Posted on 01/23/2008 4:31:12 AM PST by beachn4fun
This is my rant. This is not your rant. You may assist me in my rant. Or you may encourage me in my rant. You may add to my rant. But, do not take over my rant for your own. And, although it may seem petty and illogical to you, I have every right to my rant.
Here is what I want to rant about. American drivers. I’m mad as hell and I ain’t gonna take it no more. p.s. Please don't bother to correct my spelling or grammar. Being mad as hell allows one to mis-spell words and throw correct grammar out of the window.
Now, I’m sure there are worse drivers around the world, however since I do not drive anywhere but in the United States, I can only speak about those I face on the roads everyday.
If you are one of those annoying drivers, listen up:
I know some of you may have just gotten your license. I know some of you may have just come into the United States and are learning our laws. So, here’s some advice for you.
1) Cars in the United States DO have turn signals. They are required to have them. You are suppose to use them to let others know what you intend to do. We know you know what you’re going to do, but we haven’t a clue and a signal would be appreciated.
2) The left lanes are for passing and turning left. I don’t care if you are doing the speed limit or what kind of excuse you have, if you see someone behind you and you’re not turning left or passing anyone, move over and let them pass. If there is no one in the left lane and you just HAVE to drive in the left lane, go ahead until some one else comes up behind you. Then move over. This seems to be the one most people I’ve encountered have a problem understanding. I’m sure the driver’s manual explained it.
3) Now, to those of you left lane drivers who love to hold up traffic by not moving over, let me add that you have no right thinking you can wait until the very last nanosecond to merge all the way over to the right to get your exit. And, there are some of you who may be in the right lane and all of a sudden you see that you are suppose to take the left exit and zoom across multiple lanes without a care of anyone behind you. Listen, here’s a secret…..you can always turn right (or go past the exit) and turn around to get to your exit. It is safer.
4) If I am on a thoroughfare and you are merging, I DO NOT have to yield to you. That little yellow sign on your side of the road? The one with black letters that say YIELD? That means you have to yield. I do not. Having your turn signal on does not mean that I have to yield to you, either.
5) And, this is to you drivers who ARE on the thoroughfare and decide to stop on the highway to allow someone to merge, DON’T. You are lucky you don’t have someone slam into the ass-end of your vehicle.
And, in closing let me say that if you are one of the above……..you are the creator of road rage! Keep that in mind the next time you are doing one of them and if you choose to continue, be prepared for the consequences. Your cooperation to this rules would go a long way in restoring safety to our roads.
That is the end of today's rant. I reserve the right to have future rants.
I feel better now that I got that off my chest!
Now off to work.
Not your right to reserve. Please post this sort of a rant in General/Chat.
Agree with all of it.
Hello there.
LOL at your tagline!
I thought of one thing to add. Do not turn on your turn signal too early and make it look like you are turning before you actually are.
Yeah, that’s another one.
I’ve seen where people have almost pulled out only to find out the car was not really turning.
We had a bad wreck last week here in the small town I live in with that exact scenario. No one was hurt but a car was totaled.
And don’t use your turn signal to let us know what you already did. If you couldn’t bother using your turn signal before you changed lanes, don’t bother using it afterwards.
If you think this is a problem in Maryland, come on down to North Carolina and see how few drivers use the turn signals. Since moving down here 4 years ago from the DC area, I have come to the conclusion that they don't bother using turn signals because "it's no one's damn business". A good excuse when causing an accident by turning left onto a busy street is "they didn't have their blinker on, I thought they were going turn".
A rant template, as it were.
I give you an A.
Oh, I’m sure.
That’s why I say United States cause I know these problems exist just about everywhere. I’d be amazed to learn of any state where the drivers obey all the laws of the road.
Why you are so sweet.
Thank you.
Ain’t that the truth!
This is another good one, but here's a good twist. When I first moved out east, my first residence was in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. Anytime I was coming down ramp to merge onto I-81, the car in front of me would slam on their brakes right at the yield sign. That took some getting used to.
One more...don’t forget to turn your signal OFF! How many people do you see with their signal blinking away? How can they not hear that incessant click..click...click?
Yup, another one.
My new Saturn has a warning tone to remind me if my signal doesn’t cancel itself. Love it!
This is precisely why we need to crack down on illegal immigrants! They don’t follow the rules of the road. Now, building the wall has got to be the first step. That’s what Duncan Hunter was all about. But we also need to get employers into the enforcement business. Illegal immigration has got to be our focus!
I had someone trying to merge off of a side road right beside me. They had their turn signal on but there was a car in front of me and one behind me. Yet, this jerk thought we were suppose to stop for him/her when we’re on a busy highway. Do you think they stopped? NO.
So after pulling in front of the car behind me the a-hole had the nerve to put their headlights on bright.
That’s what made me think to add that one.
Yes, you are trying to hijack my rant.
Something that should be on everyone's pre-boarding check list.
And, may I add: Adjust yer damn headlights! You don’t need to see the tops of the telephone poles.
LOL
That’s a good one too
From Maryland, and you’re complaining about drivers?
Come to FL my friend, you have NO IDEA.
Drive safely! ...magritte :)
Oh, I want to rant too. This will probably be unpopular here. Just because gas costs over $3.00/gallon it does not mean SUV and monster truck drivers have the right to idle through the light when it turns green causing the 15 cars behind them to have to sit through another light cycle. I am sorry your gasoline bill is now more than your mortgage payment. If you can’t afford the gas get a more mileage friendly vehicle or get off the road. I support your right to own whatever vehicle your heart desires but you don’t have the right to shut down traffic by coasting instead of pressing the accelerator.
It’s ok. I did say anyone could add to my rant.
