What's going on, Albuquerque?

Driving Pet Peeves

Here are just a few of mine:

People who keep their headlights on in a drive-thru - @ night
People who are crossing traffic, but don’t use the center left turn lane
People who are in the second turn lane that cut off your line of sight when turning – even though there's clearly a white line marking where you should remain while waiting to turn (specifically heading Eastbound on I-40 from Rio Grande Blvd.)

BACKGROUND:

Anyhow, this morning I was the first car turning left at an intersection where there wasn’t a LEFT TURN signal. When the light turned green, I still sat there. Being the first car to turn, I did NOT edge my way into the intersection.

I don’t like hanging out in the middle of the intersection. There are people who run red lights. And even if it's clear nobody is running the red light, I still stay stopped. BUT, I do pay attention to see the last of the oncoming cars, AND then begin to move slowly into the intersection so that by the time the last car passes, I’m already in motion.

However, the woman behind me clearly didn’t like that I was not the kind of person that sits in the intersection before turning. She was gesticulating madly like a crazed flight attendant for me to move forward.

Okay, I could understand if I didn’t move UNTIL the last car from the oncoming traffic passed why she'd be upset. But really, I’m not sure there is that much difference in saving time. Also, it wasn’t during rush hour where there’s a pile of left turning cars preventing adjacent traffic from continuing to go straight

In fact, I think my method is faster because I’m already in motion rather than having to start from a dead stop while in the intersection, but I could be wrong.

QUESTION:

So, how many of you have a pet peeve about drivers who do not edge out and sit in the middle of the intersection waiting to make that left turn?

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(I'm hoping that this doesn't turn into some kind of venomous exchange of ABQ-drivers-suck, but I'm just curious as to how many people really do get upset at those who just don't want sit out there in the intersection.)

Tags: drving, pet peeves

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Aaron Greenwood on March 7, 2012 at 10:53am

I learned to drive in Massachusetts, particularly in Boston where the only rule is there are no rules until the cops stop you. Pedestrians do not have manners either. They will thread the traffic mid-block with impunity on busy streets like Boylston or Cambridge and with equal impunity the driver of the car will floor it to get by them and not have to slow down for the bipedal interloper. The occasional and completely intoxicated drunk will try his hand meandering mid-block accompanied by the angry sounds of horns. Horns express driver passion all day long and into the night.

My pet peeve in those heady days of youth was the Ohio driver.

Ohio drivers were dangerous, extremely dangerous. I was baffled for years and had to mature emotionally and intellectually enough to understand why. When I did understand this perplexing question the answer came in a flash of insight and intuition. The Ohio driver stopped on yellow. No one expected anyone to stop on a yellow light, while there was still time to get through the intersection. That was damn right irresponsible and confusing to Boston drivers. What was wrong with the Ohio driver? They obeyed the rules of the road. In Boston that made them dangerous.

I learned high speed driving at close quarters in Southern California with its own set of loosely defined rules. Last time in SoCal I forgot you have to get up to speed on the on-ramp in order to merge safely with the "slow lane. You want to be doing 60+ in some parts otherwise you will be waiting a long time for a gap long enough for a slow start. Some call the freeways of California "Carageddon", which is why the driver in compliance with posted speeds is a danger.

My pet peeve in those bright days was the slow driver in the middle lane, they could back up traffic for miles.

Albuquerque is different, not quite Ohio but far away from Boston or LA. I like the slower pace and have adapted to local realities.

My pet peeves here are red light runners, excessive speeding and drunk drivers. Here they are the outliers.

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Permalink Reply by misterhinkydink on March 7, 2012 at 12:49pm

I hate it when drivers turning left don't move into the intersection.

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Permalink Reply by slamwagon on March 7, 2012 at 7:38pm

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Permalink Reply by hettie on March 7, 2012 at 1:33pm

"People who keep their headlights on in a drive-thru"

what, like a restaurant drive-thru? why? and what about cars that have headlights which turn on automatically or are daytime running lights and can't be turned off (an enormous number of vehicles have this "feature")?

that 2nd one, btw, drives me crazy too.

