Maryland Drivers = Aggravation! (construction, inspection, moving to)

[alpha_1976]

Another thing that bothers me which is also dangerous as hell - As soon as you are on beltway you want to be in extreme left lane like right lanes are closed.

[hedgie]

they all learned to drive someplace else and brought all their bad habits to MD

[JacksonJeep]

Whoa!!! Ok so apparently I opened a can of worms! Never expected it to lead to arguing about police and tickets. I just wanted to get peoples opinion on people not staying right in Maryland. Anyways back to something new. I really wish this state would require vehicle safety inspections every year or two years even like most other states do. In PA and NY they are required every year. It is so frustrating the amount of vehicles I see with broken tail or brake lights, especially the high mounted middle one! The fact is you'll never know unless someone tells you, or you get pulled over for it. This is SO unsafe for all drivers on the road. I'm sure there are other unsafe situations driving by everyday like low tread tires or even bald ones, broken turn signals, etc. If they would just get rid of that expensive one time inspection that does no one any good and just have the emissions and safety inspection done at the same time every two years for the $20 that PA and NY do! Can't stand those cars with broken brake lights!

[selhars]

When I moved to MD from PA I couldn't believe MD has no vehicle inspections.

oooh, it has EMISSIONS testing alright....but a vehicle mechanical inspection -- to makes sure the damned car is even SAFE to be on the road...oh, no -- THAT the state doesn't get into.

So I'm out there on the road with not only someone who is texting, talking on the phone , doing make up, reading a frgging magazine -- but also has a cracked mirror, bald tires and no brakes.

16 years in MD -- and I still MARVEL -- at the things our damned regulators want to stick their nose into -- and the things they seem to ignore.

[Richard Martin]

Originally Posted by selhars

oooh, it has EMISSIONS testing alright....but a vehicle mechanical inspection -- to makes sure the damned car is even SAFE to be on the road...oh, no -- THAT the state doesn't get into.

Believe it or not the state does do a safety inspection every 2 years on almost every car on the road. If you try to get a vehicle emissions inspection and any of those things you mentioned is wrong, and more like leaky exhaust or dripping vehicle fluids, they will reject the vehicle and make you get them fixed before a vehicle inspection can be done. Just about the only critical system they don't test is the front end.

Maryland has the same brake inspection as North Carolina. The inspector drives the car in and tests the brakes for functionality and to make sure the brake warning light in the dash doesn't come on. That is the extent of a brake inspection in North Carolina.

[JacksonJeep]

Originally Posted by Richard Martin

Believe it or not the state does do a safety inspection every 2 years on almost every car on the road. If you try to get a vehicle emissions inspection and any of those things you mentioned is wrong, and more like leaky exhaust or dripping vehicle fluids, they will reject the vehicle and make you get them fixed before a vehicle inspection can be done. Just about the only critical system they don't test is the front end.

Maryland has the same brake inspection as North Carolina. The inspector drives the car in and tests the brakes for functionality and to make sure the brake warning light in the dash doesn't come on. That is the extent of a brake inspection in North Carolina.

Whenever I've gone for the VEIP test here in Maryland you always drive your own car into the garage. Get out, wait in a little box while they do their thing, and get in and drive away. They never actually drive your car. Maybe your inspector is more thorough, but they never check any of that other stuff where I live, I would think they could at the very least look at the tire treadwear and do a walk around to check brake light and turn signals are functioning properly.

[Let's Drive]

Originally Posted by Phyxius

I think it the people that speed closes in behind the slower moving vehicle, gets impatient and changes lane with very little space that causes people in the other lanes to brake abruptly creating that shockwave effect among the traffic.

While that's true, it's a combination of both the slow and fast drivers at work.

The slow driver cruising along at the same speed as the driver next to him, has no real reason (as described), to be in the parallel lane. They can just as well move into the same lane as the neighboring car and both will drive along at the same speed. The driver moving faster, however, will not have to concern themself with the additional lane-change and will simply proceed, only encountering either of the two cars for a brief few seconds, before proceeding into the distance.

What's unreasonable and thus leads to unsafe/aggressive driving, is when all cars go the same speed in all lanes, creating a rolling-roadblock of vehicles. Yes, there is a speed limit, but you are allowed to "speed" within reason. This is evidenced by speed-cameras which allow speed variations of 10 mph above the limit, before they take photos. If we apply this logic to the other millions of drivers which inhabit the road, it's not a far stretch to understand that people will be going faster than others, and so we should revise law and make considerations for this.

You do that by teaching proper lane-discipline. Slower traffic should stay to the right and each parallel left lane should be faster, with the far left lane being reserved for passing. It's safer, cuts down on right-passes, allows for easier right-lane merging, accounts for variations in speed, and just makes plain sense.

