Driving in the Huntsville area (Birmingham, Madison: DMV, camping, dangerous)

[HVilleNewb]

Apparently stopping in the middle of the road is "normal" here. I lived in Montgomery my entire life until mid last year. I've been driving for 15 years and outside of this past year I used my horn maybe 2-3 times, total! Here, I seem to have to honk 2-3 times per week! Is it something in the water? I've been filtering the heck out of my water just in case!
People just seem to be oblivious to the reality going on around them. It is almost daily that people will be doing things in their car and not notice the light changed to green and cause the pile of traffic behind them to have the priviledge of waiting through another cycle. What kills me even more is that no one honks at them to wake them up! Perhaps they are asleep too, I don't know.
Also about once every couple weeks, someone will simply stop in the middle of the road to let someone out of a parking lot on the opposite side of the road. Then they just keep on going down the road! I can understand if you wanted to turn into that parking lot and they were blocking you, but to stop and potentially cause an accident to be nice, come on!
I could keep on, but I will stop at one more...does anyone here know what the yellow lane in the middle of the road is? It's a turning lane!!! You get in it to turn!!! You don't stop in the middle of the traffic lane, get your car in the turning lane, then turn!

[dougb256]

My first impressions of HSV traffic when I moved here 4 yrs ago was that this was a small town all of a sudden turned into a city, but the locals still drove as if it was a small town. Not to mention having a love affair with trucks...

[slmaol]

Driving in Huntsville is ok for the most part. However when I am in a hurry - its annoying to see folks moving waay below the speed limit and I am on some road where I cannot pass...that just gets to me. Its very slow paced here - which can be good at times and annoying at other times....but wait - I MUST ADD THIS...

I have stopped on many occasions to give let someone out when others are zipping by - Zierdt Rd to be exact...and the 'dummies' that I am always trying to help - totally sit there and stare at me as if I am from Mars - THEY DO NOT MOVE ! To the extent that I get horns blazing behind me because I am even more dumb waiting on them to realize that I am being 'nice' and its ok for them to go ahead in front of me....I say I am gonna stop and I keep finding myself stopping - trying to help them or ease the traffic that is being held up because someone has stopped - trying to get across a other side of the street...oh boy - so if you are one of those who sit there - WAKE UP !!!!

[friday13]

My beef is with the drivers cutting in on east Research Park Blvd (close to the arsenal) at Decatur/Airport and Huntsville exit ramp as I drive from CRP/BridgeStreet.
The exit for 565 toward Hsv is the worst, because here I am in my lane, going bumper to bumper (during evening rush hour) as people cautiously slow down as they take one or the other exit (my observation being a 50-50 ratio), while a dimwit just flies by at high speed trying to push his way in the short stretch between the 2 exits (hawking on a car that takes the Decatur turn). It's even worse when the dimwit has a brother following! (2-3 cars doing the same thing while I have been in the exit lane 2 miles back since I left work). A few times I've seen drivers seriously running the white-striped pavement marking, or one of the 4-5 "sharp turn arrow" posts bent or down.
The speeding is that much unjustified as the curve is a very sharp turn and one cannot take it at 60mph needed to cut in front of the line anyway, they'd have to slam the brakes at some point not to be thrown off the curve. So why the rush, really?
So, all it takes is just some planning 1-2 miles back, slow down and common sense: he who gets first to the exit lane, gets in front (which I have politely and succesfully doing, allowing others to merge in the exit lane).

[33458]

I had to use my horn for the first time in two years the other day...I felt kinda rude, whereas in SoFL it would have been second nature. But going through Five Points and in to the Historic area, passed the graveyard there was a car that just keep weaving...not drunk - she was texting or something. There are a few curves there that make such carelessness a very bad thing. The speed limit is only 35-40 but she was c.r.a.w.l.i.n.g., cars passing her left and right. It was rush hour (ha, right - I love that) so I had to wait my turn or cut someone off. I waited...not in a hurry, just annoyed that she couldn't be bothered to focus on the task at hand.
Then she stopped at a red light and when turned green, she sat there...and sat there...HELLO? I counted to 10 and then let her have a little noise...nothing hostile, just a HEY, DRIVE NOW kinda thing...I got a little 'Bless Your Heart' wave in the rear-view mirror, and she continued to sway as she began again, looking down instead of forward. I got around her and saw another pile gather behind her.
On the upside, at least she was recklessly slow instead of hellbent on two lanes at once, but man...

