Jul 20 2006
Pet Peeves - On the Road
Alright. This one’s been a-brewin’ for a while now.
I’m not a world traveller or anything, but I’ve driven in several cities around North America namely Toronto, Montreal, St. John’s, Detroit, New York, Newark, Fredericton, Halifax, Saint John and, of course, Moncton. I’ve seen crazy drivers, particularly in Montreal. However crazy the Montreal drivers were, they seemed to know what they were doing. But nowhere have I seen a consistent level of poor driving than I’ve seen in and around Moncton.
Here’s my list, just to get it off my chest:
- Line-ups at Tim Horton’s drivethrus. Cars blocking roads and blocking neighbouring businesses are common sights all over town from 7:30 to 9:00 am every weekday. Related to this, I hate when I am waiting in the drive-thru line and some knob comes in from a side entrance and Santa Claus in front of me lets him in!
- Traffic circles. No one knows how to alternate the merge on a traffic circle. And those of us who do know hesitate because too many don’t. Also, to get around this, don’t fly through the right hand lane, bypassing everyone who is waiting, and then force-merge in. It’s dangerous! I do it, but I know what I’m at; you don’t.
- Making right turns. If you are driving a Honda Civic, trust me, you don’t need to swerve left before making a right turn. I wouldn’t lie to you. Your imaginary 5th wheel trailer is guaranteed not to hit the curb.
- Yellow lights. I don’t care if you speed up to make it through, or jam on your brake to stop. But when you poke your nose out waiting for a break to make a left turn, don’t freakin’ stay there when the light turns! You are already out there… finish your turn and get outta the friggin’ way.
- Changing lanes. Don’t just check your mirrors… nuff said.
- Lift the lid when you take a leak at work! Those of us who take a dump at work don’t appreciate it.
- Road rage. It’s normally not a good thing to repress you frustrations. But behind the wheel… keep your sneers, comments, and unfriendly gestures to yourself. Remember… you are driving in Moncton, everyone is a shitty driver, including, most likely, yourself.
There’s more… but my fingers are getting tired of typing. It’s your turn… what pisses you off on the road?
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July 20th, 2006 at 9:05 am
I know I’m in the minority about this, but those who don’t obey the speed limit should be shot, which I wrote about on SWT.
Other annoyances:
- Assholes not using the SIGNAL indicator for turning. It’s meant to be a WARNING to other drivers BEFORE you turn. A general rule-of-thumb: put the indicator on before you apply the brake.
- Fucking tailgaters.
July 20th, 2006 at 9:06 am
“- Fucking tailgaters.”
Is that a homophobic comment?
July 20th, 2006 at 9:13 am
Haha. “Fucking” is a adjective in that case, smart-ass.
July 20th, 2006 at 9:41 am
Moncton by far has the worst drivers in Canada. I believe it’s because the driving here is boring. There are 3 main streets, and if you drive long enough on one of those streets, you will get to your destination. Add too many lights and inconsistent light signals and far too many 4 way stops and you are just asking for accidents. I have yet to see a driver get pulled over for running a red light in this city. In Saint John, I was pulled over 3 times for having the light change from yellow to red in the middle of the intersection. In Moncton, drivers consistently run stale red lights. Why? Because there are too many fucking lights!
On Jody’s comment on tailgaters, I find women to be the worst offenders of this. I have also found that they have a heavier foot too. Either their foot is all the way down on the gas, or it’s all the way down on the break. I usually wear a seat belt when a woman is driving not to save me from a car accident, but to stop me from hitting the windshield every time the car, starts and stops.
July 20th, 2006 at 10:09 am
I’m not even a driver and all that bad driving gets to me -I don’t know how many times I’ve been almost hit by someone being stupid and either cutting me off as I cross the road…or just plain looking to the left for a vehicle and not looking directly in front of them for a human.
Most of your commentor traffic must be east coast because nowhere is worse than Vancouver (and I spent three months in France). The driving in Van. is both stupid and angry, here in Ottawa it’s mostly just pushy.
