Bad drivers are the bane of any motorist's existence, but terrible drivers don't just come in one flavor... there are aggressive drivers, confused drivers, drivers who clearly have no idea where they are going, learner drivers (we'll forgive these ones), speed demons with a shiny new car, and possibly the most annoying of all: the slow driver. These are the cars that crawl on by, way under the speed limit, leaving everyone stuck behind them with the temptation to just get out and walk, because it might actually be faster.
However, slow drivers aren't just annoying, they can actually be downright dangerous. Depending on what's slowing them down, slow driving could mean distracted driving, or just nervous driving that makes everything worse. Caution is a great plan, but don't do any of these ten things...
10 Make Everyone Late
At times, it might feel like this is the worst thing that any slow driver can do, especially if you are already in a rush to get somewhere. In that case, getting stuck behind a snail can seem incredibly frustrating, and as though they are personally trying to mess up your schedule. In the grand scheme of things, though, this is just annoying. It's not actually dangerous in any way, and that's why it's at the bottom of the list.
9 Talking On The Phone
Sometimes, drivers slow down because they are in the middle of doing something on their phone - and we're not talking about actually holding the phone (which is illegal in many places), but just speaking into it. Just because the phone isn't physically in their hand, that doesn't mean that their speed won't drop when they are thinking about a call. Annoying, yes. But not as dangerous as some other things on this list, and usually, they speed back up again when the call is done.
8 Reading Maps
Like talking on the phone, this is basically distracted driving - and not only does it mean that the car is slowing down, it also means that they are likely to be looking around for street signs or landmarks, and not paying attention to the actual road. Thankfully, this is less and less common thanks to smartphones with GPS, but even those can create a distraction when the driver looks down - and can even make things worse, as drivers slow to a crawl in anticipation of a turnoff coming soon.
7 Rubbernecking
Accidents happen, no matter how careful drivers are. However, when there's a big accident, suddenly everyone becomes a slow driver! As people drive past the accident, there are always those rubberneckers who choose to slow to a crawl to try and see if they can see if the passengers are ok, or just to gasp at how wrecked the car is.
Not only is this annoying, but it's dangerous, especially if the driver slows down suddenly to get a good look - and risks creating another accident themselves. Plus, of course, it's just ghoulish.
6 Not Indicating
When a driver is crawling along because they don't know exactly where they are going, that often means that they aren't exactly best friends with their indicator. Not because they don't know what it is, but because by the time they figure out where they need to turn, it's basically too late. This is frustrating on so many levels - it will have drivers behind them guessing at what they will do, increases the chance of an accident, and occasionally gets someone stuck in the wrong lane, causing them to swerve... and increasing the chances of an accident even more.
5 Rolling To A Stop
Brake lights exist for a reason, and when really slow drivers choose to just... roll to a stop instead of braking properly, the drivers behind them aren't necessarily going to know that they are stopping (or slowing down), until they themselves are too late to brake. Dangerous and annoying - and not least because rear-ending someone is inevitably going to be found to be the rear driver's fault in an insurance claim.
4 Letting Everybody In
This is a habit of the slow driver who is just out for a leisurely drive, and thinks that they are actually being quite 'nice'. They're in no rush, they're happy to let pedestrians, bikes, and other cars in front of them, it's fine!
Except, of course, that by refusing to zipper, they are actually slowing down traffic for everyone, and that can lead to road jams, frustrated people trying to overtake, and all kinds of dangerous annoyances.
3 Refusing To Overtake
Maybe these drivers are in no big hurry. Maybe they are nervous about overtaking. Either way, it is incredibly annoying. When stuck behind a vehicle that can't go faster (a bus, a tractor, a motorhome, etc), it's just good driving to overtake it as soon as it's possible to safely do so. Otherwise, not only do you end up with a lineup behind you (and the chances that someone else will try and overtake from too far back and cause an accident), but you are also annoying the driver in front, who hates feeling like they are holding everyone up. It takes a special kind of bad habit to be dangerous and annoy people behind and in front of you!
2 Drift Across Lanes
More distracted driving, here, as slow drivers meander across the road, or slowly start to drift across those white lines. This is one of the most annoying habits because unlike the others, there's really no way of knowing when this will stop or what is going on - which means that the driver might be on the phone and not paying attention, might be falling asleep, might notice and pull themselves back to their lane, or might slide right across the meridian and cause a twelve car pile up.
1 Cause Road Rage
The worst thing that any slow driver can do (and that any of the habits we've previously mentioned can create)? Road. Rage. This isn't just about getting a little frustrated, either. Road rage is increasingly a cause of real violence, and it's no joke - driving other road users crazy with bad driving habits is a huge problem... especially for slow drivers, who aren't exactly going to be able to get away!