagree with any of the above, we're surprised that "Road trip partners that insist on stopping at Taco Bell for a half-pound been burrito at the start of a six-hour drive" didn't make the list. Sound off with your own driving pet peeves in 'Comments.'
[Source: Hagerty Insurance]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
MattS 11:12AM (5/07/2006)
OH I have no idea how "people riding their brakes" didn't make the list.
That one drives me crazy to NO end...
m
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bruce 11:23AM (5/07/2006)
1. People who pull up too far in traffic jams, blocking intersections or your ability to use a side road
2. People in tiny, underpowered, POS econoboxes who fly around at high speeds where it's inappropriate. (probably because they know if they slow down it will take them 2 minutes to regain the lost speed)
3. Bored housewives (usually in large SUV's)who clog the roads all day long running make-work errands so their husbands don't catch on that they could go get part-time jobs while the kids are at school.
4. Riders of motorcycles with ridiculously loud "pipes". Typically attired in brand new leathers with their middle aged fat rolls hanging out, in the hope of somehow conveying an image of being "tough" or "wild".
5. Interstate leeches who see your performance car and tailgate you for hundreds of miles in the hope that you get a ticket instead of them, even though you're going just 9 mph over the limit. If you slow to 55, they slow.
6. People who are looking for an address on a 2 lane road who drive at 25mph trying to find the street number for 5 miles. Apparently if they saw it at regular speeds and couldn't slow in time to turn in, and had to turn around to get back to the place, their car would burst into flames or something.
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Devin Lussier 11:37AM (5/07/2006)
Drivers from Florida. People who run red lights. People who don't properly take their right of way. People in obnoxiously large and ugly cars that you can't see around or over and for some reason stay in front of you for miles regardless of how much lane changing you try. People who stop in the E-Pass lane at toll booths. People who skip the tolls. People who drive cars with bits falling off and/or clouds of smoke coming out the back. People who don't shoulder-check. I could go on, but that's all for now...
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Razib Ahmed 11:39AM (5/07/2006)
"Distracted drivers talking on cell phones"
With the number of mobile phones increasing day by day, it is becoming even a bigger problem in all over the world. There should be proper punishment against it and this is perhaps the only way we can stop. Of course, the media must play its part of motivating people not to talk while driving.
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Chris T. 11:42AM (5/07/2006)
90-pound soccer moms driving 300-ton $60,000 SUVs coming into my lane with no warning, no turn signal, no clue. Who then give me a dirty look for blowing my horn at them and flipping them off.
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Kevin 11:51AM (5/07/2006)
hmmm... I do 4 of those 10 things listed... but the other 6 piss me off... is that hypocritical?
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Adrian Pereira 11:58AM (5/07/2006)
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Stretch 12:00PM (5/07/2006)
How abuot the ones that drive really slow when theres a solid line, and then pull over when you get to a passing zone?
Of course I'm gonna pass you, you've been doing 30 in a 55 for the past 20min.
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Juan 12:01PM (5/07/2006)
The people who speed by 20mph or so and still don't signal when changing lanes really irritate me. It's that kind of attitude that nobody else is on the road that causes accidents.
Drivers from New Jersey. I live in a place where we get lots of people from around the country, and while I've never been to the Garden State, every NJ driver I've seen here seems like they just got their learner's permit.
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worldman 12:12PM (5/07/2006)
The perfect "catch-22":
- Slow drivers in the fast lane
- Pushy drivers who tailgate
- Obnoxious drivers who speed up to keep you from changing lanes
Tailgating on the German "autobahn" is a big no no, at least "officially"...but on the other side, people will not move on the right lane if you do not show them (literally) that you want and can drive faster than them (or drive a Porsche, Ferrari, etc...)
Also, headlamp flashing is not allowed...
You can only turn on your "HID" (xenons) or use the turn signal for 2-3 seconds.
So...you drive 200-240km/h, ALONE on the left lane for kilometers!!,...and suddenly, someone with 140km/h comes out to overtake the car in front of him, that goes 120...what can you say??? He could have waited for you to pass (no other cars behind you for kilometers), but no...he would have had to slow down from 140 to 120km/h (uuuu, big braking event). Instead, now you have to brake from 240 down to 120 or less and wait (sometimes the guy in front decides that if now he slowed you down to his speed, he can try and overtake more cars, but still doing 130-140km/h in the "unlimited" speed zone...)
Well, if they signal in time and there is enough space, I brake and I am cool about it...but lately, they just jump in front of you!!!
I do not give a damn that you signal 1 second before you come out on the left lane, doing 140km/h, just 100m or less in front of me, running 200 or more.
I give up more and more to really drive over 200 when overtaking/going by cars...I never know when an idiot, without seeing me, will just change lanes and I will have no room to brake and avoid.
And to conclude: sometimes people are really STUPID!!
I was driving back home, on the autobahn, in a 330d BMW. As I drive on the left lane only when overtaking or going really fast, I found myself somehow blocked behind a slower moving car in the right lane.
