I have a theory about the DMV

Maryland Drivers can be some terrible motorists. Virginia's drivers can SUCK! too. Not too long ago I was on my way somewhere at night. A crazy bitch slaloming through other cars jets in front of me. Now I can deal with that, She's in a rush, I'm not. But just after making an unannounced appearance 12 feet off my fender, she hits the brakes. Now I'm mad. A mile or so later somehow she gets right next to me. I do her same move on her. Now I'm not mad anymore because we're even. Another mile or so everyones at a light.(Rt.29 Two lanes west, two east. Traffic intersections every mile or two. Speed limit 45-55) I see this guy walk up to her drivers side window. He stars yelling at her. I roll down my window and shout to him: "Did she cut you off?!" "Yeah!" he replies "She cut me off too!" I said. Now as if this guy snapped, he starts going A Clockwork Orange on her car. Kicking and punching the door. I'm loving it. He saying things like;" you crazy bit--" "I have my daughter in the car! (WTF?!) You nearly killed us!" The best free show I've seen in a while. Around twenty seconds of this the light turns green. He calmly walks back to his car and throws a U and disappears. Road rage is strong around DC. Her car had to have been dented to hell.

Me and SWMBO escape NYC every weekend, Usually we escape to CT. I always dread the drive back on the FDR. You always know when you are back in the city because people cut you off, they will not let you merge onto the highway, they speedup and pass you when you signal your intent to move over into the next lane all the while driving at 30mph until they see your turn signal flasher on.

Of course there are exceptions. Sometimes there are people that let you go.
Once in a while a cabbie or bus will let you turn ahead of them. Even last week, I saw a cabbie signal for the first time in about 10 years.

The FDR drive is the worst. Between the Jersey drivers and the drunk drivers I have to keep watching my mirrors to make sure that the cars passing me are not inching into my lane. I have seen cars miss my car by inches.

When I was in College I used to attend crew meets in Philly. I would constantly hear screeching tires and horns blowing. I can understand why some think PA drivers are the worst.

I think the PA drivers and the NY drivers are pretty much tied as being the worst. I have also noticed that people who drive white cars, black cars and red cars are absolutely the worst drivers.

I have seen cars racing each other dodging in and out of lanes full of other cars, hitting 5 cars like a demolition derby and then spinning out of control. I had the common sense to brake and drive really slow after I saw them pass. I missed hitting one of cars by a few feet.

Another time we were sitting in traffic, and a crazy lunatic decides to go full speed down the breakdown lane. Yep, you guessed it. He crashed right into the back of another car that was broken down in that lane.

I saw a stupid woman from Jersey trying to make a right turn from the middle lane.
Oh, I forgot to mention. We were both on the FDR at the time. And she is the one that gave me a nasty look.

I might pop over to the US.... already looking forward to driving there with all these stories! ;D Would be CA, bay area though.

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Originally Posted by Hillie

With regards to slow drivers who always magically end up next to each other and then show no indication of actually passing and making room for the drivers who drive closer to the limits: Is it considered very offensive to blink the big lights once or twice?

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No reason it should be offensive, but I have found that it's useless. That person poking along in the passing lane is there, after all, because he or she is oblivious.

~Rich

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Originally Posted by sparq

I wonder how much automatic transmissions influence those bad lazy driving habits? They require very little attention and no hand/brain/leg coordination.

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I've wondered about that too. Compounded, maybe, by all these HUGE luxury SUVs that are basically living rooms on wheels, and now by GPS units so you don't really even have to pay much attention to where you're going. It seems to me that the more time Americans spend on the road, the less we want to be actual drivers.

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... The cops are pretty useless too, I have never seen them giving tickets for anything but speeding and lane violations.

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Amen to that. I don't even see them giving tickets for lane violations around here. There's one eight-mile stretch of four-lane road I often drive to work where, if you see a big truck or other slow-moving vehicle up ahead, the likelihood is about 95% that it's in the left lane. The state police could wipe out Illinois's budget deficit in a month just by hanging out there and writing tickets.

~Rich

I drive an automatic, in Europe where it seems less common, but I consider myself fairly attentive to what's happening around me.