What are your biggest driving pet peeves?

[DrivingCrazy]

inspired by the fact I encountered one of mine this morning! What are your biggest pet peeves on the road?

not necessarily something that is breaking the Highway Code etc, but just something irritating! Or something you’d change about the current system!

here’s a few of mine:

Lorries overtaking on a duel carriageway that is uphill, resulting in a huge queue that feels like it lasts ages!

Cyclists on back roads who don’t duck into the passing places to let cars go past

People who drive at 10mph under the speed limit in a 50, but carry on at that speed in a 30!

People who wander aimlessly around a car park with no sense of danger and don’t look for cars moving around

Dogs on long leads right next to the pavement - gives me anxiety that it will run right out into the road

Slightly different tangent but another one is that over 70s should have to sit a very basic driving test each year (not like the one a new driver sits, a much more simple ‘are you safe on main roads’ type test) and it should not be based on a self assessment

Looking forward to hearing what other people hate on the road! Just a bit of fun on a miserable Monday morning :)

The roundabouts with three exits can be a problem - there's one near one of my local parkruns and everyone waits for everyone else. Someone has to be brave and go! It's basically a t-junction.

And a criminal offence but as there are no police around, or they do it themselves, there's bugger all you can do about it.

And that brings me to another peeve - people who block side roads in a queue.

I live in a small remote town and many locals are comically inept at these roundabouts.

I often take right of way because the driver coming from my left is stopped in a trance at his entrance to the roundabout.

When people drive up my a*se when I'm doing the speed limit

When people overtake me as I turn left

When people wave me out of a junction when it's not safe for me to go (e.g. if there's traffic coming up beside them in a lane going in the same direction) so we end up in a stupid unnecessary stand-off. Polite but no common sense.

Basically people who make up their own rules

My Nissan puts its headlights on automatically (it has three sets of lights up front ) but the rear ones are switched on by me .
The car doesn't have the savvy to think "Oh bright sin, don't need lights" or " oh it's dark , I'll put the lights on for her "

99% of the times overtake a car with no rear lights , the headlights are on , driver doesn't twig .

@HootyMcB00b

When people wave me out of a junction when it's not safe for me to go (e.g. if there's traffic coming up beside them in a lane going in the same direction) so we end up in a stupid unnecessary stand-off. Polite but no common sense.

Oh yes! I agree with that. I usually just wave them on as I'm not going to be pressured to go into a risky/unsafe move just to make them feel good about themselves!

Or the ones who are last in the stream/queue of traffic but still stop and make a big deal of letting you go in front of them, when it would have been quicker for everyone for them just to continue and I'd pull in behind them. I think they just want the "glory" of telling you (or their passengers) how kind and considerate they are, when they're the exact opposite.

Drivers who aren’t patient about passing cyclists and don’t give them enough room. How much time do they actually add onto your journey? A few minutes maximum. Imagine it’s your loved on on any bike you need to pass. Full disclosure, I haven’t ridden a bike since 1995.

Depends how long your journey is, how easy it is to overtake, and how many cyclists you have in front of you during the course of your journey.

Well quite. But in nearly 40 years of driving or more being a passenger the length and breadth of the UK I cannot think of a journey that has been delayed more than 10/15 minutes because of someone on a bike. I’d say Ive been inconvenienced more by tractors than cyclists over the years.

This is not what the Highway Code says. Depending on the type of road, jt can very dangerous for a cyclist to hug the kerb. It encourages drivers to squeeze past , and cyclists end up in potholes and debris in the edge of the road. all of which can be seriously dangerous. For these reasons, there are a number of situations where it safer for both cyclists and drivers for the cyclist to be on the middle of the lane.

People who don’t use indicators… they are bloody there for a reason on the back of that people who indicate when they are half way across a lane… the point is to indicate before you start moving asshole…

people who park over other people’s drives… it happens quite a lot with us as we live near a row of shops, even though they have a car park and several bays in front everyone seems to come and park down our road and many times we’ve not been able to get out and then some of them have the audacity to say ‘ oh I’ll move in a minute my wife’s just in the shop”

those who thank you for letting them out even though you didn’t, they’ve just pulled out and almost caused a multi car pile up.

people who do way under the speed limit.

So so so much.

