# Driving pet peeves! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 29, 2012, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-pet-peeves/639224 "2012-10-29T16:51:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CoastalMaineiac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e8c25b/32.png) [@CoastalMaineiac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoastalMaineiac)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-pet-peeves/639224/1 "2012-10-29T16:51:58Z")
Living in Maine, where driver’s ed is not mandatory for anyone over 18, and where it seems the majority of people here learned to drive on farm tractors a hundred years ago, I an come up with a lot of pet peeves! #1. See that red and white upside down triangle at the end of your road? It has the word YIELD written in the middle of it! That means that you enter or cross the other road in such a way that drivers **already on that road won’t have to react**! If that means you wait, YOU WAIT! #2. I know you think you’re entitled to whatever part of the road you want; but that sign that says “SLOWER TRAFFIC KEEP RIGHT” is there specifically for you! It means that you should move your ass over into the right lane to allow anyone behind you to pass. It doesn’t matter if you THINK you’re going fast enough that nobody should want to pass you, if you aren’t passing anyone, move your ass into the right lane and stay there until it ends! #3. I see your face in my rear-view mirror, though because you’re so close, I don’t see your headlights or your license plate because you seem to think that 2 inches is an acceptable following distance. You see number 2 above? Well, I moved over, so either pass me or back the hell off, nimrod! #4. Yield to right only applies at uncontrolled intersections and four-way stops! At a rotary or roundabout, don’t stop at every bloody entrance to let people in! Not only is this a good way to get hit, but it royally screws it up for everyone around! #5. See that little lever next to your steering wheel. That’s called a turn signal. Failure to use that when turning or making a lane change is illegal. It also makes you an asshole! ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-pet-peeves/639224/2 "2012-10-29T16:56:01Z")
I endorse this Pitting. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-pet-peeves/639224/3 "2012-10-29T18:38:26Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I endorse this Pitting. I endorse this endorsement. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-pet-peeves/639224/4 "2012-10-29T18:43:02Z")
I endorse the endorsement of the endorsement. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-pet-peeves/639224/5 "2012-10-29T18:49:12Z")
Endorsement[sup]4[/sup]. ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-pet-peeves/639224/6 "2012-10-29T18:52:47Z")
I make my pet peeves take public transportation. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-pet-peeves/639224/7 "2012-10-29T18:56:28Z")
> [@Hamlet](#): > > I make my pet peeves take public transportation. Yeah. Nothing pisses me off more than having to take them all over the place. One wants to be dropped off at the mall, the other the swimming pool…you just can’t win. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-pet-peeves/639224/8 "2012-10-29T19:08:44Z")
Please people - if you have to have pet peeves, make sure they are spayed or neutered. ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-pet-peeves/639224/9 "2012-10-29T19:14:34Z")
I have only one peef (that’s the singular of peeves, right?) and I keep it indoors. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-pet-peeves/639224/10 "2012-10-29T19:27:09Z")
The yield thing makes me crazy. More and more I see people just pull out onto the road past a yield sign, and then expect cars to let them in. NO. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-pet-peeves/639224/11 "2012-10-29T19:33:48Z")
People using the entrance ramps onto expressways as though they are nice, lazy Sunday jaunts down an empty country lane. :mad: And I swear 8/10 people do this! Fuck! People please! Go the appropriate speeds to merge into traffic! And 30mph ISN’T that speed! ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-pet-peeves/639224/12 "2012-10-29T19:44:11Z")
> [@CoastalMaineiac](#): > > #1. See that red and white upside down triangle at the end of your road? It has the word YIELD written in the middle of it! That means that you enter or cross the other road in such a way that drivers **already on that road won’t have to react**! If that means you wait, YOU WAIT! Wait a minute, wait a minute. I’m confused. Aren’t you the guy who started [the thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=670267) asking why there are so many STOP signs when YIELD signs would work just as well? Doesn’t this answer your question? ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-pet-peeves/639224/13 "2012-10-29T19:44:58Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > People using the entrance ramps onto expressways as though they are nice, lazy Sunday jaunts down an empty country lane. :mad: And I swear 8/10 people do this! Fuck! People please! Go the appropriate speeds to merge into traffic! And 30mph ISN’T that speed! Totally. If you can’t do highway speeds appropriately, you should not be on the highway. There are back roads, old-timer - GET OFF THE HIGHWAY. I was once 5 or 6 cars behind a fellow that merged onto a major interstate route, 10 mph below the posted “recommended speed” and then apparently panicked and came to a complete stop (!!!) in the on-ramp. Thank goodness everyone had good brakes and it was still in doubt for a moment - there was almost a 5 car pileup. It would have served his sorry ass right but for all of the people whose cars would have been damaged (including mine, which is not even a year old yet!) What the hell is wrong with people that they would ever think stopping on the on-ramp is appropriate. When driving, be predictable! ---
