All this week I am driving between Milford, CT and North White Plains, NY as I happily fill in for my boss hosting the midday show (11a-3p) at 107.1 The Peak (www.1071thepeak.com).

If you spend anytime driving you know the myriad of joys it provides.

I decided to take notes. And don’t worry I wasn’t writing, texting or anything else while driving (yes imagine this: I actually drive while not doing anything else!). My notes were taken mentally. And at red lights which I actually stop for.

Monday 8:58am (not a minute after I pulled away from my house): mini-van driven by a woman is coming down a side street perpendicular to me (I had the right of way, as I was on the main road) doesn’t stop and, as a result, cuts me off. I’m sure the driver thought nothing of it; afterall there is no stop sign on the corner so that means ya don’t have to stop, right???

Driver apparently has never heard the term “right of way” let alone “common courtesy”.

Monday 9:07am: still on local roads. Mini-van driven by a man is the lead car at a red light. Green left arrow appears and driver doesn’t move. I blow my horn. Barely get through the intersection as the left arrow turns yellow and vanishes. When I pass the mini-van, driver is looking at his cell phone. He is either texting or dialing but clearly not driving.

Monday 9:17am: now on the Parkway headed south…a whole ten minutes passed without incident! Likely because the traffic is light due to the MLK Jr. holiday…but wait! A silver SUV cuts me off without signaling! Sex of the driver is unknown.

Okay so you get the idea. It’s a 55 mile drive between home and the radio station and stuff just keeps happening. The biggest repeat annoyance that I detect is the lack of directional signals. This is probably my single biggest pet peeve when it comes to driving. I actually use signals when I change lanes. Yup and I use them for a variety of reasons: because it’s the LAW, because it’s safer and I believe the majority of drivers (like me) are NOT mind readers, and because I like to respect my fellow travelers by acknowledging their existence. In other words, I do NOT believe that I am the only one on the road and that the world revolves around ME.

I also like to use my directional signals because it gives me something to do since I’m not texting or talking on a phone when I drive.

Tuesday 9:00am: silver Honda sedan runs a stop sign. Hey, I was far enough away from him/her (again sex of driver unknown) so why would the driver bother stopping for that stop sign? Better to just go full throttle through it.

Tuesday 9:09am: on the Parkway I notice a big hawk (type undetermined…perhaps a Red Tail?) perched above the road on a light pole. I imagine what that hawk must witness below every day and decide to stop taking mental notes.

Besides the lack of directional signals, my other BIG pet peeve when it comes to driving on the two-lane Parkway is drivers who insist on using the left lane for cruising. This ignorance is particularly aggravating when the “cruiser” in the left lane has a line of cars behind it and still doesn’t get the message to move over. I might attribute this to the “cruiser’s” lack of side and rear view mirrors, however those accoutrements are most often present on the cruising vehicle. Wait…maybe the “cruiser” doesn’t know what those reflecting devices are FOR? Nah…I doubt it. Me thinks the “cruiser” is just an idiot.

Another driving pet peeve is a sort of mystical one. It is the “braking for no reason” phenomenon or “BFNR”. This is the driver you are following who has no one in front of him and hits his brakes for no reason. And believe me, I am not a tailgater so the BFNR is not a message for me to back off. In fact I’ve often seen BFNR happening in an adjacent lane to the one in which I am driving. And a related pet peeve: drivers who actually drive WITH A FOOT ON THE BRAKE. Yup, their brake lights are ALWAYS ON. A mechanic’s dream.

On roads there are lines marking the lanes in which to drive. Pretty simple. Yet some drivers can’t seem to fit their vehicles between the lines. In fact, some drivers can’t fit their vehicles on the proper side of the road, driving over the double yellow line. My car fits fine. Even Hummers fit. Your car fits too, trust me. Or buy yourself a smaller vehicle that you can actually drive.

When this little diatribe hits the Shoreline Out and About sight I’ll be getting ready for my Wednesday Adventure in Driving. At least turn signals aren’t a problem when I’m on the radio.

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