more about "poor" us here in FL/Tampa.....

[leahbv30]

Great thread. Moving to Tampa area from Maryland this month. Definitely agree that bad driving is not owned by any one state. My husband is always complaining about how bad the drivers in Maryland are and he is from Maryland. I have lived in many states and Canada and I just don't see that the driving anywhere is all that bad. I mean that are drivers everywhere that you are like "What are they doing!" but if you are a good driver you know how to avoid and or get around these types of drivers.

I also agree that you don't have to be driving a fancy car to have a high payment on your car. Say Hi to me and my husband paying $1200 for our two Hondas! My hubby makes six figures and would love to have a BMW 5 series, and I would love for him to get it too because it really does drive well and my husband spends a lot of time driving, but we prioritize our expenses and I want the Accord for when our 15 year old graduates from high school. So that's what he drives now. But if he did have the BMW right now he would have that and be living in the one bed apt he lives in now because we also maintain a home in Maryland right now. The point is you can't know people's situation, unless you KNOW their situation. I don't understand the need to try to judge or even understand what other people are doing in their lives or in their cars for that matter because everyone is different. Everything that someone has gone through in their lives that you haven't makes them different from you. Maybe they grew up with nothing or came from homelessness or they lost a parent or a child. you just can't judge other people.

True story: A man was on the metro with his two small kids. The kids seemed to be kind of unruly and the father wasn't even trying to correct them and seemed to not even notice that his kids were kinda out of control. Finally a lady on the train was like "Sir can you please get your kids? What kind of parent lets their kids act like that in public?!" The man turned with tears in his eyes and apologized. He then explained that he was just leaving the hospital where his wife had just died and that she normally took care of the kids and he didn't know what to do. Having tried to drive home and then realizing because he was driving so slow people were blowing at him he stopped and got on the subway.

True story: A corvette pulled out of a mall parking lot last Thursday 3/25 and killed my friend on his motorcycle. Who should we blame the Corvette or the motorcycle?

The point is no driver wants this to happen no matter what they are driving and most people are not trying to be unsafe drivers.

Also if you maintain more than one residence in different states, you can have your license in anyone of those states you choose.

Uninsured/underinsured motorist insurance. Get it. Then don't worry about what other people have.

[rogercobb]

Originally Posted by graphix

I've got to clarify some things for you guys.

1. The safe driver thing is given to everyone until they prove otherwise. When I was younger I had some tickets and had an accident and was blamed for another. I got my safe driver back a few years ago. I have been treated nicer since, but that's coincidence.

2. Craig I get you.

3. Algia. What to say? I've seen far worse more often in Tampa. In fact I saw less stupid driving when I lived in Villa Rosa across from that entrance. It's not the cost of the car. It's the quality of driver. Way to stereotype every car owner by brand though. I drive a Mustang. I accelerate as quickly as possible. That keeps me away from the pack where all of the accidents and stupid crap happens.

I've been run off the road—and across ALL lanes of Dale Mabry. I've been driven at. I've been passed when someone made their own lane between me and someone else. I've been stuck behind slow drivers. I've been tailgated at 110 MPH. I've been tailgated by FHP while speeding and then yelled at for not moving out of the way even though there was no one else around. In the past three months I avoided being rear ended because I decided to move into the lane with less people in it. I've seen it all. I've seen enough to write not only a book but volumes. And it had happened with every vehicle and every class imagineable.

By the way I find it funny that you see a car as a status symbol and then deride someone for having a small house as if the same weren't true. I live in a 2/1 bungalow. If I could afford an Aston Martin it'd be parked outside this vey house. Just because all you care about is leather and a DVD player doesn't mean that I shouldn't love acceleration. Just because some people buy BMW for status, for instance, doesn't mean that there aren't others who buy them simply because they are quick and handle well.

Just some food for thought.

4. For some reason people have stopped using blinkers or turning their lights on in the rain. They used to about 10 years ago. I emailed the county Sheriff's office about it because I think Click It or Ticket is pointless when no one drives correctly anymore. I said that it was pretty bad when someone my age complains about it. The reply said that I wasn't the first to say it.

