Your worst traffic annoyances

Well, putting up a sign sure will cost more than 50$, in my area alone - which by the way isn't on the list - there must be about 15 signs, i believe it's reasonable to assume that putting up such a sine - in whole - will cost a few hundred euros.

Oh, no. I mean the production of the sign costs $50. Again, since the city is already paying the sign installers whether there's anything to do or not, there is no additional cost to install the signs.

I believe you said they were putting these up in Munich? Well, Munich proper apparently has a population of 2.6 million. Let's assume that only 20% of those people buy a sticker for their cars, that's 520,000 people.

520,000 x 5 Euro = 2.6 million Euro.

Assuming that it takes 1 million Euro to print up ~520,000 stickers and manufacture/install fifteen-odd signs (which it doesn't - not even the most corrupt union state Department Of Transportation would be able to justify that - it costs far less), you still have 1.6 million left over... which goes where? My guess is it goes into the general revenue fund.

It's revenue generation. Congratulations, you got hit with a stealth tax in the guise of environmentalism!

I saw something tonight that royally pissed me off. An Escalade with big bling wheels and no handicap tag was parked over not one, not two, but four handicapped spaces. Seriously, what the fuck what that scumbag thinking? And it's not like it really saved him anything because there were plenty of open spaces just a few feet away. It pains me to think I have to share oxygen with people who pull this kind of crap.

It's simple. The driver was obviously mentally handicapped. :D
 
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Oh, no. I mean the production of the sign costs $50. Again, since the city is already paying the sign installers whether there's anything to do or not, there is no additional cost to install the signs.

I believe you said they were putting these up in Munich? Well, Munich proper apparently has a population of 2.6 million. Let's assume that only 20% of those people buy a sticker for their cars, that's 520,000 people.

520,000 x 5 Euro = 2.6 million Euro.

Assuming that it takes 1 million Euro to print up ~520,000 stickers and manufacture/install fifteen-odd signs (which it doesn't - not even the most corrupt union state Department Of Transportation would be able to justify that - it costs far less), you still have 1.6 million left over... which goes where? My guess is it goes into the general revenue fund.

It's revenue generation. Congratulations, you got hit with a stealth tax in the guise of environmentalism!

I don't live in or near munich, and i'm guessing they will have a lot more than 15 signs there but - a good point well made! i never thought about the actual numbers. However, a few million here or there isn't enough for me to call it a rip-off. Actually, now come to think about it, it fits rather well in the environmental scam that i argue is going on at the moment, but never the less, it isn't - in the longer term - as bad as, say hybrid cars or something like that. having said that, i don't want to start an environmental discussion in this thread, that's for another day.

i sure am hoping that we're not going to move towards a model as is implemented in the UK, where millions of motorists get ripped off based on assumptions.
 
Assuming that it takes 1 million Euro to print up ~520,000 stickers and manufacture/install fifteen-odd signs

Nah, thats 15 odd signs where stefana lives... it's more like 200-500 here.
 
Okay, let's play with the numbers for that, then. Let's assume 500 signs, let's assume 50 Euro to make each sign.

Aside: I have a real honest-to-god City Of Fort Worth "No Parking" sign, which is about the same size and contains about the same amount of text as the depicted German sign, made to the same standards with the same retroreflective materials. It cost me $49 at the Fort Worth City Store. (Yes, some US cities will sell new, real street signs as souvenirs or for decoration. Easier to do that than have people steal them off the poles and then have to replace them.) Adding in the typical European 'everything costs more' percentages plus allowing for currency conversion, I'd say 50 Euro sounds about right.

That's still only 25000 Euro.

Still leaves you with a more than 1.5 million Euro profit, which I am (again) assuming goes straight into general revenue. Like I said, revenue generation, not environmental preservation.
 
Some fucktard trucks carrying... a HOUSE were taking up 2 lanes of the tollway on my way to uni this morning, though it did appear like Eastlink crews were going to pull them over and tell them to gtfo
 
It's a bit stupid to do it during peak time, maybe stuff like that could be done at night? Or towed by a Veyron...
 
UPS / Delivery vans that just park on the side of the road with no regard to where they are. The other day I could BARELY sqeeze by one in my coupe on a tiny but two-way road, and half the time they're at the top of a hill or on a bend so I have to pull out into oncoming traffic without being able to see.

There's a spot on my daily commute where it's not uncommon to find traffic stopped at the bottom of an onramp to an otherwise uncongested highway.

