The Chu Forums

My Top 3:

Drivers who travel well below the speed limit in areas with no passing lanes, leading a train of 20-30+ cars for 30+ kilometers without pulling over and letting them pass by. In particular, the road between Keremeos and Princeton as well as between Castlegar and Nelson.

Oncoming truckers who think that just because their cab has passed you that it's ok for them to continue cutting their corner. D@rned near cr@pped myself when I saw those huge tires cheating halfway into my lane heading straight for the hood of my car.

Drivers who don't look right before turning right at intersections, driveways, alleys, etc. I must admit, this one includes me, but after several near misses as a pedestrian on the sidewalk, I'm trying to make a conscious effort to look before turning.

What are yours?

- Driver's who swerve right (into next lane over) before turning left, and vice versa
- Driver's who signal for a left turn after they've stopped to turn left (thereby trapping you behind them)
- (this seems to be happening more often lately... it's happened in front of me 3 times in the past half year) Driver's who have missed going into the left turn, so they stop in the straight through lane and block all traffic behind them to wait to get into the left turn lane (because the left turn lane is full now). It doesn't seem to matter to them that they're blocking all traffic on a green light, because apparently, they REALLY REALLY need to get into that left turn lane no matter what.

oh man i have a lot.

but as of right now my biggest one is people who obliviously drive in your blind spot. even if i have my signal on, they won't speed up or slow down but just sit there in my blind spot. i actually know someone (who i'm related to) who does this on a regular basis lol.

and stop signs. i wish people learned how to use stop signs. first one at the stop sign is the first one to go through the stop sign. i don't care if it's a 4-way, a 3-way, a 2-way or a 2-way with a pedestrian crossing light. a stop sign is a stop sign is a stop sign. that means if i get there first and i'm turning left, but you get there second and are going straight, that still means i get to go first, whether we're at a two way or the adjacent pedestrian light is red. dumbasses.

oh yeah, and bikers. nuff said.

bikers?

like people riding bicycles or motor bikes?

bicycles.

worst. evar.

*shocked* ^o)

Seriously though, cyclists should be taught the rules of road, ie. bike school. The rules should be enforced by the cops (riding on the wrong side of the road is a huge no-no). And motorists should bike to work at least once a year to learn what it's like to be on the other side.

I'm new to cycling (in an urban environment) but I've found that as long as you ride predictably, make your intentions known, ride assertively/boldly (ie take the lane if that's the safest thing to do at the time) and do your best to move out of the way of faster moving traffic as soon as it is possible, most drivers are courteous... if they see you. Maybe that's because they fear us though.

1. crowded sky trains
2. not letting people leave the sky train before they pushing their way onto one.
3. people not coughing into their sleeve.. it's bad enough i am in a cramped enclosed area breathing the same area as you if you're sick, please don't cough in my face to top it off..
4. people who don't take off their backpacks when they board a crowded train.. seriously, they are taking up the space of at least two people.
5. people who purposely hold open the train doors to let their friends in after the doors start to close...

wait this thread isn't about commuting in general... sorry i felt left out.

lol it's not like you don't have a license man.

yeah but to be honest i don't drive enough to really be all that annoyed when driving...

My biggest beef about cyclists is that they expect drivers to give follow the law and give them space, but they themselves don't follow the rules of the road... like they don't stop at stop signs, they ride on the road sometimes but act like pedestrians and use crosswalks (while still mounted) at other times, or they don't signal that they're turning, or they rest at the corner of the curb at an intersection so it blocks drivers from turning right, or they start inching forward into the intersection before the light turns green, or when they ride in groups side by side by side instead of in a single line, or they don't wear helmets, or.... I guess I could go on, but I'll stop there.

As I was driving home yesterday, I remembered a few more peaves about drivers:

- Drivers who leave a whole car-length or more of space in front of them at an intersection. That car length could be the difference of someone behind them being able to get into the left turn lane!
- Drivers who take their sweet time making a left turn at a left turn light. Left turn light time is precious, man!
- Drivers who must speed up and change lanes in front of someone even when it makes more sense to slow down and change lanes behind.

a cyclist not wearing a helmet only really endangers themselves. not sure how it annoys a driver unless they are bald and then glare from their bald head is a visual distraction... lol

I've seen many cyclists blow right through stop signs in a busy four-way stop intersection. I've never seen a car do that before. Maybe a car would go when it's not their turn, but not totally blow through it.. not that I've seen compared to the number of cyclists I've seen do it, at least.

For signalling, it's okay if they're turning right, but when they're turning left it's more of a problem because they don't have brake lights so we can't tell what they want to do if they don't signal. If a car doesn't signal, it's also very annoying, but at least it's not as dangerous.

For inching forward - if the intent was to get out of a blind spot and be seen, that would be okay... but I've seen cyclists inch way into the intersection just so they can get a head start.

Just a disclaimer - This is just based on what I've seen, more than naught of cyclists having done these things... of course, it doesn't mean they all do it.

Yep, I've seen some retarded things too. I'm not trying to get all super defensive or anything. Just trying to shed some light on what it's like to live on the other side. Everybody hates cyclists... motorists and pedestrians!

That said, one of the big things that annoys me about cyclists is having to pass them over and over and over and over. I feel the same way about buses too. Seriously... do you need a bus stop every 100 meters??

Hugest pet peeve by far are RUBBERNECKERS.. how many times have you been sitting in traffic for ages only to learn that there absolutely nothing blocking any lanes, it's just ppl slowing down to check out the flashing lights on the side of the road or something like it's a hot chick flashing her tatas. Drives me craaaaazy.