Can something be done? Red light runners, obviously broken cars, cell phone users, left lane pirates (Columbus: crime)

[bomgd3]

Hey folks, please don't crucify me because this is an honest question - is there anything we can do, or the city can do, to clamp down on terrible driving and cars falling apart on our roads?

1. Red light runners - it's SO bad here! At times it borders on malignant behavior because you WILL cause an accident if you run enough red lights. I was nearly T-boned by a speeding driver as I was leaving the dealership with my new car when I first moved here, and it's just been more and more apparent to me that red light running is a huge problem in Cleveland. It's not even just one or two cars trying to sneak in after a light goes from yellow to red. I often see cars blatantly sail through a light that has been red for many seconds. I've gotten into the habit of looking both ways at intersections with a green light, just to make sure some maniac isn't going to T-bone me.

2. Car condition - I moved here from New Hampshire which has universal annual car inspections. If your car is falling apart in NH, you can't register it. I've noticed in Cleveland that some of the cars are in truly terrible condition, with sagging suspensions, clearly bald tires, etc. I've had the misfortune of riding in a few Ubers that felt quite unsafe (loud drivetrain noises, obvious vibration even at moderate speeds) and so I've stopped riding Uber here.

3. Cell phone users - I realize this is a universal problem around the country, but I have never seen such blatant cell phone usage before. Very, very frequently, if a light turns green, you will get held up by a car that doesn't move because the driver is looking down. I often will drive by people who are just 100% obviously looking down at their phone as they nonchalantly cruise down the road.

4. Left lane pirates - A huge problem! Too many people cruise down the highway in the left lane doing 60 mph and everyone else has to squeeze around them on the right. Even after a long line of cars passes them on the right, the clueless left lane hog doesn't move over.

Now, I moved here from a rural state so maybe I'm somewhat naive, but I also frequently travelled to Boston, New York, Connecticut, and Montreal. Each of these places has stereotypes for bad drivers but nothing compares to what I've seen here. The scariest behavior is the red light running. When it snows, I also get really paranoid about the obvious broken-down cars driving around and try to get away from them as quickly as possible, since who knows if they can stop in time?

[WRnative]

Originally Posted by bomgd3

Hey folks, please don't crucify me because this is an honest question - is there anything we can do, or the city can do, to clamp down on terrible driving and cars falling apart on our roads?

1. Red light runners - it's SO bad here! At times it borders on malignant behavior because you WILL cause an accident if you run enough red lights. I was nearly T-boned by a speeding driver as I was leaving the dealership with my new car when I first moved here, and it's just been more and more apparent to me that red light running is a huge problem in Cleveland. It's not even just one or two cars trying to sneak in after a light goes from yellow to red. I often see cars blatantly sail through a light that has been red for many seconds. I've gotten into the habit of looking both ways at intersections with a green light, just to make sure some maniac isn't going to T-bone me.

2. Car condition - I moved here from New Hampshire which has universal annual car inspections. If your car is falling apart in NH, you can't register it. I've noticed in Cleveland that some of the cars are in truly terrible condition, with sagging suspensions, clearly bald tires, etc. I've had the misfortune of riding in a few Ubers that felt quite unsafe (loud drivetrain noises, obvious vibration even at moderate speeds) and so I've stopped riding Uber here.

3. Cell phone users - I realize this is a universal problem around the country, but I have never seen such blatant cell phone usage before. Very, very frequently, if a light turns green, you will get held up by a car that doesn't move because the driver is looking down. I often will drive by people who are just 100% obviously looking down at their phone as they nonchalantly cruise down the road.

4. Left lane pirates - A huge problem! Too many people cruise down the highway in the left lane doing 60 mph and everyone else has to squeeze around them on the right. Even after a long line of cars passes them on the right, the clueless left lane hog doesn't move over.

Now, I moved here from a rural state so maybe I'm somewhat naive, but I also frequently travelled to Boston, New York, Connecticut, and Montreal. Each of these places has stereotypes for bad drivers but nothing compares to what I've seen here. The scariest behavior is the red light running. When it snows, I also get really paranoid about the obvious broken-down cars driving around and try to get away from them as quickly as possible, since who knows if they can stop in time?

Get involved in politics and support candidates who will address these issues.

E.g., the Ohio legislature has limited the use of traffic cameras, which are very successful in reducing red light infractions.

[on3]

As someone who has commuted from Boston airport to areas in NH many times, people that drive in that area are far worse than anything I've ever experienced in Ohio. The problems you list certainly exist here, but to a much lesser degree than there. Once I got to NH, everything was good but from the airport to NH drivers are some of the worst in the country.

[woxyroxme]

Bad driving is epidemic anymore, there needs to be a new offense in Ohio called “driving to endanger” like they have in Maine. It needs to be easier for licenses to be suspended, repeat violators should be given probationary licenses.

According to this list from Allstate Cleveland does not have the worst drivers in Ohio. No wonder I always go to Dayton for everything and not Cincinnati.

[WRnative]

Originally Posted by woxyroxme

Bad driving is epidemic anymore, there needs to be a new offense in Ohio called “driving to endanger” like they have in Maine. It needs to be easier for licenses to be suspended, repeat violators should be given probationary licenses.

According to this list from Allstate Cleveland does not have the worst drivers in Ohio. No wonder I always go to Dayton for everything and not Cincinnati.

So I wasn't imagining it when I thought that Columbus had some scary, aggressive drivers. Not as bad as Boston or NYC, but comparable to LA IMO.

I always imagined that the bad drivers were foreigners somehow drawn to Columbus by Ohio State, but I have no empirical evidence to back up that theory. Columbus freeways are much more congested than in Cleveland and that may account for some of the bad driving.

Outside of Cleveland proper, I've always found northeast Ohio drivers to be defensive drivers and very courteous, willing to allow other drivers to shift lanes or exit parking lots in heavy traffic -- none of the East Coast baloney like speeding up to block another driver.

There are a surprisingly large number of high speed pursuits in Greater Cleveland, or perhaps just every one of them is turned into a major story on crime blotter TV news programs that pass for journalism these days.

I wonder if these Allstate statistics are for cities or metro areas.

[woxyroxme]

The only problem spot in Columbus for me is where I-70 & I -71 merge which may have been feasible in the 60 s but not today.

That Allstate list had Boston drivers as being the worst, I would believe it because they drive like homicidal maniacs.

List is likely limited to the greater city areas and not metro which is a ridiculous metric for such a list.

[on3]

Originally Posted by woxyroxme

The only problem spot in Columbus for me is where I-70 & I -71 merge which may have been feasible in the 60 s but not today.

That Allstate list had Boston drivers as being the worst, I would believe it because they drive like homicidal maniacs.

List is likely limited to the greater city areas and not metro which is a ridiculous metric for such a list.

This was my perception just having driven in so many cities. It's no shock that Boston is the worse. For someone to be in NH and be so close to boston drivers and experience it so often it's a mystery as to why they would think any place in Ohio is worse than boston, their neighbor.