Driving in El Paso vs. Driving in Dallas

[AirportFan]

Originally Posted by wellshii

Worse than here,no way. I talked to someone who went to Dallas,he described the drivers as courteous and friendly. I believe it.

I actually did recently come back from Dallas, and I was worried for nothing. It's not easier to drive there, because there are more traffic jams in Dallas, a lot more. But drivers were very friendly and courteous. To be honest, driving in El Paso feels a lot like driving in Italy and in Greece or even driving in the Middle East. Even drivers in London drive a lot better. However, it's a different kind of bad in Dallas. Dallas drivers are bad in which they are aggressive and want their way on the road. El Paso drivers are bad in which they drive like *******s and drive like in Rome and in Athens. Just one more year I have to put up with El Paso problems and I am outta here for life, never even going to miss it one bit. There is nothing I will miss about El Paso. Having been to Dallas, it's much nicer and prettier. I bet even McAllen and Brownsville are a lot nicer than El Paso and have better drivers.

[AirportFan]

Originally Posted by JoeBloggsUSA

We must drive quite differently. I find many Dallas drivers to drive scared, timidly, and obliviously (and that's not even when they're on their phones).

Well, I will say this. One guy was hitting everyone's car with his hand to try to get through the traffic jam and to pass everyone in the middle between the cars. Also, when I did pull out of a parking lot, it was clear on both sides. Then right as I pulled out this driver comes speeding and slams the breaks and honks and gives me a funny look. But other than those 2 incidents, the drivers were friendlier.

[RemyLebeau]

The thing to learn about driving in and around Dallas from when I moved here in 1992 to today:

1. The higher the speed limit, the slower people will go. For example, the main road I take to back in forth to work is 3 lanes each way and pretty nice (no potholes, straight, only 3 stop lights). The speed limit is 55 mph. It's not uncommon to see people cruising around doing 40 mph.It's frustrating because the lights are actually synced to be green if you drive between 50-55 mph. At 40, you will hit at least 2 lights.

2. The lower the speed limit, the faster people will drive. All the side roads around me have a speed limit of 30 or 35 mph. Those same people on the main road doing 40 in a 55? Yeah, they are doing 45 in a 30.

3. The few people that use a turn signal use it to tell you what they are in the middle of doing. Not what they are about to do. If they are at a light and going to make a left hand turn, they will put on their signal once they START making their turn. Same thing if they are going to turn down a street or into a shopping center. They will literally slow down and start their turn THEN signal (if at all).

4. There are too many NASCAR fans in DFW. By that, I don't mean they drive fast, they drive to not be passed. The other morning I'm going down the 55 mph road going to work. I see I'm coming up on a car in the right lane that was drive a lot slower. No problem, well before I got close to him, I signaled and moved to the middle lane so I could pass him and get back over before I needed to take my right turn. He waited until I got close then gassed it to keep me from passing. At 60 mph, I slowed back down and got behind him in order to make my turn. Once I did, he slowed back down to under the speed limit. Why? I have no idea.

5. Learn to park your car backwards when going to any store. People are massively self involved and will start backing up without looking to make sure no one is coming. If you are pulling out and someone across from you is backing out at the same time, they will not see you or stop.

6. Honking. If someone is trying to get in your lane without looking and you honk to let them know you are there, they will treat it as if you insulted their family, kicked their pet and keyed their car all at once. Very few times will someone give you the "my bad, I wasn't paying attention so thanks for helping avoid an accident" wave. Instead you will probably get the "how dare you be were I want to be and not slamming on your brakes to make up for my bad driving" finger.

7. Drive offensively. This goes back to the self involved thing. People will see a lane is closed for repair and instead of moving over, they will drive as far as possible, start moving over, turn on signal, then expect everyone to make way.

8. While the left hand lane on the highway in most places is the passing lane, in DFW, it's the lane people get into in order to set their cruise control to 10-15 mph under the limit so they don't have to mess with merging traffic. Expect to do the bulk of your passing on the right.

9. As part of #8, expect those same people driving slow in the left lane to wait for the last second to cross all lanes to take their exit. They WILL literally put on their brakes and slow down. To recap, they will go from the entrance lane of the highway, directly to the fast lane, drive under the speed limit, wait until their exit is in viewing distance, start braking and slowly get over to take the exit. The will expect everyone on the road to stop and allow them to do this.

10. Wait...there's more...people will do the same thing on surface roads. It's not uncommon to see someone stop in the road, blocking traffic while they decide to change lanes.

11. DFW does not have city planners/engineers. Oh, people are paid to do that job, but they don't do it. Lights are rarely synced. If you ever see Northgate Construction, expect all traffic to be massively horrible from the time they start work to years later. I've started treating lights like stop signs when I drive at night and traffic is light. I'm not going to sit at a red light for 5 minutes if there are no other cars on the road. I'm not going to sit at a red turn arrow if the traffic on my side has a green light and there is no one coming in the opposite direction. If it's clear, I take my turn. The arrow should be green, red for cross traffic or flashing yellow. IF DFW actually corrected 20% their traffic light problem, the savings in gas would be in the millions and the pollution levels would drop a lot.

I will give you the same advice I have my daughter when she started driving. Treat everyone on the road as if it's their first time driving. Use your neck/turn your head and don't rely on mirrors. Always assume the people next to you will want your lane at any given time. Try to watch not only the car in front of you, but the car in front of them as well.

Good luck and have fun.

[pnwguy2]

I can't speak for El Paso, but I did drive in Dallas and Houston last week.

Overall, I came to the conclusion that drivers in Dallas are better than Houston. While some are in NASCAR mode, as another poster put it, Dallas drivers generally are pretty good. They know the speed limit, use their turn signals, and are for the most part polite.

Houston, another story from my limited time there. Lots of extreme speeding, talking 25-30 MPH over the limit, most noticeable on the service roads. Horns aplenty, and just kind of an angry feel. Do any of you Texans relate to this?

One thing that baffled me were the toll roads, especially in Dallas. On three different occasions I came up to an electronic toll booth, (most don't have cash lanes I noticed), and even though I had a transponder on my windshield they failed to recognize it. It was a rental car, and they mentioned something about toll roads when I checked in, but I kind of ignored it. Wish I hadn't, because on one I had to back out of a lane to find another toll booth and was nabbed with a $177 fine. Left a bad taste in my mouth, but I accept responsibility.

[AirportFan]

El Paso sounds a little similar to Dallas in terms of driving. However, in El Paso, the fast lane does not exist. Also, nobody is friendly and are rude like Miami drivers. I think even Miami drivers drive better. I have heard people complain that people do speed a lot in Houston. Still, I think they are friendlier in Houston than in El Paso. Also another thing in El Paso, people drive 20-30 under the speed limit sometimes.