**Author:** ![vd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b19c9b/32.png) [@vd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vd)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-pet-peeves/639224/14 "2012-10-29T19:55:22Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > The yield thing makes me crazy. More and more I see people just pull out onto the road past a yield sign, and then expect cars to let them in. NO. > [@Ambivalid](#): > > People using the entrance ramps onto expressways as though they are nice, lazy Sunday jaunts down an empty country lane. :mad: And I swear 8/10 people do this! Fuck! People please! Go the appropriate speeds to merge into traffic! And 30mph ISN’T that speed! Combining these, many people don’t seem to get that there is a difference between a yield and a merge. They don’t have different signs for no reason. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-pet-peeves/639224/15 "2012-10-29T20:14:10Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > The yield thing makes me crazy. More and more I see people just pull out onto the road past a yield sign, and then expect cars to let them in. NO. > [@vd](#): > > Combining these, many people don’t seem to get that there is a difference between a yield and a merge. They don’t have different signs for no reason. I’m running into this (almost literally) some mornings on a local highway - I’m getting off the highway, and you, the drivers getting on, have a Yield sign. That means that I have right-of-way, and you wait until I go by, not you drive right beside me, expecting me to let you in, and you start honking your horn at me. Yes, indeed, be predictable. Better yet, learn the rules of the road and use them while you’re driving. One of my peeves is the people who cut in front of you when you’re the only car on the road, causing you to slow down, then make a left turn right away - you couldn’t have waited the two seconds it would have taken me to pass, then did all your diddling around behind me where it wouldn’t affect me? ---
**Author:** ![CoastalMaineiac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e8c25b/32.png) [@CoastalMaineiac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoastalMaineiac)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-pet-peeves/639224/16 "2012-10-29T20:34:39Z")
> [@vd](#): > > Combining these, many people don’t seem to get that there is a difference between a yield and a merge. They don’t have different signs for no reason. There is a difference; but merging doesn’t prohibit yielding (the person whose nose is behind yields to the guy in front); neither does yielding prohibit merging. A merge sign, to me, means take it in turns. Whoever’s nose is in front has the right of way. A yield sign means it’s on you to merge without getting in the way; the traffic already on the highway doesn’t have to make way for you. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-pet-peeves/639224/17 "2012-10-29T20:46:19Z")
The Crackerjack drivers (so named for where I think they got their licenses if any) in my area tailgate, have no concept of turn signals, and will deliberately cut off every attempted lane change they possibly can, no matter how far back they are from where the other driver wishes to go. ---
**Author:** ![CoastalMaineiac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e8c25b/32.png) [@CoastalMaineiac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoastalMaineiac)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-pet-peeves/639224/18 "2012-10-29T20:54:28Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Wait a minute, wait a minute. I’m confused. Aren’t you the guy who started [the thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=670267) asking why there are so many STOP signs when YIELD signs would work just as well? > > Doesn’t this answer your question? Nothing wrong with any of the yield signs I’m talking about. Driver’s can plainly see that I am coming, and still blow past it. These are the same types of idiots that cut in front of you at stop signs as well. It’s not a matter of signage, but of shitty drivers! ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-pet-peeves/639224/19 "2012-10-29T21:20:21Z")
The long thin pedal on the right is the Accelerator. It makes your car go faster. Please familiarize your self with it’s use. As a guide, the Government has been so incredibly helpful as to post these signs about every 1/2 mile along most roads. These signs instruct you as to the maximum allowable speed. It is extremely rude and inconsiderate to drive more than a few miles over or under this speed. Especially in places where people cannot pass you. When there is more than one lane of traffic going in the same direction, it is generally illegal to position yourself in the leftmost lane at significantly below the this “speed limit”. Although it is true that getting a “ticket” for this is extremely rare, that doesn’t make it any less wrong. ---
**Author:** ![otternell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecc23a/32.png) [@otternell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/otternell)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-pet-peeves/639224/20 "2012-10-29T21:28:10Z")
I gotta tell you I just about cried the other day, as the news “helpfully” had an interview with the IA State Patrol to discuss what is legal and what is not. The ISP trooper said something about you do not have to legally move over to the right. There is no such thing as a “passing lane”, and other comments along those lines. I waited breathlessly for him to add “but its considered common courtesy to keep slow moving traffic to the right” or anything that would salvage his comments. I’m still waiting. Thanks ISP for encouraging the idiots to continue being idiotic. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-pet-peeves/639224.md?page=2)