[lhernandez48]

Traffic wasn't bad until the mass-migration from places north, just saying.

[StreetSmarts]

Originally Posted by MovedfromFL

Just today I saw a car pass another car on a double yellow line AND while going through a traffic light/ intersection.

I drive a curvy, 2 lane road to take my son to pre-school every day and today I also saw two cars come around the corner too fast and it looked like their vehicles were tilting to one side. Both times were young, male drivers. I have also been passed on this same road in a double yellow area. (while going above the speed limit)

People these days are very impatient and self-entitled. Everyone seems right on the edge. How many stories do we have to read about hit and runs and general wild-west type behaviors? I remember the recent motorcycle accident in Central FL where a car ran a motorcycle down, the guy got out of his car, looked at the injured riders on the road, and then got back in his car and drove away.

I always look both ways at green lights and pause for several seconds while I look left, right, then left again and then right again. When we lived in Georgia, I was almost t-boned by 2 different red light runners, both times with my kids in the car. We would not have survived the first one for sure. I still remember the guy looking over at me while he blew through the red light, talking on his cell phone. I just thank my lucky stars that he was driving a bright red truck which helped me see him and notice he was coming way too fast. It seemed to take forever, but sure enough, he blew through as the cars behind me honked at me to go. Afterwards, I wanted to yell "Did you see that, idiots?"

If people want to drive like absolute suicidal maniacs, they should just crash into a tree and not take those of us who actually want to live with them!

I think the funniest was the old (grandpa age) man in Georgia who was honking and yelling at us for not turning right on red into steady oncoming 50 mph traffic. We heard a honk, I looked back, and was surprised to see him yelling and carrying on in his car, while shaking his fist at us. I mean, what the heck? Again, if he wants to commit suicide by car, why not try a tree?

Yup, have had something pretty similar except I was turning left. The guy was honking at me to go. Nevermind the fact that I had to yield to traffic, I guess he just wanted me to go anyway to save him 5 seconds. what an a$$ this guy was. I have many, many more stories in Central FL, but this one reminded me of your situation.

[Spring Hillian]

I really don't think its a lack of driving ability, it is just the "ME" thinking in American society these days.

People just don't care about other people anymore. On the roads where the anonymity of drivers drivers allows for people to be stupid and act very aggressively. People are under a lot of pressure these days and frustrated people get into their cars and sometimes use them to unleash their frustrations on the rest of the world.

Its not every driver but too many of them. I could never understand what possesses people to switch back and forth across the lanes of traffic just to "get ahead". Maybe its the "excitement" of cutting off other drivers, maybe its something else, but its time people start to slow down in their lives in general and be more cooperative on the roadways.

Originally Posted by On-da-Beach

Is it me? It seems like the new year has brought on the worst plague of driving ability I've seen in...well...forever. Right turns from the left lane, vise-versa, cutting cars off, pulling out in front of moving traffic, it goes on and on and on.
The sum of it is that folks are driving as if they are the only car on the road. I know it's not new but it does seem worse than ever. It's not just locals, tourists, old people or kids... it's all of the above.
George Carlin suggested that all drivers should have dart guns to shoot arrows into badly driven vehicles. Then if you saw a car with all of these arrows sticking out, you knew to stay away!
I want to open a driving school in Canada (they don't seem to have one) and a body shop here in Florida (there must be plenty of work)

[num1baby]

I honestly don't understand the people that honk at others to go when there is no gap. Hey buddy, you will get there faster if I am not in an accident right in front of you.
I will admit that I have honked my horn twice since I started driving (and I used to be a delivery driver on 19 in Pinellas). Once was when the woman in front of me at a red light was reading her newspaper and hadn't looked up when the light turned green. I waited long enough that when I did honk, the light was turning yellow. The only other time I honked was when I was driving in the middle lane (with a 2 week old baby in the back) and a car was drifting in to my lane. Gave them time to adjust, but when their tires were completely in my lane, I honked because I had nowhere I could go. I had tried slowing down to get behind them, but I also had a tailgater. That woke up the driver long enough to put down the bowl of steaming soup they were eating and have 1 hand on the wheel.
I think those are 2 situations where it is ok to honk. It is not ok when the person in front of you has nowhere to go. I hate when I am trying to pull out of a shopping center and I have someone that has pulled all of the way up on my bumper and then starts honking. I want to ask them if they understand that I have to wait for a gap in traffic. When I pull out, sure enough they pull out right behind me whether there was space for them or not. Correct me if I am wrong, but I heard that it is illegal to pull out if the car you are pulling in front of would have to hit their brakes.
Ok. I am stopping myself here. Sorry about my rambling.

[rogercobb]

Originally Posted by jdoty

Palm Bay has had a few of them for a while, and Cocoa Beach recently put a couple of them on A1A. Orlando/Orange County have a number of them up and running also.

I suspect that you and I disagree about whether they're a good thing or not.

Normally I am against the cameras but the problem has gotten completely out of control. Its everyday even on two or three mile commutes where someone is blasting through a red light. Not just after his/her light turns red but 5-10 seconds after. Something has to be done.

[Spring Hillian]

In the late 90's I saw this "red light running" trend happening in Orlando.
The Orlando Sentinel had a reporter who was hot on it. This problem has only gotten worse over the years.

Today I was behind a Canadian snowbird who turned left from te right lane cutting off an oncoming pick up truck. Its the people who simply don't give a damm for their safety or that of others. I guess they figure "he will stop".
Maybe most of the time, but when not, crunch!.

Originally Posted by rogercobb

Normally I am against the cameras but the problem has gotten completely out of control. Its everyday even on two or three mile commutes where someone is blasting through a red light. Not just after his/her light turns red but 5-10 seconds after. Something has to be done.

[Spring Hillian]

Hopefully the red light cameras will become a standard. You're right. Something has to be done to stop this problem cold in its tracks.

Originally Posted by rogercobb

Normally I am against the cameras but the problem has gotten completely out of control. Its everyday even on two or three mile commutes where someone is blasting through a red light. Not just after his/her light turns red but 5-10 seconds after. Something has to be done.

[Sheltie166]

Maybe if the lazy cops in Ocala would get off their butts and actually stop people for running lights etc it might slow down. Today I passed a cop parked in the parking lot of a closed bank off 200. What was he doing, waiting on somebody to try to rob the closed bank?

Wouldn't need red light cameras if the cops would just do their jobs!