So, I turn on the turn signal, judge that the incoming cars are to close to allow me to change lanes without ?straining? the car (i.e. change down to 5th and rev it to 3500rpm or so) or force them to brake, and wait.
Behind me, a "father", driving a minivan, with wife and 3 kids inside. He comes from behind, being also "blocked". He can see my turn signal being on.
What does he do when the road is again free?
He just swings into the left lane, no turn signal, no waiting for the left lane to really clear (the last car going by us was just clearing me...), to be sure that he can overtake the slower car before me.
I could have just punched the throttle, I had the car to do it, but I decided against it. Better wait 20s more and allow the stupid guy to overtake...I was thinking, instead him, about safety...as I was the one driving my family back home.
After less than 1 min, while accelerating really casually, going 160-170, I drove by the "father in hurry"...after 5min, I am at 200 and no sign of him in the mirror.
Why did he do it? I do not know. But in some cases he can encounter a driver inclined to have a road rage access and really tailgate him after this kind of episode.
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md 12:13PM (5/07/2006)
TAILGATERS: If you are tailgating me I will slow down to well under the speed limit so that if/when a person/dog/debris pops up in front of me in the road and I have to slam the brakes, it will minimize damage to my vehicle when you hit me.
People who go straight in turn only lanes: It never fails to happen around here, somebody always does it.
People who have no concept of yielding or right of way.
People who stop before going over all the speed humps that have been installed in the streets. They are designed so that a car can drive at 20-25 mph over them, you don't need to stop and hold up traffic damnit.
When you are trying to parallel park and some asshat pulls up right on your bumper so that you can't back up and turn into the parking spot.
Bike riders who don't obey the rules of the road. You are not special, you don't get to weave in and out of cars in traffic, and yes if there is a stop sign or a red light you must wait. If I have the right of way in a four way intersection I will go, and if you hit me with your bike, it is your fault (and the police have backed me up on this one). I have nothing against bikes on the road, and I in fact ride a lot, but I can't stand those who think they are above traffic laws.
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Sid 12:33PM (5/07/2006)
"Obnoxious drivers who speed up to keep you from changing lanes"
That's the National Sport of Toronto.
And the pastime has to be 'The Roll Ahead'. It's still red and you can tell it won't be green ANYTIME soon, but that doesn't stop the front row from edging forward, almost to a point they are right across the intersection.
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Sam 12:39PM (5/07/2006)
Bicyclists who ride 20 mph under the speed limit on a 2 lane road, forcing me to drive behind them for 20 minutes.
Oh, and BTW: the brand new bike path next to the road was open.
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Kowell 12:46PM (5/07/2006)
Dump people who no longer understand how to work a 4 corner stop on a big intersection.
Dumbass teenagers with old busted honda civics equiped with a shiny can at the end of the muffler to produce more noise and "some are even dumb enough to beleive" increase engine performance even though the rest of the pipes are still factory standard. This last one is a real plague in the Quebec area.
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Chris 12:49PM (5/07/2006)
Drivers from New Orleans. Especially those who are travelling southbound on S. Carrollton and cross the Jefferson Highway in any lane other than the middle (it bottlenecks to one lane immediately on the far side of the intersection). They don't use turn signals either. And I had one guy shadow me for four blocks honking at me continously because I didn't let him in when I was traveling at the speed limit with the right-of-way.
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bud dailey 12:53PM (5/07/2006)
Jerks who pull up beside me in an adjacent lane at a traffic light and continue to rev the engine of their fire dragon as if they were astronauts waiting for the launch signal.Grow up kiddies.
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Tom W 12:53PM (5/07/2006)
People who don't understand the concept of turn signals. Turn signals should be used BEFORE you reach the intersection so the people behind you have time to change lanes.
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Stoneman 1:12PM (5/07/2006)
The only thing that really bugs me is people who do not go the speed limit. The sloths. The old folks. I once was
behind some fool going 30 in a 50 zone. It's infuriating. They are a danger to be driving this slow, and oblivious to everyone else. I wish I had a semi truck. I would have layed hard on the horn to wake 'em up.
Stoneman
http://www.stonemanautoreview.com
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David 1:37PM (5/07/2006)
Everything that's been said and:
Stones in the water; that is people who drive below the limit in the center lane of a three lane interstate in the suburbs of a big town and force cars to pass them on the left and the right; really dangerous stuff.
and:
people, especially drivers in rural areas and many in the South who don't use their turn signals at all so you don't why they're going so slow, slowing down or which direction they might turn in. I had someone creep along looking for an address for three blocks, slow to a crawl and when I pulled out to pass them, turn left in front of me to go into a driveway.
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Cervus 1:46PM (5/07/2006)
A corollary to people driving while talking on cell phone is:
People who don't notice the light has turned green because they're focused on chatting with their friend in Hackinsack.
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