I hate it but I have to do it every day. Up until a few weeks ago I had to take one daughter to school and one to work, then drop my Mig off at work, then reverse. Not only did it suck because I hate driving, it’s in a giant old van with no a/c.
Even when I borrow my daughter’s car and it’s nice and cold with a good stereo I hate it. People are so stupid on the road. They take crazy unnecessary chances. They get angry enough to chase you down and start a fight if they feel you’ve cut them off, or heaven forbid you get a wasp in your car and you freak out and swerve a little. And the cops. My GOD the cops freak me out so bad. Even though I’m all legal I’m scared of them. They pulled my daughter over the other day because her out of state drive-out tag looked suspicious. I’m afraid I’ll start stuttering and panicking and they’ll think I’m high on whatever the cool kids are doing and put me in jail, where I won’t have my meds and some scary lady will make me her bitch.
I hate driving in traffic. I like driving on the open road, but sometimes I miss being able to ride around in a car like when I was a kid. If I travel somewhere alone by car, I can’t enjoy the sights all that much because I have to pay attention to the road.
I work 11PM to 7AM. My employer is on a bus line. A bus line runs past a park an easy, level, 3 blocks from home. And it’s all to no avail because bus service to my little 'burb ceases at 7PM.
I really hate “getting right to it” @ 9PM when there’s fresh snow out. Shoveling, windshield scraping,salting, sanding rather than having the leisurely hour and twenty between wakeup and departure for work that I have for most of the year. Gotta jump out of bed, git 'er done, then get behind the wheel @ 10 to drive 14 miles over largely not-yet-plowed streets to make it to work @ 11.
I’d really love to leave the junkers in the unplowed driveway, lace up my tallest boots, and trudge 3 blocks to a bus @ approx 10PM.
I will say this for modern ignition and fuel systems, though; it’s been many years since I “flooded out” a car. My vehicles fire right off in all types of weather even though they stay outdoors. It’s just that the roads I have to operate them on in winter are ill-maintained and I have to share them with idiots.
It’s the long irons on the fairway that I’m not thrilled with.
Seriously, I drive 100 miles to work most days. Sometimes I carpool with a couple of people from the 40 mile point onward, but driving is a relaxing and enjoyable activity for me. I prefer driving alone, that way I get to control the radio, heat, etc. But carpooling has a few additional benefits too.
It is! I probably wouldn’t mind driving nearly so much if I had a robot-controlled car that could do the steering, braking, parking, and paying attention to the road bit for me. Then I could sit back and read.
Exactly. Commuting is horrible. Going from 2 hours/day in a car to a 20 minute bus ride and/or walk changed me, relieved stress I didn’t know I had. I never want to spend time in rush hour traffic.
But “road trip” is one of the greatest phrases in the English language. Last year I took a bunch of mini-vacations that were mostly just driving. Driving around across country with no particular place to go is wonderful.
I don’t mind my morning commute so much–there isn’t that much traffic–but driving home can be a nightmare sometimes.
Ah, but get me off the interstate and on the blue highways and backroads…I am in heaven! I drove PCH yesterday south from Monterey. Apart from a few road boulders that refused to use the turnouts, it was roadtrip nirvana.
Ditto.
I don’t detest driving as much as I did in Colorado (HATED driving in the show) but I still don’t like it, and have a genuine fear of highway driving and accidents.
This is not helped by the constant flow of huge lumber trucks going to and from the local paper mills.
I went on a lot of lengthy family car trips as a child, but did fewer of those with my own kids. Fortunately, the husband usually prefers to be the driver.
I do love looking at scenery, and go on 1-2 hour jaunts, but have no great love of journeying by automobile.
I have absolutely no idea why this isn’t a bigger deal, and people aren’t screaming at The Powers That Be to FORCE changes to driver training and testing.
Luckily, I work 2 miles from home and my SO works 1 mile from home - needless to say, the mileage on our two old cars is very low.
I don’t mind driving - don’t “like it” but don’t mind if it is not too far. When we lived in LA and drove here to Vegas a few times a year, that was about the limit. I cannot sit in a car for over 4 hours without getting really antsy. We once drove from LA to SF and I insisted on spending the night in a motel half way there - just couldn’t stand sitting in a car that long.
Plus, the idea of just getting in a car and driving for no reason? That would be like just getting in a chair and having root canal for the fun of it.
I hear you, Mr. Excellent. I hate driving. I actually hate being driven around in somebody else’s car, too. I like walking and I like public transit. I like people-watching, and I like not having to think while I head to my destination. Unfortunately, where I live (Greater Toronto) a car is pretty much necessary.
This. I drive frequently in and out of Philadelphia during rush hour and next year I’ll be doing that every damn day. I fucking hate it. I hate New Jersey driving, too (that’s where I live.) Bunch of rude assholes acting like all the road signs are polite suggestions rather than, say, laws. And stupid yield signs. Drivers act like ‘‘yield’’ means ‘‘come to a screeching halt’’ at an on-ramp where most cars are going 55mph.
I have so much traffic to deal with that I can’t even really enjoy music or listening to NPR or anything. It’s just background noise, I can’t concentrate on it, because I’ve got to ride my brakes at 25mph while trying to switch lanes while other people are merging into that lane and just thinking about it makes my heart rate spike. I hate the skinny lanes, the shitty parkers, the fact that taxicabs are stopping in front of you every 5 seconds, all the people who stand in the middle of the street waiting for the light to turn rather than waiting on the goddamn curb…
I hate all the stupid fucking cars that can’t wait their turn so they block the entire intersection and it takes three light changes to clear them out. I hate the assholes that honk incessantly at the stupid fucking cars blocking said intersection even though they obviously can’t go anywhere. I hate the people who don’t get into the correct turn lane in the first place so they try to cut into mine and then act like I’m in their way. I hate random angry honking for no reason whatsoever other than, say, the car in front refusing to run a light that’s just turned red. I hate that every single intersection in Philadelphia has different rules of conduct regardless of what the signs say you should do. This turn lane is really a straight lane and this straight lane is really a turn lane and even though there’s no yield sign here, you better fucking yield!
I hate I hate I hate I MOTHERFUCKING HATE commuting.
Where I grew up in Michigan, the speed limit was 70 on the major highways but if you took the backroads (and there were plenty) you could cruise by the wheat fields at 55mph, take those lazy turns in the road, roll to a stop with the windows rolled down and not a car in sight. God it was beautiful.
Driving terrifies me. I am much happier as the passenger. I haven’t been behind a steering wheel for almost four years now and I plan to keep it that way as long as possible.
It’s not practical owning a car in Seoul anyway. We don’t even have a parking space. I’m happy enough riding pillion on the motorcycle (which can be scary at times, but what’s life without a little risk? As long as I just have to sit there!).
If my city had cheap and efficient round-the-clock public transportation (it doesn’t), and if this country had a cheap and efficient rail network (it doesn’t), in all honesty I’d probably ditch my car.