What's up with Road Rage on houston roads? (Arlington, Mart: credit, living)

[tstone]

Originally Posted by majicdonjuan

And Houston drivers have been aggressive and crazy as hell ever since I got my drivers license around the turn of the century. I'm sure it's worse now, but it's always been survival of the fittest on Houston freeways.

You're either a wolf or a sheep out there. Your choice.

It's been that sort of crazy since I learned how to drive here and have been doing it 20+ years. If you're constantly pissing people off, maybe some self-reflection is in order. As long as you're moving with the flow, people are generally cooperative and it's pretty easy to get around.

What I do see is mostly an increase in northeastern style behavior with the horns. Some new transpants apparently think gridlocked traffic will move faster if you lean on the horn. Just turn up the music, and it doesn't take long for them to figure out it doesn't work, and I've even seen traffic cops tell them to ST.FU.

[smuggy_mba]

Originally Posted by tstone

It's been that sort of crazy since I learned how to drive here and have been doing it 20+ years. If you're constantly pissing people off, maybe some self-reflection is in order. As long as you're moving with the flow, people are generally cooperative and it's pretty easy to get around.

What I do see is mostly an increase in northeastern style behavior with the horns. Some new transpants apparently think gridlocked traffic will move faster if you lean on the horn. Just turn up the music, and it doesn't take long for them to figure out it doesn't work, and I've even seen traffic cops tell them to ST.FU.

None of the examples I mentioned in the original post are on the freeway.

[Glossa]

Originally Posted by smuggy_mba

What I meant was out-of-state, which is still not true.

And you say this because you're a transplant from Chicago?

[Dopo]

People driving 5 under the speed limit on the left lane of the highway sure don't help make people be "more friendly" on the road.

[Bike4Life]

I am sorry that you've encountered a bad day on the road. Of course, there is no excuse for them throwing a childish tantrum out on you and other drivers. Last week, someone cut in my lane within inches on the side of my SUV (I had to brake to avoid collusion). So, he got what he wanted but then he turned into Satan when I flashed my lights. But I didn't even respond to his vile curses and moved on.

It appears that you are trying to be a nice, gentle driver but most Houstonians want you to drive assertively, with tacit respect, and go with the flow. Don't let other people wait for you. Especially, when there are a lot of cars behind you and you've got more car length of space in front of you. It doesn't mean we can never let anyone in front of us, we just have to evaluate who it is. "Is the driver trying to get in front of me going to leave 4 car length of space in front of himself? Is he trying to drive faster? Is he trying to get to the next exit? Is he going to let 10 more cars get in front of him and push me further back in traffic?". If they are going to slow me down, I will try to let them get behind me. The exception is when people are merging onto the freeway.

I have more respect for drivers who use the blinkers and then quickly change into my lane - don't slow down and delay others. You are suppose to speed up when changing lanes, anyway. If you stop on the right lane at the red light, sometimes I will go to the next lane and make a right turn from left lane. I won't say anything but I hope it's a silent lesson learned for the other driver.

And never, ever block other lanes when trying to get to one side of the street, getting out of the parking lot, or at the intersection. No one likes to wait for you when there is a green light and blaring horns. You can straighten out your car to go straight where the green light is, then make a U-turn and go around.

[14Bricks]

Originally Posted by trekbiker

I see it has gotten worse over the past few years, and I can see it getting even worse in the future.

When I first moved here from northern VA near DC, I thought Houston had much friendlier and more considerate drivers than the DC metro area.

When changing lanes on the freeway, turning on the blinker, they'd actually let you take the lane in front of them (that was then). In DC, you DON'T want to turn on the blinker because if you did, someone would drive up and block you from changing to that lane. It was that bad. Here, it is getting to that point now.

Now I can't say the same, and with all the booming growth and increasing traffic going on now, it's just going to get even worse.

Lol, Houston has never had friendly, considerate drivers. People may be friendly on a every day basis, but once they get in their cars its different story. You have to drive aggressive in Houston or you'll get ran off the road.

[majicdonjuan]

Originally Posted by Bike4Life

I am sorry that you've encountered a bad day on the road. Of course, there is no excuse for them throwing a childish tantrum out on you and other drivers. Last week, someone cut in my lane within inches on the side of my SUV (I had to brake to avoid collusion). So, he got what he wanted but then he turned into Satan when I flashed my lights. But I didn't even respond to his vile curses and moved on.

