Your thoughts about Atlanta drivers (condo, school, legal)

[oogoi]

Originally Posted by RainyRainyDay

Oogoi, is it by any chance possible that you learned to drive in China? I recently read an article about driving in China, in The New Yorker magazine. The writer, a US journalist who was stationed in China for several years, wrote that in China, the horn is considered an essential piece of equipment for every day driving, and is used very much more than in the US. Personally, I probably use the horn maybe once every couple of years while driving. It's a different style.

Nope sorry. I learned to drive in NJ and learned to use the horn to tell people to wake up when zoning out at a green light. I've heard people say that it's rude to use the horn but personally I don't think there's anything wrong with it. It's just another way of saying "hey buddy the light is green" but I guess people take it the wrong way.

[plessthanpointohfive]

It's just not worth my time to make extra noise. I mean, honking at someone to go doesn't get you anywhere faster. Not around here.

The only time I honk is to get the attention of someone I know...

[RainyRainyDay]

Originally Posted by oogoi

Nope sorry. I learned to drive in NJ and learned to use the horn to tell people to wake up when zoning out at a green light. I've heard people say that it's rude to use the horn but personally I don't think there's anything wrong with it. It's just another way of saying "hey buddy the light is green" but I guess people take it the wrong way.

Hah, yeah... down here in the US where there's so many people with guns (I'm from Canada, eh) I'm pretty cautious not to risk offending another driver.

[darkone]

I also don't understand the down-home mentality of not using the horn at a green light. I could understand if the Atlanta area roadways were filled with courteous, pleasant drivers instead of those filled with haste, carelessness and aggression that I come across every minute out there.

I agree about making sure that there are no red-light runners, but this can be done in a split second. The extra-long wait after the light changes cannot be excused and nor can those who idiotically wait behind them without waking them up.

[plessthanpointohfive]

Cannot be excused? From what? Death? Your horn behind them?

I've never personally witnessed such a long wait when a light turns green....certainly never long enough to miss the light or make me miss the next light.

[atlantagreg30127]

Originally Posted by oogoi

I must say Atlanta drivers are terrible, but they seem pretty nice to me. I found it to be so strange that whenever I put my blinker on, 80% of the time the other driver would let me in. How nice!

You must have a bumper sticker that says, "Yes I do, and it's loaded".

Originally Posted by oogoi

I also hate that no one uses their horn here. I have seen too many times, people waiting behind an idiot who is stopped at a red light and does not go after it turns green.

They don't go because 95% of the people stopped at a red light always decide to look under their dashboard for something that's fallen when they know the light is about to turn green. You've been waiting at the light for 3 minutes - you know it's about to turn green - yet, you decide to hunch over and start looking for "it". What is "it" anyway?? Why does everyone have an "it" in the floor of their car that they have to pick up at a red light so often?? ARGH!!

(oh, and yes, I do use my horn on these people).

[neil0311]

Originally Posted by oogoi

I do absolutely hate that Atlanta drivers are slow to go when the light turns green. What is the point in waiting 3 seconds AFTER the light turns green? I also hate that no one uses their horn here. I have seen too many times, people waiting behind an idiot who is stopped at a red light and does not go after it turns green. I have seen the green light turn back to red and not a single car has gone through! For some reason, some people don't like to use their horn! Now, I'm not a mean driver at all...I don't have road rage..but I believe in using the horn and being an efficient driver!

Good point...and with all the left turn only arrows and lights at some intersections being green only 10 seconds in one direction, and 10 minutes in the other, it's important to go when you can. Stomping on your brakes at yellow lights is much less around here than it used to be, and people will actually go through a yellow light where appropriate.

Another thing that has also improved with drivers in the area in the last 25 years, is the willingness for drivers to go around and pass a left turning car on the right. When I lived here the first time in the 1980s, people would stop behind someone making a left turn on a 2-lane road and wait for them to turn, despite the fact that plenty of room on the shoulder existed to go around. It was compounded by the fact that people were also very timid making left turns. It's much better now, but there are still those people in Atlanta who feel the need to wait until all traffic for 5 miles has disappeared from view before they consent to making their left turn.

[plessthanpointohfive]

However, we must note that running a yellow light and passing on the shoulder is illegal (okay, so I am basing this off Louisiana traffic laws but I really thing this sort of thing is similar from state to state). Sure, it's often ignored (not so much passing on the shoulder). But, if a cop wants to ticket you for them they can. Technically, there's no appropriate or acceptable reason for running a yellow light.

It's also illegal to block an intersection...so when people pull out into one in anticipation of turning left at the last minute before the light changes...you could get a ticket for that (think emergency vehicle trying to get through intersection).

But...most times you can get away with breaking these minor traffic violations.

I commute to work on bike now and the thing I really dont like is how other cyclists treat the side of the lane or the shoulder like a bike lane and pass ALL the cars waiting at a light on the right so they can get to the front of the line.

That's also illegal. You're supposed to get in line with the rest of the cars.

That being said...it's a pain when you get in line and the car behind you STILL tries to edge you out of your place.

[RainyRainyDay]

Originally Posted by plessthanpointohfive

However, we must note that running a yellow light and passing on the shoulder is illegal (okay, so I am basing this off Louisiana traffic laws but I really thing this sort of thing is similar from state to state). Sure, it's often ignored (not so much passing on the shoulder). But, if a cop wants to ticket you for them they can. Technically, there's no appropriate or acceptable reason for running a yellow light.

Right. That's the law. My husband and I both get honked at ALL THE TIME for stopping at yellow lights. But the law says if you have room to stop comfortably, you must stop. I am not about to pick up the insane local custom of running yellow lights. Well actually, many if not most Atlanta drivers seem to treat yellow as green, and the first 20 seconds of red as yellow. Apparently they have a death wish.

[neil0311]

Hmm...never heard that passing a left turning car on the right was illegal, but maybe? I'm not just talking about a shoulder but in an intersection as well, where there is plenty of room to pass safely.

In my mind there is a difference between "running" a yellow light and continuing through the intersection when the light changes. If you have to speed up in order to make it through the intersection, then you should have stopped. What I was referring to are the people who are traveling at 45 mph and at the intersection when a light turns yellow, and they lock up their brakes to stop, almost causing a rear end collision.

It's OK to proceed through a yellow light...yellow isn't red. The problem here in the south and some other areas of the country is that yellow has been treated as the same as a red light. Some cops will ticket you, even if the light was still yellow as you exit the intersection, which is NOT the intent or letter of the law. Proving it in court is impossible, so some people just continue to treat yellow as the same as red.