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Old 07-04-2018, 11:06 AM
 
5 posts, read 16,421 times
Reputation: 10

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probably the probably the biggest issue people have when they are moving to the Charleston area is the traffic. With all of the driving that I do for my job and for Uber, I have noticed that at least 80% of the traffic problem in the Charleston areas is due to people being on their phones and not paying attention to the traffic in front of them, or the green light staring them in the face for the last four to five seconds. If you're sitting at a traffic light, four to five seconds is actually an eternity!. So therefore if someone is staring at their phone because they have one point seven seconds to look at their cell phone or send a text message, they're going to contribute to the major traffic problem here in the area. Also, Charleston drivers are very very slow to begin accelerating from a stop at a traffic light. I'm not saying that they don't punch it, and go, they are very very slow to pick up speed from a dead stop.




another another major major problem downtown with not as much traffic, as it is the pedestrians, is the lack of respect and common courtesy the pedestrians have four a motorized object that is five times the size of their own body, and 100 times how much they weigh. Pedestrians downtown throughout Charleston Peninsula, including anywhere around the market, conduct themselves in a manner that says there should not be any vehicles on the downtown streets. You will see them walking right out in the crosswalk when oncoming traffic has the right away at a green light, and if there is a car waiting to turn right or even left, pedestrians don't care. They will just keep filling up that crosswalk intern holding up traffic. At some point the pedestrians need to understand that you've got to make a hole for traffic to get through. Something else and many of us Uber drivers have noticed is the pedestrians downtown Charleston do not give a single crap about that red hand staring them in the face from across the street. Pedestrians down here absolutely do not abide by The Pedestrian signals whether it's the red hand or the white walking signal!! it's no wonder that the Post and Courier just last summer posted an article about the increase in pedestrian-vehicle hits because of pedestrians weren't paying attention. I am I self have already had two people walk into my right front fender because I was in the middle of a turn and already obligated and they just step right off that curb and right into the side of my car without stopping or missing a Beat.


sitting at the airport waiting with the rest of the Uber drivers, many of us have vented about the exact same thing over and over. The foot traffic around downtown Charleston has absolutely no regard to vehicles. It is as if they think Downtown Charleston should be blocked off to all vehicle traffic so they can walk wherever they choose, stand in the middle of the street taking pictures as much as they want! Just last weekend I had three young girls walking down the middle of my Lane instead of walking on the sidewalk 8ft to their left! And when I beat my horn at them they looked at me like "wtf is your problem?"


Issue Number 3, is the use of on ramps on local highways. There are multiple videos even posted by police officers in uniform in their Cruiser explaining what the on-ramp is used for! It is used to accelerate to the speed of oncoming traffic on your left so there are no hold-ups at the bottom or the end of the on-ramp. There are even some on ramps around the Charleston area that are very short, and you have absolutely no room to slow down and pull into a berm, you're either going left into traffic, or you're going into the marsh! So it's your choice, either get your car up to speed to match the traffic that you are about to merge into or end up aggravating many many drivers!




obviously obviously I have done my best to eliminate profanity in this post so I now invite any of you to retort to what I just posted.
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Old 07-04-2018, 02:03 PM
 
5 posts, read 16,421 times
Reputation: 10
please forgive the misspells in my original post, I was speaking into my phone the whole time.
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Old 07-04-2018, 03:51 PM
 
Location: Charleston, SC
2,523 posts, read 1,919,353 times
Reputation: 4963
You weren't driving while you dictated that screed, were you ??

There's dozens of reasons that the traffic is awful around here. You've identified 3 or 4 of them. How about the fatal accident on I-26 the other day ?? That poor lady was not even from around here, just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The traffic lights that are not timed to allow traffic to flow smoothly. There's a good mash-up on Dorchester Road every evening. Sometimes it's from people trying to beat the light, other times it's from somebody stopping on the yellow and getting rear ended !!
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Old 07-04-2018, 05:18 PM
 
1,940 posts, read 3,577,251 times
Reputation: 669
The pedestrians downtown drive me insane!!! I work in the historic district and constantly see the jaywalkers. The cross light is half a block away and they jaywalk during rush hour with their little kids. Sometimes I have to pull out a little on Meeting Street to see around pedestrians and they will walk right in front of my car, which means they are walking in the street. The pedestrian issues are worse during heavy tourist times. The one thing I have learned living here is how to be a considerate tourist when I am on vacation.
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Old 07-04-2018, 07:23 PM
 
