10 Things I Hate While Driving

Okay, I’m not exactly the driver here. My husband is the one who drives me around town (and even out of town). Why? Well, because he is a good driver. Second, we have a manual car and although, in theory, I can drive a manual car, I’m really more comfortable with an automatic car. However, this doesn’t mean that I just sit back, in queenly fashion and let him do all the work. Whenever we travel for long distances, I make sure I don’t fall asleep (no matter how sleepy I am). Since I know a little bit about driving and road rules and I’m better in knowing directions, I sort of assist him in his driving. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a backseat driver (ask my husband, he’ll tell you exactly the same thing). I just feel that two pairs of eyes and ears are better than one pair.

That said; there’s another thing I share with my husband, and that is our pet peeves when it comes to driving. We often take 4 or 6 – hour long trips to other cities and, boy, do we end up venting our frustration and annoyance during the trip. So, in memory of these times, I compiled the ten things that I (or we) hate while driving. Before I go on, let me just clarify. This is driving on a highway with one to two lanes each side and with no barricade between the opposing lanes. This is not driving on a super-highway or a freeway or an expressway (as we call them here). So on with the 10 things.

Text – or Call – Addicts. Okay, I know we are the texting capital of the world and I find it kind of funny that we are called such. But when I see a car in front or beside us slowing down because the driver is texting or talking to somebody over the phone, I don’t find that quite as funny anymore. I mean, why not just pull over while doing any of these things? It may just save you from an accident or accidentally hitting anything or anybody and may also spare the driver of the car behind you from getting angry at you.

Men (or Women) Walking on the Moon. Not literally, of course. I’m referring to those guys and gals who cross the street unhurriedly, as if they are walking on the moon and there are no incoming cars anywhere. And then when you honk your car’s horn, they’ll just look at you as if saying “Wait! I’m still crossing the street.” Oh man, hurry up! And just a note, these 'pedestrians' are not crossing in the designated crossing lanes (which is legal and which we respect), they are crossing the streets everywhere!

Living Room Extension. Highways here (and I guess anywhere else in the world) have “shoulders” for emergency purposes or for short stops. But sometimes, they’re used for another thing – as a place to hang out a.k.a. living room extension. Several times, we have seen people sitting on the edge of the highway while talking with other people. And that piece of the road was on the other side of a curve with a blind spot! I mean, hello! Don’t you know that is dangerous?

Overtaking…On a Blind Spot! This one happened just recently, like yesterday. Our car was going through a curve and there were two or three cars approaching us from the opposite lane. Then suddenly, on the opposite lane, we saw this bus overtake the last car on the curve, in a blind spot! The #&#@($#$% driver flashed his lights at us to make us slow down. Er, not bloody likely. To avoid the head-on collision, my husband just went through the shoulder (see why number 3 is dangerous?), giving all three vehicles enough space to pass each other by.

Motorcycles, Bicycles…In the Middle of the Street. Technically speaking, the bicycles should not be allowed on a highway but I don’t think we’re really that strict here. So when we go out, we often see bicycles, motorcycles and tricycles (three-wheel vehicle used for transportation around here) along the highway. They’re fine but they have a habit of hogging the whole lane, making it difficult for us to overtake them. It really annoys us especially if we know they know we are just right behind them and waiting to overtake them (if we don’t overtake, it will really, really, really delay us because they are soooooo slooooowwwww).

Intersection Maniacs. There’s this one time, our car was just 200 meters away from an intersection. Again, we’re on a highway, we’re supposed to be in the right-of-way, right? Unfortunately, this pick-up truck driver coming in from the right street didn’t seem to know this. He just came barreling up (the street was inclined) and turned right without even stopping to look if there was an approaching vehicle. Fortunately, we were still a few meters away. A few seconds and there would really be a collision between our vehicles.

Slowpokes. Okay, here’s the deal. We don’t mind seeing a vehicle overtake us. We don’t even mind when the car we want to overtake actually overtakes the car in front (making it not possible for us to overtake at the same time). But sheeesssh, please don’t overtake at a very slow speed. Nothing is too painful to watch as a slow car trying to overtake another slow car. Nothing is too frightening to watch as two cars running side by side (the other is on the opposite lane) and then seeing another car approaching from the other lane!

You Can’t Overtake Me. My husband has this endearing quality of slowing down and giving way when he sees a much-faster vehicle behind us trying to overtake us. I wish every driver is like that, unfortunately, it doesn’t always happen that way. There are drivers who seem to think that they shouldn’t be overtaken by any other car. They speed up, slow down, go left, go right, anything to avoid being overtaken by the car behind them (like ours). And to top it all, our car is faster than theirs! Road courtesy, man, road courtesy.

No signals. In fairness, I seldom see this. But seldom is more than enough. There are just drivers out there who do not bother to signal when they’re going either right or left. And it makes us hopping mad when we are following such a car. It’s good if the road is clear and the space between us is wide enough for braking. What if it’s not?

Late Warning Devices. I don’t know why they call these early warning devices. I mean, they just put the device a few feet away from the vehicle, making it virtually useless in terms of warning the incoming vehicles. And some drivers / vehicles evidently don’t carry these devices. I see some devices made out of branches and leaves! Er, shouldn’t these be called late warning branches/leaves instead?

Well, that’s it for the 10 things that I hate when my husband and I are out driving. There are still a lot more but these are the usual ones we encounter out there. What about you? What sets you off when you’re out driving?

Note: Since I have decided to join the October hubchallenge, this is my first hub for this October =).