What is with the drivers around here? It's insane! (Phoenix: live, military)

[lewdog_5]

I commute daily in this city. Traffic here is cake compared to most big cities. Very little stop and go depending on your commute times or directions you are heading. I'd rather people drive fast with as many lanes as we have on our freeways here, then poke along at speed limit. If you think the traffic stinks, you are probably part of the problem.

I'll never understand the racing the red lights though. Might be why many have full brake repairs before 50k miles though. LOL I calmly put my car in neutral and coast. I'll gladly accelerate quickly once the light goes green for those behind me that don't like my initial slow approach, but I am sure as hell not using my brakes like most people.

[LBTRS]

The traffic here isn't bad compared to other places I've lived. A lot of the OP's observations are caused by idiots poking along in the left lane causing cars to have to change lanes to try and get around them to move with the flow of traffic. I've lived in lots of places during my three decades in the military and have never witnessed so many slow drivers that just hang out in the left lane.

I'm trying to keep my commute to 30 minutes but have some idiot doing 60 on the freeway in the left lane with 15 cars backed up jockeying trying to get around them. Causing my 30 minute commute to get closer to 40.

[DHart]

I don't often get to 10 or 17. 51 is sweet... not too busy and not so many stupid maniacs racing around like fools. I love driving the 51. 202 on the east loop isn't bad at all.

Its the 101 along Scottsdale that I see the most and that stretch gets really insane.

Regarding Dallas... I know what you mean. Last time I was there, you'd better be hitting 75 or 80 by the time the onramp merges with the freeway, or you're in trouble. Had a Jeep Wrangler when we arrived there and that felt like a death trap at 85mph around Dallas. Traded it for a new Chevy Avalance, which held its own fabulously there at 85 to 90mph. The problem with these speeds is that the average driver doesn't handle high speed very well. They're often distracted by their phone and can't respond quickly enough, because at those speeds, things change REALLY fast and if you're not really well tuned in, you get in trouble.

If everyone was driving similar sized vehicles with similar capabilities, and had similar driving skill some issues would be reduced. But that's not the case.

From one day to the next I might be riding my Harley, driving a Jeep, driving a full size diesel pickup truck, or driving a 43' Class A motorcoach, towing a full size Avalanche behind that. Each of these vehicles requires completely different driving skills and the average ding bat behind the wheel of a Toyota Camry has no understanding of how to operate around a large bus, or 43' motorhome, or a motorcycle. They just myopically race along, darting in and out, jamming their noses into the rear bumper of whatever is in front of them, with no consideration, nor understanding of the needs of other types of vehicles in terms of maneuvering, accelerating, and stopping.

I know that this thread won't change anything - never expected that it would. I just wanted to rag on crappy drivers to vent a bit. I know a lot of you feel the exact same way. Our society is so full of idiots now that I don't expect most of these issues to improve... they'll likely just get worse.

Here's an idea... let's do what we can to legalize pot too, so we can have a lot more dope heads floating down the freeway, shall we?

[xPlorer48]

I met an older couple visiting the PNW from Tennesee. They had flown into SeaTac then drove around Seattle. He has been to many major metro areas and stated that Seattle was the worst he had ever seen traffic-wise. I totally agree. Whenever we head south for our soaring and fall camping/explorations, we hit either 20 westbound over to the peninsula via ferry or 20 eastbound over the North Cascades highway when it is open. Much more scenic and less congestion.

[DHart]

Lots of traffic is one thing.

It's an entirely different thing when there is a lot of traffic, but it's moving along pretty briskly and yet you have these hyper dingbats aggressively jockeying around like idiots, as if that's somehow going to get them around the hundreds of vehicles that happen to be immediately in front of them. And the majority of those hundreds of people are themselves severely tailgating. Many of them texting as well.

It's like on the open highway where people travel along in tight packs mere feet behind the vehicle in front of them, with large open spaces between these clusters. If you can't get through the cluster, just relax and back off, give your self plenty of space and enjoy the ride. Much safer and less nerve wracking to drive that way. Except the speed freak behind you has the need to get around you and speed up to the cluster so they too can be almost bumper to bumper in the cluster.

The mentality seems to be that if you race up to and stay in the cluster, you're getting somewhere faster. Those are the really dumb drivers I'm talking about.

[new2colo]

As many others have said, drivers are bad everywhere. We have no shortage of fast, aggressive drivers who weave in and out of lanes and somehow still end up within sight of drivers who are obeying the speed limit, drivers who don't move right when safe and appropriate, drifters, people who fly into a rage when they are in the wrong and someone happens to honk, drivers who chase each other and flip each other, drivers who don't know what 'yield' or 'merge' means, drivers who expect you to give them the right of way when their lane is ending, texters, new drivers, old drivers, tailgaters, drivers with no license, drivers with no insurance, drivers who are driving stolen vehicles, drivers who are driving vehicles without functioning tail lights or turn signals, drivers who have to be in the front of the pack at all times, drivers who needlessly rev their engines or make their tires squeal to let other drivers know that someone in the vicinity is driving a big boy truck, drivers who slam on their brakes at the mere mirage of someone who might be a highway patrol officer, drivers who have to slow to crawl to examine car accidents that they are not a part of, drivers who speed through construction zones, speeding tractor trailers driven by people who seem to think they're in a Mustang, people who are drunk, people who are high, people who are tired, etc. All these people are on the road at the same time. Every city has these issues. Posters on the Houston forum complain about how aggressive drivers in Houston are. People on the Miami forum seem to have the same complaint.

I commute daily. I just accept that I can only control how I drive. I generally pick a lane, usually one of the middle two lanes, and try to maintain a pretty constant speed, which many drivers do. The exceptions are the ones who will tailgate me for miles no matter what lane I'm in, get fed up, speed up, aggressively pass me (usually on the right side even when the left lane is empty), cut back in front of me and then end up slamming on their brakes when they reach the next car in front of me that is going a reasonable speed. It's a hilarious sight. It is funny to watch people actually think that their bobbing and weaving is really getting them down the road.

[azdr0710]

always a perennial favorite topic on city-data.....less than nine hours and 37 posts already.....

[ghdana]

Just moved here a few weeks ago. The things I see around here that annoy me are 1. Flooring it to get to the speed limit from a stop, its just wasting gas and you're going to stop at the next light, yet everyone does it. 2. Zipper merge is a thing, yes it is appropriate to do, but if the majority of people were already moved over you just look dumb and rude zipper merging. 3. I only get on the 202 from McClintock to Priest, yet the road comes to a stop every morning at 7am in the right lanes that I stay in because I don't want to swap lanes.

[DHart]

Originally Posted by azdr0710

always a perennial favorite topic on city-data.....less than nine hours and 37 posts already.....

I guess we all are bothered by how bad so many drivers are. No wonder there are so many posts here.

Of course we solve nothing with this chatter... but get to vent. My point of starting this thread was just to vent following my experience on 101 through Scottsdale, yesterday late morning. We just observed so many horrible drivers were all around us and noted that it's been this way for a while and may be even worse now.

[observer53]

Originally Posted by DHart

I guess we all are bothered by how bad so many drivers are. No wonder there are so many posts here.

Of course we solve nothing with this chatter... but get to vent. My point of starting this thread was just to vent following my experience on 101 through Scottsdale, yesterday late morning. We just observed so many horrible drivers were all around us and noted that it's been this way for a while and may be even worse now.

Well, no, a lot of the posts are talking about how it's no different here than in other places. The past threads ran the same course.