Tuesday, March 8, 2011

5 Things: Less egregious but fairly annoying driving habits

So everyone gets annoyed while driving.  Road rage exists within us all every now and then.  However I will argue that us folk in Southern California have more right to rage than most of the states.  The mass congestion and overcrowded highways are legendary.  There are a lot of people in the world who just don't understand what traffic congestion is.

So on top of living in Southern California, I also live in Little Saigon.  This basically makes driving at least 5x worst.  I lived in Los Angeles for over 5 years and braved some of the worst traffic ever witnessed by the eyes of men, but I would much prefer bad congestion to bad driving.  It's not the time loss that gets to me, it's the COMPLETELY AND EASILY AVOIDABLE loss of time that pisses me off.  So here are 5 less egregious but fairly annoying driving habits:




5.  Turning Left - Middle lanes are an awesome thing.  Use them.  They're there so you don't slow down traffic trying to make your left turn.  So instead of slowing down in the driving lane then switching over, get in the damn lane first THEN slow down to a crawl you twat.

4.  Turning Right - Similar, but even more annoying than the left turn.  When turning right into one of the many shopping plazas around here, make sure you're all the way in the right turning lane.  "Oh but I am in the right lane." you may say.  No you're not.  You're still blocking the right driving lane.  You see how the right lane is oh... I don't know about 2 times larger than the lane on your left?  It's so you can turn right and NOT slow down traffic behind you as you take your sweet ass time making a turn so your lowered Honda Civic doesn't get a scratch you poser.

3.  Too much buffer -  Around 4pm, this problem will begin to rear it's ugly head.  When the left turn lane is full, lots of times the spillover will block the straight lane next to it.  Half the time though, there is plenty of space in that left turn lane to be had, but thanks to a few less altruistic people who feel the need to have a buffer zone the size of a winnebago in front of them, the lane fills up faster than Kobayashi at a buffet.  Do us a favor and scooch up will ya?

2.  Learning how to three point turn - Three point turns.  Let's examine the most important aspect of this term, the first word.  Three.  T-h-r-e-e.  3.  It should take you THREE fluid motions to make a U-turn for most situations.  In parking lots, you should be able to exit your spot in TWO.  So why do I see people taking 4 point turns!?  I appreciate caution, but when you have another car length behind you as you start your second 'point' of the turn in the parking lot, you need to have your license revoked.


1.  Not using your blinkers properly - And this one tops my list of less egregious but fairly annoying driving habits.  You may be guilty of this as I feel not enough emphasis is put on using them correctly as you'll almost never get pulled over for this.  ANYTIME you are turning, use your damn blinker.  "Oh but why, I'm in the left/right turn lane, isn't it obvious?"  NO you moron.  If we're both turning onto a road from shopping centers on opposite sides at a light, and you don't blink, I have NO IDEA if you are going straight or turning left.  Technically, if you're not blinking I should be able to safely assume that you are going straight, but NOOOOoo.  I will wait for you and see you turn and then I will silently lose 30 secs of my life.


/end rant

1 comment:

  1. Damn, I'm guilty of the middle lane. On coming traffic scares me :(

    ReplyDelete