Help Control Traffic in Austin (Houston: fit in, house, living)

[curious1111]

I see that we some said offenders here. The way I see it, it's YOU that is acting like your time is more important than everyone else. I never said anything about speeding or doing anything to brake the law. And I'm not talking about staying in the lane closest a pulled over cop. It's the law to switch over lanes. It's not the law to slam on your brakes in the far left lane to a crawl. I think it's actually quite "UN-Texan" to sit at a green arrow and make everyone miss but you. And riding your brakes on the highway unnecessarily is going to cause an accident.
Why do I get the sense that these are some of the same austinites that fought road expansion back when we could have done something about it?

It's not about being in a hurry. It's about realizing you aren't the only one on the road and having courtesy for those around. Courtesy comes in different flavors. No one likes to spend an hour on Mopac or surface streets. You can do your part by driving, not piddling/braking unnecessarily.

[curious1111]

Originally Posted by RoadWarrior12

You do realize that nothing you've pointed out in here would actually impact traffic, right?

And the day people stop striking up conversations in line, we stop being Texans. Might as well move to LA if your time is so much more important than everyone else's

Everyone has to wait on you, and it's my time that is more valuable? Other way around. It's the epitome of rudeness and selfishness not to notice those around you and make us all be on your schedule. No line behind you? Totally different.... And you don't have to strike up long conversations with a line behind you to be a friendly Texan.

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by JackGriffin

Many years ago before this was even the law, I decided to try it once. I thought to myself that there's no way a police officer would interrupt his ticket writing to chase me down and pull me over. I was promptly pulled over by another cop who scolded me for thinking that I would not get caught because the first officer was busy with someone else.

I got stopped for this when I pulled into the middle lane (between two semis) when a police officer had someone pulled over, then pulled back into the right lane (because I was going to exit relatively soon) by another policeman who was at that stop because I pulled back over too soon in his eyes. This was right after they beefed up the law because too many cops were being killed by people either too drunk or in too much of a hurry to slow down/pull over passing a traffic stop, so I couldn't really blame him for taking it very seriously - it really IS a matter of life and death.

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by Aquitaine

I feel like this is more a rubbernecking issue than a 'let's stop speeding' issue. If folks are going from 75 to 65 because they see a cop, well, that's common sense. If they're going from 65 to 55 in a 65 mph zone because OMG a police! that's a different matter.

My biggest complaint with Texan drivers is that they seem unaware of the 'left lane for passing, right lane for cruising' rules - enough so that I had to check and make sure it is actually still the law here as it is in other states I've lived in. Almost every day I end up behind somebody going 4-5 mph under the limit in the left lane.

You apparently didn't look hard enough. The law is that the left lane is for passing only ONLY in those areas that are specifically designated as such AND that have signage with specific wording so stating. It also doesn't count if the signage is too far back - this from case law that I've looked up, as well. There's been more than one drug case thrown out due to a stop for cruising in the left lane where drugs were found and the cop had the same understanding of the law that you do and the sign was anywhere from five to 25 miles back and thus the stretch the stop was in wasn't left lane passing only and it was a bad traffic stop and thus a bad drug bust.

I'm really surprised, though, that every day you run into someone going that slow. When I've driven in Austin it's more like someone in the left lane going only four or five miles OVER the limit and some people are getting steamed about it. Assuming, of course, that it's not rush hour and everyone is going slower than the limit in all lanes due to traffic.

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by curious1111

Everyone has to wait on you, and it's my time that is more valuable? Other way around. It's the epitome of rudeness and selfishness not to notice those around you and make us all be on your schedule. No line behind you? Totally different.... And you don't have to strike up long conversations with a line behind you to be a friendly Texan.

You DO, however, have to not get your panties in a knot if someone in front of you in line has a friendly conversation in order to be a friendly Texan (or friendly person, period, in my book). If you're so busy rushing through life that the little things that make life worth living in the first place are anathema to you, this may not be the place for you (and you might want to think about the destination you're rushing through life to get to, as well). Like I said, it's cultural, and please all the powers that be it will never change.

