Patrick Hasler

I see them all the time ...
1) The people who have no idea how to use a roundabout ..... They get halfway round and stop for some car comming from a side road :curse:
2) They sit in the middle lane when there are 3 lanes each way not even thinking about the vehicle in the right lane that wants to pull out and pass a slower vehicle, they don't move over, they just sit there and hold everyone up.
3) They slow down when they see a cop on the shoulder who is out of his car and giving someone else a ticket :curse::curse: .... FFS ! do they think he is gonna let that person go and chase them instead ? .... He isn;'t even in his car and has no idea how fast they are driving !
4) People who ignore 'Stop here on red' signs :curse: They pull right upto the intersection and in most cases prevent a truck from making the turn ... I just drive right up to them and make them back up .... IDIOTS

In England if you so much as put your wheel over that line you get a ticket for running a red light !

Dan725

I concur, worst drivers in the world.

I think the main reason for it is that they are too busy yacking on the phone, drinking 32oz coffees and eating burgers; Americans spend so much time in the car they feel they have to "Multi-task", as it were.

Other reasons why they are so bad:

- The driving test is not really a test, is it, more of a joke, hence people who would fail the test in Europe can easily get on the road.

- Poor Traffic laws - because they do not do lane discipline, it encourages people to swerve around between cars. Equally, the slow ones who just mong it along in the same lane.....well, they are not doing anything wrong are they? And because they are in the way, it encourages other people to swerve around......and so it goes.

- Zero patience. In this now now now and me me me society, there is an overriding sense of righteousness on American roads (you can call it rudeness, actually) - if people were a bit more tolerant of each other it would be better.

- Drunken Drivers - prolific.

anabella

I agree with everything said so far, they are appaulingly bad drivers.

I find the motorway particularly scary as drivers incorporate from either the left or the right, you have to guess when the accelerating lane is going to end, people cross all lanes of the motorway on foot, bicycles, cars, unexpected traffic lights, poor road signs and markings in general, many drivers find it hard to stay in one lane (they drive automatic cars so all they have to do is hold the steering wheel FFS!).. but what annoys me the most is the bloody left lane drivers :curse: that force me to overtake on the right, they obviously can't read all the signs that say "stay on right lane except to pass"...

anabella

Oh! and walking is just as dangerous since drivers only seem to remember that they are allowed to turn right on red and not to watch out for pedestrians

firtreesix

Why can´t British drive......?

Sorry, but over here in Spain I see British drivers commiting similar offences as they have no concept of driving on the ¨wrong side of the road¨.

However, I think British are better drivers considering the congestion on roads over there and the need for a bit more discipline.

There are idiots on the road everywhere.

cindyabs

Somehow the idea of driving in Korea holds no charm for me.

USBound

American Drivers can't drive because no one teaches them, no one tests them, no one polices their activity unless they crash and ultimately no one really cares provided they get from A to B with only a few close shaves.

my own personal pet peeve is the lane closure behaviour ... sign says the left lane closes 1/2 mile ahead... I'm in the immediate right lane from the closed lane doing 70 normally... within about 500 yards until the lane actually ends a car will ALWAYS accelerate and overtake with barely enough room to get through without hitting me....

recently I've taken to providing warnings... I've requested an scrolling LCD messageboard for the rear of the car as a birthday/xmas present from the wife... she has so far given me strange looks.

cindyabs

Uh, where I grew up we HAD to take a Driver's Education course AND in order to get a license you had to take a driving test, as well as the written test.

trutje

Brits USED to be good drivers, now they're just ignorant, specialy in the South

Duncan Roberts

Just to add to number 3. Why, oh why, do they slow down when they see a cop car on the other side of the highway? It's especially annoying when there is no physical way that they can actually get to your side and you can see them, out of the car, pointing at the traffic on the other side.

As to the lane closures, agree 100%. There is a lot of construction going on outside my office, not highway but there are still lane closures and with 2 sets of lights it gets backed up quite a lot. A 3 lane road is now down to 1 lane and there is a very blatant arrow telling you to get over, and has been for weeks. Yesterday some donkey belts up the outside of everyone waiting to go through and then starts to cut in front of a white van that I'm behind, about 3 feet from the massive arrow. Well the van obviously thinks the car is a dick head because he doesn't let him in at which point the guy in the car is honking his horn and giving the finger, at the same time trying to cut in front of me. Until he gets a blast of my horn. Wankers. I don't mind if people genuinely look like they didn't know and they signal, try to get over early and wait until somebody lets them in, but the people who try to get a jump on the traffic and push in like they own the road can **** off.

USBound

parallel parking...

if I ask my wife (American) to do it I get



she's been driving for 7 years....

cindyabs

I learned in a 40 acre field with two buckets marking the space,

katesbackagain

Here are my driving pet peeves:

The car in front is driving ultra slow anyway, you need to get into the right or left filter lane so you can turn, and they stop for the red light, leaving half a mile of room in between them and the car in front, and you can't fit through the gap to get into the filter lane.

Another slow driving annoyance is when all the lanes are full, you have the slowest driver in the world in front of you and you can't pass them, you approach a light that's turning red, and the slowie suddenly turns into a Grand Prix racer and speeds up to 70mph in 2 seconds, leaving you sitting at the red light and cursing them.

Driving along, minding your own business, and someone pulls out from a side street on the other side, comes over to the intersection you're approaching, and does it awfully fast, leaving you to shat yourself and think that they're not going to stop.

There are bad drivers all over the world, but unfortunately it's more noticable here as it's so crowded.

another bloody yank

Out where I live the medians are grass, no concrete barriers. The cops WILL drive across the median to grab someone if they're going fast enough to make it worth while. Otherwise, I think it's just a natural reaction to slow (or at least check your speed) when you see a cop. There's also the possibility that they are working in concert with other cops further down the road on your side.

This is a pet peeve of mine. I'll let people in if they start trying early, the bastards that shoot down to the end and try to jump in front can sit there with their signal blinking and rot.

As for parallel parking, I grew up in the city. Parallel parking was a way of life. Out in the suburbs, every place has a parking lot so people that grew up there never learned the skill. It's not that difficult when you know how to do it.

another bloody yank

They are just starting to install roundabouts and traffic circles in MO. A good friend of mine is the City Administrator of a town near where I live. There is a deal in progress to bring a giant retailer to the town and the road infrastructure near the location is being redesigned by the MO Dept of Transportation to handle the expected increase in traffic. They are looking at traffic circles (single lane roundabouts) as an option. This will involve giant tractors, combines and other farm equipment, tractor trailers, personal vehicles and Amish buggies all going around this circle thing. I've started calling it the "Meat Grinder" plan, to the consternation of my friend.