Personal long term review of San Diego traffic (how much, neighborhoods)

[right wing tex]

After having lived here for a number of years, I have several thoughts about traffic here:

1. People here drive really slow, day or night. Slow at lunch, slow on Sundays.
No real urgency to drive even 10 miles over the speed limit. Let’s face it, in most large cities,
the real speed limit is like 80, and I have lived in over 20 locations coast to coast.

2. Left lanes are clogged, right most lanes open and fast. Wherever you go, whether it’s the 5 or 15 or state highways, it’s the same thing. Want to get to downtown fastest from oceanside?Stay on right lane!

3. What has happened to So Cal drivers over the past 40 years?
In 1980, visitors from Nebraska were shocked at the speed at which San Diego or LA drivers drove.
Now we have such slow and left lane cruisers!

I think this is what happens when your area just becomes a tourist joint or retirement joint
and there is not a lot of hard charging businessman or professionals on their way to work at 7 am just
The pedal to the metal.

Just so frustrated with the slow, glacial pace of San Diego’s highways. Go see how it’s done
In the suburbs of Dallas, Houston or Atlanta. Sure there’s traffic but people have a sense of urgency.

Speed doesn’t kill as much as the differential of speed.

[stablegenius]

Interesting take. I guess I'd agree that people in general drive pretty slow, but there are still a fair number of a$$holes who come up on me so fast. Too many for my taste. I like to drive slow. Laid back, I'm usually not in a hurry. But also don't enjoy bumper to bumper traffic and I realize it can make people crazy. I moved to Florida for a year and people there definitely drove faster than SD.

[eastcoastbias]

I’ll add a few others... turn signal optional here, which creates weird traffic flow erratic moves on the road. It’s even difficult to be a defensive driver here.

The other issue is handheld devices - this is common everywhere but enforcement is rare. If you get a chance as a passenger in a car look around don’t be surprised to see half of the cars on the street with distracted drivers.

The cycles between lanes is abused here and extremely dangerous as well.

When you have very little patrol on streets people tend to get away with idiotic behavior. You can get ticketed for doing far less in other places. And to make matters worse SD infrastructure was probably build for half of its current population.

Florida has the worst drivers IMO we aren’t far off though

[Spartanacus]

Originally Posted by right wing tex

I think this is what happens when your area just becomes a tourist joint or retirement joint and there is not a lot of hard charging businessman or professionals on their way to work at 7 am just The pedal to the metal.

Or perhaps the word joint is the key to the bad slow driving.

[expatCA]

Originally Posted by right wing tex

After having lived here for a number of years, I have several thoughts about traffic here:

1. People here drive really slow, day or night. Slow at lunch, slow on Sundays.
No real urgency to drive even 10 miles over the speed limit. Let’s face it, in most large cities,
the real speed limit is like 80, and I have lived in over 20 locations coast to coast.

2. Left lanes are clogged, right most lanes open and fast. Wherever you go, whether it’s the 5 or 15 or state highways, it’s the same thing. Want to get to downtown fastest from oceanside?Stay on right lane!

3. What has happened to So Cal drivers over the past 40 years?
In 1980, visitors from Nebraska were shocked at the speed at which San Diego or LA drivers drove.
Now we have such slow and left lane cruisers!

I think this is what happens when your area just becomes a tourist joint or retirement joint
and there is not a lot of hard charging businessman or professionals on their way to work at 7 am just
The pedal to the metal.

Just so frustrated with the slow, glacial pace of San Diego’s highways. Go see how it’s done
In the suburbs of Dallas, Houston or Atlanta. Sure there’s traffic but people have a sense of urgency.

Speed doesn’t kill as much as the differential of speed.

Good, fewer self centered idiots driving the streets.

[newgensandiego]

Originally Posted by right wing tex

After having lived here for a number of years, I have several thoughts about traffic here:

1. People here drive really slow, day or night. Slow at lunch, slow on Sundays.
No real urgency to drive even 10 miles over the speed limit. Let’s face it, in most large cities,
the real speed limit is like 80, and I have lived in over 20 locations coast to coast.

2. Left lanes are clogged, right most lanes open and fast. Wherever you go, whether it’s the 5 or 15 or state highways, it’s the same thing. Want to get to downtown fastest from oceanside?Stay on right lane!

3. What has happened to So Cal drivers over the past 40 years?
In 1980, visitors from Nebraska were shocked at the speed at which San Diego or LA drivers drove.
Now we have such slow and left lane cruisers!

I think this is what happens when your area just becomes a tourist joint or retirement joint
and there is not a lot of hard charging businessman or professionals on their way to work at 7 am just
The pedal to the metal.

Just so frustrated with the slow, glacial pace of San Diego’s highways. Go see how it’s done
In the suburbs of Dallas, Houston or Atlanta. Sure there’s traffic but people have a sense of urgency.

Speed doesn’t kill as much as the differential of speed.

You should not be driving 80mph on our freeways. It's negligent and dangerous, especially considering the high volume of traffic. You are putting others' lives at risk to save 10 minutes on your commute. Pure selfishness. You should go to jail.

[NYSD1995]

I have at least once close call a week from someone speeding and swerving around traffic. Driving too slow is hardly the biggest problem here. The big problem is gridlock on on-ramp a and side streets, that’s definitely new.

[1AngryTaxPayer]

The average speed going S on the 805 at 530 am has to be at least 85. I have never seen a HP before 6 am.

[TacoSoup]

Originally Posted by newgensandiego

You should not be driving 80mph on our freeways. It's negligent and dangerous, especially considering the high volume of traffic. You are putting others' lives at risk to save 10 minutes on your commute. Pure selfishness. You should go to jail.

80mph is hardly negligent. The problem is the selfish people not getting out of the left lane for faster traffic. You wouldn’t see nearly the amount of people driving high speeds swerving through traffic if slower drivers stayed out of it. Even when I’m doing 80+mph in it I’ll change lanes to let those pass by going faster.

I think you grossly overestimated, like most do, how much time you’ll save by going faster. To save 10 minutes your commute would need to be 50 miles if the difference in speed was 80mph vs 65mph (distance = rate x time). You really need to be traveling long distances to save any significant amount of time.

[newgensandiego]

Originally Posted by TacoSoup

80mph is hardly negligent. The problem is the selfish people not getting out of the left lane for faster traffic. You wouldn’t see nearly the amount of people driving high speeds swerving through traffic if slower drivers stayed out of it. Even when I’m doing 80+mph in it I’ll change lanes to let those pass by going faster.

No, it is negligent and against the law. This is not an opinion. This is a fact. I also wholeheartedly disagree with your assertion. People are so impatient that they refuse to wait for people to get over anyways and they end up swerving across lanes. These people have no concern for others safety. I'm unsure why the thousands of other safe drivers need to make way for law breakers who are only risking lives with reckless driving.

Enough with these crackpot conservative fools who think speed limits are the result of the government trying to control you. Speed limits are determined by highway design, with consideration given to volumes and existing driver behaviors. It's a balance of safety and getting people to their destination as fast as possible. Those who choose to speed decrease safety. It's a simple as that.

I think you grossly overestimated, like most do, how much time you’ll save by going faster. To save 10 minutes your commute would need to be 50 miles if the difference in speed was 80mph vs 65mph (distance = rate x time). You really need to be traveling long distances to save any significant amount of time.

Okay, so that reinforces the point I was making. You are risking lives to shave minutes off of your commute. Stop speeding on freeways and stop speeding through neighborhoods.