Driving makes me very nervous. I've always been this way. I didn't get my license until I was 21. When all my friends were getting theirs at age 16 I was uninterested. I learned the bus schedule, and used it even after I got my license. I didn't want to waste my money on a crappy car, knowing what I would end up with on my waitress salary. I regret that more places don't have good bus service, and that people think the only way to get around is by car. Since there is no bus service in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, where I now live,  I prefer to walk whenever I can. I live in a house convenient to town and work. I walk at least two miles everyday without having to "find the time to exercise" since I have to go to work anyway. I avoid rush-hour traffic jams, and have the pleasure of knowing I'm not adding to the problems of air pollution, global warming, and road rage.

Following are a dozen pet peeves from the staffers AAA New Jersey, according to the January 6 editions Sunday Star-Ledger (Section 2, p. 1). All these types of dangerous drivers are reasons why I prefer to walk, carpool, or take a bus.

• Drivers who don't use their turn signals (This is one of my personal pet peeves as well!)
• SUV drivers who think they're invincible in inclement weather.
• Rubbernecking
• Drivers who use the shoulder to get around traffic
• Drivers who cut in front of you and take up the space you're trying to leave between you and the car in front of you
• Drivers who never turn off their high beams
• Drivers who forget to turn off their blinkers so that you don't know if and when they are going to turn
• Drivers who talk on their cell phones and drive in the fast/passing lanes
• Drivers who go very slow in the fast-passing lane and and refuse to move over to allow others to pass
• Trucks that box you in

The same article cites the following websites about bad driving

www.aboveaveragedriver.com

The Traffic Bitch's homepage

Return to Pam Hayes-Bohanan's Simplify Your Life page.

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Last updated July 29, 2010