They need to bring back parallel parking, require any new FL license to test since state laws vary, and let you take it a max of 3 times. They also need to retest at least the written portion every 5-10 years. It'd be a pain but it'd be worth it. Oh and make the parking portion of the test more difficult. If it's not straight, you FAIL. You've got the biggest spot in existence to fit in as it is.

Nationalize the licenses while you're at it. There's no reason to be required to learn different state laws for every state you plan to drive in. Why are U-turns illegal in some states? This also would make ticket income federal thus removing speed trap towns from existence.

Excellent post, particularly #3. I, like you, accelerate quickly off the line to remove myself from the sea of idiots. If however, the pack is moving along at a fast clip I sit back and let them play their sick and twisted game of road dominance so common around here where the purpose of the game is to get noticed and bully the driver next to you into submission. Also, staying in the right lane, while safer, is no guarantee that some clown won't tailgate your buttisimo crack especially if some dope is plodding along in the left lane.

[LKJ1988]

Originally Posted by rogercobb

Excellent post, particularly #3. I, like you, accelerate quickly off the line to remove myself from the sea of idiots. If however, the pack is moving along at a fast clip I sit back and let them play their sick and twisted game of road dominance so common around here where the purpose of the game is to get noticed and bully the driver next to you into submission. Also, staying in the right lane, while safer, is no guarantee that some clown won't tailgate your buttisimo crack especially if some dope is plodding along in the left lane.

It's nice to have a modded C6 Corvette with 430hp to the wheels. I leave all the nuts in the dust.

[Allwyna]

Originally Posted by tjax1000

Neither trains nor the commercial air flights that would come later permitted Americans to explore their own country the way the automobile did, and still does.

Thank you for that! I just drove from Cancun, Mexico to Tampa, it was a great experience. it took me 9 days, stopping for one night in Mexico-City and 2 nights in New-Orleans.

Many people told me, why don't you just ship your car and jump in a plane? I would have missed so much!!! Apart the fact that I could bring many more things .

I already (long long ago) travelled through Africa, and really nothing beats that. Of course driving to go to work in the traffic is another story

[FloridaKash]

Originally Posted by Allwyna

Thank you for that! I just drove from Cancun, Mexico to Tampa, it was a great experience. it took me 9 days, stopping for one night in Mexico-City and 2 nights in New-Orleans.

Many people told me, why don't you just ship your car and jump in a plane? I would have missed so much!!! Apart the fact that I could bring many more things .

I already (long long ago) travelled through Africa, and really nothing beats that. Of course driving to go to work in the traffic is another story

Congrats on making it to Tampa. I'll be there before I know it.

I have people asking me the same. 'Why don't you ship your car?' Like you, I want to experience the drive and am hoping to do so. I only have one more hurdle to clear before I know I am driving down instead of shipping. Unlike you, I will be shipping a bunch of household goods down as well though. I wish everything I needed could simply be towed behind my van.

[StreetSmarts]

Originally Posted by bentlebee

I have seen it too and I thought your not allowed to keep the out of State license plate while living here for longer then a certain time frame...perhaps the Counties could get some money that way if the police would take notice instead of all of us having to pay increased fees.

We had a person living over here for 3 years, never pay a dime in HOA fee, not paying his mortgage and driving an expensive car with a NJ license plate all that time...luckily the house was foreclosed on so the parasite is gone and the county bought the home and fixed it up and is now selling it

LOL, it's funny that you say that about the NJ license plate. I notice the same thing here in Orlando. Almost everyone who has forclosed on their home went back to NJ it seems, and same story, expensive car but never mowed lawn and forclosed on their house.

And I just love how so many (at least here in the Orlando area) have a NY or NJ plate on the front of their car and have the FL plate on the back. Why would you leave your NY or NJ license plate on the front of you car if you live in FL? It is one of those, "hey, I'm from NY and I'm better than you?"

[Allwyna]

Oh, but I ALSO have a lot of things coming down (or up, as you wish ). Just not being American, I don't know what my future will be. WHEN (not if ), I get my visa, all the rest will be shipped, but now at least I have the... "minimum" to live for a few months.

I arrived exhausted but happy . And I love it here.