Road Rage

[whiffer]

I have less problems in Providence (my son goes to JWU) than around Boston. This time of year, you just can't be in a hurry.

[sean_miller]

Two false beliefs that connect us all:

1.) I am an above average driver.
2.) I have a great sense of humour.

[Fourputt]

Driving over here in the US

Spot on. If I didn't know better, I'd swear that I'm the only one on the road who ever took driver's ed. I KNOW that all cars are made with turn signals.... how hard is it flick it on..... really?????

I guess it's harder when you have a cell phone in one hand and a Starbucks in the other.

In NYC, piss poor behavior is worse than it is overall in the US. Cabbies will do anything to get a fare and they pull some seriously stupid stunts.

Manila, and the Philippines in general. My God.... they are totally nuts.

I've never driven there, just ridden as a passenger, but it's terrifying. The worst traffic ever seen in the US doesn't even fall into the same category. I have driven in Italy, and that's an experience too, different from the US, worse in some ways but actually better in some ways too. Lane observance on the Italian autostrada is something I'd sure like to see in the US on the freeways.

[sacm3bill]

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You hit all the nails on the head, just wanted to comment on this one... Nah, there's no excuse for not using the turn signal, ever. You never know who might be in your blind spot, pulling out from a side street, shoulder, onramp, etc.

So instead of constantly analyzing every situation and making a judgment call on whether the signal should be used or not, people need to just use it every time, as it was designed to be used. Slow play and idiot drivers are literally the only two things in this world that get me upset.

[xTsUnAmI]

I agreed with everything else you listed but this is my biggest pet peeve. I've been to a lot of states and I swear Washington is the worst state for this, people figure they can hang out there doing 59 in a 60 and eff you. go around. I hate it, it's dangerous. I can't hang around these people on their phones, I get by them period. I've never been in an accident, but I've come damn close because of absolute ignorance. I firmly believe we need to make getting your license about 100x harder. You get very little important training it seems, sure you can tell someone till their blue in the face to turn into a slide or pump your brakes if you are sliding on ice but until that person is in that position you don't know how they are gonna react. I'm a private pilot, nothing big, but the training needs to be on that level. I had to practice actually how to recover from a stall instead of being told. Same thing with driving, you need to experience sliding around a little in a controlled environment so you can react. It would also get a lot of the absolute incompetent idiots off the effing road so those of us that actually know how to drive can get around. I also drive a class B flat bed @ work occasionally. Some truckers are morons too, but what people do to trucks is so dumb. I've been cut off in downtown Seattle big time, while I was fully loaded and traffic stopped and basically had no control of my truck, luckily I'm smart/lucky enough to control my slide onto the shoulder. I seriously wanted to get out and beat the shit out of this guy. Or here's another pet peeve, people that have to merge onto the freeway at 35mph while traffic is going 70-75. What goes on in a person's brain that makes them think this a good idea?

[zeg]

Or here's another pet peeve, people that have to merge onto the freeway at 35mph while traffic is going 70-75. What goes on in a person's brain that makes them think this a good idea?

I think it may result from a few bad experiences with the morons who don't realize you should either move left to clear the merge lane or, if you must stay in the lane, adjust your speed to make sure that someone merging at the proper speed has somewhere to go. Some people seem to take it as a personal affront if anyone DARES merge in front of them.

The thing that gets me is that a huge fraction of the slowdowns in traffic snarls result from selfish idiotic behavior. Cutting people off, weaving between lanes trying to get ahead, etc, all drastically slow down the average speed of traffic, increase the risk of accidents, and don't actually speed things up much. If people just drove sanely, snarls would sort themselve out a lot faster and driving would be so much more pleasant. Of course, I believe that will happen some time after Democrats and Republicans realize they can work honestly together for the good of the country and a lasting peace is established in the Middle East....

[xTsUnAmI]

I saw a guy trying to merge onto the freeway a while back, the merge lane isn't long and the freeway comes around a corner right there so you can't see who's merging till really late. Anyways, he must have been going 20mph and got to the end of the merge lane and just stopped. Traffic was so heavy at that point he probably sat there for a good while like an idiot.

[Fraser]

You hit all the nails on the head, just wanted to comment on this one... Nah, there's no excuse for not using the turn signal, ever. You never know who might be in your blind spot, pulling out from a side street, shoulder, onramp, etc.

I agree with you. I don't think there is ever an excuse for not using your indicators, I always do, even at 2am and if I'm the only car I can see.

I'm always looking and observing what traffic is doing ahead and behind me. I've learned that you should be able to close your eyes (although not going to obviously!) and know what the make and colour of all the cars in your line of sight should be at any given time. It is a good exercise in being aware of your surroundings and one of the reasons why I think I've not got into an accident yet. I can spot the idiot who could change lanes and drive into me when they're about three cars away.

[Divotman]

This can be a truly funny subject. I learned to drive in the Boston area, worked in the DC area and am currently in FL.

In Boston, you better be aggressive or you're not getting there (wherever there is), and although you can see your destination, right over there, you can't go there because of all the one-way streets. So the drivers are bad, but they're consistent, so you don't think about it. And you have to cope with "rotaries".

In DC, drivers are from all over the world. You don't have a clue what to expect, and it is the inconsistency that throws you.

In FL (at least where I am), they don't really know what traffic is. Five cars in line at a traffic light is considered terrible traffic.

It makes one laugh.

[zeg]

In Boston, you better be aggressive or you're not getting there (wherever there is)

Once you get the hang of it though, I prefer driving in Boston to driving many other places (especially LA). It seems like Boston drivers, while "dangerous" because of the aggression, were at least, on average, "skilled" drivers who were in the habit of paying attention. I think this grew out of necessity. Down here, it seems like most people are asleep at the wheel and consider watching for other cars to be optional.