There are several spaces reserved for hybrids on campus, which proves that even technical colleges don't do their research and just buy into the hype. Parking is also very tight; unless it's 8 AM you have about a 50% chance of finding a single spot on or near campus.

Every car is taller than mine.

Construction on the part of the highway I use daily is finally finishing up after 6 YEARS.

Traffic is absolutely guaranteed to be stop and go on said highway in the morning, with or without construction.

There are several roads in the area where I will start bottoming out after about 30 mph.

Worcester.

People reserving parking spots on the street with random trash such as old highchairs.

People who don't stop for you (within reason) when you are standing at the end of a crosswalk (in MA you are legally obliged to).

People who quickly dash out in front of you when you pull over for an Ambulance / emergency vehicle.

Companies that send fullsize 18-wheelers to tight residential areas so they don't have to unload into smaller trucks.

People who think they are invincible because they are in a crosswalk (just because the law says I have to stop doesn't mean I can defy the laws of physics).

Boston (>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Worcester)

Buses or trucks in the middle or fast lane for no reason.

Speed limits that are way too low.

Arrogance (around here comes more often from a ricer than a luxury car)

People who think that just because they drive a beater nobody else cares about their cars.

People who try to use our driveway to turn around... only to discover that 90% of cars can't make it.

People who don't drift into the opposite lane a bit when passing pedestrians with no sidewalk (pavement).

Joggers who are too good for the sidewalk and run NEXT TO it, in the road.

Right-turn-only lanes. There's one street that constantly switches between right and left turn only lanes at each intersection, so unless you know the road you have no idea which lane you should be in until you are close enough to make out the extremely worn markings.

No turn on red signs. If you're turning on red, it is your responsibility to yield to any other traffic.

Lanes that aren't painted straight (the "new" highway has spots where each dash in the line is at a different angle... how the hell do you even do that?) (there's also a spot in the city on a four-lane road where the inside lane suddenly narrows to less than the width of an average car as you hit a 60-degree corner)

Four-way intersections that don't line up.

People who turn off their high beams about 5 seconds after you're blinded by them.

People who go out in 6 inches of snow with one-wheel-drive bangers and wonder why they can't drive in a straight line.

Universities that don't cancel class when there's 6 inches of snow so students have to go out in their one-wheel-drive bangers and wonder why they can't drive in a straight line.

Trucks with an oversize load in the MIDDLE lane, blocking both sides.

Lane merges without warning (several on that infamous highway)

places where it is ambiguous whether there are two lanes or one (there are several roads around town where I still don't know which it is, and judging by their driving neither does anyone else).

What everyone else said.

I'm sure I'll have more later. And for the people who complained about inconsistent speeds, some of us have underpowered automatics with no cruise control on hilly roads ;)
 
People who drive Chrysler Sebrings who make excuses for their poor automotive choices.
 
@thevictor390 very nice list, even though the automatic-excuse shouldn't really count :lol:

here's my addition for today:

Rough translation of a press release:
"Herne-Baukau, western germany (ots) - 29.01.2008, around 13.40h, a local 10 year old boy leaves the Bus that he takes to school. When the 54 year old bus driver drives away*, the boy slips on the curb and lands with his legs right under the bus' back tyre. He is severly harmed and remails in the intesive care unit of the local hospital"

* the original article suggest that there was some time between the boy slipping and his legs being crushed by the bus' pirelli.

This goes beyond annoyance. The bus driver does have special mirrors so that he is able to see all around his vehicle. Why doesn't he take a second to see that boy who was allegedly pounding against the window, joking with his mates who were still inside of the bus. And, allthough that's not a very popular point i assume, why wasn't the boy more careful? I guess the coherence between the people involved making errors and the size of the accident is exponential.

Bus drivers make me mad, as do busses in general.

On a similar note, when i was driving into town the other day, i was cut off by a flaming tram! They seem to think that just because they're on rails, they always have the right of way (when - at lease here - they clearly don't). The rails were in such an angle as to move slowly onto my side of the road, it is clear that in this situation, the tram has to wait until the road is clear.I took the liberty of slowing the tram down massively afterwards as a sort of revenge act, which one could fairly consider an over reaction, but there we are.

I bet if one would investigate the matter, one would find that a significant number of accidents will have something to do with public transport, that's just a guess though. They are always in a hurry, the drive nhnhnhuuuge vehicles and they have little to no visibility on junctions and side turns, as well as a large turnign circle, terrible breaking capacity and people inside are not very well protected.
 
