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I have lived in the Orlando area for about 7 years now and lived in Altamonte Springs, Deltona, Old East Orlando, and now near I-Drive on Universal Blvd. I've also lived in 4 other states and driven in 2 other states out of those four. (Nashville area in Tennessee, The Bay area and near Fresno in California and been to L.A. once or twice)........I have driven in the Miami area and in North Florida area while ive lived in Florida.
Well I have experienced driving as a tourist visiting here in Orlando, then as a regular citizen (driving on I-4 everyday to go to school and regular driving), and now I am a delivery driver for a pizza company.....
I think when people say that Orlando has the worst traffic that they are right in some ways but overexadurate with some of thier statements........
When you look at the reasons why traffic is so bad on I-4 then you will see that a major problem is because it goes only 3 lanes wide and for the growth we have here and the amount of people that actually live here (1.6 million) in the area....that is why people say traffic is the worst here........
Well if Orlando would widen thier "MAIN" freeway to 5 lanes just like all the other cities with equal or more population then i bet things wouldnt seem as bad here.......
I lived in Nashville before and it is almost the same size as Orlando just a little smaller but they have 5 lanes on all of thier major freeways and when i moved here i wondered why there wasn't more lanes?
On top of that Orlando only has about 3 or 4 major freeways you can take to get around the large sprawl........Orlando only has really one freeway out of those 4 that actually have exits to all parts of town which is I-4.....the other freeways are toll roads and arent really made to go in the city except for the 408 "toll" road.....Other than that you have the Turnpike "toll" road which goes to a small area through the west side of Orlando, then you have the 417 "toll" road which is basically only good for a small portion of people who live here
Well if they built more freeways and had more lanes on those freeways for the size of the city then it wouldnt be as bad as people say it is......3 lanes on the "MAJOR" freeway in your city?........that is ridiculous
Now with road rage i agree that it actually is worse than other places ive lived......maybe only Miami can be at the same level when it comes to the road rage......Ive never seen so many altercations before ....or even been in as many in other cities
Who agrees and who thinks differently about Orlando traffic?.....
I am just trying to give a better view on the local traffic situation to outsiders who read about how bad things are here....Thank you
I've always said the problem with this area started after Disney announced they were moving here. Someone should have known the traffic Disney would bring and should have started thinking about highways and bypasses instead of sending the highway right through the downtown area...and now it's too late. Bad planning is a MAJOR understatement here.
Orlando is so far behind in city planning its ridiculous. Its not just traffic planning, its traffic lights, stop signs, etc, This place is a joke but I guess having friends in high places is what its about.
Everytime they have tried to put a new highway in, people always complained that they did not want it through their neighborhood. There was a plan to build a highway from downtown to the airport that never happened.
Another note: Highway 436 needs to be double deckered with local traffic on the lower level and express traffic on the upper level. The upper level needs to be a limited access highway like I-4.
my problem isnt as much with the traffic. it's with how all the ppl that moved here drive. and the road rage... these are big problems here. i guess with better traffic flow comes less road rage and angry ppl on the roads. but even here in waterford lakes, i see ppl running red lights constantly, not merging, riding ppl's butts, and all the other stuff you see on the major roads.
You can't build yourself out of traffic conjestion. It is a myth. Urban planners will tell you that.
What Orlando needs is a move towards a more gridded, lowel-speed street layout (asd oppossed to more highways), and decentralized shopping and mixed use developement. Incentives for telecommuting would also be helpful.
There isn't so much a problem with the highways as there is with the people here just no knowing how to drive.
People don't understand the way an on ramp works. Its there for a reason, and it isn't to enjoy the pretty shrubbery on the side of the ramp. It's there to get your P.O.S. SUV up to highway speed. Thats right, you merge at the speed limit. Not 35, not 45, but whatever the posted speed limit is. The same can be said for off ramps. There are very few off ramps in the city that actually require you to slow down before your vehicle actually leaves the highway. So please...don't slow to a crawl on it. Not rocket science here.
People don't understand that riding someones ass on a 2 lane highway (and I'm talking to you Turnpike morons here) isn't going to get you anywhere any faster. It's only going to cause you to wear out your brake pads prematurely and have you scratching that lump on top of your shoulders wondering why they wore out so fast.
People don't understand that lane slicing and dicing won't get you anywhere any faster. But I'll always take the opportunity to laugh at you when I pull up next to you at that next street light.
People don't understand that the mirror on the back of the sun visor isn't really made for putting on make up. There is a HUGE mirror in your bathroom for this purpose. Don't have enough time in the morning to do it? Go to bed 10 minutes earlier and set your alarm 10 minutes earlier.