My ultimate all-time petty driving highlight was the day a man in a van honked, flashed his lights at me and revving up behind me and making rude gestures because I gave way (rightly) at a roundabout.
Just as we passed a police car who promptly flashed his blues and twos and pulled him over.... I've never laughed so hard 🤣

Living the dream!

Another one - people who cut the corners as they turn into junctions without checking it's safe to do so first. I've lost track of the number of times I've almost had my bonnet taken off by idiots who do this.

I don't want to be delayed by 15 minutes by anyone else using the roads, but I accept it's one of those things. However, it's never just a couple of minutes on the roads I commute on - and really, if there's a well maintained cycle lane, please use it.

Drivers that don’t indicate and drivers that don’t give way at roundabouts.

1. The current trend for massively bright headlights! One of the new models actually boast that they have 250,000 lights on the front of the car! 250K!
2. People having their fog lights on when there's no fog.
3. People not using designated right turn filter lanes when they are there to be used, and to stop causing jams by just sitting in the main lane when turning right.
4. People crawling along when it's obvious they don't know where they are going. Just pull over, turn off the main drag, sort yourself and your route out and stop pissing off multiple drivers behind you.
5. Loads of others!!!

Drivers who pull out, pull over or even turn without indicating!

Drivers who don't know how to use roundabouts.

Cyclists with no lights at night.

Or stop when the lights are green for them and think they are doing you a favour as a pedestrian waving you across the road. I've even had them beeping me to go! No, it's green for you and red for me - just go!

And then you get the ones who try to run you down when it starts flashing amber while you are driving,

A happy medium please - stop when red and a little leeway as it goes to amber.

And pedestrians who wear black at night and no hi-vis. I really think it should be a legal requirement to wear hi-vis while we are on GMT.

Yes I really dislike it when cyclists don't use well maintained cycle paths. They say it's because they don't want to get held up by families on bikes and don't understand the irony of what they are saying!

The one alongside the A24 in Dorking comes to mind. It's a really fast road and yet the MAMILs won't use the usually empty cycle lane!

And have the cheek to look at you as if you were in the wrong for being there!

And overtake when someone (me) is coming towards them and expect you to disappear because they won't wait a few seconds and I have to slam my brakes on to avoid a head on collision. Even more annoying when there is nothing behind me. That is one scenario when I will lean on the horn even though I hate beeping generally.

Oooh another one - drivers who ignore the obstruction on their side which means they should give way to oncoming cars because those cars have priority, but instead speed up to reach the obstruction first and overtake it, leaving inches to spare between them and the oncoming car.

I agree to a certain extent. I am a cyclist and I get annoyed by people who don't use sensible routes or let traffic pass when it is safe to do so and not massively inconvenient. I was driving behind a guy for miles on the A road between my house and the nearest town yesterday in fact. In my opinion it is quite a dangerous road to cycle on and I always take the back roads which add maybe 5-10 mins to the journey but are far safer and much more pleasant. So I was bemused by this guy's choice of route (and his jersey told me that he was local so I doubt it was a mistake). But the thing that really annoyed me is that there is a massive lay by part way along. If he had pulled in there, all the cars behind him could have passed. He probably wouldn't even needed to have stopped, just free wheeled through the lay by and joined the road again behind us. No, there was no legal obligation on him to do that but it would have been courteous and I would have done it.
However, if you are not a cyclist yourself it is not always obvious why people aren't riding on routes that look good to you. What looks well maintained as you go by in the car may turn out to be covered in glass or thorns from hedge cutting when you get close up. Or like our local cycle path, very uneven due to tree roots. And remember that a small pothole that you might barely notice in the car can have you on the floor if you hit it on a bike. Plus on shared paths the speed differential between a decent cyclist and say a mother pushing a pram or someone walking their dog may be significantly greater than between the same cyclist and a car obeying the speed limit on some roads. And don't get me started on the dangers of retractable dog leads.
A lot of cycle paths are also unlit and quite isolated which is something that particularly lone women need to consider.
Yes, there are some absolute idiots on 2 wheels just as there are on 4, but there are also perfectly good reasons why a cyclist may choose to ride on the road. Personally, if there is a genuinely good traffic free route then that's always my first choice, but they are not common where I live. Otherwise I prefer to ride on quiet roads but sometimes a main road is the place I think is safest.