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Two big hurdles I can think of off hand to having really fast speed limits are the semis and driver capability. Do we really want semis going over 65 or so. If not then we have created great variability in speed between the semis and cars which we know from data is a problem. If so, then we have muilti ton vehicles with easy rollover ratings and long breaking distances going 75+; I'm not sure that's good either. Driver capability and focus...I've said enough about that.
Semis used to be able to legally drive 70mph (75mph on the Turnpike) prior to 1974 in Ohio. That was not a problem back then and is not a problem now.
Semis used to be able to legally drive 70mph (75mph on the Turnpike) prior to 1974 in Ohio. That was not a problem back then and is not a problem now.
Back then the highways were mainly decent. Now they are basically a POS. And why is that? Basically lack of maintenance and repair until someone gets killed.
Sorry to rekindle this topic, I searched CD for things regarding bad drivers in Cincinnati and this was one of the first threads that came up, and I didn't want to make a whole new thread about a topic that has already been considered, but not recently revisited on CD. So I figured I would return to CD with a post about what I've observed since I've started commuting from Mason to the Clifton area for work.
Things I've observed during the first month of starting my commute (June 2014) is that people, ESPECIALLY within the city limits (it's almost like the invisible city line is a bubble where bad driving starts dramatically upticking) LOVE to run red lights. I've found, especially in Clifton (I'm sure at least one poster can relate) that while stopped at a red light, and the light turns green...maybe 1/4 of the time...there is someone either still going through the intersection, even more than just one on some occasions. I have seen 2 accidents as a result of people in a rush to get to the next red light where they would've ended up anyway. BE CAREFUL.
Especially in the city, I'd have to say from 12AM to 6AM... LOOK BOTH WAYS as the light turns green, I would even do these during other hours of the day as a precaution, I find myself doing this ALOT, especially at MLK/Clifton, light for Taft Rd off-ramp from 71, anywhere on Calhoun Street, and anywhere on Liberty street downtown. Liberty street seems to be where all the bad drivers like to meet up to turn left from the right lane and cut you off along with weaving in and out of traffic and almost hitting opposing left-turners as the light turns yellow and they start attempting to make their turn.
I have many other negative observations about the driving habits many seem to have within the city, but I'd like to hear some of your guys' thoughts on specifically things you've seen/experienced while driving within the actual city limits.
The reason I stress city-limits so much is that is seems driving anywhere outside the city limits definitely is a lot less stressful and less dangerous. I think this may be perhaps due to the outdated narrow roads in the city, on street parking, crosswalks everywhere where people don't like to yield to pedestrians, along with the high concentration of college students.
Actually, the opposite is true. No one on Liberty Street does anything dangerous because there is a cop on every corner and half the drivers have no insurance, no license or open warrants. I have never seen such cautious driving. Of course, we do have a little spike in driving while high on heroin in the hood. A serious but isolated problem.
As for outside the City limits, that is where folks die in their cars. Young people speeding, old folks pulling out in front of stuff they don't notice like a speeding truck.
I am never more stressed than when I am on a two lane road in fast moving traffic, like Rt. 128 on the West or Rt. 132 on the East.
Bad drivers is in place like Naples, Fl, Fort Myers, Fl or Montgomery, Alabama areas. Once you drive in those areas you would never complain about bad drivers in Cincinnati.
Actually, the opposite is true. No one on Liberty Street does anything dangerous because there is a cop on every corner and half the drivers have no insurance, no license or open warrants. I have never seen such cautious driving. Of course, we do have a little spike in driving while high on heroin in the hood. A serious but isolated problem.
As for outside the City limits, that is where folks die in their cars. Young people speeding, old folks pulling out in front of stuff they don't notice like a speeding truck.
I am never more stressed than when I am on a two lane road in fast moving traffic, like Rt. 128 on the West or Rt. 132 on the East.
I drive on Liberty Street every day during the work week and the only kind of cops I've seen are foot cops. I have yet to see a cop clocking people on Liberty or many of the surrounding streets for that matter, maybe I'm just driving on Liberty Street at the worst time possible.
The no insurance thing is definitely a big problem.
