Here are my pet peeves when it comes to driving:
Peeve 1: Someone comes up behind me at high speed, usually in the passing lane, then hangs in my blind spot for several seconds or minutes. They eventually speed up again to pass and continue to the next car ahead, where they hang back behind them as well. Rather than trying to make other drivers paranoid, or to glimpse the occupants of the other cars, I think these drivers simply get mesmerized by a vehicle that is close to them. Once they realize they’re not making progress, they speed up to move on, but then get mesmerized by the next vehicle ahead.
Peeve 2: The driver of the car ahead of me decides to pass a slower vehicle ahead of him. He moves into the passing lane, but then lowers his speed instead of passing. Now he hangs there going less than the speed limit and creates a bottle neck. I think this type of person gets so distracted by the process of moving to the passing lane, that he doesn’t realize he has reduced speed. Then he’s too afraid of accelerating back up to the speed limit to continue passing. It makes one wonder though why he pulled out to pass if he then goes slower than the car he’s trying to pass.
Peeve 3: Some drivers make this next move very dangerous for those who follow them. I’m following another driver ahead of me, and we’re both going at normal speed. Unbeknownst to me this driver plans to switch lanes ahead, usually for an exit. He alone knows his intent and he sees a clear exit lane ahead. At the last second he zips over to that lane without slowing. When his vehicle leaves my lane I can see ahead of me: A line of stopped traffic. Luckily I usually keep enough stopping distance between me and the car ahead, but still I must stop hard.
In fact the 2-second or 3-second rule applies to vehicles going the same speed, not to one going full speed and the one ahead being stopped. If that driver were not exiting, he would have slowed down to stop, thus alerting me to stop as well. The least he could have done was slow down to alert me of what’s ahead and then move over to his exit lane. That would be the courteous and considerate thing to do, but he instead chose to think only of himself.
Peeve 4: I’m driving along at normal speed and there’s a vehicle stopped on the shoulder ahead. Invariably the driver thinks he can simply pull onto the roadway again and come up to speed. Apparently he doesn’t realize it takes only a few seconds for a vehicle driving at full speed to cover the distance between us.
Peeve 5: Then there are the drivers that don’t stop at stop signs. This is becoming ever more prevalent, I guess because public schools don’t teach young drivers what the sign means, or they pick up their parent’s bad habits. Some people just have no intention of stopping, and some do the rolling stop. What they don’t realize is the great risk of injury and death they can cause all for saving 2 or 3 seconds of time.