It appears that you are trying to be a nice, gentle driver but most Houstonians want you to drive assertively, with tacit respect, and go with the flow. Don't let other people wait for you. Especially, when there are a lot of cars behind you and you've got more car length of space in front of you. It doesn't mean we can never let anyone in front of us, we just have to evaluate who it is. "Is the driver trying to get in front of me going to leave 4 car length of space in front of himself? Is he trying to drive faster? Is he trying to get to the next exit? Is he going to let 10 more cars get in front of him and push me further back in traffic?". If they are going to slow me down, I will try to let them get behind me. The exception is when people are merging onto the freeway.

I have more respect for drivers who use the blinkers and then quickly change into my lane - don't slow down and delay others. You are suppose to speed up when changing lanes, anyway. If you stop on the right lane at the red light, sometimes I will go to the next lane and make a right turn from left lane. I won't say anything but I hope it's a silent lesson learned for the other driver.

And never, ever block other lanes when trying to get to one side of the street, getting out of the parking lot, or at the intersection. No one likes to wait for you when there is a green light and blaring horns. You can straighten out your car to go straight where the green light is, then make a U-turn and go around.

I agree with this post. I've driven all around the US and Houston has a different style about it. Its very similar to Southern California drivers in my opinion. It's seen as a more desirable trait in a driver to do whatever is reasonably possible to avoid delaying everyone else, than to focus on keeping the speed limit and driving cautiously. It's just the culture of certain places. Other places, (such as here in Northern Virignia) speeders are probably seen as the more undesirable driver and a particularly cautious or slow driver isn't castigated nearly as much (except by me in the cases of left lane dawdlers ).

[14Bricks]

Originally Posted by tstone

It's been that sort of crazy since I learned how to drive here and have been doing it 20+ years. If you're constantly pissing people off, maybe some self-reflection is in order. As long as you're moving with the flow, people are generally cooperative and it's pretty easy to get around.

What I do see is mostly an increase in northeastern style behavior with the horns. Some new transpants apparently think gridlocked traffic will move faster if you lean on the horn. Just turn up the music, and it doesn't take long for them to figure out it doesn't work, and I've even seen traffic cops tell them to ST.FU.

Seeing that Texas is a right to carry state, it seems like a bad idea for people to be looking to start confrontations on the roads. There's eve a funny bumper sticker out there about it.

[trekbiker]

Originally Posted by 14Bricks

Lol, Houston has never had friendly, considerate drivers. People may be friendly on a every day basis, but once they get in their cars its different story. You have to drive aggressive in Houston or you'll get ran off the road.

Oh, I do fine here, myself. I've driven in Nova and even in New York City, so those skills gained at those places allow me to survive on Houston roads these days.

I just noticed that when I first moved here, I'd turn on my blinker and people actually let me move into their lane in front of them. That never happens in DC and NYC. You'd have to find a gap and then quickly and assertively get in there without changing the flow of traffic.

By the way, my biggest pet peeve is when 3 cars next to each other in the leftmost 3 lanes of the freeway going 5 under the speed limit.

[Tassy001]

Originally Posted by Bike4Life

I am sorry that you've encountered a bad day on the road. Of course, there is no excuse for them throwing a childish tantrum out on you and other drivers. Last week, someone cut in my lane within inches on the side of my SUV (I had to brake to avoid collusion). So, he got what he wanted but then he turned into Satan when I flashed my lights. But I didn't even respond to his vile curses and moved on.

It appears that you are trying to be a nice, gentle driver but most Houstonians want you to drive assertively, with tacit respect, and go with the flow. Don't let other people wait for you. Especially, when there are a lot of cars behind you and you've got more car length of space in front of you. It doesn't mean we can never let anyone in front of us, we just have to evaluate who it is. "Is the driver trying to get in front of me going to leave 4 car length of space in front of himself? Is he trying to drive faster? Is he trying to get to the next exit? Is he going to let 10 more cars get in front of him and push me further back in traffic?". If they are going to slow me down, I will try to let them get behind me. The exception is when people are merging onto the freeway.

I have more respect for drivers who use the blinkers and then quickly change into my lane - don't slow down and delay others. You are suppose to speed up when changing lanes, anyway. If you stop on the right lane at the red light, sometimes I will go to the next lane and make a right turn from left lane. I won't say anything but I hope it's a silent lesson learned for the other driver.

Andnever, ever block other lanes when trying to get to one side of the street, getting out of the parking lot, or at the intersection. No one likes to wait for you when there is a green light and blaring horns. You can straighten out your car to go straight where the green light is, then make a U-turn and go around.

This is the one that I do not understand. If the right lane is not a turn only lane then what is the problem with someone going straight?