1,669 posts, read 2,227,486 times
Reputation: 1780
Quote:
Originally Posted by southerncharm1972 View Post
probably the probably the biggest issue people have when they are moving to the Charleston area is the traffic. With all of the driving that I do for my job and for Uber, I have noticed that at least 80% of the traffic problem in the Charleston areas is due to people being on their phones and not paying attention to the traffic in front of them, or the green light staring them in the face for the last four to five seconds. If you're sitting at a traffic light, four to five seconds is actually an eternity!. So therefore if someone is staring at their phone because they have one point seven seconds to look at their cell phone or send a text message, they're going to contribute to the major traffic problem here in the area. Also, Charleston drivers are very very slow to begin accelerating from a stop at a traffic light. I'm not saying that they don't punch it, and go, they are very very slow to pick up speed from a dead stop.




another another major major problem downtown with not as much traffic, as it is the pedestrians, is the lack of respect and common courtesy the pedestrians have four a motorized object that is five times the size of their own body, and 100 times how much they weigh. Pedestrians downtown throughout Charleston Peninsula, including anywhere around the market, conduct themselves in a manner that says there should not be any vehicles on the downtown streets. You will see them walking right out in the crosswalk when oncoming traffic has the right away at a green light, and if there is a car waiting to turn right or even left, pedestrians don't care. They will just keep filling up that crosswalk intern holding up traffic. At some point the pedestrians need to understand that you've got to make a hole for traffic to get through. Something else and many of us Uber drivers have noticed is the pedestrians downtown Charleston do not give a single crap about that red hand staring them in the face from across the street. Pedestrians down here absolutely do not abide by The Pedestrian signals whether it's the red hand or the white walking signal!! it's no wonder that the Post and Courier just last summer posted an article about the increase in pedestrian-vehicle hits because of pedestrians weren't paying attention. I am I self have already had two people walk into my right front fender because I was in the middle of a turn and already obligated and they just step right off that curb and right into the side of my car without stopping or missing a Beat.


sitting at the airport waiting with the rest of the Uber drivers, many of us have vented about the exact same thing over and over. The foot traffic around downtown Charleston has absolutely no regard to vehicles. It is as if they think Downtown Charleston should be blocked off to all vehicle traffic so they can walk wherever they choose, stand in the middle of the street taking pictures as much as they want! Just last weekend I had three young girls walking down the middle of my Lane instead of walking on the sidewalk 8ft to their left! And when I beat my horn at them they looked at me like "wtf is your problem?"


Issue Number 3, is the use of on ramps on local highways. There are multiple videos even posted by police officers in uniform in their Cruiser explaining what the on-ramp is used for! It is used to accelerate to the speed of oncoming traffic on your left so there are no hold-ups at the bottom or the end of the on-ramp. There are even some on ramps around the Charleston area that are very short, and you have absolutely no room to slow down and pull into a berm, you're either going left into traffic, or you're going into the marsh! So it's your choice, either get your car up to speed to match the traffic that you are about to merge into or end up aggravating many many drivers!




obviously obviously I have done my best to eliminate profanity in this post so I now invite any of you to retort to what I just posted.
Being on your phone is a big problem, no question. The bigger problem is that like 8/10 drivers are not capable of driving a personal vehicle safely under the best of conditions. Adding a phone to the mix makes things even worse.

For example: if you are going up hill on one of our bridges and you’re riding your brakes going up hill in the left lane, you’re part of the problem. If you’re in the right lane attempting to merge left and you come to a complete stop when there is still more lane in front of you, you should surrender your license immediately b
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Old 07-04-2018, 09:04 PM
 
624 posts, read 686,530 times
Reputation: 312
Traffic in general just sucks everywhere. I travel for a living and while I agree it is bad here, it is also bad in other places.

The problem here is just the massive influx of people from other places, the outdated infrastructure and just in general bad human behavior.
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Old 07-04-2018, 10:01 PM
 
Location: Bar
882 posts, read 1,452,066 times
Reputation: 664
Quote:
Originally Posted by southerncharm1972 View Post
probably the probably the biggest issue people have when they are moving to the Charleston area is the traffic. With all of the driving that I do for my job and for Uber ...
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Old 07-04-2018, 11:26 PM
 
973 posts, read 905,900 times
Reputation: 1776
It's not uncommon to encroach upon drivers in the left lane who do not have a care in the world that they are causing a 30 car line. Doesn't help that most roads in this city consist of only two lanes.
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Old 07-06-2018, 01:09 PM
 
3,578 posts, read 4,309,778 times
Reputation: 1776
Correct me if I'm wrong, but if your light is green and you're turning left or right, the pedestrians in the crosswalk you're turning into have the right of way. Their light to walk is on unless you have a specific turn lane and signal which the walk light should be red.
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Old 07-06-2018, 02:20 PM
 
973 posts, read 905,900 times
Reputation: 1776
Yep, if your turn is a protected turn, pedestrians see the red.
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