PEI

Bridge tolls, bad drivers — and other pet peeves on P.E.I.

Traffic, roundabouts and the question 'Who's your father?' have all made the list of Islanders' pet peeves.

Historic PEI posed the question to its followers on Facebook and they answered in droves

Driving habits and roundabouts topped the list of answers when Historic PEI asked its Facebook followers to name their pet peeves. (Steve Bruce/CBC)

Traffic, roundabouts and the question, "Who's your father?" have all made a list of Islanders' pet peeves.

Historic PEI asked Islanders for their pet peeves and by Wednesday it garnered more than 200 responses on its Facebook page.

While the page normally focuses on P.E.I.'s history through historical photos, page administrator Ed McKenna said the question came as an idea to get more feedback from followers.

McKenna said Islanders had no problem sharing what annoys them, with responses continuing to roll in.

"Islanders just do that, I believe because I think it just comes natural to them," he said. "It's not that we're natural born complainers, it's just that people always have some sort of a pet peeve."

"People seem to like it and they like to vent and I'm happy to provide them with a platform to do that."

Here's just some of what Islanders shared about their P.E.I. pet peeves.

(Please note that usernames are not necessarily the names of commenters. Some comments have been altered to correct spelling and conform to CBC style.)

The bridge and bad driving

"The fact that full-time residents must pay $40 to leave the Island by bridge or a similar fee to leave by ferry is absurd," said Rebecca Rose.​

Deb Weert agreed, saying the price should be lowered to cross the Confederation Bridge.

The most popular pet peeve on the thread was motorists on the road.

"When you're driving 80 km/h with no traffic behind you and someone pulls out of their driveway in front of you, and proceeds to drive 20km/h ... and then turn off the road," said Geoffrey Green. 

Kelly Barlow-Hughes concurred, adding that drivers need to respect the space between other vehicles.

"Also the serious lack of care of respect for pedestrians. Does not matter the weather, if you're on foot, watch out," said Charlene Felker.

Roundabouts and garbage

Gary Briand said his biggest pet peeve was roundabouts.

"How many do we really need and how can we teach Islanders to use them?" he asked.

Spencer Donahue he gets frustrated by dumping and garbage across the Island.

"Pick a dirt road. Any one on P.E.I. There's at least two dumpings on it. You can't walk a blue bag, or bin to the end of your gate?"

'Who's your father?'

Not all pet peeves had to do with bad driving and dumping, however.

"They way you pronounce your letter 'h' and when you say 'bet' instead of 'beat'," said Louise Graham Sutherland. 

Colin MacPhail said for him, the question "Who's your father?" is on his list, but added "I'm guilty of this myself."