In keeping with my monthly tradition of expelling the frustration from pet peeves I experience on a weekly basis, here are my latest observations concerning motorists and the things they do and don’t do that drive me nuts: 1) Four way stop signs and the nincompoops who don’t know when it’s their turn to go. I recall, a million years ago when I took my driver’s test, that when drivers arrive simultaneously at a 4-way stop, we yield to the person on our right. Why is this confusing to so many?

When it happens at my neighborhood intersection, everyone’s so darn polite; they sit waiting for someone to go. But nobody does. Then everyone goes at the same time. So they all stop at the same time. Then we wait again. Just go already!

What I tell myself

I tell ya, I’m tempted to drive the long way around just to avoid that little car dance each time we arrive together at the intersection.

2) People who don’t know how to merge onto the freeway. And let me tell you, there is no shortage of these people. I seriously question how they ever passed their driving test. Someone was asleep at the wheel, so to speak, and I have a sneaking suspicion it wasn’t the student driver.Have you ever been behind someone who stops before merging onto the freeway? If you’ve never had that pleasure, you should come to my neighborhood. There are drivers in my subdivision who enter the freeway going 20 miles an hour, which ticks me off right there, but then before they actually reach the freeway, they completely stop! What’s that  about?I’ve nearly rammed the back of a few drivers from shear surprise. Who expects someone to suddenly brake instead of speed up while merging with cars going 60 miles an hour? Then they’ll gun it and tear off like Jeff Gordon on the home stretch. Merging is not rocket science, people. 3) People who leave their turn signals on while driving. Don’t you just hate that? We’ve all done it, but still, I find it ridiculous that someone could drive for miles and not notice the flashing light on their dash. I guess they never change lanes so have no need to use their blinker again, thereby noticing they never turned it off in the first place.  I encounter one of these vehicles on a weekly basis. I stay back a bit to give them room to move over but they never do. So I quickly zip past, hoping they don’t suddenly decide to change lanes right into my blemish-free 2003 BMW convertible.

4) That brings me to the inconsiderate driver who flung open his or her door, denting my no-longer-blemish-free convertible. I think we all know someone who received their first car dent this way. The person who dented my vehicle had to know it, the dent was so obvious.

My baby

It happened at my tennis club, so was probably someone I know, which  somehow makes it worse. And he or she must have had a hand cramp too because they didn’t even leave a note. I now have a paw-print magnet that covers a dent deep enough to collect water.So those are my pet peeves about vehicles and the people who drive them. Now don’t get me wrong; that’s definitely not my entire list.  Don’t be silly.

I’m going to Tahoe soon and that 3 ½ hour road trip with  subsequent driving around the lake is sure to enlighten me to all kinds of peeves I didn’t even know I had.And lucky you will be the first to hear about them when I return.