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I have noticed more accidents down here than up North. I am not saying this to be mean. I love it here. Could be the way the roads are designed.
I will expound on this to include surface roads. Most cities and towns are built on a grid. Long, straight roads are much easier to drive on, obviously, not to mention just finding your way around.
What makes Charlotte's roads so dangerous is that they all wind and curve all over the place. Just look at a road map of Charlotte. It looks like a ball of twine! There are very few long, straight thoroughfares in Charlotte. I'm just waiting for a head-on collision on that mean S-turn on Sharon Rd near that daycare. Roads like Sharon Amity, Wendover, Park Rd (to name a few) are full of curves, hills with blind-spots, not to mention some of these roads have been narrowed to include bike lanes. Yes, the roads are insane here and you really have to be fully alert at all times.
And a note to the OP. I would bet my life that just as many accidents here in Charlotte are actually caused by transplants (northern, southern, western) barreling down these roads, and yes.....talking on a cell phone not paying attention.
Looks like driving and cell phone use is staying. I'm in my 5 month of living in Charlotte, and very much enjoying the relocation. Just wish they would ban cell phone use while driving, it really is very dangerous. I sincerely feel the number of accidents *rain or not* would be lessened with a cell phone ban.
Btw.....where are the deli's and diners???? Ha ha ha, sorry just the one thing I miss besides family and life-long friends from NJ.
Looks like driving and cell phone use is staying. I'm in my 5 month of living in Charlotte, and very much enjoying the relocation. Just wish they would ban cell phone use while driving, it really is very dangerous. I sincerely feel the number of accidents *rain or not* would be lessened with a cell phone ban.
Btw.....where are the deli's and diners???? Ha ha ha, sorry just the one thing I miss besides family and life-long friends from NJ.
You might like Mattie'S Diner - Welcome (http://www.mattiesdiner.com/page5.php - broken link),
Law of physics. I am betting that more of the overturned vehicles are SUV's, crossovers, or pickup trucks, since their center of gravity is higher than a sedan. Until a couple of years ago, I spent seven years in the DC area, and I can tell you I saw a lot of SUVs and pickups with the greasy side up on interstates and urban roadways. Charlotte's no different than any other place - as soon as it rains or snows lots of stupid people run out, jump in their veee-hicles. tromp on the gas to see if they can get their insurance premiums to go us.
I think in this day and age it's more "ME, ME, ME". In other words, I will do whatever I want to do whenever I want to do it regardless of how it affects others.
For example, I will stop traffic in one lane so I can cross over two other lanes to get to my exit instead of driving down to the next exit and turn around.
I will also change lanes at my leisure. I will also change lanes without using a turn signal because that would require me to move my hands from my phone. It will also give the guy behind me in that lane I want to turn into a warning that I plan on swithching lanes. He will speed up and not let me in because of they hypercompetition that's espoused on the roads today. So I will just scoot over since I don't want to wait.
I also refuse to let anyone merge in front of me. I will speed up if I have too and I certainly won't move over for them. Why should I do the work?
I also will go in the far right lane to try and beat the car ahead of me at the light. I don't care if that lane could be used for people to make that right turn on red. They'll just have to wait. I don't want to be behind that one car in front of me anymore.
I would like to use my turn signals when getting off a road but if I'm on my cell phone, you'll just have to take extra precaution. I don't want to put down the phone and use my hand to use the turn signals. My conversation is more important than traffic safety.
I hate to wait in a long line of cars to make a turn, so I will drive up as far as I can and cut in front of someone. I feel bad for the people who I block in my lane, but it's not totally my fault since the people in the lane I am trying to get into may not be letting me in. So if you are on Johnston Road trying to get on 485, please let me in and we won't have to back up traffic in the middle lane.
Oh, I also refuse to merge at the first possible opening. I will drive up as far as I can, usually passing people on my left and about 2 or 3 opportunities to merge, and just when my lane ends, I will need you to let me in since my lane has ended. I realize I skipped about 20 cars, but hey, I am in a rush. Don't worry about the bottleneck I created, it will sort itself out. So when you see me doing this when I merge onto 77 from 485 please be courteous. Since we all know I have to go left, my signal is not necessary either.
Oh, and raz_NJ, I am from NJ too and trust me, it's not a southern thing. Nobody tailgates like northerners. While more northerners use turn signals and are better at letting you merge, tailgating is the worst thing you can do IMO.
I lived in the Philly metro over 40 years & commuted back & forth as well as spending time, socially, in the city for most of that time. I am speaking from my experience. Your experience is obviously different, but you are missing a major point. Philly/South Jersey/Delaware is culturally different from NYC/North Jersey.
I don't know how long you lived in Philly, or when, but I worked a few blocks from Overbrook HS for years & have been waved to & returned the waves many times. There was no bird flipping involved.
You definitely are from the Philly area because people from Philly always find a reason to disagree and they pride themselves on not being NYC.
I know there is a difference between Philly/South and North Jersey/NYC etc... but not when comparing driving patterns of Charlotte.
I think they can be lumped together for this discussion but I'm sure you feel otherwise.
I think in this day and age it's more "ME, ME, ME". In other words, I will do whatever I want to do whenever I want to do it regardless of how it affects others.
For example, I will stop traffic in one lane so I can cross over two other lanes to get to my exit instead of driving down to the next exit and turn around.
I will also change lanes at my leisure. I will also change lanes without using a turn signal because that would require me to move my hands from my phone. It will also give the guy behind me in that lane I want to turn into a warning that I plan on swithching lanes. He will speed up and not let me in because of they hypercompetition that's espoused on the roads today. So I will just scoot over since I don't want to wait.
I also refuse to let anyone merge in front of me. I will speed up if I have too and I certainly won't move over for them. Why should I do the work?
I also will go in the far right lane to try and beat the car ahead of me at the light. I don't care if that lane could be used for people to make that right turn on red. They'll just have to wait. I don't want to be behind that one car in front of me anymore.
I would like to use my turn signals when getting off a road but if I'm on my cell phone, you'll just have to take extra precaution. I don't want to put down the phone and use my hand to use the turn signals. My conversation is more important than traffic safety.
I hate to wait in a long line of cars to make a turn, so I will drive up as far as I can and cut in front of someone. I feel bad for the people who I block in my lane, but it's not totally my fault since the people in the lane I am trying to get into may not be letting me in. So if you are on Johnston Road trying to get on 485, please let me in and we won't have to back up traffic in the middle lane.
Oh, I also refuse to merge at the first possible opening. I will drive up as far as I can, usually passing people on my left and about 2 or 3 opportunities to merge, and just when my lane ends, I will need you to let me in since my lane has ended. I realize I skipped about 20 cars, but hey, I am in a rush. Don't worry about the bottleneck I created, it will sort itself out. So when you see me doing this when I merge onto 77 from 485 please be courteous. Since we all know I have to go left, my signal is not necessary either.
I'm convinced a lot of the bad driving in inclement weather is due to tires. I'm guessing its 80% not having to drive in snow and 20% less stringent inspections, but have you ever stopped to look at what the tires on the cars next to you at the stoplight are like? I sometimes think they might blowout as the person peels away from the stoplight because they are so bald.
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