Cats don't belong in roads. And going slower is unlikely to have made much of a difference, as said driver probably never saw the cat in the first place, and still wouldn't have going slower.

I've always liked Clancy's work from the standpoint of telling a decent story, regardless of who exactly is getting beat down. Part of the charm of the Jack Ryan books was watching his progression from history teacher to an executive in the CIA to POTUS while still trying to stay honest and himself - that was always the part that appealed most to me about those books.

And as for the looking for people to beat down, this is hardly a problem that only Clancy has had to deal with. The quality (and plausibility) of spy/technothriller fiction has decreased since the end of the Cold War for that very same reason - trying to find people that are evil enough to need the sorts of beat down that happens in these books. Clancy has hit most of the usual suspects (Islamic terror supporting countries, China, the Japanese Zaibatsu, radical green terrorists, radical Irish terrorists) with the exception of hidden Nazis (I don't count the Ben Affleck movie in that one since Clancy wrote the book with Islamic fundies in the bad guy role). Apparently Clancy doesn't think that one is believable either.

Sure, try telling that to the cat.

Although I shouldn't complain, because back home, drivers behave as if pedestrians don't belong in crossings. Even on supposedly quiet streets where you can theoretically cross at any point, cars come roaring down at infrequent intervals expecting you to get out of their way. They'll actually speed up when they see you starting to cross the road, to scare you all the better. If they're bothered to be polite about it, they'll honk.

I sufer tremendous culture shock whenever I come back from a town where drivers actually stop for pedestrians. The first week in Hong Kong I always nearly get myself killed.

I hate cars that stop for pedestrians, especially jay-walking pedestrians.

When I'm jay-walking (an at least weekly occurrence), I damn sure wait for the cars to go by. They'll finish the crossing faster than I will anyway.

The Netherlands practically legalized jaywalking in a lot of their cities. They basically took away the guard rails, the yield signs, the stop signs, quite a lot of the stop lights, the yellow painted lines, and all those other signs that tell cars what they're supposed to do, and they just said "Here's an intersection. We'll pave it to look like a pedestrian zone. Cars, people, bikes, everyone can use it. You figure out who not to hit. Use your brains."

And it worked. The number of traffic accidents actually fell.
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So I don't actually expect all cars to stop for me. I just think it's incredibly rude for them to play chicken with pedestrians. If I'm already in the middle of the road and a car comes along, how about slowing down? Don't honk at me and slam the accelerator. Jeez.

I'll admit a lot of my speeding comes from not wanting to have to sit and wait at the next red light up ahead; taking away that incentive would probably cause me to drive slower.

The city's policy on prioritising freeway traffic over other traffic is another factor, of course. Frelling freeway.

I'd prefer it if drivers did not yield unless required to. As a pedestrian, it's very difficult to see inside a vehicle, so I can't see you waving or beckoning me across, so I don't know your intentions, so it's better if you continue on and let me pass behind you. Even if I can see you waving, I do have to cross lanes other than yours. As a driver, I probably don't have as much confidence or as fast a car as you, so I need to make my own decisions as to what's a safe gap to drive into.

The highway code here advises against beckoning other road users or waving them across. I'd like it if more people stuck to that rule.

A friend of mine, during her driving exam, encountered another driver who waved her through. She drove through and promptly failed her exam.

Here's another one:

No turn on red signs that should be no turn on red between the hours of X and Y.

People aren't smart enough to recognise the difference on a regular basis.

Turning on red at all is a blessing little known outside the US.

On the subject of blessings in and out of the US, my pet peeve about driving in the Us is the gratuitous use of Stop signs when Yield signs would be just fine. Stop signs are way overused.

I think Kajin's comment applies here as well.

Um ... wait, what? I'm unaware of this concept.

If you're at a redlight in the U.S. you have the right of way if you want to turn right and there isn't any oncoming traffic.

Yes, that little detail has gotten me nearly killed crossing the road many times in the US. I don't know how to drive. I didn't know to expect cars whizzing round the corner while I was trying to cross the road.

And another non-traffic related pet peeve: why don't they ever make proper pockets in women's trousers? All the ones I own have these tiny little pockets that aren't good for holding anything bigger than a lip gloss, or else have no pockets at all. Sometimes the designers went to the trouble of faking something that looks like a pocket opening, only with no pocket inside. And then I have this one pair of boys' jeans, and the pockets go halfway down my thigh! What is up with that?

If they made proper pockets in women's clothing, I wouldn't have to carry a bag all the time. I'm disappointed that hardly anybody sells cargo pants anymore. Stupid leggings fad.