Monk’s Top 5 Pet Peeves While Driving

A pet peeve is described on Wikipedia as, "a minor annoyance that an individual identifies as particularly annoying to himself, to a greater degree than others may find."

The older I get, the more I'm starting to notice those minor annoyances and it just so happens that most of them bubble up to the surface while I'm driving. That may be because I'm surrounded by my vehicle's silent cab and completely alone with my thoughts at the time, but regardless, stuff bugs the fire out of me when I'm trying to get from point A to point B.

Let me also say that I'm not a reactive driver. By that I mean, If you cut me off, I won't floor it and drive erratically and will not endanger anyone else's life because I took something the wrong way. I'm annoyed, not angry.

Here are 5 of many things that get me fired up behind the wheel:

1. People who take their time hitting the gas when the light turns green. When you're first in line at a red light, you have one job... GO WHEN IT'S TIME TO GO!
2. People who get to the top of the interstate on-ramp going 20-30 miles under the speed limit. The speed limit on most Alabama highways is 65 or 70 so why do some people get to the top of the ramp and join interstate traffic at 45-50 mph? Personally, I'm at 70 miles an hour by the time I get to the top of the ramp. That is, if the slow pokes don't hold me up.
3. Learn what a blinker does. I don't even have to tell you how annoying it is to be stopped at a stop sign, waiting on a car to pass that actually turns at the last minute without putting their blinker on.
4. If you're going to pass someone, pass them quickly. If you're behind someone going slower than you when two lanes are going the same direction, get over to the opposite lane and give it some gas! If you're behind them and only going .0000001 miles faster than them, just let off the gas a bit. There's no need to take 5 miles to pass a car and hold up the faster traffic trying to pass them too. I see this happen most with big rigs on the highway.
5. Turn already! In most cases, there's no need to come to a complete stop to make a turn into a driveway or onto a road if there's no stop sign.

Okay, it's out of my system and I'm over it. Join me next time as I rant about the people who stop traffic in shopping center parking lots while they wait on someone to finish loading bags into their trunk because they're too lazy to walk an extra 500 feet. Thanks for reading.