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Driving in Raleigh is VERY laid back... but I guess it's all relative to where you moved here from.. given that I came from S. FL, I've been conditioned to not get too angry when someone cuts me off--it RARELY happens here.
I just want to make a point about turn signals not being used as much here. I think that has less to do with the transplants to our area. Aggressive driving is everywhere and certainly bad in the northeast, but from my perspective more people use their turn signals in the mid-atlantic/northeast than do here.
I won't say it's a southern thing and I would want to say it's a "rural thing", but I know that's not necessarily the case either, as my wife grew up in a small southern VA town and everyone there seems to use their blinkers.
I had this experience when I first moved to the coast of NC back in 1996. No one used their turn signals in the morehead city area either. Maybe it's not preached as much in drivers ed in NC, or people just quickly forget?
I agree about the blinkers. When I first moved down here in 1993, I'd see someone use a blinker, and I'd point out the driver to my Southern husband and say, "Look! There's a Yankee!"
Quote:
Originally Posted by Waterboy526
I just want to make a point about turn signals not being used as much here. I think that has less to do with the transplants to our area. Aggressive driving is everywhere and certainly bad in the northeast, but from my perspective more people use their turn signals in the mid-atlantic/northeast than do here.
I won't say it's a southern thing and I would want to say it's a "rural thing", but I know that's not necessarily the case either, as my wife grew up in a small southern VA town and everyone there seems to use their blinkers.
I had this experience when I first moved to the coast of NC back in 1996. No one used their turn signals in the morehead city area either. Maybe it's not preached as much in drivers ed in NC, or people just quickly forget?
Okay, my experience isn't scientific, but:
I lived in the DC area for quite some time and still drive there frequently to visit family. When we first moved there in 1985 it was terrifying...but over time I have noticed that drivers are much less hostile than they used to be. More of a 'We're all in this together' attitude. Don't get me wrong, traffic is still heavy, but you learn to time your driving according to rush hour.
While visiting the Triangle, (one week in the summer) I did not observe one single instance of aggressive driving. I sat in a bit of traffic, and rode around with the slowest real estate agent in the world. But nothing rude or scary.
I think most human anxiety about driving is in direct proportion to our familiarity with the road and our route. I never go anywhere unfamiliar without my GPS!
The worst drivers I've ever encountered were in Miami. Absolutely terrifying.
this topic comes up often, and I posted an anecdotal story long ago. The jist of it is that driving issues in our community stem from the fact that we are a bunch of transplants here. NY has it's style, and it's predictable. Boston has it's style and it's predictable. LA has it's style, and so on....
But here, you don't know where the other driver might be from, and therefore their style is not predictable.
Regarding the turn signal discussion, I used to have a room mate from Chicago. He felt that the reason that NASCAR started in NC is because all the old farts riding around with their left turn signal on. Eventually they started turning at every intersection, and before you knew it, we had circuit racing, all left turns..... Ha!
I travel a lot, and driving is somewhat unpredictable here, but the "traffic" is nothing compared to most other places (Houston, LA, DC, Chicago or the entire North East are all WAY worse!)
In my driving experience in NY and Boston the left lane is always used for passing/speedier traffic. Not so here. I'm not sure what mean, nasty, evil transplants brought the 5-MPH-below-the-speed-limit-in-the-left-lane habit here, but I promise you they didn't come from the northeast.
Hmm. What has changed? Hmm. Maybe it's everyone who has moved here from where drivers tailgate, cut people off, speed, and don't use blinkers?
Quote:
Originally Posted by lovebrentwood
I used to enjoy driving 540 to RTP for work. I always went 70 (the limit is 65)...
When 540 was opened up from Wendell, the drive became a nightmare -- speeders, tailgaters, etc.
Hmmm. It sounds like the natives are admittedly speeders, tailgaters, etc.
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