Driving in Jacksonville :( (Tampa, Tallahassee: appointed, 2014, car insurance)

[Jada_yel]

I loved driving until I moved here. For the first time in my life I am afraid of driving... Everytime I drive I almost get into an accident.... I have always been a careful driver and from defensive driving I turned into paranoid driving here lol...

Driving 20 mph over the posted speeding limit is the norm on every single road. I somehow got used to being cut off at the last minute without a turning signal but still not used to cars turning to the opposite direction of the turning signal... Aggressive driving is so out of control that cars try to pass you and get infront of you when you are just taking off seconds from a green light. Oh if you need to change your lane you are screwed because when they see you blinking they speed on purpose and never let you in. Because of that you need to know exactly where you are going and what lane you need to be on in Jacksonville since a lot of lanes either become a turning lane or merge into another lane out of nowhere as well.... Drivers here are extremely rude, aggressive and in a hurry all the time... I drove in bigger cities than Jax and never experienced this kind of madness... I almost never drive speeding limit anymore because of tailgating, middle finger showing drivers so I end up speeding just like everybody else. A lot of ppl cut you off when they are coming out of a strip mall or some sort of parking lot, making you slamming your breaks... I guess they don't care that much since rear ending is an automatic fault...

I also believe that drivers here don't care about pedestrians one bit...There are no sidewalks in my neighborhood so when cars are passing by when I walk my dog, they pass by so close even tho the road is empty and when you are crossing a street they speed over you or drive right infront of you or right behind you... because of this I almost got hit one day... Pedestrians always have the right of way and that is a universal law.

I actually wasn't going to bother to make this post until today when I saw this car speeding during the storm, he lost his control of the wheel and his car started spinning like crazy in the middle of the road... His tire blew off and then he hit a tree then he immediately turned around and took off!!!!! He didn't even stop or got out of his car to see what happened... The entire area was covered in smoke and burned plastic smell... and I was right there, frozen.... I am just so thankful that, that driver didn't kill me or my dog.... the neighbors came out all freaked out cause everything was so loud and so fast... It was just unbelievable....

I am not sure about the police supervision in Jacksonville about traffic crimes either because of the things ppl pull of on the roads on a daily basis that I mentioned earlier... Tampa police is very strict about traffic rules... I am just very disappointed and worried driving in Jacksonville or being a pedestrian in this city. I cannot believe that there is not a single post about this subject from ppl who moved here from other places... Oh well I am considering to carry holy water and Bible with me everytime I drive , maybe hang some angel miniatures on my mirror... I don't know how to feel safe anymore driving in this crazy ass city .... lmao

I apologize if there are a lot of grammer mistakes or it was too much of a long read, didn't have time to proof read. I just wanted to get this out of my chest 😔

[Florida2014]

And now you know why our auto insurance rates are so sky high! I have lived in many different parts of our fine country and I can say without a doubt the drivers here are the most aggressive I've ever seen. Jax is a blue collar city for the most part (something like only 20-25% of the population has Bachelor's degrees, or so I've read). Without sounding too politically incorrect, let's just say the lower educated folks tend to care less about their safety and certainly far less about the safety of those around them. Souped up cars, big trucks with huge engines and lifted tires everywhere here and to the uneducated, your car and the manner in which you drive equates to your manliness. And it's a "sink or swim" mentality with so many people like that on the road, it almost forces you to drive faster to keep up with the herd.

I'll stop there before I offend further.

[jwolfer]

Originally Posted by Florida2014

And now you know why our auto insurance rates are so sky high! I have lived in many different parts of our fine country and I can say without a doubt the drivers here are the most aggressive I've ever seen. Jax is a blue collar city for the most part (something like only 20-25% of the population has Bachelor's degrees, or so I've read). Without sounding too politically incorrect, let's just say the lower educated folks tend to care less about their safety and certainly far less about the safety of those around them. Souped up cars, big trucks with huge engines and lifted tires everywhere here and to the uneducated, your car and the manner in which you drive equates to your manliness. And it's a "sink or swim" mentality with so many people like that on the road, it almost forces you to drive faster to keep up with the herd.

I'll stop there before I offend further.

The main reason out auto insurance rates are higher than most places is the Personal Injury/PIP/"no fault" insurance that is required in Florida.


Just becasue someone is not college educated does not mean they care less about their safety of the safety of others. Younger people who have money to spend on suped up cars dont care as much

[marylandmom2011]

Hi OP,

Yes they drive crazy here in North Florida. I see accidents daily during rush hour, bad--someone got hurt accidents. And I fear that I will be rear ended whenever I slow down to stop in traffic or a red light. Been here a year and am getting used to it, definitely drive defensively.

As for the supped up red neck cars, I hate them and the loud engines, especially when I am walking the dog. But most of the accidents I see are just regular sedans, SUV's, minivans, etc.

[Jada_yel]

Originally Posted by Florida2014

big trucks with huge engines and lifted tires everywhere here

Yeah. Big trucks with super loud noise ( so annoying and dumb) are the worst... they must not care since they are an in a huge vehicle above from the ground and probably won't ever get hurt... another abusive thing I went thru, one night I am walking my dog again and this car passing by blows her horn at me like really long and aggressive btw it was 1 am.... there is nobody else outside but me and my dog walking on the sidewalk of course that horn scared me because it was so quite and I was minding my own biz.. still to this day I don't know why she did that... I am still pretty sure about lack of police supervision on the roads... I think because violent crime is so out of control here , they don't care about reckless driving that much so ppl think it's normal to drive here like that....

[eureka1]

My brother says that in Jax, using your turn signals is considered giving intelligence to the enemy.

[LaurieinJax]

I lived in Jax for four years. I thought, "dang! These people are crazy!" Then I moved to Tallahassee. Jax is a piece of cake. I even had lived in Houston before moving to Florida.

OP, I sympathize with you. I now have panic attacks driving here. It's nuts.

[Florida2014]

Originally Posted by jwolfer

The main reason out auto insurance rates are higher than most places is the Personal Injury/PIP/"no fault" insurance that is required in Florida.


Just becasue someone is not college educated does not mean they care less about their safety of the safety of others. Younger people who have money to spend on suped up cars dont care as much

Why, then, do auto insurers and their infinite capacity to run #s charge LESS on premiums for college educated people?

https://coverhound.com/insurance-lea...nsurance-rates

Does Your Education Level Impact Your Car Insurance Rates?

[Runninglikethieves]

I don't know, I feel like the drivers are more aggressive in the Northeast part of the nation. When I lived in Southern California for 3 years, I think it was more or less just more congested than the drivers being aggressive.

I definitely do think they're aggressive here though. My fiancé has complained a lot about how angry she gets with drivers here. She says it's probably the only negative she's had with living here so far. I do notice that I get cut off here a lot. People don't think anything of pulling out from a stop sign and in front of you. The best is when there are literally no vehicles for 50-75 feet behind you and they decide to pull out like 5-10 feet right in front of you! I'm a little more forgiving if they step on the gas and quickly at least get to the speed limit. But it's really aggravating when they pull out and go 35-40 in 45 or something.

[Ivan Putski]

Agree with the OP and others about aggressive drivers in this area. I'm from the northeast and it's definitely worse down here. As another poster mentioned, hardly anyone uses their turn signals and most could careless about pedestrians in the crosswalk. We would see 10 cars go by before someone finally stops. In fact a teenager on a bicycle was killed several weeks ago in PVB trying to cross 210 (just before the intercoastal) using the crosswalk. It's a shame someone had to die before the county finally gave the go-ahead to put up a high intensity flashing beacon at that location (scheduled to be installed in the next few months)....