Drivers

[Monkey Cartwheels]

What are they like in the rest of the world?

When I drive on the motorway (or highway) I sit at 100km which is the limit but Im constanly gettign passed by people, even TRUCKS! I cant see what people are thinking when they go that fast and sit literally 2 meters from the next car!

I was driving on the motorway and it was 8 lanned, so 4 lanes each way, the traffic was really heavy and we were doing about 80km (50-55mph) and some guy was texting and drving with his knees

 

I cant figure out what goes, or doesnt go through their heads. What the rest of the world like?

Please tell me its better.

[ckravitz]

It's not that much better. This is going to sound very stereotypical, but where I live (New Jersey) there are a lot of Hasidic Jews in the town over from me. My father must have almost gotten into an accident with them 6 times (they don't know where they're going, and they always drive half the speed limit). Even my mother texts while driving over the speed limit, with sunglasses on, and with tinted windows.

 

So, sadly, no matter where you go, you will be plagued with the bad drivers.

[Imagine]

Bad drivers are everywhere unfortunately, I live in England and its plagued with young 17 year olds driving like absoulute idiots and really really old people driving.

 

I honest saw a old woman driving through my village the other day and she was struggling to see over the steering wheel. It is really bad here actually thinking about it.

 

I got into a accident the first few months i had been driving, in my mini cooper. It was icey on the roads and this van pulled out on me so i slammed my breaks on and skidded into oncoming traffic. BUT because the van drove off it looked like i couldnt control myself behind the wheel when the police came as the BMW i went into claimed to say that there was no van who pulled out on me . He wanted me to get breathalised even though it was 9 am in the morning, but the police do it no matter what to both drivers. Mine came back clean as a whistle, where as his came back positive. mwahahaha.

 

And I drive into Manchester a lot to get to uni and the city driving situation is just stupid. Its honestly like every driver decides to throw the rules out of their windows and just see what happens lol. Dodgems is what it looks like, people jumping in front of people at the last minute, taxis taking big chances, people going down the wrong way of one way systems lol. Its stupid.

[flying kiwi]

Yeah unfortunately bad drivers are everywhere. I don't understand what goes through some people's heads either.

 

The other day I almost saw a car get hit from both sides by two buses.....because he decided to overtake one while the other was coming the other way. They both had to slam the breaks on and he just went off as if nothing had happened. Pedestrians are just as bad as well though, we nearly ran over a woman and her baby the other day because she stepped out onto the road after we had turned down that way, my boyfriend swerved the car to avoid them and she looked mildly surprised to see us there. The annoying thing is she didn't look to see if anything was coming when she was pushing the baby out in front of her, its mental.

 

I think the main problem is people don't seem to have any respect for driving anymore, last month 3 kids were killed in a car, 2 were from my old school. The oldest was 16, they'd ''borrowed'' his mums car and gone for a drive in the early hours of the morning. The legal age to start learning to drive here is 17, they should have been nowhere near that car.

[The Dude]

I think the main problem is people don't seem to have any respect for driving anymore,

People don't have respect for other people anymore. That's a lot of the problem.

 

I constantly see people during rush hour traffic texting. I see a lot of women putting on make up and/or texting/talking on phone whilst driving. What I hate is when someone changes lanes right in front of me and I have to hit my brakes because they are going slower than me. I look in my rear view and see that absolutely no one is behind me. So if they'd just waited about 2 seconds we could've avoided almost having a wreck.

 

If you've ever driven in NYC (which I have) that is crazy. But it all makes sense to them. There you have to drive like the biggest jerk in the world to get anywhere otherwise you'll be taken advantage of. I was once walking down the sidewalk in New York one night and suddenly the entire crowd in front of me just split like the Red Sea. I found myself face to face with a police car speeding down the sidewalk going the wrong way on a one way.

 

In Texas most people drive 80-85 MPH (129-137 KPH) on the Interstates because otherwise it would take forever to get anywhere. Unless you're in the DFW metroplex or Houston during rush hour then you don't move.

[Danielle]

I sometimes wonder how some drivers passed their tests, people target young drivers, and yes some of them are idiots, but for me nine times out of ten it is the older drivers who are careless, cause problems and become a danger to others. In the few near misses I have had, it's always an older driver.

 

I don't drive a car, I ride a scooter and so I am one of the more vunerable road users, I can only hit 60mph as a top speed and even on the bit of dual carraigeway I have to use, cars are always overtaking me when they have no right to just because as I am only on a bike, there is more room around me.

