Some old guy in a old gray/white Ford Tempo pops out of a lot or side road on the left and shoots all the way across to my lane in front of me. My wife says "look out!" and I had to slam on the brakes....to make it worse he promptly puts on his brakes and slows down.
We passed him and made our displeasure clear.
He didn't even need to be in that lane. He traveled along it for some time. So what was the big rush to get over there. Traffic wasn't even that heavy. Not to mention that that move wasn't legal.
When I am on my motorcycle, I try to time things so that if there is another vehicle turning into my travel direction, that I don't arrive side-by-side with them, to avoid this very thing from happening. I have had people do violent corrections in response to a quick "I'm here" toot of the horn.
Contributions from the last couple of days. Last night, I'm riding with a buddy, approaching a traffic light (green), we're in the right lane of two lanes in this direction and there is traffic waiting at the light to turn right (into our direction). Front car in line starts going (and my friend saw this, and changed lanes to the left!) then the driver saw us and slammed on the brakes with the nose of the car halfway into our lane. Car driver behind him saw the front car start moving but didn't see the front car stop. Bang!
BOTH of those drivers were guilty of not paying attention ... not being adequately aware of their surroundings ...
Then today's event. City traffic in Toronto; moderately heavy but moving. Chevy Trailblazer up ahead was showing signs of impatience, then ducked left towards a side street ... failing to notice the teenage pedestrian who was in the process of walking across the street that the driver was about to turn onto! The pedestrian jumped out of the way and the dumb driver stopped at the last moment but it was VERY close to being a pedestrian hit.
Pedestrians are approx 50% of the traffic fatalities in Toronto.