Marin County drivers are the worst. (San Diego, Berkeley: garage, automobile, parking)

[Radical347]

Originally Posted by sav858

Well I found San Diego and Southern Ca drivers better overall as they seem to better understand the concept of a fast lane.

For the most part I find drivers polite in both SoCal and NorCal. Yet when I lived in San Diego I heard comments almost weekly about how drivers there are so horrible worse than anywhere else.

Can't comment on Spain or Germany but I found Chicago drivers to be overly aggressive.

I guess my comment/question was a semi-rant about no matter where you go, there will always be people who complain about driving there and that make blanket statements like "_______ drivers are the worst."

[tstieber]

Originally Posted by sav858

Well I found San Diego and Southern Ca drivers better overall as they seem to better understand the concept of a fast lane.

Oooh, I'll have to disagree with that. LA drivers are probably the best, but San Diego drivers are horrendous. It used to be they were all aggressively fast to the point of speeding up to crowd you out when you indicated you wanted to make a lane change, even to the point of blocking your exit off the freeway. This happened to me many times, and only in San Diego, and I'm not a timid driver. In the past couple of years, we've added a large contingent of drivers who are slow as molasses, particularly in the central part of town. So now it's a mix of super fast and super slow people intermingled. And to that, let's add the absent-mindedness that causes me to honk and/or swerve at least three times a day from people who just aren't looking when they barrel out of driveways, take your right of way at stop signs, or change lanes without warning. Numerous friends find SD drivers to be among the worst they've ever seen.

OC drivers have one unique eccentricity: they can't figure out the carpool lane. Every freaking time we get into the carpool lane, there is a car in front of us going way slower than the regular lanes, thereby making the carpool lane the "slow and safe" lane instead of the express lane for which it was intended. Other than that, they're all right.

The Bay Area has a weird mix of drivers depending on the area. SF drivers are pretty aggressive, which is typical for a big city. Marin drivers seem very defensive, and I'm told South Bay drivers are slow as heck. By comparison, drivers on Highway 24 between Oakland and Walnut Creek will pass you when you're going 80. That's the fastest stretch of freeway I know in the Bay Area. But it's like a hodgepodge of driving styles depending on the area, which can be tricky. I believe the varying demographics play into these patterns quite a bit.

[sav858]

I personally never came across many people that said SD drivers were bad in comparison to other places, they had complaints though like anywhere else. Most agreed they drive fast though, which I like. Not saying they're great but they, along with the rest of Southern Ca, just seem to drive better than people in the Bay Area except when it comes to driving in the rain. Most people I know that lived in both places agreed with that too.

[legal_eagle]

Originally Posted by rca215

Haha. So I think I'm the other guy (sorta...I will pass you if I can and if you're going just the speed limit).

Drivers on 101 need to get out of the effing left lane.

I'm never in the left lane, usually the second from the right. It's not rush hour so there's lots of room, and people can see the speed I'm driving (speed limit) long before they get to me. But still they don't change lanes and instead they come up right behind me for a few miles before changing lanes. And then often they just track my speed in my blind spot. Idiots.

Go ahead and pass me ... I'm always happy if someone is going faster than me since they're more likely to get ticketed.

[Joelle_SF]

Yeah, it can be challenging to drive amongst our fellow bay area drivers, but to get your blood flowing at warp speed, try driving in Manhattan!

[Tomlcsc]

Originally Posted by Joelle_SF

Yeah, it can be challenging to drive amongst our fellow bay area drivers, but to get your blood flowing at warp speed, try driving in Manhattan!

See, I have to disagree man. One of the things that makes NYC so much easier to drive is the layout and the geography of the city itself. NYC is generally built on a grid and flat.

I don't know any other place in the US outside of perhaps Boston that has such a complex street layout as SF. Sure there are plenty of streets that are on a grid for the most part but there are also plenty of streets that turn inexplicably or dead end. Not even counting how the hills mess with traffic on some streets.

SF to me seems to be one of the more confusing cities to drive in the continental US and it doesn't help that a large percentage of the drivers on the road are tourists or live in other parts of the Bay.

[pch1013]

Originally Posted by Tomlcsc

SF drivers are the worst though, certifiably.

I ride my motorcycle all over The City all the time, and they haven't gotten me yet...

[tstieber]

Originally Posted by sav858

I personally never came across many people that said SD drivers were bad in comparison to other places, they had complaints though like anywhere else. Most agreed they drive fast though, which I like. Not saying they're great but they, along with the rest of Southern Ca, just seem to drive better than people in the Bay Area except when it comes to driving in the rain. Most people I know that lived in both places agreed with that too.

I know some people that agree with you, and some that agree with me. I think each person's perceptions depend on their specific experiences, and those vary tremendously depending on which roads or highways they take in either of these vast regions, what time of day they drive, what time of year they drive, and the coincidences of what happens day to day. I know people who think SD drivers are the worst anywhre, and others who think they're awesome. The reality is that all regions are melting pots of people from different places these days, so there aren't really just locals anymore. That means drivers bring their habits with them from all over.

As for how fast people drive, I think it depends more than anything on traffic conditions. People will drive fast if they can (except Prius drivers).

You are right about driving in the rain -- all Californians suck equally at it. I swear I've even seen more spinouts and accidents than usual at the mere threat of rain!

[04kL4nD]

Seattle drivers are the worst. Berkeley drivers are a close second, but the rest of the Bay Area isn't really all that different from anywhere else I encountered in CA. LA drivers are aggressive and selfish, but so are people in SF, Sac, SD, etc...

[Tomlcsc]

My no. 1 biggest contention with driving in the city came from back when I was commuting to the South Bay everyday.

For the 7th and 9th street exits on either side of the 101, there would often be a large contingent of Bay Bridge drivers who would use that exit lane as a shoulder and then change lanes last minute to get on the Bay Bridge.

This strikes me as a pretty selfish move their part and it served to severely slow down traffic on what should have been a fast exit. At some point, I just said forget it and started taking the 280.