“I carpooled with a friend along to hopeful share driving duty to a work conference. It was a bad decision. I basically vetoed him driving and it nearly ended a friendship but living was more important.
“This guy had THAT habit of varying their speed a good 25+ on the highway without any context to driving conditions and bad habit sitting in the left lane. So on a 70mph stretch of highway he would ebb and flow from about 60mph to 85mph+ randomly. It was a yoyo effect. Not context to traffic so he would get annoyed if in his 85mph phase he would hit traffic and then get irate at folks tailgating when he was sitting in the left lane with no ambient traffic. He would create dangerous movements all around him.
“But that is not the worst. He would also adjust his driving seat during these spurts. Not just lumbar or tilt, everything. Just yanked the lever on the rail of a manual adjustment. So yeah, just moving the seat back and forth, would then the shift would make him do hard steering movements at highway speeds. Nearly killed us. I basically ended the trip then unless I drove. Of course he did not take that well, because he used to deliver pizzas and was therefore a good driver.”
There are a lot of issues to unpack here, but erratic speeding is never fun for anyone involved. How does someone get into this habit? Why don’t they realize how annoying it is?
Suggested by: futuredoc
“I had a similar experience with one friend... but it was driving a rented a small boat on a fishing trip. While he was taking his turn, he would do stupid shit like get too close to rocks and such. But the final straw was when he said to another friend ‘I can’t see. Move to the other side’.
“Note that this was a small three-person fishing boat. You can’t have all three on one side or the boat will tip.
“Well it almost tipped... but didn’t because I managed to move to the other side at the last second to balance things.
“I yelled at him for being a terrible boat driver and banned him from driving with me in the boat... forever. After that, it was just me and the other friend who would drive.
“Also note that this guy wasn’t the greatest car driver either.... but not as terrible as his boating skills.”
I guess we’ll allow this boat-based expedition an inclusion here. But please remind us never to take a ride off this guy on land or sea!
Suggested by: manwich
“Those who can’t read a map. In an era where GPS is available pretty much anywhere you look, there’s a certain advantage to having an ability to use a map – alternate routes, cool things to see along the way, unexpected detours. Playing navigator while driving sucks. A skilled navigator makes everything awesome.”
Poor map reading is a bugbear I share with this poster. One trip in the Scottish Highlands was nearly derailed by bad navigation that almost stranded us on a treacherous farmer’s path.
Suggested by: Scott Pro (Facebook)
“I was in my early 20's and decided, due to deaths in my family and an unstable mind at the time, to take a solo road trip to western Canada. On the third day as I was leaving Thunder Bay I spotted this rather enormous and intimidating-looking hitch hiker ahead and I thought to myself – there’s no way anyone is going to stop and give this guy a ride – so I did.
“Long story short, about 15 minutes into a 5 hour drive, he informs me, in a thick Quebecois accent, that he’s freshly released from the correctional facility up there. He stiffened up and went silent every time we saw/passed a cop car. We had an awkward conversation about ‘art’ for five minutes until I realized, with his thick accent, that he was talking about Heart, the rock band, not art. I’m still not sure if he was ‘released’ or just left somehow but I do believe he had been incarcerated. I was ready to be murdered and have my car stolen for the whole ride but at the end of it he got out and thanked me for my kindness. Nightmarish at times but I did not get murdered so, ended fine I guess.”
If “I did not get murdered” is the minimum requirements for a good road trip, you have to ask some serious questions about your life choices. I do, however, want to know if these two travel buddies stayed in touch after the journey?
Suggested by: elgordo47
“I once had to go on a trip with a loud eater.”
Say no more.
Suggested by: citricola
“I once drove from New England to a wedding in Wisconsin with a couple who were on their way to an eventual break up. Need I say more?”
Did they break up on the way? Did they break up at the wedding? Did they break up on the journey home? I have so many questions about this story, which sounds like the plot of a trashy rom-com.
Suggested by: decgeek
“People who smoke. Vaping in the car doesn’t bother me but stopping every 1-2 hours for people to get out, smoke, then stink the car up is super annoying.”
If you’re taking a long ride, stopping for cigarette breaks, toilet stops and any other kind of disruptions is not good.
Suggested by: Dominic Di Girolamo (Facebook)
“Hmmm, a college roommate whose car we took from Virginia to Florida for spring break (mostly because it was a soft Buick, which was perfect for a long haul down I95). I did almost say “the I95" just to trigger everyone.
“He wouldn’t let us use the radio or tape deck (this is early 90s), because it would get warm. He was convinced this was wearing out the system. So 15 hours, rationing music for five minutes per half hour.”
Who does this, and why did this driver think his system would wear out if they didn’t follow this strict music rationing?
Suggested by: chicago-craig