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Ok, so my wife and I are in the process of moving to Raleigh/Wake Forest, and have been in town for a few weeks. We are shocked at the reckless way (some/many) people drive here. We are from California, where we are used to bad drivers, but I think this region takes the cake for people speeding up behind you, cutting out, then cutting in. And it was not an isolated phenominum. Almost everyday for two weeks we have seen highly agressive drivers. Is this the norm? I have lived in chicago, NYC, PA, Detriot area, and San Diego, but have never seen this level of agressive driving. Mostly on the 440, and around Creedmoore/Crabtree area, and on Capital. But on many backroads as well.
Thoughts on why? Has anyone else noticed this? It is not speeding as much as aggressive manuvering and recklessness.
And don't blame all the transplated people. It was clearly not just them, it was plenty of locals based on my obervations.
There are way too many tailgaters and lane changers here. And get used to it, NOBODY uses their flipping turn signals. I suppose most justify the reckless driving because the roads here have not caught up with the demand for them causing much too much wasted time on cluttered highways and entirely too many accidents caused by reckless driving. If I could wiggle my nose to correct these things believe me, I would!
I figured someone would ask how you can tell where a person is from. It is called observation. But why get off the point of the post?
As an anthropologist might tell you, people from different regions exhibit differing characteristics in features, etc... People who have generational roots in North Carolina appear different than people from say, the Pacific Northwest, or the New England area, or even the Pittsburgh area. Gene pools in certain areas show trends. It is subject to error of course, I am not claiming to be able to tell where everyone is from, but by combining observations you can make a conclusion that has a high probablity.
Second, cars tell you a lot about a persons location and how long they have been there, from the model of the car to the year, to the badges on the trunks, to the style of the letting on the dealer plates. To the thinkness of the tags, showing how long a car has been in the state.
And yes, it is possible to observe all these things in a matter of seconds, because the human brain is a powerful tool. And of course the next question would be doubting that anyone could observe all that when someone is driving. Ask any law enforcement officer what they are trained to observe. They also notice things like the above, and more.
I figured someone would ask how you can tell where a person is from. It is called observation. But why get off the point of the post?
As an anthropologist might tell you, people from different regions exhibit differing characteristics in features, etc... People who have generational roots in North Carolina appear different than people from say, the Pacific Northwest, or the New England area, or even the Pittsburgh area. Gene pools in certain areas show trends. It is subject to error of course, I am not claiming to be able to tell where everyone is from, but by combining observations you can make a conclusion that has a high probablity.
Second, cars tell you a lot about a persons location and how long they have been there, from the model of the car to the year, to the badges on the trunks, to the style of the letting on the dealer plates. To the thinkness of the tags, showing how long a car has been in the state.
And yes, it is possible to observe all these things in a matter of seconds, because the human brain is a powerful tool. And of course the next question would be doubting that anyone could observe all that when someone is driving. Ask any law enforcement officer what they are trained to observe. They also notice things like the above, and more.
If you had that much time to observe all that, maybe you're the traffic hazard! (Just kidding with you)
I was actually discussing this with a friend the other day, who brought up a good point. I was saying that I love this state, bless our native NC'er hearts, but if the roads get wet or there's snow/ice, we aren't exactly the best drivers. She said, "Well, think of it this way. We're not the best at that. There's probably some type of driving situation that northern drivers aren't good at, and mid-westerners, west coasters, etc. Now, look at this area. It's virtually a melting pot. You have all these different driving styles in one area where the roads already need some expanding as it is. Get the idea?"
Everyone from everywhere complains about how everyone else drives whenever they find a new place. They ALWAYS say "I'm from XYZ and I thought people there were bad, but here in ABC they are SO MUCH WORSE"
I can tell you that I have lived in LA, San Diego, DC, New England, and spent significant amounts of time in many other cities, and people DRIVE POORLY EVERYWHERE!!!!!
I am not accusing ALL native NC ers of driving badly
Please note that i am not trying to gossly overgeneralize that all native Raleigh-ens (?) are poor drivers. My point was mostly that I was TOTALLY SURPRISED by the aggressive driving because it did not seem to fit the area. The people are so nice, I expected driving to be "relaxed".
And FYI, my observations were made when the wife was driving or the realtor was driving. When i drive I am usually trying to read a newspaper, drink coffee, eat breakfast, shave, and tie my shoes. just kidding.
I think you'd probably be surprised if you actually asked those people where they are from. Very few people around here are from NC, let alone Raleigh. A lot of people that have been here a while do a great job of blending in, but they are not native and their driving habits were formed elsewhere.
Having lived in NC my whole life and Raleigh for 20+ years, I have noticed a huge difference in the overall driving style over the years. I can speculate as to cause, but cannot be certain. But certainly the numbers of people who have moved here from other areas during that time has been huge. It wouldn't be unreasonable to suspect a relation.
Second, cars tell you a lot about a persons location and how long they have been there, from the model of the car to the year, to the badges on the trunks, to the style of the letting on the dealer plates. To the thinkness of the tags, showing how long a car has been in the state.
Sorry, but in an area like this, where transplants from elsewhere have composed a large portion of the population since the 1970s, you cannot tell from looking at a CAR whether someone is a native, has lived here 5 years, or 20. And of course an NC license plate doesn't mean anything except that they've lived here long enough to register the car.
I hate to disappoint you, but not all native Southerners drive pickup trucks with gun racks and Confederate flags on them--plenty drive SUVs laden with soccer stickers and "MY kid is an honor student" bumper stickers. And everything in between. Your observations might be true in a more "static" population, but the RDU metro is one of the fastest-changing areas demographicswise in the US.
But to answer your question: like someone said, I attribute the aggressiveness in the roads to many things, but perhaps most of all, a population growing too fast for the highway department to catch up. When someone has lived here for 25 years and it's always taken him 20 minutes to get to work, and suddenly it takes 45 because of traffic, he's not going to be keen on adjusting his long-held routine to accomodate the new traffic. When someone moves here from soemwhere like Long Island where traffic is very aggressive, it's going to take a while to adjust to another area, especially if the traffic is also bad. And while I am a dyed-in-the-wool Southerner, I regret to admit that not using turn signals seems to be some kind of "pride" for a certain rural-born folks because (so they claim) "you don't need turn signals out in the country."
It's a combination of many such socioligcal factors that come together in this area.
And FYI, my observations were made when the wife was driving or the realtor was driving. When i drive I am usually trying to read a newspaper, drink coffee, eat breakfast, shave, and tie my shoes. just kidding.
You forgot adjusting the radio station
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. It was clearly not just them, it was plenty of locals based on my obervations.
I am not accusing ALL native NC ers of driving badly
