So I'm driving around for my 2ND TIME and...

[south333]

A lot of wonderful people decide that they are NOT going to give me a break, even though I have a huge yellow sign on the top of my car that says STUDENT DRIVER!! I get CUT OFF by some jerk when I have the right of way, people pass me when your not even SUPPOSED to pass, and a drunk guy walks out in front of my car when I'm turning!!! Its not like I'm ALREADYa little bit weary of driving in real traffic where I can hurt someone or something! WTF??
Is this just a way of "breaking in" new drivers? Or do people just like to be assholes??

[pepperlandgirl]

People just like to be assholes. That's really how people drive. Scary, huh?

[Pammipoo]

You mean those 'student driver' signs AREN'T the same as kick me notes in school? And all this time I thought I was following the rules...

Seriously though, most drivers are assholes. It's the way of life. Once you get used to driving, you'll probably be just as bad as the rest of them.

[Bumbazine]

What's really scary is that a lot of people probably saw the sign and did give you a break.

[matt_mcl]

And this, folks, is why I continue to take the metro.

[Miller]

Tell me about it. I don't drive, and I expect to live another ten years thanks to the stress I've avoided. Of course, those ten years are mostly going to be spent sitting around my house because I can't fuckin' go anywhere...

[Airman Doors, USAF]

You guys crack me up! Stressful? Hah!

The most relaxing times I have are when I drive around with the windows down and the music cranked, smoothly shifting up and down through the gears, feeling the soothing vibrations from the motor..... it sends shivers down my spine just thinking about it.

Of course, I AM one of the assholes you're speaking about, so nuts to you!

Seriously, though, good luck with the driving, man. It can be fun if you let it.

[sk8rixtx]

South, give it about 2 weeks after getting your license. You'll realize that there's no one to enforce everything you learned at Driver's Ed, except the police, but they're never around.

[Piell]

I just finished driver's ed a few weeks ago, and whenever I drove in the driver's ed car, I was tailgated. Every single time. Now, when I drive my car, no one tailgates me. I have come to the conclusion that there is a law that states that if one sees a car with a "Student Driver" sign on it, one must do their best to make sure that the student driver never gets their license.

[Kayeby]

I hate it when I'm driving at (and sometimes over) the speed limit, and drivers overtake me while giving me a " Learners!" look. Drivers are dickheads and even bigger dickheads to Learners - they tailgate, cut off, overtake, fail to indicate, and act obnoxiously in general.

[Cat Whisperer]

Originally posted by Gekiganger
South, give it about 2 weeks after getting your license. You'll realize that there's no one to enforce everything you learned at Driver's Ed, except the police, but they're never around.

Gekiganger, do you actually drive this way? I have to tell you, I've been driving for 18 years now (and boy, am I tired - ba dum pah), and I have never had this thought cross my mind before. Is this how everyone around me is thinking? Cause it sure would explain a lot of the crap that goes on.

[TheLoadedDog]

Originally posted by Piell
I just finished driver's ed a few weeks ago, and whenever I drove in the driver's ed car, I was tailgated. Every single time. Now, when I drive my car, no one tailgates me.

This is a phenomenon I notice with several types of vehicles. When people see a learner driver, truck, delivery van, or any elderly person, they instantly tailgate, then try to overtake at the earliest opportunity - regardless of the other vehicle's speed.

When I used to drive a white delivery van, I would always get some nutter next to me at the lights gunning the motor and waiting to cut in on me. This would happen even if I'd been driving in front of him at 5 - 10km/h above the speed limit for the last few minutes. I can sit on or just below the limit in my own car, and the idiots will be happy to stay behind me.

[kabbes]

Originally posted by Kayeby
I hate it when I'm driving at (and sometimes over) the speed limit, and drivers overtake me while giving me a " Learners!" look. Drivers are dickheads and even bigger dickheads to Learners - they tailgate, cut off, overtake, fail to indicate, and act obnoxiously in general.

Yeehaw! Now that's havin' me some fun!

pan

[TheLoadedDog]

Here's a fun thing to do to idiot drivers...

(I'm in Australia, so bear in mind when reading this that we drive on the left, and generally can't turn on a red light)

Im Sydney, we have a lot of single lane streets which open up to two lanes for a few metres either side of a traffic light. This encourages dickheads in hot cars to try to race at every light they come to. A moron pulls up in the left lane in his V8 dickmachine and starts revving the motor, riding the clutch, and trying to make eye contact with me. Light flips green, and he's off in front of me (and a richer human being for it). At the next set of lights, I'm there in my little 1.6 litre Toyota and I do the last thing he expects. I come up behind him, then suddenly [/i]I[/i] dart into the left lane and give him the treatment (but I don't start indicating left until after I'm next to him, so he can't see it). Massive revving, inching forward on the clutch, laughing at him....

...green light, Mr dickhead can't believe his luck that I'd pit my little Japanese car against his wanktank, and spins his wheels and fishtails through the intersection. I blow him a kiss and slowly and serenely turn into the side street. Man, I love doing that. It really gets to 'em.

[mischievous]

I don't know where you live, but in NYC some lovely people have gotten in the habit of putting "Student Driver" signs on their cars so they can get away with doing stupid, illegal things. I'm talking high-speed u-turns through four lanes of traffic. And when they get honked at, they point out the "Student Driver" sign. Yeah, right.

As for people being jerks to student drivers, there is something to that. If you (the experienced driver) see a confused/out of town/inexperienced/too elderly to see sraight driver in front of you, it is going to make you nervous. You think that they are probably going to do something stupid, and in NYC the car in front of you doing something stupid can easily have repercussions on you. So you go around as soon as possible. I'm not saying it's excusable to cut off or otherwise endanger an inexperienced driver, I'm just saying it is natural for other drivers to stay away from them.

[Captain Amazing]

Well, when I was driving to take my driver's test, I was going into an intersection when somebody ran a red light and just barely missed me in that intersection.

[south333]

Heh, you know whats funny? The MD driver's test doesn't even require you to go out on the road during the test. Its all done in this nice little test area!!

I'm all done driving with the instructor now All I gotta do is get in my 40 hours of driving.