These Are The Worst Drivers You've Ever Met

Just after high school (1980’s) I dated a girl who happened to be the first girl I dated who also had a driver’s license. Until then I was always the driver in my relationships. At first, it was an exciting novelty being the passenger but I very quickly came to realize that it was in fact a genuine risk to my life. Let’s see what I remember…she once put the car in drive and then panicked about forgetting something so she just got out and left the car in drive and the door open with me in the passenger seat, rolling across the parking lot. She would regularly drive forgetting to close the trunk. She had three accidents in less than a year, all considered her fault. The third one totaled the car. She once put oil in the washer fluid container (almost forgot about that one). She broke the turn signal stalk off because the blinking bothered her (I kid you not). And despite all this, if you asked her, she thought she was a good driver. Oh and she also shot me but that’s a different story. So, yeah. She was pretty though.

Suggested by: elgordo47

Any one I’ve been in that drives a Truck or a large SUV. I don’t know what it is, but everyone who drives them, for some reason always comes within inches of the car in front’s rear end when stopping. But nah I gotta back up for a second. Before they even stop, they wait till the last minute to begin braking, you can feel the weight shift as I’m shadow braking because the dam thing doesn’t feel like it’ll stop. And they all drive with zero finesse, “Here let me just take this dip at speed because I’m in a hur dur truck”. It’s a scary experience.

Suggested by: darthspartan117

My rich neighbor’s 20-year old son AND daughter. Kids get to drive some expensive cars all the time (especially to school), and they’re always glued to their Snapchat and Instagram accounts. Every other week, they’re getting a car either towed out of their driveway or I see a car damaged / destroyed in some way. An incident that happened in front of me was when I saw the kid driving around a school zone in a shiny new Tesla Model S P9D. He went into a right-hand corner showing off and tried to “drift,” which of course the car did, and I saw him powersliding into a curb, then hitting a street-parked SUV. Some kids are given things that are beyond their control / comprehension, with social media acceptance as an icing on the cake. I’m pretty sure most of the brand new ‘luxury car’ allocations in Michigan are for my neighbor and his kids. Best part, the father refuses to ‘humble down’ his kids and buy them something cheaper / more safer to drive around in. I guess if you got money, you can afford the high insurance premiums, repairs and medical bills.

Note: This kid now wants to get a 1000CC SuperSport motorcycle as his “starter” bike

Suggested by: Da Car Guru - 15,000 RPM daily driver

My sister:

-Totaled our pristine Toyota Previa that’s been in our family for 30 years. She did not know that ABS was not featured on the van and skidded in to a car because she wasn’t paying attention. I was suppose to inherit that Previa when I turned 16...

-Made contact with another vehicle in heavily congested Chicago traffic

-Drove in to oncoming traffic to go around two vehicle that were “not driving fast enough

-Blew an engine in her brand new 2006 Toyota Corolla because she “didn’t know oil changes were needed for ALL vehicles, just old ones.”

-Was kicked off our family insurance for having too many claims. “Drivers excluded: [my sister]

Suggested by: i86hotdogs

Childhood friend’s sister - she was 16, we were... 14? She drove us to Downtown (10 miles) the first time I drove with her.

Changed lanes 5 times without signalling (or looking). Ran one red light.

Came up on a major merge (2 lanes into 5) on the interstate, said “I hate this merge, let me know when it’s clear” - then ~closed her eyes~ and floored it.

We somehow survived. She killed the minivan 3 months later by driving it without oil (I thought the red light was pretty). She killed the follow on car for the same reason (but the light looked different on this one!), and then a THIRD for coolant (it was still a different light!).

Suggested by: Lopoetve

It’s actually a toss-up between my brother and sister-in-law for very different reasons. My brother-in-law drives like a maniac by driving erratically, speeding and shooting gaps in heavy traffic, and generally just assuming others will give in and let him rule the road. He also has a history of wrecking cars (at least two by my count) because of his driving and even fell asleep at a traffic light and rear ended another vehicle with his kids and older parents in the car. We visited them when my niece was born and he insisted on driving when we needed to pick up some supplies at Home Depot for a home project. He was in a particularly manic mood that day and I feared for my live with the way he was driving (and I have a pretty thick skin for that kind of thing). That was eight years ago and the last time I was a passenger in his vehicle.

