A (non) Idiots Guide To Driving In Miami (leasing, to buy)

[FlyMIA]

Well in Heavy Rain I turn on my fog lights, however for cars that have bad lighting etc.. I like them turning on their flashers. Only a completely idiot is going to think the car is stopped in the road. People know that cars with flashers in the lane of traffic moving means the car just wants you to see them. Anyway you should be going so slow in that type of weather anyway that it should not matter. Also I will use flashers when a quick stop or slow down occurs. If I am going 70mph on the turnpike and all of sudden traffic slows to 15mph in a matter of a few seconds I will reach for the flashers and turn them on until the car behind me slows down.

Now something I hate is when people are going onto the highway and DONT accelerate! So its bad if your behind them because then your stuck doing 30mph trying to merger.

[Fawkes]

A lot of this is very true. Maybe because I was raised here, but most of it doesn't bother me at all. LOL!!

Things that do bother me.

People driving slow in the left lane, or multiple cars driving slow all in a row next to each other with a wide open road in front, blocking all the traffic behind. My mother will do this. Fortunately, I rarely have to ride with her driving (Sometimes after I've had a few drinks or something.) but when I'm driving behind her it drives me crazy. She can be completely oblivious.

Cops that drive crazy fast. Probably 20 or 30 times I've been just dusted by a cop going crazy fast.

I also have noticed that people hate it when I coast towards a light. I do this to save gas. And they race around me to get to the light. Doesn't really bother me, though, unless of course they then drive slow.

I was on US1 at 17th and it was pretty heavy traffic and I slowed to let someone in and the guy behind me honked.

THIS ONE DRIVES ME CRAZY!!!! Blocking the intersection. I will get right up next to the side of my car and blare my horn if you went into an intersection when you had a green and stopped. Then the light changed and now I am stuck behind you cause you are "blocking the box" One of these days I'm gonna honk at someone and get shot. LOL!

I've never really had a problem merging on the expressway because most of our merge lanes are quite long, and I'm quite aggressive. But we were on the Long Island Expressway in Queens and my brother and I were completely blown away that some lady moved over to let me in. Which is fortuitous because up there in NY the merge lanes are like 10 feet long and everyone is going 70-80 mph. And my POS Pontiac rental had a tiny engine. Really, it was slow. But the difference I noticed in NY is that those people know how to drive.

When I was in Driver's Ed back in High School I got one of the guys that will honk the second the light turns green behind me. It was funny because I was getting all flustered thinking I had done something wrong and nearly did seriously do something wrong. The instructor kept telling me, "Your fine, your fine. Ignore him."

About the driving at night, I used to work in Hialeah and live in Key Biscayne. I usually worked 4PM to midnight. So my commute to work sucked cause I was on the Dolphin, then the Palmetto with 400,000 of my closest friends. But then coming back, yes the Dolphin and the Palmetto (Or sometimes, I would take the Palmetto east to I95) were a damn race track. Never had an incident.

Basically, I drive fast, but always have respect. If there are a thousand cars in front of me, then there is no point in driving fast, so I just relax and go with the flow and respect the other drivers. When there is little traffic, good luck catching me. So, the crazy drivers don't necessarily bother me. But when I'm doing 80 on I-95 and somebody passes me going so fast that it startles me, that's too much. One night on I95 at Sterling I was doing 80 in the left lane and one of BSO's finest blasted me going about 110, with no roof lights. That pissed me off so much. It does worry me that one of these idiots is going to rear end me one day, but what do you do?

[r_k]

I don't kinow whether to laugh or cry.

[Glasvegas]

Scary, but true!

[CubanfromMiami]

All of these are so true! Everytime I'm on a highway or major road and I have to switch lanes I am TERRIFIED that someone will come from behind at 80 mph and plow into me . Miami drivers are crazy. The worst has to be when you're trying to get out of a parking lot and the people 'inch forward' LOL. It's like they just pretend they don't see you. And don't even get me started on making a left turn onto a major street. Unless there's a light, you literally have to TIME when you turn and then haul ass to even make it. No one will even slow down to let you pass. If you're not willing to take a risk you'll never pass lol. You literally have to time it perfectly.

[jasper12]

Just assume everyone here is not from Miami, and is lost, and trying to drive while programming the GPS, or is lives in Miami, and is late to work, or is over the age of 90, and needs to stop driving all together. I have driven in US 1, with each of these people in each lane...

[WINTERFRONT]

I'm not going to lie, but I almost lost my life in many occassions. People just don't care for us pedestrians!! I was considering on getting a car on my first experiences, but I didn't give up. I still want to take the public transport - I'm young and full with ideologies and dreams hehehehe

[ace587]

You have to be very defensive when you drive here. The OP is spot on on Miami Drivers. and oh yea mention that a big percent of luxury cars here are leased. Those drivers beat up their BMW's like they totally own them

[Glasvegas]

Originally Posted by ace587

You have to be very defensive when you drive here. The OP is spot on on Miami Drivers. and oh yea mention that a big percent of luxury cars here are leased. Those drivers beat up their BMW's like they totally own them

You can always tell those leased cars.
They have the Miami Heat badge on the license plate. People lease those cars to pose & pretend they have money, but as they don't actually own the car, they treat it like crap and drive recklessly.

[Tyryztoll]

Okay, so after reading through this thread, here's my question:

Why would any of you want to live in a place like that?

Is it a city or an open asylum?