There is an episode of the animated series, "Family Guy" in which the title character, Peter Griffin, manages to get a spot on the evening news to complain about everyday things that bother him. His spot is called "What Really Grinds My Gears." He began each segment with, "You know what really grinds my gears?" and then he'd complain for about two minutes. While I'm certain copyright law would prohibit me from using the "Grind My Gears" heading, I would like to blog about things that bother me, because there are a lot of things that bother me. So, with that in mind, I think I'll call my posts, "You know what pisses me off?" So...

You know what pisses me off? Stay Backs. A Stay Back is a driver (and they are everywhere) is one who "stays back" at stop lights. It might be a driver who stays back from the wide white line where the rest of us stop. Sometimes these folks stay back fifteen feet or more. I've seen them so far back from the line that their vehicle isn't even close enough to trip the light to change it. And there are others who will stay in line at a red light who remain back even farther.

Why does this bother me? If the Stay Back is at the white line and I'm next to them in a different lane, I don't really care...I just marvel at the stupidity of the other guy. But if I'm behind a Stay Back, that's when I get mad. When the light turns green, we all know that there is a finite amount of time before the light turns yellow and then red again. When you add in the inevitable delayed reaction time that Stay Backs are notorious for, and the fact that cars in the lane have to cover the distance that is open due to them staying back, it's not uncommon to miss the green light and have to sit through another cycle of lights. I don't mind sitting at a light during high-volume traffic times - that's to be expected. But when I have to sit through yet another cycle of traffic lights because someone else has some bizarre aversion  to being within fifty feet of the vehicle in front of them, then yes, I have a problem.

What happened to just lining up in an orderly, considerate fashion at a red light? What happened to calmly proceeding forward when the light turns green? What can be gained by leaving up to fifty feet between stopped cars on a busy road?

Stay Backs piss me off!