People don't seem to have a damn clue where they are going. Is it really that hard? Most of you people drive the same damn route every day. Day after day after day. You should no where the hell your exits are. DO NOT suddenly slice across three lanes of highway traffic to make your exit. If you happen to die for this, I will not cry, I will feel no remorse. I will smile a little bit inside knowing that the gene pool was just cleansed of a little more stupidity. And don't you dare try to drive past a mile of backup and try to sneak in front of me for an exit. I waited, so will you prick.
Hazard lights are for emergencies and disabled vehicles on the side of the road. They ARE NOT for use in the rain. If you have your head lights on your tail lights light up...imagine that. I can see you just fine and so can others, if you can't see others with just their headlights and tail lights on, go see an eye doctor and get some damn glasses. Or better yet, just pull over and don't move until the rain stops.
There is this newer invention that I almost forgot to mention. It is so subtle that many don't even know its there. It's called a turn signal. The control for it is right behind the steering wheel on the left hand side. I don't see it used very often so I thought that maybe some of you could use a little direction. I don't have ESP, and I'm not a damn mind reader....let me know where the hell you're going please.
The brake pedal is just that...a brake pedal. It's not a foot rest. It only takes a half inch of depression to trigger the micro switch that turns on your brake lights. Even though you may not be slowing down, your lights are still on. So, if you're riding around with your left foot on the brake, how in the hell am I supposed to know if you're actually braking or not. This reminds me of the boy who cried wolf.
People also don't seem to be able to navigate hills properly either. It really isn't all that hard. You push the gas down a little bit harder and your vehicle maintains speed on an incline, on a decline you let off of the gas pedal a little bit and your vehicle maintains speed. Yet every day, whenever I come to a hill there is always a backup. For no other reason than people are scared of them. Then the slinky effect begins.
People also seem to be afraid of the rain. And no I'm not talking about the torrential downpour level 5 thunderstorms either (the red cells on the radar). I'm talking about light sprinkles. This condition doesn't require you to slow down to 20 mph below the speed limit. Let me clue you in on another interesting fact. Tires today are the best they have ever been. A little bit of water on the road isn't going to make your vehicle suddenly fly off the road. If you get even a little bit nervous about driving in rain, do yourself a favor, go to a racing school and get some time on the skid pad. You'll amaze yourself at the capability of todays tires. That is of course, if you're smart enough to take care of them. And I venture to say that most people in this city have no idea how to even take a tire pressure reading or where to find the manufacturers recommended PSI for them.
People seem to be simply fascinated with ambulances, police cars and generally bright blue and red flashy lights on the side of the road. I know, they are exciting to look at, because parked cars are so rare these days, but do you really need to slow down to look at just another jack ass who managed to get into a wreck? Just drive please. If it really is anything worth seeing, it will be on the news, trust me. The local news channels are worse than ambulance chasers. This condition is also known as rubbernecking.
Vehicles also come standard with "blind spots" these days. Not a new invention at all. As a matter of fact they started to become standard sometime in the early 90's when all of a sudden soccer moms and men with small penis's suddenly decided that they needed a 12 MPG Abrams tank to tote around the groceries and their snotty little insubordinate kids. Better known as SUV's, or Stupid Ugly Vehicles. I don't drive one of these, and just because you do, don't expect everyone else to. Before you make a lane change in one of the behemoths please be sure to check your "blind spot". I may not have been there 5 seconds ago, but now I might be. You could even adjust that 4 square foot mirror hanging off the door to get a better look at your "blind spot". I used quotations for "blind spot" because I'm convinced that most of the drivers in Orlando are convinced it's a fictional phenomenon.
So there you go. As you can see, it isn't simply the fault of the city for poor planning. It's also the thousands of other douche bags who take the roads of Orlando every day. Am I a perfect driver...No. Do I claim to be? No. But I do exercise more common sense in one minute on the roads in this town than the rest of the people do in a whole year it seems. I have to, or me and my family may perish because of some idiot in this god forsaken city.
I almost forgot to mention one other thing that really pisses me off. "The Incher"
Yes The Incher is a curious being. He pulls up to a red light, but stops 10-15 feet short of the stop line. In the process of waiting he proceeds to release some brake pressure causing his vehicle so idle slowly closer to the line. This isn't only restricted to the first person in line either. Because the first car inched forward, now everyone will.
I want you people to try this next time your about 10-15 cars back in line at a stop light. Pull up to the car in front of you, with about 2-3 feet in between cars. DON'T MOVE until the light turns green. I can almost, with 100% certainty guarantee that there will be at least 30 feet between you and the car in front of you now, maybe even more depending on the level of stupidity the involved parties are displaying.
I can't for the life of me figure out what purpose this serves. You're not going to get anywhere any faster. I sure as hell am not going to wear out my clutch doing this idiotic act. So please, pull up to the friggin' line. Stop your car and do not move. If you cannot do this, please go see a doctor and get some Ritalin for your ADD. (you know, the condition that doctors made up to excuse for poor parenting)
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