Stupid drivers (Denver, Colorado Springs, Lake City: transplants, wedding, construction)

[Scott the Engineer]

I moved to CO Springs at the beginning of 2020 from Reno. For context I also have lived in Chicago, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, and Denver. Since I have been here I have experienced the worst drivers of any of those cities. The tailgating is ridiculous. The aggressive lane changes I see are often dangerous. I've seen people just blow right through lights that have been red for awhile. Today my wife was tailgated in a construction zone by a truck driver with a double trailer loaded with rock and the driver was honking because she was going the speed limit through the construction zone. What gives? Why are the drivers so hell bent on driving like idiots? It's a big change from Reno where people are courteous and overall better drivers.

[phetaroi]

I lived in COS for 9 years till a year ago. I've lived in the D.C. area, BANGKOK, and now the Phoenix area. In my experience, Colorado drivers are the worst. I couldn't drive 10 minutes without seeing people go through red lights and stop signs.

[Parnassia]

The chances are good that most of those terrible drivers learned how somewhere other than CO. Then, like so many other people caring about no one but themselves and some idyllic life in the mountains of the West, made their exodus to CO and brought their selfish habits along with them. The problem may not actually be with THEM, but with CO enforcement. They know no one's watching.

[Mach50]

I have to agree with CO being one of the worst and I have lived in Chicago, Orlando, Los Angeles, NYC, Phoenix and San Francisco as well as overseas in Singapore, Indonesia and Australia.

I'd rank us up there with Florida being the most terrible drivers.

Merging, Stoping, changing lanes, tailgating etc... not as aggressive as other states but aloof level 11...

I've literally been honked at for stopping at red lights and not running them. Nowhere else have I seen that.

[TCHP]

Well, 50% of the drivers in the I-25 corridor are from somewhere else. That means we get a vicious mash up of west coast aggressive, mid-western nice, southern gawking at the mountains, and east coast get outta my way. Throw in the local disregard for using turn signals and weaving in and out of traffic and yea, its pretty messy here.

[katharsis]

Originally Posted by Scott the Engineer

I moved to CO Springs at the beginning of 2020 from Reno. For context I also have lived in Chicago, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, and Denver. Since I have been here I have experienced the worst drivers of any of those cities. The tailgating is ridiculous. The aggressive lane changes I see are often dangerous. I've seen people just blow right through lights that have been red for awhile. Today my wife was tailgated in a construction zone by a truck driver with a double trailer loaded with rock and the driver was honking because she was going the speed limit through the construction zone. What gives? Why are the drivers so hell bent on driving like idiots? It's a big change from Reno where people are courteous and overall better drivers.

I have lived in metro Denver for 30 years, and I have often driven cross-country or have been a passenger on a cross-country trip, going through at least 30 states. IMO, the only drivers who are more aggressive than metro Denver drivers are drivers in the Los Angeles area. Every time I have driven on an L.A. area freeway, I feel like I have a 50/50 chance of death.

I moved from the L.A. area to the Denver area in 1986, and one time on a visit to SoCal, I was in a car with my 80-something mother driving on a freeway, and I was a nervous wreck because of how aggressive SHE was being; and when we arrived back at her home, I asked her how she could drive like that, and she said that you HAD to drive like that in L.A. -- that it was usually much safer to be be too aggressive than to obey speed limits and/or show an abundance of caution!

But what really frosts me about metro Denver drivers is the BLATANT disregard for red lights. The unspoken rule seems to be that if you have waited for the light to turn green, you have a right to go through even if the light has turned red, and four cars ahead of you have already run it! (And, of course, the cops won't write any tickets for THAT offense or for talking on cellphones while driving, although they will for everything else they can.)

Okay, rant off, but I can't WAIT to retire to "Midwest nice"!

[Mach50]

Originally Posted by TCHP

Well, 50% of the drivers in the I-25 corridor are from somewhere else. That means we get a vicious mash up of west coast aggressive, mid-western nice, southern gawking at the mountains, and east coast get outta my way. Throw in the local disregard for using turn signals and weaving in and out of traffic and yea, its pretty messy here.

Can't speak for the Springs, but here in Denver it is not limited to highways the back streets are sometimes just as dangerous due to the red light running.
Colorado is notorious for its stop sign and red light running.. I don't think it is a tourist thing.

[otowi]

Driving the Interstate was so much more pleasant this past month with the stay-at-home orders. Reminded of me of what things were like here when I was a kid.

[TCHP]

Originally Posted by Mach50

Can't speak for the Springs, but here in Denver it is not limited to highways the back streets are sometimes just as dangerous due to the red light running.
Colorado is notorious for its stop sign and red light running.. I don't think it is a tourist thing.

Let me rephrase, the Front Range. And no, its not a tourist thing, its a resident thing. 50% of the residents of the Front Range are from somewhere else. Tourists are easy to spot, they poke along in their lanes 10 mph slower than the speed limit looking at the mountains. With the high percentage of transplants, simply looking at their plates is not enough to ID a tourist.

[GreenPluto]

Here in Colorado Springs, I think the type of car you drive has an impact on whether or not you get tailgated. When I drive our older model Ford Explorer, I never get tailgated. But when I drive our smaller Subaru Forester, I sometimes get tailgated, and it is always by a much bigger pickup/SUV driven by a man. I also think the men driving these bigger pickups/SUVs are more likely to tailgate a women driver as my wife gets tailgated a lot according to her (the Subaru is her car).

My pet peeve about driving in Colorado Springs is many drivers do no understand how to safely make turns and who has the right of way. When making a right turn, they do not understand they are supposed to stay in the curb lane; when making a left turn, they do not understand they are supposed to stay in the lane closest to the median. After you turn, then you can signal and make a lane change.

One story about driving in Los Angeles. Several years, ago my wife and her sister drove down to attend a wedding. They were on one of the freeways down there, driving the speed limit in the second lane from the right (it was a four lane freeway in each direction). A state trooper pulled up behind them, and on his loudspeaker, told them to keep up with the flow of traffic which was going 10 to 15 mph above the speed limit, or he would give them a ticket for impeding traffic.

In closing, we have lived in a lot of places. The worst drivers we have experienced were in Seoul, South Korea. Here in the States, New Mexico drivers win the prize.

The best bumper sticker I have seen? "Keep honking. I'm reloading."