All y'all driving like idiots in the Triangle (Raleigh, Durham: DMV, live)
Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, CaryThe Triangle Area
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I used to think the most dangerous thing here is the tailgating, but I've come to consider even more dangerous and frequent is the rampant passing on the right.
This drives me crazy and happens all the time. I don't drive on 40 that often, but every time I do I've got people passing me on the right when the left lane is wide open.
And I'm always nervous when passing people here because I assume someone else will be passing that same car on the right. Then they'll try to get in front of them from the right as I try to get in front of them from the left.
Is left lane passing even taught in driving school here?
I have a new 16 year old driver and I don’t feel comfortable letting him drive on many roads because of the truly appalling driving I see. I’ve driven all over the world from Africa to the Middle East to Europe to here and I think probably the only place I’ve seen consistently worse driving was in Qatar. What is going to be done about it? Why do people drive like that?
This drives me crazy and happens all the time. I don't drive on 40 that often, but every time I do I've got people passing me on the right when the left lane is wide open.
And I'm always nervous when passing people here because I assume someone else will be passing that same car on the right. Then they'll try to get in front of them from the right as I try to get in front of them from the left.
Is left lane passing even taught in driving school here?
I see this all the time too and figured in the usa people are taught to pass on the left or right whichever they prefer! It’s a whole lot safer to pass in the fast lane
2 I have never seen so few cops “running radar” anywhere else I have driven. Even Western MA (rural part of the state) has cops looking for a ticket from anyone. And highways? Forget about it. If you don’t see a couple of unmarked staties pulling folks for speeding on any highway (federal or state) in MA anytime you drive there you aren’t paying attention.
Since the pandemic started I've seen fewer SP on I-540, so much so that it's like a speedway. I've had guys pass me by doing (guessing) 80+ as if there were no consequences...which I'm guessing there isn't.
This drives me crazy and happens all the time. I don't drive on 40 that often, but every time I do I've got people passing me on the right when the left lane is wide open.
And I'm always nervous when passing people here because I assume someone else will be passing that same car on the right. Then they'll try to get in front of them from the right as I try to get in front of them from the left.
Is left lane passing even taught in driving school here?
Probably can't pass on the left because of drivers camping in that lane.
Probably can't pass on the left because of drivers camping in that lane.
Yeah whenever I pass on the right, I'm always forced to because of someone camping in the left lane and going the same speed or slower than the vehicle I'm trying to pass.
Since the pandemic started I've seen fewer SP on I-540, so much so that it's like a speedway. I've had guys pass me by doing (guessing) 80+ as if there were no consequences...which I'm guessing there isn't.
Could be, but my observations predate the Rona. Admittedly I have never been a commuter here, so consider the source.
In MA, there was a police presence on all roads; town cops on town portions of state routes, town cops in bar parking lots chalking tires, town cops sitting at town lines running radar and on the highways you had staties either on the side of the road running radar in marked cruisers or unmarked sports cars or you had em traveling within traffic yanking people as necessary.
I have been pulled over for speeding twice. Once I was the DD the night before, girlfriend/her friends left their car at a bar, I drove them back to the bar first thing in the AM, then took 295 (around Providence RI) to a golf bachelor party. 7am, next to no traffic on the road, I was doing 82. Unmarked RI Statie running radar from in between a massive "Red Rocks" like bolder set in the median on the highway. The other time I was at the 95/495 merge in Mansfield MA, MA statie merged onto 95 NB from 495; a Ford Explorer with PA plates freaked out after seeing the cop, cut into middle lane in front of me, brake checked, I went left, statie got behind me, I sped up to clear the lane for him, he yanked me for speeding (75 in a 65, I fought the ticket, he didn't show up, it was thrown out).
My point being with these anecdotes is, while I am no fan of overly offensive police tactics (and I'm a dude who has a no cop in my house rule; even if they are friends, unless you have a warrant), you don't have to go all the way to seemingly zero police tactics (as it pertains to traffic) to clean up the bad driving actors.
Maybe they have higher priorities; I was a juror on a Federal Fentynol case last week, maybe we send our staties to focus on that as it seems like a serious F'ing problem. I dunno. But for a state that taxes me more than Taxachusetts did....financial resources don't seem to be the cause.
This drives me crazy and happens all the time. I don't drive on 40 that often, but every time I do I've got people passing me on the right when the left lane is wide open.
And I'm always nervous when passing people here because I assume someone else will be passing that same car on the right. Then they'll try to get in front of them from the right as I try to get in front of them from the left.
Is left lane passing even taught in driving school here?
My two oldest went on the highway when they took driver's ed. Not my youngest.
Keep in mind road tests are also waived right now. My DD has her full license, never took a road test. And I'm sure plenty of parents lied about how many hours their kids had. Heck we even had a mom arguing her son shouldn't have lost his license for his poor grades.
I've driven enough in Raleigh to make an assessment. In Boston, we're fast, rude and aggressive. But for the most part, skilled and predictable. In the Triangle, you're fast, rude and aggressive. Without the skill or predictability. Hands down, some of the dumbest and most dangerous drivers I've come across in 50 years of driving and I've driven in most of the lower 48. I've got a second home in Greensboro now and the Triad is just as bad. It's almost as though none of you ever really learned how to drive.
Yeah, having talked to many people involved in accidents I can assuredly say the bad driving is due to a lack of knowledge of the rules of the road of local born drivers, plus an in bred desire to be "polite" which leads them to do some really, really stupid things including not taking the right of way when it's their turn, which just causes issues, and stopping at green lights to let people make turns in front of them (happened to me on Davis Dr a couple months ago - a four lane 45 mph road) and waving other cars into traffic. The list is endless really. It's actually worse in the western part of the state.
My two oldest went on the highway when they took driver's ed. Not my youngest.
Keep in mind road tests are also waived right now. My DD has her full license, never took a road test. And I'm sure plenty of parents lied about how many hours their kids had. Heck we even had a mom arguing her son shouldn't have lost his license for his poor grades.
I got my license as a 19 year old. When I got it, MA still had state mandated insurance rates (basically keeping bad drivers from paying higher rates than good; they have since got rid of this). My insurance on a 7 year old vehicle was 2800 a year - to save 20% I took drivers ed with a bunch of 15 year olds.
I took the classes and then had three practice sessions (one of which I almost killed us in a Y intersection yield situation; teacher was from Boston and told me "don't stop at the yield, yield means go strong" so I did and merged onto a road a full speed and almost hit a pickup truck) and didn't have to wait the 6 months to get a road test. Road test was in an industrial park around a DMV. Staties conducted the test and focused on things like hand placement on wheel; checking mirrors etc (i.e not really driving skills). Got to the point of preforming a three point turn. Completed that. Headed for a four way stop. While waiting my turn at the stop, an 80 year old woman blew through the stop and smoked a car turning in front of her. Statie asked me to return to DMV, where he passed me and then got in his cruiser and went back to accident scene. That was my whole test....a three point turn.
One of the girls in my driver's ed class (who routinely cheated on her in class tests) was driving with her mom during her proby period....decided it would be fun to do 90 on 495....lost control, crossed the grass median and hit a tree full speed on the opposite side of the interstate. Both met their maker.
My best friend's wife is from RI. Driver's Ed wasn't even mandatory until after we were of driving age. Then again it's also a state where part of any DMV related penalties required you to go to some old Italian dude in Pawtucket and pay $25 for a "Stamp" to then return to the DMV and get your license reinstated. The Mob says what?
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