My sister-in-law, although a very smart and talented doctor, somehow lacks the eye-hand coordination, spatial awareness, and anticipatory skills required to operate a motor vehicle. She is very timid, hesitates at intersections, has an inability to improvise when conditions change and/or obstacles present themselves, and is one of those people who will go all the way to the left of the road to make a right turn. What really did me in was when she came to visit with our niece and my wife was along for the ride. She somehow got stuck on train tracks, in between the gates, when a light rail was rolling through and fortunately it stopped but she forced the train and all the vehicles at the intersection to wait until she could pull forward. I told my wife from then on, we were not allowed to ride with her anymore.

I hope having kids has made both of them safer, more responsible drivers but I will never know because I just can’t get in a car with either of them.

Suggested by: oddseth

We don’t have chaotic demon drivers around here so much as we have the complete opposite - utterly oblivious olds who are in a near-constant state of sheer terror any time they’re on the road.

I recall being pulled out in front of on a 55-mph country road by one of their ilk and coming within feet of a wreck. They stopped and turned left about 50 feet later, in response to which I laid on the horn. That caused them to come to a complete stop in the oncoming lane they were turning left against directly in front of another car who also had to slam on the brakes. This all occurred in the span of about 15 seconds and similar stuff happens almost every day.

Suggested by: The NSX Was Only In Development For 4 Years

One of my closest friends has horrendous road rage issues. Everything must be a race and he has to be first. He will speed, cut across three lanes of traffic, then brake check someone because they didn’t yield to him immediately. He’s totaled 3 cars due to angry driving as well as accumulated several speeding tickets along with his license being suspended twice. Almost cost him my friendship more than once.

Sad part is, outside of being in a car, he’s the most honest, loyal and outgoing friend I could ask for. Put him behind the wheel and it’s Mr. Hyde. I haven’t let him drive me anywhere in about 6 years. Hopefully with a kid due in November he’ll calm down.

Suggested by: FijiST

I go to UPitt Main campus for college, so if anyone is familiar with the area around it, you know all of the one way roads around the campus. I am not talking about dinky roads that can barely fit a car, these roads are 4 lanes wide. Anyways, Fifth Ave is one way, but there’s a bus lane with buses travelling the other way. It can be a bit confusing but you figure it out pretty fast if you pay attention to the signs.

Anyways I was with my dad and sister and we were just leaving the campus and heading down Fifth Ave. A silver Audi A4 was in the bus lane following a bus (probably a new driver), and they decide to pass the bus. This A4 driver thinks the best course of action is to cross the double yellow line and head into oncoming traffic, conveniently in to the lane that we were driving in.

He fixes his mistake and pulls back into the bus lane before we got into a head on collision.

I haven’t seen that A4 driver again, but I do see wrong way drivers using the bus lanes, not as frequently as before.

It’s like all the wrong answers on the written driving exam.

As far as people I know, a high school friend of mine who drives with both feet and constantly accelerates and slams on the brakes. I don’t get carsick, but his driving was the exception.

Suggested by: Garlos Chosn (in honor of Mergio Sarchionne)

I’m currently married to her. First, I am not at all coming at this from a “HahA woMen caN’t DRivE” perspective because gender has nothing to do with it, but there are certainly issues. Essentially, she absolutely hates driving and either A) lets anxiety get in the way, or B) refuses to engage in anything outside of her admittedly small comfort zone, thereby limiting herself from improving. Examples being: reversing more than a couple of feet, interstate driving, going anywhere with a crowded parking lot, entering parking garages, and much, much more. If she sees a vehicle doing something that makes her nervous, like a non-signaled turn or abrupt lane change, she will hyper-fixate on that vehicle and stop paying attention to everything else around her. She is either ALL gas or ALL brakes and can’t smooth actions between either input. Riding with her is the most whiplash-inducing experience imaginable, so I will always drive whenever we go somewhere together. She also sits way too close to the wheel with her elbows bent almost 90 degrees to the sides, sawing at the wheel and making it feel like being on the high seas. She’s been involved in 5 accidents in the 15 years we’ve been married, and while none of them have technically been her direct fault, my advice to her has always been that some could have been easily avoided had she taken some small defensive action rather than being too paralyzed to do anything.

She’s not a great passenger either. Again, if she sees a vehicle anywhere around us doing something she finds unexpected, she will loudly gasp and begin clutching at the door or grab handles. This causes me to divert my attention and start looking for danger that could be coming from any unknown direction, only for it to be another driver doing something mildly dumb like a sloppy lane change. Trust me - I see it and am not at all concerned about it. To be clear, she has never been involved in a catastrophic accident or lost anyone in a fatal crash, so I have no idea where this comes from but I try my best to be understanding. I have done everything I can to gently guide and instruct her to feel more comfortable, but it rarely gets us anywhere.