If people weren't all over other bumpers and pay attention to the road, they'll realize that they aren't going any faster than the vehicles a mile ahead. They're the ones weaving in and out of traffic.

This is true, but has so many other factors attributed to it, that you simply can't point to "speeders" as the problem. Speeding is relatively easy to regulate, because it's objective, but by itself is not the best way to regulate overall traffic and is merely an aspect of aggressive driving, but not always directly linked. Speed is a portion of the overall driving experience, and yet, it receives an excessive amount of attention.

Slower traffic, keep right...I have no problem with that but I'll still get tailgated in the right lane just because I'm not driving as fast as the person behind me. At that point, I don't care and laugh at all the people clog up behind me because they miss their opportunity to pass. I have no vehicles in front of me so I have nothing to worry about.

In my opinion, if you're doing the speed limit and not something unreasonably slow for the conditions, you're 100% right. They should move into one of the "faster" lanes, as I described above. Again, I'll agree that some people are terrible drivers, but on the flip-side, there are poor laws which don't properly accommodate the realities of traffic and commuting.

If the speed limit is 55, both of my hands is on the wheels and my eyes is focus ahead on the road, I'm a safer driver than the person switching over 2 lanes at 70 mph to exit off a highway.

You're obeying the law, but you're not necessarily a safer driver. That person could have easily passed a cluster of cars in order to safely merge over, instead of trying to contend with the traffic. I, personally, like to create bubbles of space when I drive, and pay attention to what is around me in 360 degrees-- not just a narrow field of forward vision. Driving in a pack of cars for miles, where someone is likely driving in my 3/4ths view at any point in time, has more potential for danger, than a brief period of "speeding" to pass a cluster of traffic...especially if I then decide to signal and merge two lanes over and exit, afterwards.

Again, speed itself isn't bad. Driving at the speed limit doesn't make you a better driver. This idea, IMO, is part of the problem, because it operates on too many absolutes.

[JosephineBeth]

In regards to the OP's original question. I moved to MD last year after having spent 24 years in Southern California. I regularly drove LA and San Diego. Although LA has some immensely aggressive drivers it is nothing like MD. In many places around LA and Orange County people go 75-80 at least and you almost end up going that fast just to keep up with traffic. But they do respect the lanes, use turn signals, and I have seen more tailgating in MD in 1 year than I saw in 24 in Southern California. Not to say it does not exist -- but IMHO way less.

To me it's not necessarily the speeding - because that is very common in CA. The issue is many of the speeders do unsafe things like constant tailgating. I've watched people go from lane to lane to lane and always going right up to the bumper on another car...even though those people are going 70+ as am I - there a particular reason you gotta go 80? Really - at 80 when that idiot suddenly moves into your lane without a turn signal (which is almost guaranteed here) how do you stop? I rarely see people speeding that leave adequate space to stop at the speed they are traveling. If they did I wouldn't complain. This all gets complicated by the amazingly crappy way the freeway is set up - merges without any adequate ramp up to speed and too many lanes merging all over. People pay no attention to merge lanes anyway - they go 65+ and don't move over -- and then when lanes merge you still get tons of people going on the right still - even though there is NO LANE anymore. What's that about? And not when it is bad traffic (which I would understand) but all the time.

When I moved here from CA my car insurance doubled (and I got much lower coverage). Not because of theft but because of the average accident rate. My insurance guy said in my area of San Diego the average was 1 accident in like 16 years...here in MD is it 1 in 4.5 years. I'm not sure if he's right but I believe him (he could be feeding me a bunch of BS but sure seems that way to me!). The sole grace here for me is at least there is shoulder available for accidents. LA has done so many lane additions in many places there is no shoulder. I got stuck on the 5 in Anaheim one night after an Anaheim Ducks game. No shoulder and a rollover in the middle lane. Took 8 hours to get back to San Diego. So thank goodness for shoulders!

So OP I feel your pain. Not only did my insurance double (for less coverage) but the drivers here are way worse to me than what I was used too.

[insthrnmd]

I would not say it is all native marylanders that drive crazy. There are a lot of transplants in our area who learn to drive somewhere else. So take all those different driving styles and you have an unsafe driving environment. I did learn to drive in Maryland and we were taught all the rules - turn your turn signal on when turning, left lane is for faster traffic passing drivers in the right lane. But when drivers start driving on the road you learn to drive defensively quickly. Honestly in the past two years since driving to Alexandria every day, I've become more defensively because of other drivers. And it is true, when you turn on your turn signal, the a-hole in the next lane will speed up just enough to not let you get over. There is no such thing as common courtesy. This is just the reality of living here. Unless they do something to alleviate the traffic, nothing will change.

[InvaderBryce]

A lot of people in Maryland drive like there in the Daytona 500 or something. It can be raining cats and dogs and you'll likely see somebody doing 15 over the speed limit.