Speeding

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Chances are when you’re on the road, there’s something about other peoples’ driving that just grinds your gears. A new survey, commissioned by autoTRADER looks at our biggest driving pet peeves.

Here in BC, we have the highest number of people who admit to speeding, something that surprises Curtis Strelau with Young Drivers of Canada.

Many of us disapproved of tailgating as well, and a very small number say we do it. Strelau says it drives him crazy and it happens to student drivers.

“And they’ll [stick] right up there on your bumper, and the passive ones are the worst.  You speed up, they’ll speed up, you slow down, and they’ll slow down. You try to encourage them to pass, you can’t get rid of them, and sometimes I’ve just simply pulled over or made a turn that I didn’t plan on just to get away from them because the risk is too high. It’s one of the most dangerous things that a student driver can have behind them. A student driver is very unpredictable to the brake, and if they were to go for the brake, and we’ve got ‘Tony the Tailgater’ hanging there, there’s going to be an incident.”

Texting and talking while driving took top prize for biggest pet peeve in Canada, yet 15 per cent of us admit to sending texts while behind the wheel.

Strelau explains he sees distracted driving all the time.

“You can tell that somebody is texting because the speed goes up and down and the car wanders a little bit, not necessarily completely out of the lane, but you can see them slowing down and weaving a little bit and you know exactly what they’re doing. The guy behind me was a dead giveaway because he’s looking down and he’s stopped at a light but I take off and he’s still sitting back there with horns honking behind him because he’s busy texting.”

Stelau adds it isn’t just texting he sees — he’s noticed other drivers eating, shaving, doing their makeup, and having the rear-view mirror set so when they look at it they see themselves rather than what’s behind them.

The highest number of drivers who admitted to having road rage is in New Brunswick, Quebec had the lowest number.