[curious1111]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

You DO, however, have to not get your panties in a knot if someone in front of you in line has a friendly conversation in order to be a friendly Texan (or friendly person, period, in my book). If you're so busy rushing through life that the little things that make life worth living in the first place are anathema to you, this may not be the place for you (and you might want to think about the destination you're rushing through life to get to, as well). Like I said, it's cultural, and please all the powers that be it will never change.

Will have to agree to disagree. I have lived in Texas my whole life. I love a friendly conversation. And if no one is waiting behind me, I love to make small talk. But it is selfish, rude, and very unTexan to make a long line of people wait on you unnecessarily. Maybe you are independently wealthy and don't have to work. Maybe you choose not to work. Maybe you do work, but just are never in a hurry. That's all great, but doesn't mean you have to assert your way of living on others, like you are the authority on how someone should live in Texas. I have admired your posts for years, they are well thought out and valuable. And I thank you for your recommendations for my special needs son recently. So I say all this with utmost respect. But I find that sometimes those in Austin like to be political correct, as long as its their kind of correctness. There could be a lot of people behind you in line that don't have your type of time - the blue collar worker just holding it all together, a single mom, a teacher, surgeon, firefighter, whatever. This city takes all types to make it the great eclectic mix it is. I'm just saying, whether it is in a coffee line or on a highway, it is RUDE to act like you are the only one on the planet. My dad (another Texas lifer) used to call this the crosswalk test. When a car is politely waiting for someone to cross before turning, there are two types of people. There is the person that sees the car waiting and picks up their pace a bit. And there is the person that sees the car, and decides to take their sweet time, at an almost crawl pace. Why? Because they can. They do have the right away after all...so you can just wait on them. Its a simple test. Nuanced, but I think telling.

[A-Tex]

Originally Posted by curious1111

Will have to agree to disagree. I have lived in Texas my whole life. I love a friendly conversation. And if no one is waiting behind me, I love to make small talk. But it is selfish, rude, and very unTexan to make a long line of people wait on you unnecessarily. Maybe you are independently wealthy and don't have to work. Maybe you choose not to work. Maybe you do work, but just are never in a hurry. That's all great, but doesn't mean you have to assert your way of living on others, like you are the authority on how someone should live in Texas. I have admired your posts for years, they are well thought out and valuable. And I thank you for your recommendations for my special needs son recently. So I say all this with utmost respect. But I find that sometimes those in Austin like to be political correct, as long as its their kind of correctness. There could be a lot of people behind you in line that don't have your type of time - the blue collar worker just holding it all together, a single mom, a teacher, surgeon, firefighter, whatever. This city takes all types to make it the great eclectic mix it is. I'm just saying, whether it is in a coffee line or on a highway, it is RUDE to act like you are the only one on the planet. My dad (another Texas lifer) used to call this the crosswalk test. When a car is politely waiting for someone to cross before turning, there are two types of people. There is the person that sees the car waiting and picks up their pace a bit. And there is the person that sees the car, and decides to take their sweet time, at an almost crawl pace. Why? Because they can. They do have the right away after all...so you can just wait on them. Its a simple test. Nuanced, but I think telling.

If someone having a friendly conversation in line in front of you is going to make that big of an impact on your life, you probably have some other things you need to look at.

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by A-Tex

If someone having a friendly conversation in line in front of you is going to make that big of an impact on your life, you probably have some other things you need to look at.

Yep. Absolutely agree.

And the thing about the car turning? A complete non sequitor to having a friendly conversation (which I've noticed rarely lasts more than a minute or so, in any case, and if you can't spare that, see A-Tex's statement above again).

I don't always engage in conversations beyond the basic "how are you" in the check-out line, but I do know to include time for a slightly longer conversation to happen in front of me when checking out. If I REALLY don't have the time (rather than just being on the "rush through life faster" treadmill like a hamster), I go through the self-check or express lanes.

[Slowpoke_TX]

Originally Posted by MiaMia411

Texas has the worst drivers , and i come from NJ where we have some bad traffic. These drivers are clowns here.

Texas does not have the worst drivers, Austin has some of the worst drivers.

[MiaMia411]

Originally Posted by Slowpoke_TX

Texas does not have the worst drivers, Austin has some of the worst drivers.

Im sorry, thank you for the correction Agreed...