I don't want to drive in this city anymore (Houston: transfer, legal)

[ClarenceBodiker]

I think it's meaningless how drivers in Boston, New York, or any other city might be. Dallas drivers are bad, careless, and irresponsible. Just because another city may or may not be worse isn't an excuse for our own shortcomings.

[highcotton]

kenshi - you need to walk, hitch a ride, take a cab or the bus or train. Save yourself the anguish of not knowing how to drive, or knowing how to avoid being involved in accidents. Some people have it - others don't. It sounds like you're the type that might get your foot run over by the bus...

[Double-G]

I'm not facetious but you should consider

a) Professional driving training and quite possibly a track day as a reward. Defensive driving is a skill that needs to be taught, and I'm not talking about those BS courses that get you a 2% discount on your insurance.

Or

B) Get a truck. One of my 'cars' is a jacked up F250 in white with blackout tint. People tend to respect your space when you drive it. Alas that's the pricey option if you're talking about daily driver.

C) Get a very fast car and tight handling car and maintain a heightened sense of awareness and road positioning. If you're clever you can normally accelerate out of most bad situations or swerve. That's how most people stay upright on a motorcycle in dangerous traffic.

And that concludes my list of things a DPS licensed driving instructor would be fired for saying.

[Double-G]

Dallas driving is really about having the right mindset. You have to become one with your surroundings and leave your ego at the door. Hope for the best and plan for the worst. We're all the same person anyway and everything is connected.

Bohm really was right.

That said, when I drive in LA anyone with me in the car looks scared senseless and a lot of horns get honked. Which is kind of weird because no one honks in Dallas.

[kenshi]

Originally Posted by Double-G

I'm not facetious but you should consider

a) Professional driving training and quite possibly a track day as a reward. Defensive driving is a skill that needs to be taught, and I'm not talking about those BS courses that get you a 2% discount on your insurance.

I've done some amateur racing. Not sure how that's supposed to help. Racers know how to drive. The people that hit me didn't.

Or

B) Get a truck. One of my 'cars' is a jacked up F250 in white with blackout tint. People tend to respect your space when you drive it. Alas that's the pricey option if you're talking about daily driver.

This is what I suggested in my first post.

C) Get a very fast car and tight handling car and maintain a heightened sense of awareness and road positioning. If you're clever you can normally accelerate out of most bad situations or swerve. That's how most people stay upright on a motorcycle in dangerous traffic.

I've been riding motorcycles for years and agree to an extent.

[highcotton]

You might want to consider moving to a small town with a few hundred people, some farm trucks and slow moving farm tractors, and more farm animals than cars.

[highcotton]

Originally Posted by kenshi

I've been riding motorcycles for years and agree to an extent.

kenshi - When you ride on your scooter, can you balance on it pretty good...or do you drag your feet and wobble a lot?

[Miss J 74]

You guys are making me think I need to change my car reservation choice (right now have a Ford Focus reserved) to an Impala or something and pay the extra 100 bucks for full coverage insurance.

Granted, I've been driving in NYC for the past 14 years and have seen all kinds of craziness. The only 2 accidents I have been in here are 1 when I was going downhill in the rain, and the brakes didn't work because my ex hubby let the tires go almost bald, and another when I was hit by a guy who was swerving to avoid an idiot.

I pretty much drive defensively by default, because my family is all NYPD, and they taught me how to drive. Defensive driving is part of their training. One thing my mom taught me was to first learn how to drive in a large vehicle. If you can handle that, you can pretty much handle almost any vehicle.

I've driven trucks, moving trucks, vans, and mostly large vehicles. (My first car was an '85 Ford LTD). So when I drive something like an Eclipse, it feels like nothing to me.

Here, every idiotic move you can think of occurs. Mainly it's aggressive drivers or people on their cell phones. I used to go to Miami a few times a year, and there no one uses their signals. (It's a running joke that's how they tell you're a tourist, if you use your signal). Boston and DC are horrendous as well.

So I guess my question goes back to the beginning. Should I change my car rental reservation and go for the full coverage or since I generally drive defensive and stay in the middle lane, I should be okay?

[Pete53FR]

Unfortunately most drivers in Dallas are not from Dallas and secondly there is entirely to much road construction going on to make driving safe.

[synchronicity]

Glad to know I'm not the only one who has found Dallas drivers to be the worst of any major (or even minor) city I've been in. Seriously, EVERY DAY brings some genius move, like the pickup truck in front of me on the drive home from the store that decided, while the light was red and he was right at the intersection, to squoosh over kinda sorta into the turning lane. Oh, with no signal, too. Apparently using turn signals is a traffic offense here. And of course there's the "at-least-one-every-day" driver who swerves over at the last minute onto the exit ramp from the highway (cutting across the painted area separating the off-ramp from the main road) because apparently they'd missed the 13 prior signs announcing said exit.

Or the other genius behind me today who kept alternating between sitting for 10 seconds without moving after the light turned green to suddenly ZOOMING up right behind me, then lather/rinse/repeat for no apparent reason.

Seriously, more bad driving anecdotes in any one day than I had in a week of driving anywhere else.