Cautious driving...once again I must be driving on Liberty at the wrong time because I have witnessed so many instances of turning left from the far right lane out of nowhere without a signal and vice versa, even complete u-turns in the middle of the road without any warning at all. The only relationship between all of the vehicles pulling off these goofy ass maneuvers is that they all are junker cars, no surprise. They don't give two damns about their cars or anyone else's but themselves and drive however they please. How do we even let these people get licenses, let alone how are they even on the road to begin with? If police enforcement on Liberty Street alone is as thick as you say it is, why am I seeing the complete opposite day after day?
"Young people speeding, old folks pulling out in front of stuff they don't notice like a speeding truck." the same can be said about any area in the United States, but it is true that statistics point out higher fatality rates on rural roads and highways, unfortunately these statistics are mostly involving teenagers. It's definitely caused by poor lighting, poorly maintained roads, poorly maintained signage, drug abundance, alcohol abuse, the lawlessness encouraged by feeling like you're the only one on the road...I could go on and on. Most of the things on this list, especially poor lighting & unpopulated roadways with little to no signals/stops are nonexistant in the city.
I drive on Liberty Street every day during the work week and the only kind of cops I've seen are foot cops. I have yet to see a cop clocking people on Liberty or many of the surrounding streets for that matter, maybe I'm just driving on Liberty Street at the worst time possible.
Liberty Street is the byway for all of District One cars' beats. And, the route for all north and West side patrol cars to the Justice Center.
I attend the District One briefing of the Neighborhood Council every month. They swarm Liberty Street with everything they have.
And, there is no need to "clock" anyone because they have lights set so you can only make two at a time at most.
I drive on Liberty Street every day during the work week and the only kind of cops I've seen are foot cops. I have yet to see a cop clocking people on Liberty or many of the surrounding streets for that matter, maybe I'm just driving on Liberty Street at the worst time possible.
The no insurance thing is definitely a big problem.
Cautious driving...once again I must be driving on Liberty at the wrong time because I have witnessed so many instances of turning left from the far right lane out of nowhere without a signal and vice versa, even complete u-turns in the middle of the road without any warning at all. The only relationship between all of the vehicles pulling off these goofy ass maneuvers is that they all are junker cars, no surprise. They don't give two damns about their cars or anyone else's but themselves and drive however they please. How do we even let these people get licenses, let alone how are they even on the road to begin with? If police enforcement on Liberty Street alone is as thick as you say it is, why am I seeing the complete opposite day after day?
"Young people speeding, old folks pulling out in front of stuff they don't notice like a speeding truck." the same can be said about any area in the United States, but it is true that statistics point out higher fatality rates on rural roads and highways, unfortunately these statistics are mostly involving teenagers. It's definitely caused by poor lighting, poorly maintained roads, poorly maintained signage, drug abundance, alcohol abuse, the lawlessness encouraged by feeling like you're the only one on the road...I could go on and on. Most of the things on this list, especially poor lighting & unpopulated roadways with little to no signals/stops are nonexistant in the city.
Who says they have licenses? In more than just a handful of cases drug addicts will permit the use of their vehicles to drug dealers in exchange for a high. Those vehicles you are seeing operating in such a manner could very well be some drug dealer driving around, and abusing the heck out of his "customer's" car.
Can't tell you how many times when driving down a one-way street in the urban core the vehicle in front of me, which almost always had the profile of someone who spent more money on the car than their residence, would stop in the middle of the street to "holla' at their boy" on the sidewalk or exiting Deveroes and permit traffic to backup behind them. Wish I had an old Ram Charger or Ford Bronco with a brush guard and soft brakes to rectify the situation so to speak.
The street I live on and the streets it connects to were changed to 25 MPH to try and safeguard the kids in the neighborhood. Of course this was a typical residential street not intended to handle a lot of traffic. Originally it was a dead end for many years until the farms to the south were bought to add another 9 holes to the golf course. To help cover the cost a PUD was applied for and obtained, purpose of which was to put larger homes on smaller lots. Glad they did that since it rather ties the homes and golf course property together. Our street was connected through to the main street in the center of the golf course extension. Now we are in podunk Mason so money speaks loudly.