July 20th, 2006 at 5:22 pm
Greg, I was pulled over in moncton because the cop claimed I had run a red light, but it was yellow to the max. Fucking dickhead. He was french too, go figure. I wanted to say to him “where are you when at EVERY FUCKING LIGHT I stop at I see 1-2 french fucks go through the red? I go through a yellow and you pull me over. Cocksucker”. But I didn’t, I just thought about it very loudly. I didn’t get a ticket though cause I dilly-dallied like crazy finding my insurance and registration. Took me 15 mins, but I found it in my wallet!! I guess he got fed up and I got a warning, from an idiot, which I take heed to every time I go through a yellow light.
July 21st, 2006 at 1:24 pm
Heh, I think my husband has me blocked from putting in comments…I can’t get my comments in on anything he has written… What’s up with that…
July 21st, 2006 at 1:27 pm
Heh, my mistake maybe I should have entered my e-mail address…ooops…
My biggest PET Peeve is on the highways in Moncton, you are guaranteed to get a friggin’ slow driver in the fast lane, blocking any chance of you gettin’ ahead…it just grates at me…
July 21st, 2006 at 5:21 pm
Pass in the slow lane and give em the finger as you sail by. Don’t forget to mouth “fuck you” as you do it or they’ll get confused.
I’ve always wondered how many people I’ve flipped off and sworn at like that, who also worked at oao and recognized me. I estimate all of them.
July 21st, 2006 at 6:04 pm
I never look at you speeders and tailgaters giving me the finger, and if I did I’d be laughing.
July 21st, 2006 at 11:18 pm
heheheh that guy in the traffic circle picking up speed in the right lane to bypass the shmuck about to be rearended waiting for his turn to get in…..that’s me. I’d rather risk my life cutting in instead of just sitting there waiting to be a statistic….plus, I know what I’m doing behind that wheel….trust me!
July 22nd, 2006 at 8:20 pm
- People who don’t indicate.
- People who do indicate, but then decide that perhaps they’re not going to turn after all.
- People who do indicate, but only microseconds before they turn.
- People who indicate as or after they turn.
- People who ignore your indicators.
(sensing a theme?!?)
- People who don’t see motorcycles.
- People with no idea or regard for who has priority. example… 4 way stops
- People who pull out in front of you… then slow down!!
July 24th, 2006 at 8:51 am
Shelly, all indications are that this is signalling you have issues with people’s directional intent that are driving you crazy so you don’t know which way to turn.
The people that pull out in front of you and then slow down… grrr… THAT one gets me… especially if they are cutting you off to get into the passing lane.
July 24th, 2006 at 2:01 pm
well i wasn’t going to tell how wonderfull you were out of fear the only part of your head we would see in your picture would be your nose ,you know with the all the swelling and the like . but i have been reading along and figured i should weigh in with something. people who sit in the passing lane like it is their responsibility to assure no one exceeds the posted speed limit, these morons cause more accidents than cell phones,which is another one of my peeves, just chill and listen to the radio.montreal drivers suck too they just do it so fast no one notices
October 19th, 2006 at 1:26 pm
Here’s a news story offering additional proof that Moncton has a high percentage of shitty drivers.
October 20th, 2006 at 8:24 am
And another story of crappy New Brunswick drivers!
December 18th, 2006 at 4:41 pm
Even the RCMP think that Moncton drivers are crazy.
Follow this link.
December 18th, 2006 at 9:53 pm
I don’t know if the Moncton drivers are crazier but just bad. They do have this passive/aggresive nature about them though that drives me nuts. Like the jackasses that block off 2 lanes of traffic so they can make a left turn on Mountain Road. I think that pisses me off the most.
August 29th, 2008 at 1:11 am
Some proof recently published: http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/rss/article/397232
September 4th, 2008 at 11:05 am
I don’t know if that is proof or just an opinion. But I agree with the running of red lights and lack of turn signal use. About 10 years ago in Saint John I was pulled over for running a yellow light and the cop told me it turned red while I was in the intersection. I told him that I didn’t see it that way and that if it did turn red, I was driving under the light and couldn’t see it. He let me off with a warning. I think he let me off more or less because I didn’t admit to doing anything wrong. But the point is, in Saint John, they will pull you over for running a yellow light that is turning red. It’s quite dangerous really. I would routinely see cars running red lights in Moncton well after the light turned red.
http://www.rekounas.org/blog/2007/01/07/merge-does-not-mean-come-to-a-complete-stop/