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Permalink Reply by Ron Da Bomb on March 7, 2012 at 2:03pm

Keeping the headlights on in a drive-thru? Really? (not being sarcastic here, just surprised). My car has always-on headlights. I never touch the switch, day or night. Never knew people had issues with headlights in a drive-thru. You learn something new every day!

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Permalink Reply by Kenny on March 7, 2012 at 2:28pm

Can't turn my headlights off. They're "always on" after dark. In the day, the daytime running lights are always on. This feature seemed to really piss off the driver behind me this past Christmas as we drove through Ridgecrest to see the lights. <shrug> Sorry but I can't turn 'em off.

As for left turns, I was taught by a driving instructor here in Albuquerque to pull out into the intersection and wait for traffic to clear. The reason? If you're already in the intersection when the light turns red, you're legal and you can make your turn in that split second after traffic clears and cross traffic is still waiting. Back then, (no, I won't say how many decades ago that was) it was the rare intersection that had a green left arrow and there was no such thing as a red left arrow!

My personal pet peave while driving is impatience. Chill, people!

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Permalink Reply by slamwagon on March 7, 2012 at 7:39pm

Click your parking brake in one notch and the daytime runners might shutoff.

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Permalink Reply by Kenny on March 7, 2012 at 7:54pm

Nope. Although, if the parking brake is set before I start the car, the headlights won't turn on until I release the parking brake. Once the engine is running, the DRL's or the headlights will be on and can't be turned off.

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Permalink Reply by slamwagon on March 8, 2012 at 7:50pm

Well, there's that then. How are you supposed to shoot up the block all stealth-like?

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Permalink Reply by Rich Boucher on March 7, 2012 at 3:55pm

My .02 on this:

I wouldn't choose to pull forward into an intersection just to get a head-start on a left-hand turn, myself, but it doesn't bother me an awful lot if someone else does it. UNLESS I have reason to think the driver ahead of me who is doing this hasn't paid proper attention to the traffic flow and could conceivably have placed me in jeopardy. I think my biggest personal "pet peeve" with respect to Albuquerque and Albuquerque drivers is that very few people here seem to understand then when you are going to turn off of the road you're on, you're meant to be signaling that turn AHEAD of when you make it, and not AS you are making that turn. You actually OWE the other drivers on the road notice of what you are planning on doing. It's just very, very selfish driving and it truly does tick me off. The same thing goes for the plentiful crowd in this city who seem to think they don't need to be signaling a turn AT ALL.

I know I was specific about Albuquerque in the above rant-in-miniature, but I have lived in four major metro areas in life before moving here, and this "confusion" about turn signals is the worst right here in Albuquerque, in my opinion.

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Permalink Reply by Kenny on March 7, 2012 at 4:20pm

I had the pleasure of driving in a city that is as different from any western city as night is from day. I observed two major infractions there. The first, and most dangerous, was pulling out to pass with no regard for oncoming traffic. Head-on collisions were very common. The second thing was people not staying behind the line at a traffic light. One driver would inch forward so as to be in the lead then another driver would inch ahead of the first and so on. Sometimes, the need to be in front was so bad that cross traffic was unable to get through! Those were only two examples.

After that experience, nothing drivers do in any city in the US would surprise me.

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Permalink Reply by Lahjik on March 7, 2012 at 5:50pm

I agree with the whole "Headlights in the drive-thru". It's annoying and dangerous as it interferes with all the people who aren't sitting in line to get their feed-bag on. And in response to all the people who insist that they can't turn their lights off, I've never seen a new vehicle that didn't have an option to manually turn the lights off (and then back on.) It's a lot easier for people to not pay attention and simply drive without thinking but that's no excuse.
So far as major pet-peeve I'd say it has to do with any driver who doesn't pay attention. Whether they're failing to use signals, blocking the passing lane (or not understanding that it is a passing lane altogether), stopping on the end of the entrance ramp (a Texas favorite...) or whatever. You're piloting a couple tonnes of steel at speeds up to ridiculous and you really should be aware of your surroundings, understand your vehicle and its operations and grasp just how much damage you can and will do if you get out of shape.