Suddenly our street was reclassified as a collector street, no changes to the actual roadway, just reclassified. It provides one of the few north/south pass-through on this side of town. So we went from over 20 years of a dead-end street to full-fledged traffic all hours of the day. Soon as we saw what had happened I was up to city council with several of my neighbors complaining lower the speed limits, previously 35. They agreed and the speed limits were lowered to 25. Do people observe that - Hell No!. But with our constant complaints the Mason Police are pretty good at enforcing the limit, I see a lot of money flowing into the city coffers as I observe the number of cars stopped and ticketed.
The biggest violators are at night, when I hope the kids are at home and asleep. I will bet more than a dollar they are teenagers who have not learned how to read. But my bigger concern is they are teenagers who simply don't give a damn.
I also get livid at the number of people who can't let a yellow light go past and stop on Red! What is this, your inalienable right to proceed with the car? But I also find fault with local jurisdiction. One of the streets I use to leave the subdivision has a turn right on Red capability. Frankly I cannot remember any signage, etc. which grants us that right. But knowing the traffic pattern, I will say 85% plus of the right turn vehicles go on RED. I frankly never wait for the normal signal since the timing is so far apart.
Down near the center of town, we have a major intersection at a Highway. My obstacle there is the Left-Turn signal. At the high volume traffic of the day it works well. But in the middle of the day the left Turn sits there with a Red for a full traffic signal cycle. OK, when I see absolutely no traffic coming either of the opposing directions, I Want To GO! Sorry this is such a complicated subject. But no matter where you are in the US, traffic and the way people drive will be a subject.
Liberty Street is the byway for all of District One cars' beats. And, the route for all north and West side patrol cars to the Justice Center.
I attend the District One briefing of the Neighborhood Council every month. They swarm Liberty Street with everything they have.
And, there is no need to "clock" anyone because they have lights set so you can only make two at a time at most.
Accurate. The people I see speeding weaving in and out going faster than everyone else and failing to go with the flow of traffic are always the ones trying to make more than the two lights you can possibly make.
This is a HUGE problem at the off ramp at Taft Rd. I will admit to doing this myself, if you gun it right as the light turns green you will make it all the way to either Vine Street or Market Street without hitting a single red light. But this also means you enter the Auburn Ave and Highland Ave intersections as the lights are about to turn yellow. While this isn't a huge deal since when the light turns green at the off ramp, traffic to the left of the off ramp from WHT are already well ahead and the road is almost completely clear aside from people turning right onto Taft, the problem seems to be people not in the front of the line at the exit ramp eweaving in and out of slow moving traffic to be able to make it with no red lights. Oh and don't even get me started on the stretch of McMillan from Highland Avenue to the 71 North Ramp, everyone will wait until the last second to turn left and cut in front of the line to get onto the road.
I don't honk at people who make HONEST mistakes and have different driving habits: Going slower than the flow of traffic; Allowing someone turning left in opposing lanes entrance to a lot when the lane I'm in next to the stopped vehicle allowing the turn is still moving at the speed limit (I only do this if it is a one lane road and there are no travel lanes next to me, or if there are travel lanes next to me, I make sure they understand the car will be doing the left turn and make sure traffic ahead is at a stop); Not making the left turn on yellow to clear the intersection if you are in front of me; etc etc etc...
I DO honk/take action (flash brights, other things I am sometimes not proud of) toward people when they are being asshats on purpose which unfortunately is most of the time, or when it could potentially damage my vehicle or someone elses: Drifting from the lane on a sharp bend (Victory Parkway, Harrison Avenue, Queen City Avenue, Clough Pike); Passing on the shoulder (Montana Ave entrance ramp to Colerain Avenue exit on 74 East, Dana Ave entrance ramp to Edwards/Smith Road exit on 71 North, the new auxilary lane from Pfeifer to RR Hwy on 71 South); Cutting across multiple lanes of traffic at once with or without a signal; Making a turn or not making a turn from an indicated turn or straight only lane; Parking in a travel lane with hazard lights (Anywhere on McMillan or Calhoun almost any time of the day); Light sitting for 5+ seconds; Failing to use a turn signal and making me think you are stopping for no reason when really you are making a left turn; I could go on forever...
I must just be very unlucky when I drive around Cincinnati, 9AM-6PM anytime between those hours depending what road construction project or study I am going to and depending on how long it takes to carpool my wife to her job in Clifton.
Last edited by Bhiggins; 02-16-2015 at 03:46 PM..
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