Rant time: Freeeway madness

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TomT

TomT

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Jan 30, 2002
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Location
Sugar Land, TX
I don't know if the Houston area has a monopoly on bad drivers or it just seems like it because I have to put up with them everyday. Seems more and more people are driving with their heads up their you-know-what. Three things that bug me the most (feel free to add to the list):

People who drive slow in the left lane. The rules of the freeways/highways are very simple: If you cannot keep up with the traffic in front of you, move to the right. If your already in the far right lane and still can't keep up with the traffic in front of you, ride the damn bus.



People who wait until the last moment to figure out they need to exit and then slow down to change lanes. NEVER EVER slow down to change lanes on a freeway. If your such a moron that you missed your exit, there will be another one down the road.



People who talk on cell phones while driving and are completely oblivious to what's going on around them. I find it's the people who say that talking on a cell phone doesn't affect their driving that are the worst. (I'm pushing for the death penalty here in Texas for anyone that talks on the phone while driving).

:angry:
 
I hear you regarding the cellphones...but as for slowing down and late in figuring out an exit is coming up, sometimes that just unavoidable on certain highways. Some signage simply sucks, is misleading, and not all that helpful. It's been years since I drove around Houston (92?) but I remember there being good signage.



TJR
 
4. People that think you're supposed to yield to them (even when traffic won't allow) when they're merging onto a freeway.
 
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TomT...I feel your pain..I live in Pasadena and as I have gotten older, I have grown to hate it when I have to go into houston via freeway....We have a whole new generation of drivers that dont understand courtesy, on the street..a whole lot of them are probably illegals..
 
If your gonna have the death penalty for cell phone users then you must also include those that are reading a book/ newspaper (big in Atlanta) or eating a Big Mac (insert favorite fastfood) and fries. I don't get everyones obsession with blaming cell phones when I would be willing to bet that just as many accidents are caused by a big tasty hamburger and fries. Maybe we should outlaw eating and driving. What would the road side test for that look like? DWE - Driving While Eating? Can you tell I work for a cellular company?:D
 
5. get to hwy speed in order to merge. Why do people start slowing down when merging looks difficult? GET UP TO THE SPEED OF THE TRAFFIC TO MERGE!



TomT, I fully support your cell phone initiative! The fact that one hand is tied up is an issue, but only a minor one in my opinion. It's that their brain is tied up that causes me a problem.
 
Houston has good roadsigns for the most part, so missing your exit is usually your own fault. Dallas used to be much worse, but they have gotten better. My wife just got back from L.A., and couldn't stop talking about trying to find her way around when all the road signs are at ground level and just before the exit!



And one thing I'll say about driving too slow in the left lane is: where do you go when you are trying to get past the guy going 65 in the next lane when you are going 70, and the guy behind you wants to go 85? People can get pretty irate about "slow drivers" when they want to go 20 over the limit in heavy traffic, and everyone one else is only going 5-10 over. I rarely see anyone going under the speed limit, even at rush hour, unless they are at a full stop!



I think most large cities have a level of stress associated with them. There's just too far to drive and too many people in between. I didn't drive nearly this fast when we lived in Knoxville, unless I got caught in with a bunch going from Michigan to Florida on I-75, who didn't seem to like travelling under 90!



And I have a headset to talk on the phone while I'm driving. It lets me keep both hands on the wheel!
 
When we've driven across the U.S. to Louiville & Dallas meets we generally had no problem except in the big cities. People have got to wake up & realize that it's traffic not NASCAR. If they would just stay in line in traffic they would get there just as fast with a lot less stress on everyone. When we went to Los Angles area on our trip to Disneyland we realized that they drive better there than our home town of Sacramento, CA. Our insurance rates would go down if people would give signals, stop with the 'me first' attitude, and get off their cell phones while driving. I was an MSNBC investivative report on driving while talking on a cell phone, and the conclusion was that you are as impared as driving drunk.
 
If you think American driving is bad you should try driving in Europe. I have plenty of driving experiance in the Smaller of the big cities. (Dallas, Austin, Memphis, Louisville, Chicago) If you take a Europian city of about the same size the driving is complete madness.



Worst driving pet peeve of mine: CUTTING ME OFF WHEN THERE IS NOBODY BEHIND ME!!!!!:angry:
 
texas is the WORST at people that drive slow in the left lane. i often see people driving slow in the left lane, they get passed by someone in the right lane, then they finally move over to the right lane because there are people waiting to pass them. then once the last car gets past them, they move back over. it's ridiculous, no other state has as many signs as texas for the "left lane for passing only" and yet people are so oblivious.
 
If your gonna have the death penalty for cell phone users then you must also include those that are reading a book/ newspaper (big in Atlanta) or eating a Big Mac (insert favorite fastfood) and fries. I don't get everyones obsession with blaming cell phones when I would be willing to bet that just as many accidents are caused by a big tasty hamburger and fries. Maybe we should outlaw eating and driving. What would the road side test for that look like? DWE - Driving While Eating? Can you tell I work for a cellular company?
Click to expand...



I think there's slightly less brain activity involved in eating a Big Mac than there is holding a conversation or reading. I mean, I can eat with my eyes closed without thinking about it or talking to the burger, it's just hand to mouth, hand to mouth. There's very little effort or thinking involved (or if there is, maybe you shouldn't be driving to begin with). However I do agree with your points about reading.
 
As long as your hands are free to drive, there isn't any more concentration needed to drive while talking on the cell phone than talking to someone else in the car. At least the person on the other end of the phone can't say "hey, look at that".
 
Cell phone drivers, with no headsets, drive me crazy! I've even created a site - www.hangupndrive.org. I sell decals on the site where the funds are donated to a good friends family where their daughter was killed by a driver talking on the phone.
 
EVERYONE NEEDS TO GO SEE UNITED 93 AND REMEMBER THAT LIFE IS A LOT MORE THAN A DRIVE TO WORK. ;)
 
I drove a local delivery truck for a couple of years out of high school. Lunch was usually on the road, since there wasn't time to stop for a sit-down meal. The pressure was always on to get it there and get back as fast as possible. You haven't driven until you've had to balance your Big Mac and Coke on the seat while merging into freeway traffic in the rain with 2400 lbs of truck parts in the bed of your 3/4 ton pickup while shifting while talking on the radio with your boss who wants to know where you are and why you aren't back yet.

 
Only two types of drivers that I can't stand. Everybody who drives faster than me is a maniac. They shouldn't be allowed to drive! Everybody that drives slower than me is a moron. They should ride the bus!:D



Seriously, I think tailgaters drive me as crazy as anyone on the road. I'm driving along doing 5-7 mph over the speed limit (not in the left lane, mind you) and somebody always ends up on my rear end, so close that I can't see their headlights. They have no inkling as to the physics of stopping a 4000 lb. vehicle and the reaction time needed to do so. My drivers ed teacher taught me many many years ago the most important safety rule you can follow is to leave 2 seconds between you and the car in front of you, and unless you fall asleep, you will always have time to react to them having to stop suddenly. This works no matter what your speed. The only problem is that on the highway, if you leave 2 seconds between you and the guy in front of you, 5 morons will try to fill the gap. I'll never understand why there are so many people needing to get to where they are going so badly that they are willing to risk their own lives as well as the lives of people they don't even know just to get there 5 minutes sooner. I would hate to think that I maimed someone on the highway or killed someone's Mom trying to make it home in time to see Oprah. Slow down and chill out, you'll live longer. Nothing is that important.
 
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