Speaking as a perfectly sensible and law abiding driver (as we all think we are, right?), there’s nothing more infuriating than jumping into someone else’s car and being subjected to their odd, quirky and annoying driving habits.

Unfortunately, from time to time, we all have to take a backseat (literally) and be at the mercy of someone else’s driving (or lack of) ability. Whether it’s a taxi ride home or simply a lift from a friend, there is no getting away from these sporadic travel arrangements.

What makes these trips – both short and long – ever the more depressive is the driving habits that your designated driver carries with them. Here is a list of the most annoying driving habits.

1)      Excessively loud music

Ok, so we all have our individual music tastes, and yeah, sometimes it’s good to pump up the volume in the car and have a sing-a-long while nobody is looking. However, when the music is so excessively loud that it threatens to burst our ear drums and we can’t hear ourselves think (never mind talk), you know that it’s all gone a bit too far.

Oh, and don’t get me started on people who think it’s a good idea to install massive nightclub-size speakers into the rear of their car.

2)      Road rage

I don’t care if the car in front of you is driving too slow, that’s no excuse to start mouthing off expletives. They can’t hear you, can they? The only person on the end of your tiresome and unconstructive outburst is me.

3)      Breaking too late and too hard

If we go through the journey without shunting forward every time we reach a junction then I’d certainly be grateful. Let’s just say that it’s a good job that cars are equipped with safety belts these days.

4)      Mobile phone use

The idea of catching a lift is to get from destination A to destination B with minimum fuss. So the use of a mobile phone along the way – either texting or a voice call – shouldn’t be permitted. In fact, by law, it isn’t – so why are you doing it? Keep your eyes firmly fixed on the road ahead, please.

5)      Unnecessary interaction

So this mainly applies to taxi drivers – although I’m sure many of you may have irritating “friends” who could fall under this category too.

No, Mr Taxi Driver I’m not going to give you my life story so enough of the questions and unnecessary chit-chat. Yes, I understand you’re being perfectly friendly but if I wanted to engage in conversation with you I’d have initiated the whole process.

Perhaps I’m just being anti-social. Either that or I’ve had too many annoying taxi drivers.

6)      Smoking

If you’re going to smoke as a driver then at the very least could you wind down your windows? You know, like any considerate person would do? Actually, I suppose any considerate person wouldn’t smoke full stop, would they?

This guest post was written (with the help of some considerable personal experiences) by Matthew Wood who is contributing content for the landrovers parts and spares online store LRParts.net.

Print This Page / Download PDF / Email This Page