 

I hate drivers who never indicate, they are there for a reason, not part of the decoration. I hate drivers who cut accross roundabouts instead of following the lane around, in the cold weather I hate drivers who don't bother to clear frost and ice off the windscreen properly and drive around trying to peer through the smallest of holes or with their head stuck out the window. I could go on, but you get the idea.

[The Midnight Q]

I cant figure out what goes, or doesnt go through their heads. What the rest of the world like?

Please tell me its better.

 

It's the same everywhere and I'm guilty as well. I tend to drive anywhere between 10-15mph over the posted limit depending on urgency or risk. In my opinion several posted speed limits are pretty ridiculous given the are it's in. Near where I live the limit is 55mph on a 6 lane street while all intersecting 6 lane streets are 40-45mph.

 

I tend to be an aggressive driver especially when there are stupid people on the road doing things like driving 5-10mph under the posted sign, merging lanes without signaling, cutting me off, and my personal favourite: making a left turn from the far right lane.

Edited March 7, 2011 by sirbenedictvs

[Emmas Friend]

Some people seem to change when they get behind the wheel of a car, they think they own the road, and they can drive as they please. Its to hell with everyone else, I'm going to drive how I like. I think I've just about seen it all, dangerous overtaking, bad signalling, jumping the lights, etc.

Makes you wonder how some of them passed their driving test !

[The Midnight Q]

In Texas most people drive 80-85 MPH (129-137 KPH) on the Interstates because otherwise it would take forever to get anywhere. Unless you're in the DFW metroplex or Houston during rush hour then you don't move.

 

Amen to that. 80-85 is the usual speed of virtually all traffic down any highway or interstate. Drivers on the toll roads drive a bit faster 'cause of less traffic. Rush hour in D/FW is Hell or even when there's an accident on the highway. One night a single wreck blocked off 3 lanes out of the 4 and it literally took me 2 hours to move 2 miles and I'm not exaggerating. Driving through rush our in the evenings are pretty much stop and go and no body will have patience anymore-stop and go traffic on the highway from downtown Dallas to the north Dallas suburbs and cities which usually take 20-30 minutes travel time are tripled.

[Monkey Cartwheels]

Man so it isnt just NZ.

In NZ its like what dazza said, most terrible drivers are either 40-50 year olds, the next generation of drivers are pretty good actually.

But I do hate the ones that dont indicate at roundabouts or normal roads. Also people getting out of their cars without checking for traffic, sometimes I feel like just plowing into their open door and taking it off instead of going around them. But yeah, 15 is our driving age, it needs to go up in my opinion and the tests much harder.

But Ive seen all what you guys have too. Its mindboggling really.

[The Dude]

Drivers on the toll roads drive a bit faster 'cause of less traffic.

The speed limit on turnpikes is 75 so that means you can go 85 - or at least that's how I look at it.

 

And if you drove any slower than that it'd take you six days to get from Dallas to Austin (sightly joking). We were vacationing in South Padre once and my dad was studying the atlas and realized that if you left from South Padre that by the time you'd reached the border of Texas you would be half way to L.A. and you hadn't even left the state yet.

 

Rush hour in D/FW is Hell or even when there's an accident on the highway.

Well I can see why...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wVVdrs_OC0

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fn_idyQ4x0

[The Midnight Q]

First video is on the Dallas North Tollway near the Dallas Galleria. The sudden curves catch a lot of drivers off-guard especially when you hit Addison and Dallas if you're southbound. There have been too many close calls for me whenever I take that tollway.

 

Props to the driver who launches over the toll. Evel Knievel would be proud. But yeah the new tollway they just opened near here has a 75 mph, usual traffic goes closer to 90mph. Not much of a problem considering it's about 15-20 miles of straight roads from the airport to the end of the toll road. IMO drivers on these roads cause accidents when they don't merge properly or don't pay attention to oncoming turns and curves.

[ckravitz]

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wVVdrs_OC0

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fn_idyQ4x0

 

1st video: the driver in the van who nearly dodged the tractor trailer deserves a medal

2nd video: is it wrong to say that that's hilarious?

[The Midnight Q]

1st video: the driver in the van who nearly dodged the tractor trailer deserves a medal

2nd video: is it wrong to say that that's hilarious?

 

The driver ended up slamming into the wall. No it is not wrong, laugh away!

[ckravitz]

The driver ended up slamming into the wall. No it is not wrong, laugh away!

Still, that guy narrowly avoided colliding with the TT. He has damn goods reflexes if you as me!

 

Good, because I didn't wait for an answer

Edited March 8, 2011 by ckravitz

[The Dude]

1st video: the driver in the van who nearly dodged the tractor trailer deserves a medal

2nd video: is it wrong to say that that's hilarious?

