Janet CollinsDriving Us to Road Rage
November 17th 2009 05:11
Driver etiquette seems to have gone all by the wayside. There are still a lot of road rules and a lot of road courtesies but they are slowly either disappearing or being totally ignored.
On Channel 7’s Today Tonight Program yesterday, a road expert gave us some of the most annoying habits of drivers that bring out the worst in the rest of us who tend to have some consideration of others who share the road.
A psychologist then summed it up to be a general self-centredness in drivers that can trigger bad behaviour in some of the most considerate and well mannered drivers. They concluded that some people just don’t pay attention to what anyone else is doing and simply don’t care. Others just enjoy the menacing behaviour.
Here are some driver habits that according to the driver expert will nearly always light our fuse:
Late Blinker Indicator:
One of the most annoying habits of drivers is to wait till a light turns green before flicking on the right-hand blinker indicator. By that time a whole queue of cars is usually behind and they can’t move until the car in front turns off the road.
No Thanks Salute:
Whenever someone lets you cross in front of them rather than having to wait or even move from another lane in front of them, it has always been customary to give a kind of “thank you salute” acknowledging the gesture. This has been rapidly vanishing from driving etiquette and our expert thinks it is a shame. I have often wondered how those with tinted windows actually manage this gesture. Maybe we could introduce some sort of gadget similar to what the truckies used to use indicating they were turning.
The Ipod Pedestrian:
It is not only drivers who bring other drivers to boiling point. Pedestrians, particularly those too happy listening to their Ipods who stand in the middle of roads, walk across roads without even looking to see if the road is clear or weaving their way through traffic without a care in the world, will often have many a driver doing more than honking their horns.
Taxi Hazzard Lights:
We all have our pet hates about the driving behaviour of taxi drivers but one habit that goes to the top of the list of our expert is using the hazard lights to stop anywhere to pick up or collect passengers. They stop in No Stopping zones, Bus Lanes, Clearways and seem to think it is OK because they have their hazard lights on.
The Tailgate Tosser:
Don’t you just hate those drivers who drive so close to you that you can’t slow down. Often of course that is the whole point but it is really frustrating and our expert agrees. I always want them to just go past but often they won’t. They just enjoy the scare tactics. Our expert has labelled this menace The Tailgate Tosser.
The Right Lane Robber:
This is one of my favourites, particularly if I am on a freeway and a driver stays in the right lane but wants to drive at a much slower speed than the limit. It is particularly frustrating if the car in front of you in the adjoining lane is driving slowly too and you just can’t get past either one of them.
So those are a few from our “road expert”. I could certainly add a few of my own:
Missing the Green Light:
It is really frustrating when you are in a line of traffic at the lights and the driver of the first car is so busy doing something else, he or she misses the green or only goes through before it turns amber. The rest of us have to wait for another round.
Bravado Pedestrians:
I loathe it when pedestrians walk half way across the road and you don’t know if they are going to stop before you go through or try to race across in front of you. Either way, you need to slow down just to make sure.
Stopped cars in side streets jutting out onto the main road:
Now this one slows down the traffic every time. If a driver is waiting in a side street to drive out into the main road when the coast is clear it makes no sense for him to jut out into the left hand lane and every car has to try to swerve around him. It only slows everyone down.
So there are some driving habits of really bad drivers that make even the experts’ blood boil and I have added a few of my own.
What driving habits make your blood boil? If you have some, add them to the list.
Sourced: Today Tonight – Channel 7
Imaged credit: www.nydailynews.com.au
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Comment by Jason King
Sydney Table
Salty Popcorn
Total Randomness
Comment by Janet Collins
Acceptable Etiquette
The Social Critic
Janet Collins Blog
I think most of these things bring out the worst in placid types like you and me