She didn't drive me to distraction, she drove me to divorce.

My wife drives like a maniacal bat outta hell and doesn't realize it. Speeds. Can't stay in her lane. Routinely misses her turns because she "zones out", when behind the wheel. Tailgates. Puts on turn signal literally half a mile before any turns, (over ten times the 200 foot length required), which when she misses will leave the turn signal on. Has tunnel vision and will routinely fail to notice possible hazards much farther ahead than her hood ornament. It's bad enough that she scares me so, I won't ride in a car she is driving. I'm also amazed every time she drives, anywhere, any distance, without being in a major collision.

I am a trained CDL driver with a perfect record Don't speed. Am aware of my surroundings, always looking far ahead for any hazard. When the wife rides with me, she constantly harps about the possibility that I MIGHT do something she fails to grasp that she does.

I won't ride with her and I hate when she rides with me.

The only accident she's actually ever had was backing a pickup truck into a dumpster in a convenient store parking lot. Put a tennis ball size dent in the tailgate, almost half a ball deep.

Now if I were to list close calls and near misses... I'm not sure I can count that high.

It really is amazing. I fully expect her to kill or maim someone, or herself, every time she backs out the driveway. And she doesn't.

so don't have that problem. As a retired truck driver I do my best to drive safely, always. Seen too many wrecks, been a passenger in a few.

Fun short story, a little over a year ago I went to Calif. to visit my family and let my nephew do the driving once I got there. He has a brand new Honda, since there were four of us in the car, his partner sat shotgun and my niece and I were deemed the "designated backseat drivers" since the niece was almost always on her iphone, we made her do the mapnav duties, the girlfriend was the sound operator and I told war stories of the road as we whizzed down the San Joaquin Valley in the night. We laughed so hard. I was amazed that after almost 20 years I remembered what was at each exit along the way and all the back routes through LA and San Diego. It was the first time I spent time with the niece and nephew (they're cousins) as adults.

I am often asked to chauffeur my friends at times but I rarely have the backseat driver problem, most know I drive better than they do.

She seems to think her continuous suggestions are the only thing standing between us and a fiery wreck.

Not sure how she thinks I have survived without so much as a fender bender all these years when she's not in the car...



I'm guilty too. In my defense, she drives slow in the left lane and gets in the right lane when her exit is 5 miles away. It's like she's lining up a 747 on final aproach.

My better half suffers when I am driving. He just wants to push the car along.

He does tend to tailgate a bit. Otherwise I would say he is a better driver than me.

That "747 on final approach" was one of the best DU lines ever!

I am in charge of my relationship and so he has no say in my driving. That being said, because I am in charge I have him drive us everywhere because of my back problems. I do sometimes tell him how to drive but that is my right in the relationship we have entered into as two consenting adults.

adult life and she is always bragging about how safe I drive.

No Ubering here.
I don't even like letting pilots fly the plane.

Even if it was someone else's car. Nobody's happy when he has to ride in the passenger seat.

anyone else is driving us (other than his brother in law).

In my defense, she likes to look at me while talking while driving. Scares me to death.

Keep your eyes on the damn road!

to suffer a backseat driver. Dad is terrible and my sister is too.

Both of them follow too close, and say that about the other without realizing they are both guilty themselves.

You think I'd be given credit, after 40 years driving experience, to know the significance of brake lights 10 car lengths ahead.

That's one of the top ones...her biggest is telling me the better lane to drive in.

but the one time I kept my mouth shut after a particular driver read me the Riot Act (I know how to drive, ok?), said driver blazenly ran a red light & we were in a spectacular accident.

So, yeah, deal with it. I'm looking out for Number 1 (ie, me).

I do whatever she wants me to do without question. Anything to help relieve some of the anxiety.

My typical response is, "Would you prefer to ride in the back seat? That is where I prefer my backseat drivers to be."

To scream

He is a really good driver with a lead foot.


Tikki

I tell him how to drive and of course he does things that drive me nuts. He drifts into other lanes and he spaces off and drives below the speed limit. He never admits that he's doing these things and gets defensive.

He also harps on me about driving too fast or waiting too long to pull out, while waiting for traffic. Of course, I get defensive and never admit that I'm doing anything wrong.

We both run very hot. I'm like Elaine, he's like Costanza. Somehow it works like a charm and we've been best friends for 20 years.

The best is when he's driving and I'll suddenly see a deer or a squirrel and yell, "Oh my God!! So cute!!". This scares my husband as he hears the, "Oh my God!" part first and he thinks something horrific is happening. "What? It was a squirrel and it was so cute! What's wrong? Why are you clutching your chest?"
LOL!

We both needle each other and we have fun doing it. We've both declared "Citizen's divorce!", in the car, by waving around our arms. We've been informally divorced at least 50 times, in the car.

My ex was a horrible backseat driver. Even knowing I'd driven and worked with the ambulance for years (I am a good driver!), he couldn't stop nitpicking at every single little thing, even to how I held the steering wheel. It pissed me off to the point that I stopped and said gtfo once half a mile from home after driving all the way back from the BC to SK. I felt like doing it hours and hours before but didn't, so I thought I was being very kind.

He drove like an jerk - tailgating, drifting across the center line, sometimes nearly into the ditch. The kind of person who thought he owned the road and it was up to everyone else to watch out for him. The kind we picked up usually dead or who'd caused the same for others.

When a car in the lane beside us drifts a little close, or any thing else she gasps/shrieks suddenly. It flips me out making me think there is something I'm unaware of... it really gets me annoyed on long trips.

Of course the one time she was driving and literally merging into another car and I calmly said "look out" she went off on me for being a back seat driver :X

But she saved our lives once, so I don't say anything now!

She waits to make her comments after it is too late to rect. "You could have gone that way." To which I reply, "You're right. But I'm going this way instead".

Getting peeved over it won't make her stop doing it. I just let it roll.

Depending on who is driving, the other automatically assumes the role of, "You're doing it wrong". So it evens out.

Mr. froggy used to get mad at me, for alerting him about this and that when he driving, so I forced myself to quit doing it. The last time I didn't alert him was in 1972 when we were leaving a Safeway parking lot and I saw an elderly woman crossing the lot on foot ahead of us. I almost said, "Stop! Look out for that lady walking!" but I thought he'd seen her since he'd always already seen whatever I'd alerted him on. That time he didn't, and he almost hit her.

Now he shuts up about my back-seat driving. It's nice to finally be appreciated.

just to avoid that scenario.

and it drives me insane. Not only that, but it's illegal.