UPS / Delivery vans that just park on the side of the road with no regard to where they are. The other day I could BARELY sqeeze by one in my coupe on a tiny but two-way road, and half the time they're at the top of a hill or on a bend so I have to pull out into oncoming traffic without being able to see.
You reminded me :)
Dumbass drivers who can't get around double parked cars/trucks/vans (I don't mean you, you just reminded me). I was giving a friend a ride and we had to go around a double parked UPS van in front of us there was a moron who was taking forever and a half getting around it on a one way road. Mind you he already put the front of his car between the truck/van and parked cars so it is clear he had the room. Moreover I give him a courtesy honk since obviously I'm behind and can see that he has room. I ended up just laying on my horn for like 2 minute before that moron would get his damn car out of the way. After that I stopped next to the UPS truck (no one was behind) opened the window and yelled "yo, that tard can't drive" the UPS driver got a kick out of that :)
 
People who drive Chrysler Sebrings who make excuses for their poor automotive choices.

People who drive Sebrings and don't know they've been had.
 
What's with all the Sebring hate? I suppose your first car was ideal then. $3k with 54000 miles... this thing could last me 10 years if I wanted it to.

Anyway add the Impala to the Corollas, Buicks, etc. Driving behind one today doing 20 in a 35. At first I thought they lost since they were slowing down, speeding up, slowing down... I've been there so I wasn't too pissed. But when the road changed to 30 down a big hill all of a sudden we're doing 40. There's a traffic light a the bottom too so it's not like they were just coasting for gas mileage.

Hasn't happened to me yet but I've seen it: you signal and stop to indicate you plan on parallel parking in the spot next to you, and of course being a proper driver you go next to the car in front of the space so you can reverse into it. Someone else sees this and swoops into the space before you can reverse, even he can't fully get in it from that direction so he has to reverse out and do what you did anyway. Just selfish.

And of course all of Massachusetts gets bad rep because of big cities like Boston, where unless you drive like a masshole you won't actually get anywhere. You could drive for miles in western MA without seeing another car.

Speaking of western MA, last summer I was out there and every single intersection and bend in the road had a custom sign exactly matching that particular obstacle. I've never seen anything like it. That would have been a great driving road though if it wasn't dark, I mean you can map out your racing line before you even get to the corner!

EDIT: thanks for the rep whoever that was, unfortunately I'm much better at complaining than coming up with meaningful solutions ;)
 
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What's with all the Sebring hate? I suppose your first car was ideal then. $3k with 54000 miles... this thing could last me 10 years if I wanted it to.
Hehe my first car is the current car that I have right now. Only because I live in a place with good public transport and absolutely refused to get a car that I didn't like. Though I understand that not everyone has the luxury/ability to take public transport everywhere before they buy a car. My actual first car, as in one I got to drive on the daily basis was my parents 98 Century, IT SUCKED! I would wish for a Sebring :)
 
What's with all the Sebring hate? I suppose your first car was ideal then. $3k with 54000 miles... this thing could last me 10 years if I wanted it to.

There are SOOO many better choices than a Sebring in almost any price range.

A lot of the Sebring hate is because 1) the Sebring is a ubiquitous rental car so most people have driven one and 2) we know better. They're horrible cars, IMHO. Even the LeBaron they replaced was better. And low miles doesn't mean anything on them as they fall apart quickly.

I'm sorry, but Sebrings are crap. I can and have bought better cars for less money. My former 300ZX Turbo among them - $1200 at auction. My current Series III for another - $800 off eBay. My Pathfinder - $1800 at a dealership.

And from today's Craigslist, from ones I happened to see:

http://dallas.craigslist.org/ftw/cto/853926057.html

http://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/ctd/869137661.html

http://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/cto/867282332.html

http://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/ctd/860796327.html

http://dallas.craigslist.org/mdf/cto/869190522.html

http://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/cto/866476823.html

http://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/ctd/868714547.html

And as for lasting 10 more years? No. Just no. It won't. Wait until you start having the classic Sebring problems, like the horn coming on for no reason while you're driving; you'll love what circuit they have the horn wired into and what you lose if you pull the horn circuit fuse. You'll also love where they put the battery; you have to remove a wheel to get to it, and even after the wheel's off it's a huge PITA. It's like they deliberately designed it to be a nose-heavy cheap to manufacture disposable rental car.... oh.... wait.... they did.
 
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