A Couple Driving Pet Peeves

I’ve been on the road a lot over these holidays, and I’ve seen some pretty horrific driving out there. Here are a couple driving pet peeves I have that I’d like to share…

First and foremost – if you are driving and you hear a siren, look around. Find the source. Police, fire, and/or medical units are trying to get to someone who is in critical need of help. GET OUT OF THE WAY! Pull off to the side of the road. The other day, a police unit going code 3 (red lights and sirens) zipped up behind us. I was appalled that I was the only car that moved out of the way. The police car was in the #1 lane (closest to the center island), and an SUV that was ahead of the unit came to a complete stop…in the #1 lane, blocking the police car while cars in the #2 lane continued to speed past, boxing the officer’s vehicle in. Each of these drivers could have been cited under California Penal Code 148: Resisting, Delaying or Obstructing an Officer. The penalty? Up to $1,000 fine and/or a jail term not to exceed 1 year.

California Vehicle Code 22100 allows a person making a left turn at an intersection into “a lane lawfully available to traffic moving in that direction.” So what does that really mean? If you are in a single left turn lane, you can choose any of the lanes you wish on the road you are entering. However, there is a caveat to this. In many intersections with more than one left turn lane, dots will indicate which lane the driver must choose. For example, in Santa Clara at the intersection of Martin and Scott, there are two left turn lanes from westbound Martin to southbound Scott. There are dots in the road that indicate that the car in the #1 (closest to the center divider) lane must turn onto the #1 lane on Scott. The car in the #2 lane on Martin can then chose either the #2 or #3 lanes on Scott. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen near-accidents because the person in the #1 lane turned into the #2 lane, cutting off the other driver.

What are your driving pet peeves?