One more to add: people who turn left into the right lane and vice versa. This one drives me crazy because every morning I have to turn right onto a two-lane street, and I always have to sit at the turn because half the fools turning left from the opposite direction swing immediately into the right lane. Since there's no way to predict in advance who the morons are, I have to sit until everyone's made their turn lest I get merged into.
My husband says I am probably one of the only people out there who actually uses the turn signal. To add, thinking of your left lane thing. When a car is driving in the HOV lane or in another lane (that is not the left hand passing lane) instead of riding my bumper, just go around me.
I thought you might like to join the rant.
I think there are just people out there who like to ride bumpers.
My beef, turning lanes, you know, the middle lane often found between the two lanes on a four lane highway, are for TURNING, NOT FOR DRIVING DOWN THEM FOR LONG PERIODS.
People that drive down them pose a risk to people who pull in to turn!
In simple terms, if you are pulling into a center “turn lanes”, don’t advance your vehicle forward more than a few yards.
Nailed it right on the head, hon; I see every one of those types on my commute. That’s not even counting the women putting on makeup, the men shaving, the men with the sports page sprawled all over the steering wheel (while DRIVING, no less), the women who feel the need to turn around and play pattycake with their lil darlings in the backseat, the people of both sexes who are trying to assemble that PowerPoint package while driving and the people of both sexes who just can’t PUT DOWN THE G*DDAMN PHONE AND DRIVE!!! Of course, you and I drive in the Baltimore/Washington area....’nuff said.
Another things that bothers me about Austin drivers is that @#$% thing called a cell phone. They are talking on them in traffic and driving 5 - 10 MPH slower than the other traffic. Saw that yesterday.
I also have a problem when emergency vehicles are coming down the road behind cars. The RUDENESS of the drivers here is unbelievable. They will stay in their lane until the bumper of the PD, FD or EMT is on their bumper and expect someone to let them in. Then, they chase the emergency vehicle since it has created a clear path.
That is just a start. Stay tuned for more later.
PUT DOWN THE G*DDAMN PHONE AND DRIVE!!
This is becoming a major issue. I wonder what they did BEFORE they had cell phone?
do at least the speed limit!!
the roads are fine, driving 80mph down the highway marked at 70mph is not dangerous, that jerk that’s doing 50mph while slowly passing the jerk that’s doing 48mph is dangerous.
and semis, when there’s traffic coming, don’t hog the road! there’s no excuse for a 3 lane highway to be 3 wide with semis doing 55mpg in a 70mph zone.
going fast doesn’t kill, its the jerks going slow that causes the problems.
and one more thing, if you’re on the highway in traffic, please at least give me some curtesy brake lights when you’re slowing down. don’t just downshift 2 gears. if that’s you, the 2500 chevy i was driving about smooshed you’re stupid little vw fox because you slowed down quickly without using your brake lights.
Howdy Arrowhead
The cell phone thingy is getting bad. I see a lot of that here as well. Put a cell phone in the hand of a left-lane driver and you’ve got a road block.
I wish the police would start giving warnings to these people.
The other thing I despise is people who try to blaze through what they think is an empty intersection without stopping and come within a few hairs of t-boning me. I blow the horn at them before I reach the intersection so that they’ll stop, they give me the finger, I don’t care because I didn’t get t-boned!
If it is not foggy, turn your damn fog lights OFF! On a recent 5,000 mile trip this became my #1 pet peeve. We don't need to be blinded by your need to burn all of the lights that you are paying for. And if you add another set of fog lights to your vehicle and burn those too ... you need to be hit upside your head with a 2 x 4.
LOL
I agree with you. My opinion is that if you don’t want to do 80 in a 70, or a 60 in a 50, stay in the FAR right lane with all the other people who want to do 50.
Trying to rewind 8-tracks and cassettes that got tangled in the tape deck?
Worse than that, one driver in each lane of a three lane freeway with a cell phone in their ear. That happened a few weeks ago on the commute home. Traffic was running 40 - - 45 MPH. When we passed the rolling roadblock, there were THREE blockheads in the left, center and second from the right lanes with cell phones stuck in their ears. This area is where there is a fourth lane for exit ramps.
Believe me, a lot of drivers who had been stuck behind the rude cell drivers for the past four or five miles, told them they were #1. There is a law in Texas that allows LEO to pull over drivers who are impeding traffic in the fast lanes. The Travis and Williamson county sheriff DEPTs on motorcycles are starting to pull people over on that stretch of 183 lately.
LOL
ROTFLOL
There’s was that.
Yeah, what’s with these round-abouts?
I always thought there was a law in Maryland that allowed one to get a warning (ticket?) if they were impeding traffic. Just don’t see the police doing it any more.
If it is not foggy, turn your damn fog lights OFF! On a recent 5,000 mile trip this became my #1 pet peeve. We don't need to be blinded by your need to burn all of the lights that you are paying for. And if you add another set of fog lights to your vehicle and burn those too ... you need to be hit upside your head with a 2 x 4.
I have about 15 miles of unlit roads to drive every morning starting at 5:10 AM. The badly adjusted lights bugs me as well - the right one chasing rabbits in the left hand ditch 1/4 mile down the road and the other looking for possums in the trees on the right.
The bright fog lights is also something I don't understand. They DO NOT help in fog as much as people think. They are usually way out of adjustment too. That and those high intensity discharge (HED - the blue or pure white) headlights. There is nothing worse than seeing those coming out of the dark and the IDIOT behind the wheel may dim them when you are almost totally blind.
We had one lesson in the last defensive driving course. Looking into those powerful HED headlights can actually make you partially blind for about 12 minutes. The best thing is to look down and to the right if they don't dim their lights in time.
I haven't spent much time in NC, but I can tell you that the worst place I've been for this is Alabama.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.