Aggressive Driving Around Philadelphia Suburbs (Lancaster, West Norriton: how much, home, neighborhoods)

[bscratch]

Unfortunately, this is a bit of a rant but I think it needs to be a dialog that needs to start happening. The amount of aggressive and reckless driving occurring in suburbs outside and around the Philadelphia region needs to be checked. Too often are drivers speeding through residential areas, using cell phones, and disobeying traffic signals and signs. This type of driving is putting everyone at risk. Drivers need to put down their cell phones and obey speed limits and signs not just because you are breaking the law but because you are putting others lives at risk. I don't feel safe walking or bicycling in my neighborhood with distracted drivers speeding through without regard. I don't feel safe riding my motorcycle when drivers insist on running reds and cutting off other drivers for the sake of getting one more car ahead. I don't feel safe in my car when I am tailgated for driving the speed limit or being illegally passed when I slow to make a turn or approach a traffic light.
This message is for all of you who act in this manor. Driving is a privilege, not a right. The fact that you feel your phone is more important then driving doesn't matter to me. The fact that you don't plan time for your travel or you are impatient doesn't matter to me. The fact that you feel you have the right to speed or break the rules because you don't feel you are doing anything wrong doesn't matter to me. My life and the lives of others matter to me. If you think your text message or minute you saved is more important to you they you need to stay off the road.

[BPP1999]

I won't disagree with you but many of the people I know from the Boston, NYC, and DC areas, among others, brag about how great those regions are because the people there are fast-moving and aggressive, with no regard for others.

[sj08054]

FYI.. this is not a Philadelphia suburb problem. It's an issue in many places..

[Duderino]

Originally Posted by sj08054

FYI.. this is not a Philadelphia suburb problem. It's an issue in many places..

This--times 1,000. Distracted and aggressive driving is essentially the norm now, and especially in all major metro areas.

[Gerania]

What you're really saying is that you haven't yet learned how to cut people off while driving with one hand and gesturing with the other.

[jessemh431]

While I agree it's a problem everywhere, not just Philly, I will say I am very impressed with the driving skills of this region. I'm from LA and have lived in SF and Louisville. Philly drivers may be aggressive, but they're really good at being aggressive. LA sucks at being aggressive, SF isn't aggressive and nobody can park to save their lives, and Louisville is like a city full of grandmas on their Sunday drive home from church no matter what day or time it is and it drives up a ****ing wall.

No matter what you think about drivers anywhere though, respect the left lane. If you don't want aggressive drivers to cut you off, flip you off, tailgate you, etc., then get out of the left lane if you're going the speed limit. I'll be the first to admit I'm often late to stuff and also impatient so I speed and drive aggressively. Usually Philly is good about keeping the left lane moving and having slow drivers move over. Definitely better than in Louisville and SF. But there is always going to be THAT ONE slow driver in the left lane. And that includes going the speed limit. Just because you think you're going fast enough by going the speed limit doesn't mean it won't cause road rage in other drivers. It's honestly more dangerous to drive the speed limit in the left lane when everyone else wants to go faster because it forces us to switch lanes around you. Who knows? Maybe I've tailgated you. But that's your cue to move over because if you don't, you're forcing us to illegally pass you. I don't enjoy passing people on the right, but I will if I have to if you don't move over.

As for passing when you slow to turn at an intersection, if the other lane is not occupied, why not?

Texting and calling I agree with though. Just the other day while I was on a run, I had the right of way as a pedestrian with the little white man telling me I could cross and a lady almost hit me while turning the corner. As she turned, I gave her a death glare and saw inside the car and she was holding her phone in a manner that made it obvious she was texting while in the process of turning the corner and clearly didn't see me. That's not a Philly problem, though. That's a societal problem.

For how much I drive for work here, for how big the Philly MSA is, for how many freeways/interstates/whatever you wanna call them we have here, there are far fewer accidents than in other cities I've lived in. *ahem* Louisville. I swear I can't drive a day without seeing a 3-car accident on the 264 in Louisville. It's almost always 3 cars. There's almost always at least one lane closed for an injury accident. I one time saw an 8-car accident followed by a 4-car accident. Within the same damn exit. Like actually on a long combined entrance/exit ramp. Two separate accidents separated by only 100 feet. I still get news updates from my Louisville news app and at least day there is an interstate entirely shut down for an accident, often a semi truck and/or rollover. In my first year living there, I was almost smashed in the median by one 3 times. Never happened before moving there and hasn't happened once here, even with the very very narrow lanes of the 95 between Philly and Trenton. I've seen accidents that defy the laws of physics in Louisville. Cars facing a 90 degree angle across the freeway, but clearly never rolled over. The last big snow storm we had, I'm not exaggerating when I say there was a car run into a snowbank on the side of the freeway about every 100-200 feet on the 264, some facing backwards.

[bscratch]

So, reading the responses here I do agree that this is not just a Philly but that's where I live so thats where I'm directing my comments to. Also, my concern does not relate to highway driving, though that can be a whole other discussion. My concern lies within the suburbs themselves where you have residential and small downtown areas. These are areas where people are living, walking, riding bikes, etc. There's no reason for this type of reckless driving through neighborhoods. You drive 45MPH through my neighborhood while you text on your phone, are speed thru parking lots, are tailgating or pass on two lane roads because you feel the right to drive above the speed limit; then you're the one I'm addressing and you need your license revoked.

[eastwestcoast]

Although this thread started about the Philadelphia suburbs, in my experience driving habits tend to be shared across an entire region. The Philly region may not be the only place with aggressive drivers, but I would argue it has a very bad combination of aggressive and oblivious vehicle drivers. This is my subjective opinion, but there are also statistics showing this. In the Allstate Best Drivers report (here), Philadelphia is in the bottom ten based on likelihood of accidents. There is also a category of "Braking Events per 1000 Miles" in which Philly blows the rest of the cities on the list out of the water. This implies a lot more people in the area get into situations where they have to slam on their brakes to avoid an accident than anywhere else. This does not surprise me when you have a combination of people who drive too fast, ignore road rules (what is with all the red-light runners and illegal passing here, it is really insane), and do not pay attention.

[BPP1999]

Originally Posted by bscratch

So, reading the responses here I do agree that this is not just a Philly but that's where I live so thats where I'm directing my comments to. Also, my concern does not relate to highway driving, though that can be a whole other discussion. My concern lies within the suburbs themselves where you have residential and small downtown areas. These are areas where people are living, walking, riding bikes, etc. There's no reason for this type of reckless driving through neighborhoods. You drive 45MPH through my neighborhood while you text on your phone, are speed thru parking lots, are tailgating or pass on two lane roads because you feel the right to drive above the speed limit; then you're the one I'm addressing and you need your license revoked.

Part of that problem could be because of the region's (the state's, actually) inability to fund infrastructure adequately, and the lack of political will at the local level to move such projects forward. Why are large sections of Germantown Pike and Ridge Pike still only one lane each direction in West Norriton and west? Why does Lancaster Avenue drop from 5 lanes to 3 in Frazer? Why is Route 202 one lane each way in East Norriton, Blue Bell, etc.? There are many major thoroughfares in this region that are woefully inadequate and in dire need of expansion. People are thus forced to look for shortcuts any way they can.

[jessemh431]

I never drive in suburbs so I guess I don't apply