Austin/Leander/Cedar Park drivers are the SLOWEST DRIVERS PERIOD (law, dangerous)

[N. Olikee]

It always cracks me up how people complain about drivers in their cities......I've lived north, south, east, west within the US, and it's usually the same remarks, different location.

[nickasarbata]

I've now been in Austin for three months after living NYC for years, and from what I've seen, I don't think people drive slowly here, I think people in NYC drive FAST! Way too fast for the speed limits and amount of congestion in that city. Driving there was a scary experience every single day.

It seems like here, the majority of people drive the speed limit (some a bit faster, some a bit slower) and for the most part people are pretty polite on the roads (at least compared to NYC!). I find it pretty pleasant driving here in Austin. It never fails that the idiots I DO see on the roads... are almost ALWAYS either talking or texting on their phones.

One thing I've noticed that does sort of get on my nerves is that it seems that everyone waits a really long time once the light turns green before they get going. The lights here seem really long too, so it seems like nobody's paying attention when they finally do turn. It should not take three rotations of green lights for just ten cars in front of me to get through the intersection!

That small complaint aside, I think for the most part, I think driving in Austin is a pretty pleasant thing to do.

[hoffdano]

I think most drivers are polite. I judge this by their willingness to let people in or cut through when there is a line of cars in the way. They wave thank you when you do something nice. I like that. But I'm not sure Austin drivers are good drivers.

But they do drive distracted. And as per this thread, many have no clue how fast they should be driving. Traffic flow is like a river. Drivers should be conscious of that and do as little as possible to interrupt the flow. That means not slowing down 1 mile before they turn left. Or learning to merge with your blinker on (people will let you in) instead of stopping dead in the merge lane crippled with fear.

[N. Olikee]

This may be a generalization, but it seems like people in NYC especially don't hesitate to use their horns! Lots of horns honking up there vs here.

One other thing...........to me a highway is different from a freeway. A highway may or may not have traffic lights. A freeway doesn't have any.

[G Grasshopper]

Originally Posted by lemonlime22

And please, if you're the first person waiting at a red light--pay attention.

We shouldn't have to wait five beats for you to wake up!

I would strongly disagree with this. If the problem is not paying attention, OK. But in Texas, people very often speed up to make lights at the end of a yellow and even into the red. In fact, it seems to be thought of as rude or dangerous to stop when the light is yellow. So because there is a culture of running yellows/reds, the person waiting at a red for the green is pretty much obligated to pause and look both ways when the light does turn green. When I first moved here, I was the first one in a waiting line, and started to hop right out there when the light turned green. But I was nearly hit by someone trying to get through the yellow, really running the red. In fact, the truck behind me was honking, not to speed me on, but to warn me not to go on that new green light. You can't have it both ways. If you have a culture of running yellows, you can't also have a culture of jumping the new green lights. I am told that it is an east coast thing to jump the new green light. But if you want to live in Texas, it would be best to change that habit.

[TexasHorseLady]

Another thing to remember is that, in Texas, unless it's specifically so designated and signed to indicate so, the left lane is not restricted to being a passing lane. I understand in some other states this is different, but in Texas, slower traffic keep right means that traffic driving slower than the speed limit should keep to the right lane(s), traffic driving the speed limit can be in the left lane (or any lane in which that's the prevailing speed of traffic).

This does not mean that if a bat out of hell trying to prove something by how heavy their foot is comes up behind you and you're driving the speed limit or above you shouldn't pull over to let them by if you can safely do so (yes, I can see that kneejerk reaction - do bats have knees? - coming already) so that they can be cop bait for the rest of you. It simply means that the speed limit exists in the left lane as well as in the others, and that one does not have to be passing someone to be driving in the left lane.

Learn to plan ahead a little, take time to enjoy the journey, not just focus on the destination, breeeeeeathe, and you'll get there just fine. Sometimes, most of the time, in fact, I'll pull up at a light right next to the person who was in such an all-fired hurry to rush, rush, rush to get to the stop light before anyone else - the point of that would be what, exactly?

[Jink]

could someone please define "slow"? most of the traffic i've had to drive through in austin has been more like an indy 500 race...

[TexasHorseLady]

Apparently, to some, "slow" means "anything 10 to 15 miles over the speed limit or less".

[TonyG5003]

Austin drivers slow?? Yes, there may be a very select few, but in my 4 years here I think people drive entirely too fast, and moreover, are completely disconnected from the task at hand. And let's not even get into how many people are yakking it up on their cell - about dinner, their boss, or the Real Housewives. Please!

One area in particular which I despise, is coming down the hill on 620 towards Steiner Ranch - especially after 4pm. Seriously... those people turning into Steiner Ranch must have a death wish. They go WAY too fast down that hill, and then pull into the left turn lane a half mile or more before the light (out of habit due to backups) - speeding around all the other people already going 60-70. And they wonder why there's so many serious accidents there. (Great idea... let's add a new Randalls! That will help make things safer around that downhill curve.)

I've worked with 1000's of photos of fatal accident scenes. Folks... think about that 8" or less of yellow paint seperating you (and the others around you) from serious injury or death. It only takes a millisecond. Getting to your destination a few seconds/minutes sooner is NOT worth it.

[sastrv]

Ha ha . Hilarious post. I recently went to North Carolina and visited places like Asheville. I got so sick of the driving habits out there. It was like they had a very bad day, or just fed up with life and had serious hatred towards towards everyone on he road :-) And when I came back, it was such a pleasure to see people driving calmly, and letting you get into the lane on your left if you have done a mistake of being on the exit lane. In NC, people would not let me change lane at all if they were close to you. I wish it was a one off observation. But then several friends told me the same thing about the driving habits on East Coast. Some call it aggressive. I call it stupidly rude and dangerous to everyone. So I guess Austin driving is still peaceful and elegant :-)