That was unexpectedly long. There is practically zero chance of my wife seeing this and putting it together, but if that happens... Baby, I love you and I’m sorry. You’re the best, but I need my people to hear me and understand.

Suggested by: Hankel_Wankel

Hands down, without a doubt, my mother.

When I was about five or six, I was sitting in the front seat of the car (unbelted, of course - it was the 1960s) with my father driving. Ahead of us, there was a car with curb feelers.

When I asked my father what the curb feelers were for, he replied “Those are for people who can’t drive.”

“You mean like mom?”

My dad looked over at me, took a drag off his cigarette and said “Your mother has no business behind the wheel of a car.”

That statement proved prophetic.

My mother got her driver’s license at the ripe old age of 26 after failing the NJ Driver’s test at least six times.

Her HS Driver’s Ed teacher, my grandfather, my uncle Tommy (who was a cop) and my father all gave up trying to teach my mother how to parallel park; finally she went to Taggart’s and got a woman instructor (who probably had the patience of the saints) who got her through her driving test. After she got her license, my mother probably never parallel parked again.

My mother never could figure out a manual transmission; she screwed up the clutch of my father’s ‘63 VW so bad it had to be replaced.

She wrecked her first car, a 1959 Ford station wagon, three weeks after my father bought it for her, after she ran a stop sign and got t-boned by a delivery truck.

She backed my father’s six-month-old Plymouth Duster into a light pole at the supermarket.

She nailed a deer with a 1973 VW Super Beetle. Two guys in a pick-up stopped, threw the deer carcass into the bed of the truck and left.

She ran her 1974 Maverick into a ditch because she missed a curve - in broad daylight.

She nearly caused a major accident on Rt 130 in Pennsauken NJ when she ran out of gas in the middle of the highway, because she wanted to fill up at a station that had a traffic light nearby.

She totalled her 1986 Buick Skylark when she made an illegal left turn.

And these are just the incidents I can recall.

The state of NJ finally revoked her license after he second DUI, when she drove the Cadillac of the guy she had met at a bar into a tree.

RIP Mom, the world is a much safer place without you behind the wheel.

Suggested by: Earthbound Misfit I

My ex wife. I’m not gonna say it was the reason we split up, but it didn’t help. She’s also a type A personality so any criticism of her driving did not go over well

She got into an accident in every car we ever owned. She got speeding tickets and failure to stop at stop sign tickets constantly. She once pulled out in front of an ambulance and hit it becuase she “didn’t see it”. I let her drive my beloved WRX hatch and she backed out of the garage with the door open and bent it backwards. She would get rear ended in traffic about twice a year, which is technically not her fault, but related to the way she drives.

Her biggest issues is she doesn’t drive consistently or predictably and has no situational awareness. Evey time I was a passenger with her driving my foot was always pressing that imaginary brake into the floor

Suggested by: WayDude

My mom had a friend who we’ll call E.

E could not keep her car centered in the lane. She’d constantly drift to either the right or left line. I’m pretty sure she was target fixating. Anyway, rather than lightly adjust to recenter the car, she’d yank the wheel over, and damn-near snap your neck. She quite literally drove down any road, fast or slow, like a drunk walks home from the bar.

At best it was nauseating. At worst it was terrifying for everyone in and out of the car.

Suggested by: JohnnyWasASchoolBoy

Not objectively awful, but surprisingly terrible.

In the early 00's I hung out with a group of “car guys” and we nerded out on everything automotive. We had dreams of getting cooler cars but one of our friends older brothers was already living that life and we thought he was so cool. He was always trading, selling, fixing, upgrading cars we as stupid high-schoolers thought were cool. Integras, Eclipses, etc. He seemed to know his stuff.

One day we needed to get somewhere but needed a ride instead of driving ourselves. He ended up dropping us off and it was one of the most uncomfortable experiences ever. It wasn’t the “I have a cool car and I’m driving slow to show off” scenario. He sincerely couldn’t handle driving. He went super slow, made strange and unpredictable moves and was worried about everything around him. He’d mutter about normal cars just driving around him like they were too close or doing something wrong when really he was hardly holding it together himself. I didn’t think we’d die or anything since we were so slow, but I thought we’d for sure get in some sort of fender bender.

I asked my friend later if his brother was alright. Turns out that’s just how he was. Loved cars, but was a terrible driver. For someone who had been driving years longer than us I was surprised to witness such little confidence behind the wheel.

Suggested by: fake-plastic-eye

Guy who hit a train on two separate occasions at the same spot. Train was moving once and the other time it was stationary. Light and guards down both times.

Both time were after heavy use of Alcohol and other substances

Suggested by: Bob