Yeah, the 2nd video needs a Dukes of Hazard YEEHAW! dubbed into it. Then pause it in mid-air and have Waylon Jennings say "Now folks, that's one way to avoid paying a toll."

[halleluJah]

Well here I would say that the majority of the people drive really chilled, and really slowly actually. But the big problem is with the crazy mini bus taxis, which are driven by African people from the townships, and these taxis are pretty much only used by black people from the townships. The drivers of these mini buses are totally crrrazy, they just stop all of a sudden in the middle of the street, or swerve into another lane without indicating, and hoot ALL THE BLOODY TIME, and to put the cherry on top the driver has a "runner" sitting next to him shouting out the window at people on the street asking them if they want lifts and whatnot. It's so annoying sometimes, they just make up their own driving laws or something, and they never get into trouble.

[The Midnight Q]

Well here I would say that the majority of the people drive really chilled, and really slowly actually. But the big problem is with the crazy mini bus taxis, which are driven by African people from the townships, and these taxis are pretty much only used by black people from the townships. The drivers of these mini buses are totally crrrazy, they just stop all of a sudden in the middle of the street, or swerve into another lane without indicating, and hoot ALL THE BLOODY TIME, and to put the cherry on top the driver has a "runner" sitting next to him shouting out the window at people on the street asking them if they want lifts and whatnot. It's so annoying sometimes, they just make up their own driving laws or something, and they never get into trouble.

 

Sounds like driving in the Philippines.

[Bagel of Death]

I've driven in my state Pennsylvania, California and Arizona. Between Penn and Cali, jeez I don't know who has the worst drivers. Both states have drivers that are rude, inconsiderate and all around obnoxious. They drive too fast and will just pull out in front of you. God knows how many fender benders I've had. The last was right before Christmas, I got stopped at a light and got rear ended by a drunk driver. It seems that in the more crowded cities the drivers display less patience and consideration.

 

Arizonan drivers have been very pleasant so far (if I may put it that way). The roads aren't as overcrowded compared to the other two.

[Lady Deadpool]

I don't know what's worse here, the drivers or the roads. Drivers here are nuts, they get angry really easily, they keep honking for everything most of them don't ever use the flash light thingy when they turn and that often causes accidents, especially when a pedestrian wants to cross. Speaking of pedestrians, drivers never give priority to them and they never stop at the crossings. They always park in both sides of the roads, right and left, (sometimes on the pavements as well) and as a result a double line road often is really narrow and if two cars meet won't be able to pass at the same time.

 

Not to mention there are so many old people driving oh my god, they're blind, they're deaf, they're slow, their reflexes are slow, gosh they're Death itself.

 

Ι hardly ever drive in the city anymore. I just can't, it's too annoying.

[Monkey Cartwheels]

Seriously!

I had it again today, some guy was following so close behind that I couldnt see his lights in my mirrors. I got so sick of it I wound the window down and gave him the finger which motivated him to over take me.

I hate drivers

[The Midnight Q]

Seriously!

I had it again today, some guy was following so close behind that I couldnt see his lights in my mirrors. I got so sick of it I wound the window down and gave him the finger which motivated him to over take me.

I hate drivers

 

You're actually making the situation worse. If someone flipped me off on the road, bad things will happen. If anything actually happened, the "road rage" was started by you. If someone is following too close to you, try tapping on the brakes a couple times to signal the driver to back off.

[Monkey Cartwheels]

^Yeah I did that but he didnt do nothing. Its the first time I have done that, but if he pulled me over and got aggressive to me I would have given him a smack in the lip. I was having a bad day haha

[..::blueangel0::..]

It all depends on drivers

 

 

I hate old people driving Don't get me wrong, but when I saw 85 years old women with glasses who can barely see over the wheel I was shocked... come on, who gave her license?

 

 

Me, for example I love fast driving, but that doesn't mean I'm a bad driver Of course that you have to be careful where will you drive at which speed. I live in a small town with bunch of kids running around the streets and of course that I'm not driving fast there.

[The Midnight Q]

^Yeah I did that but he didnt do nothing. Its the first time I have done that, but if he pulled me over and got aggressive to me I would have given him a smack in the lip. I was having a bad day haha

 

Haha I'll guarantee you that you do not want to try to give someone a smack in the lip in Texas however.

 

Me, for example I love fast driving, but that doesn't mean I'm a bad driver Of course that you have to be careful where will you drive at which speed. I live in a small town with bunch of kids running around the streets and of course that I'm not driving fast there.

 

That's basically my driving style. I drive quickly and can get pretty aggressive at times but I like to keep my distance from other motorists so that they won't get pissed off.