Now, the other side of the coin: driving my daughter to school through the quiet, slow development we live in. The speed limit is posted at 25 or 30 MPH, depending on where you are...but some folks are always running late and right on it if you do the speed limit. They drive in the middle of the road, as if I don't see them...
(Oh, yes, I see you. I am ignoring you.)
There are cats crossing the street every day (my route sees 4 every morning), children and various other creatures that make a bit of patience not only a virtue but a little life saver...
Oh, and did I mention the traffic enforcement officer parked on one of two streets that manages to pull over several cars every day? I guess we need one at both ends.
Last week I was at a stop sign...that sign that says STOP. Not yield, which oddly some of the intersecting or ended roads here have instead...I guess they ran out...well, SUV with some place to go was in a hurry...behind me, at a stop sign with oncoming traffic. I have my signal on, turning left. There was a car approaching and he had the right of way...but the guy in back of me honks at me to go, which would have meant cutting the other car off as he met me in the road. So I ignored SUV, too.
That was the same driver that then whipped around the rest of us dropping off to pull up sideways on the crosswalk to unload.

Must be new in town.

[AnotherBravesFan]

What we don't get is drivers in left turn lanes that sit behind the line while the light is green, don't pull out into the intersection, and therefore, just sit there as the light turns yellow and then red. Why don't people pull into intersections? It's as if once the green arrow is gone, they think they cannot turn left if it's safe, even though there is still a green light.

[33458]

I don't know...the only time I won't pull in to the intersection is when traffic is so steady from the other direction that I know I won't make it before the light turns red (therefore making me the idiot running a light)...because I don't know what the law is here concerning that. I don't see too many streets around here so busy as to prevent a turn on green, though.

'Still want an Alabama handbook to see exactly what is different here - they didn't have any available when I changed my DL. :I

[skinem]

Over the last two weeks my wife has seen THE SAME SUV run the SAME red light twice. Once, by a little bit. The other time, the light had to have been red a looooooong time. The first time, it about got her. She says it looks like some mom late with her kid to school.

If it happens again, she's going to follow it and see if she can get a tag number. She's already told her boss she'll be late if that happens, because she just may have to let the lady have it about doing that with her kid in the car.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by skinem

Over the last two weeks my wife has seen THE SAME SUV run the SAME red light twice. Once, by a little bit. The other time, the light had to have been red a looooooong time.
She says it looks like some mom late with her kid to school.

Bet she's yapping on her cell phone too.

"The blue shoes? Oh no, they didn't match my blouse." or
"I can't believe Helen still cheats at Bunko." or
"Did you see Susan's new haircut? I didn't have the heart to really tell what I thought." or
"Oh my darling, Bill's on business travel...and the kids are on sleepovers, just like I told you...see you around 8?"

[caution]

Originally Posted by AnotherBravesFan

What we don't get is drivers in left turn lanes that sit behind the line while the light is green, don't pull out into the intersection, and therefore, just sit there as the light turns yellow and then red. Why don't people pull into intersections? It's as if once the green arrow is gone, they think they cannot turn left if it's safe, even though there is still a green light.

They don't pull into the intersection because that's grid-locking, or at least that's what they'll ticket you for in the bigger cities back east. I wait behind the line and only cross it when it's clear. I've lived in too many places where if you're caught out there and it goes red, the opposing lanes are running red so you can't turn, and the other lanes will just swarm around you when they get the green. Then you've locked the grid.

Of course here, I do it because people run reds.