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Old 06-26-2007, 11:19 AM
 
157 posts, read 528,013 times
Reputation: 67

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Charleston native View Post
What is so funny is that Columbia was rated the 6th worst place in the nation to drive by another men's magazine. Now to see it as the worst out of 100? Frankly, I'm not surprised, and sgibbs, what you just said indicates one of the reasons behind Cola's terrible rankings. Many drivers in Cola do not adhere to the law that says slower traffic needs to travel in the right lane. I-26 and I-20 are just horrendous to drive on during the day...I've sent letters to the DOT saying they need to widen I-26 from Cola to Chas just so the trip won't be so stressful.

I was in the Air Force for 5 years, and I grew up in Chas. I've traveled all over the US on interstates and US highways. I've never seen worse drivers in any other place than Columbia. People here do not understand the concept of traffic flow. I have witnessed people:
  • Exiting I-20 from the far left lane
  • Talking on their cell phones in the left lane while going 5 under the speed limit causing traffic jams
  • Driving in the left lane going 10 under for no good reason
  • Driving 15 under in light rain WITH HAZARD LIGHTS ON (where this method for driving in the rain came from, I have no idea!)
  • Turning from an intersection onto a street into the wrong lanes
  • Stopping their cars in the middle of an open street to let one car cross an intersection
  • Stopping their cars in the middle of an intersection for a red light (the law says to go ahead and cross the intersection rather than block oncoming traffic!)
Driving for me was usually a soothing experience, allowing me to alleviate my stress, but since I've lived here, I am more stressed on the road as I have to practice defensive driving every time I get in my car. These men's magazines are on to something here; most of these accidents don't occur at places like Malfunction Junction, they occur on open highway away from troublesome intersections! And, many people here especially do not know how to drive in rain or inclement conditions. Couple that with terrible lane discipline, and you get the reasons behind Cola's terrible ratings.
I agree with everything you said. Cola is redicilous. They need to revise the SC Drivers manual along with adding inclement weather driving, construction, and cell phone bans. I think SC statewise needs a re evaluation. The "DO NOT BRAKE FOR THE HELL OF IT and STAY OUT THE LEFT LANE" words needs to be emphasized in the good book as well.
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Old 06-26-2007, 11:20 AM
 
157 posts, read 528,013 times
Reputation: 67
Speed dont kill, stupid azz drivers does! My 2 cents of wisdom
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Old 06-26-2007, 11:35 AM
 
Location: Charlotte, NC
153 posts, read 767,083 times
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Sgibbs, you said it perfectly. Stupid mistakes and undisciplined drivers are the reason for accidents and the deaths along with them.

Another thing you mentioned helped me remember another point to add to my list: drivers here are "brake-happy". I'm sure car mechanics have a field day selling new brake pads because drivers here constantly overuse their brake instead of just letting up on the accelerator. Driver skills are lacking here, but I don't know why. It is baffling, to say the least.
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Old 06-26-2007, 12:51 PM
 
Location: Lexington, SC
168 posts, read 692,741 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Charleston native View Post
Another thing you mentioned helped me remember another point to add to my list: drivers here are "brake-happy". I'm sure car mechanics have a field day selling new brake pads because drivers here constantly overuse their brake instead of just letting up on the accelerator. Driver skills are lacking here, but I don't know why. It is baffling, to say the least.
Couldn't possibly agree more with this observation. Generally speaking, nobody knows how to coast going down a hill, everyone rides their brakes. A cop has someone stopped on the interstate, in the opposite lane, people slam on their brakes. My favorite, people that hit the brakes and slow way down at every intersection along a 2 lane road.

Another observation, I've never seen more people completely clueless as to the concept of a freeway entrance ramp. I have a short drive on I-20 on my daily commute and on most days I'm behind someone trying to merge with 80 MPH traffic going 40 MPH. Nothing like causing an accident before you even get on the freeway.
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Old 06-26-2007, 02:14 PM
 
Location: Charlotte, NC
153 posts, read 767,083 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mpaquette View Post
Couldn't possibly agree more with this observation. Generally speaking, nobody knows how to coast going down a hill, everyone rides their brakes. A cop has someone stopped on the interstate, in the opposite lane, people slam on their brakes. My favorite, people that hit the brakes and slow way down at every intersection along a 2 lane road.

