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I recently spent 2.5 months working in Newport. Beautiful town full of very friendly people.
Anyway, I was shocked to see most everyone on the roads to be so courteous. People slowing to make a gap so drivers can turn onto a street. Stopping and waiting from someone to get out of a parking lot and onto a street. Motioning for people to go ahead in front of them, etc., etc.
Never before have a seen such nice, friendly driving habits as what I experienced in Newport. Middletown was much the same, so I want to mention them too. I have lived in small towns where sometimes you see friendly drivers, but nowhere have I ever seen where most everyone on the road follows such a courteous way of driving as I saw in the Newport area. And it grows on you too. I quickly found myself following the same practice as everyone else.
I currently live in Clearwater, Fl and it is a madhouse on the roads. I hate driving down here with the foolish way people think they have to drive. It was so very refreshing to drive among you folks up there.
Thank you all for thinking of the others on the road.
What refreshing commentary after all the threads complaining about RI drivers! Thanks for posting & hope you enjoyed your time in Newport!
As I've posted infinitum, RI drivers are especially good to pedestrians compared to other states. I do believe Newport drivers are especially courteous because they have to be- most streets are one way and you can't go over 15 mph on colonial sized roadways! It can be pretty dicey there sometimes.
What refreshing commentary after all the threads complaining about RI drivers! Thanks for posting & hope you enjoyed your time in Newport!
As I've posted infinitum, RI drivers are especially good to pedestrians compared to other states. I do believe Newport drivers are especially courteous because they have to be- most streets are one way and you can't go over 15 mph on colonial sized roadways! It can be pretty dicey there sometimes.
I live in Providence and the way they act around pedestrians up here is horrible. I've seen a woman pushing a baby carriage, crossing in a crosswalk, getting honked at because she was apparently moving too slow for the impatient Rhode Island driver who felt she was in his way.
I've seen someone with an obvious limp, making his way across a parking lot get honked at.
The crosswalk where I live, no one stops for pedestrians. You have to literally begin to step into traffic before anyone will stop. When downtown, in the city, you get people running lights and when the pedestrians have the right to cross, they just keep coming.
Sorry, I can't really speak of Newport, I've been there a couple of times doing tourist type things and never had any trouble with the drivers or the traffic but the rest of Rhode Island is really some of the worst I've seen anywhere.
The high strung, impatient people, the pettiness, the total lack of courtesy to pedestrians or other drivers truly is abysmal here.
Last edited by voiceofreazon; 10-01-2013 at 01:40 PM..
This comment from the OP was based on a recent driving experience and that was during the summer months.
I have never had problem with RI drivers or the traffic in and around RI.............and yes I am here frequently during the year..as I was last week
College Hill drivers likewise are very courteous to pedestrians, almost to a fault. I find this to also be true downtown. Now Manhattan and DC, that' another story.
I recently spent 2.5 months working in Newport. Beautiful town full of very friendly people.
Anyway, I was shocked to see most everyone on the roads to be so courteous. People slowing to make a gap so drivers can turn onto a street. Stopping and waiting from someone to get out of a parking lot and onto a street. Motioning for people to go ahead in front of them, etc., etc.
Never before have a seen such nice, friendly driving habits as what I experienced in Newport. Middletown was much the same, so I want to mention them too. I have lived in small towns where sometimes you see friendly drivers, but nowhere have I ever seen where most everyone on the road follows such a courteous way of driving as I saw in the Newport area. And it grows on you too. I quickly found myself following the same practice as everyone else.
I currently live in Clearwater, Fl and it is a madhouse on the roads. I hate driving down here with the foolish way people think they have to drive. It was so very refreshing to drive among you folks up there.
Thank you all for thinking of the others on the road.
Yes, Newport is lovely, and "downtown" near the wharf and the side streets going up to Bellevue Av. are always busy. Narrow streets do have a lot to do with it. I would venture to say, however, that most of the drivers you met on the street were tourists and folks who have second homes there. Although the local residents usually don't venture much towards the tourist areas in the summer -- just for that reason, overwhelming traffic around town and to and from the beaches. (You may have even learned some shortcuts, there are several.) I spent many summers in Newport, and recall when Thames St. was one bar after another and pizza joints on every corner. Right after the Navy left Newport, things sort of went downhill; then they rehabbed the entire wharf area which is now very nice. Others on here may remember that hamburger place on the corner of Thames I believe and a main road coming in to town. It was in the point of a triangular building and had a verrrrry low window where you could order the burgers. They were the best burgers around, not sure if the place is still there.
Thanks for the nice words!!
Newport resident & driver here
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