No need to complain about the driving in Houston anymore!

[xsatyr]

Originally Posted by LostInHouston

Trust me, as bad as Houston drivers can be at times, nothing compares to the driving in the Northeast. The year and a half I spent in the Hartford, CT area was eye opening. 14 of the top 25 on that list are northeastern cities.

Let me give an example. You pull up to an intersection to make a left turn... one without a left turn light, where you yield to oncoming traffic. In Houston, drivers don't enter the intersection until it's clear to turn. In Michigan/midwest, the lead car pulls into the intersection, so that when the light turns yellow/red at least a car or two turns as oncoming traffic slows for the stop. In the northeast, they do like Michigan, however, after a red light as an oncoming car you have to be extra careful when the light turns green as often times the driver in the opposite left turn lane will turn in front of oncoming traffic at the drop of the green light.

Try living inside the loop and not pulling up into the intersection. The cars behind will be upset and for good reason. I rarely see Houston drivers not employ this tactic.

[keepit08]

I'm from NYC and have been in Houston four months. The first thing I realized is people here rarely use their horn. In NYC if you are in a left turn lane with a signal or the first car at a red light you better be moving when the light turns green or the person 3 cars behind you will be honking. I thought New Yorkers were bad about not using their signal to change lanes, but it seems like most people here don't even know it exist. Th DC/VA/MD area has bad drivers because their are so many people from all over the country who drive differently. I saw this a lot while living in Norfolk, VA where a inch of snow would shut everything down.

[3shipguy]

My big complaint is big rigs driving in the fast lane. In Cali, big rigs are not allowed in the two left lanes unless the exit ramp/fwy split is on the left. Now we're talking fwys with 4-5 lanes, not ones with 2 lanes. Only one 290 I see trucks are not allowed in the fast lane. But everywhere else in Houston, it seems everything goes.

[Enzo_Guy]

Just moved to Houston about a month ago from the MD/DC area. Everyone here laughs when I tell them Houston traffic isn't that bad. I think the drivers here are quite nice, the fact that I see a handful of people using turn signals at all immediately puts them a league above MD drivers.

For as bad as the drivers down here are, believe me when I say it can get worse. Much worse.

I also live a half mile off 290 and not even 5 miles from the 290/610 junction. I see my fair share of the Houston traffic haha!

[Nairobi]

All this thread proves is that everybody drives differently and has their own idea of what defines Houston drivers: one person says we drive too fast, someone else says we drive too slow; person A says Houstonians clog up the left lane, person B says Houstonians will kill you for clogging up the left lane; she says we never signal here, and he says we signal far more than where he comes from.

This metro area is way too big with way too many people from all over the country and the world for there to ever be a consensus on how we drive.

[jdw7337]

I don't see how Houston drivers are so bad…everything we do around here that is ridiculous doesn't really result in wrecks… I've never hit anyone when I crossed 3-6 lanes to exit. I guess it's because I use my blinker…the one thing most Houstonians aren't aware is a standard feature of every car…
but I'd say the reason traffic doesn't really appear bad is because we as Houstonians all know what what crazy driving maneuver is about to occur by each car at any given time. That and we're always in stop and go traffic anyway you can't do any crazy driving in that…oh wait

[Weili]

Originally Posted by tinkerbell030681

sorry, Houston drivers aren't the best. I think flashers are an option when people buy cars, plus they don't know that the left lane is for fast moving traffic and to get out of the way! I experience this everynight! So you go around them and then they speed up. Go figure. Either move over or speed up, but don't do both! Oh well, I guess I could have it worse! Best to all!

Where have you ever lived that made you think to yourself "Wow, this city has great drivers!"

[SeaBright]

The suburbs of Connecticut. The mountain towns in California. Some of the mid-west states. The northwest on a whole. Almost all of Canada. Parts of So-Cal. Central California. Parts of up-state NY.

Generally places where there's less people or people who generally give less of a ****.

For instance. Driving say... a prius at 75mph and passing a pickup truck going 65mph in many parts of CA will often warrant the passee to rage in the right lane and pass the hybrid because... who knows...

The same situation in New Hampshire wouldn't regard anything thinking, about anything.... except driving.

Does that make sense to you?