Another observation, I've never seen more people completely clueless as to the concept of a freeway entrance ramp. I have a short drive on I-20 on my daily commute and on most days I'm behind someone trying to merge with 80 MPH traffic going 40 MPH. Nothing like causing an accident before you even get on the freeway.
Great observations. It's so sad because it's so true. I've also witnessed your latter scenario many times...I need to add that to my list as well!
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Old 06-27-2007, 06:55 AM
 
157 posts, read 528,013 times
Reputation: 67
I'm glad I'm not the only one noticing these driving tactics. Charlotte aint far behind either. We have a mixture of up north driving and country southern driving which equals anger and road rage. LOL. Its actually bad through out these two states. But Columbia takes the cake. Drive down to Beaufort and it is bad too. well the highways are poorly designed. They turned a 2 mile stretch of US21 from 2 lanes to legally unpassable 3 lanes and it only cost the county tax payers and gas taxes 8 million dollars to f*** the road up worse that it already was. LOL. I'm glad you two see the picture though
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Old 06-27-2007, 02:13 PM
 
Location: West Columbia, SC
3 posts, read 10,556 times
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everything that has been said above is completely true about people getting in the left hand lane and driving slow or even merging slow! i live right next to highway one and i-26 and i constantly see people who try to get onto 26 who stop on the entrance ramp and wait for an opening instead of just acellerating...the way the entrance and exit ramp is designed is not the best but nonetheless you do not stop to get onto the interstate...it is incredibly dangerous
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Old 07-09-2007, 12:34 AM
 
3 posts, read 5,941 times
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Thank you, Charleston Native, for finally saying the truth. I was shocked to read the posts by people who said things really aren't that bad and tried to blame the problems on the road designs. I moved to SC from FL about 6 years ago and have said since day one that Columbia had to have the worst drivers in the country. (Needless to say, I was glad to read the aforementioned article which only solidified my argument.) When people come to visit from Florida one of the first things they comment on is how horribly people drive and mention how many accidents they almost got into on their way through the state either by people running red lights or trying to change lanes without looking. My mother (who grew up in Ft. Lauderdale and now drives in the traffic of Tampa and central Florida daily) even mentioned one time that she would be afraid to drive here due to the drivers.

And to set the record straight, while the intersection of I-20, I-26 and I-126 is not the best designed intersection, the majority of the problems and traffic jams at that interchange stem from the inabilities of the drivers to properly change lanes. Until moving to SC, I had never seen anyone stop in the interstate with their blinker on waiting to get over into the next lane, nor had I ever seen anyone willing to stop a second lane of traffic on the interstate just to let the first person over.

I could go on, but I'd only be echoing what Charleston Native and others have already said. Men's Health was completely on point with their article naming Columbia's drivers the worst in the country.
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Old 07-09-2007, 02:09 AM
 
Location: metro ATL
8,180 posts, read 14,774,892 times
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^Have you driven in every city in the country to make that assessment? The editors of Men's Health surely didn't. That's not to say that Columbia has all excellent drivers, but you can't take just one ranking as absolute gospel.
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Old 07-09-2007, 08:57 AM
 
Location: Lexington, SC
168 posts, read 692,741 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jak2005 View Post
And to set the record straight, while the intersection of I-20, I-26 and I-126 is not the best designed intersection, the majority of the problems and traffic jams at that interchange stem from the inabilities of the drivers to properly change lanes. Until moving to SC, I had never seen anyone stop in the interstate with their blinker on waiting to get over into the next lane, nor had I ever seen anyone willing to stop a second lane of traffic on the interstate just to let the first person over.
I can't count the number of times I have said this exact same thing regarding the 26 and 20 intersection.
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