Tennesse traffic laws (Memphis, Knoxville: transplants, construction, living in)

[CAtoGA]

Okay, I have an unusual question - one that comes forth out of sheer frustration. When driving in Tennessee, if one comes to a traffic light that is yellow, does one speed up and try to make it through like they do in CA or do they actually prepare to stop like I was taught 20+ years ago in CA?!? I have been getting SOOOO very frustrated when I'm stopped at a light that turns green and I have to wait for 5 cars to go through the other way before I can proceed!! I'm really hoping things are different in TN......

[hiknapster]

I have ALWAYS stopped at a yellow, but I can honestly say that most of the people here do that, too. I am noticing more aggressive driving lately and it just may be transplants. Lot less waving to each other, too. Just letting you know.

It is still better than Florida. It seemed like everybody was aggressive. What was really scary was the dump trucks that would speed up at yellow lights. Man. Talk about defensive driving.

[irieblue]

I saw in the local paper that someone got a ticket for not using their turn signal. That's not like Florida! Thank God!

[mbmouse]

I noticed a few major differences between driving in South East FL and different parts of TN. I will speak first of North East TN. When you come to a light that has turned yellow folks stop. When it is green and you want to turn left, you stop AT THE LINE!!! In Fl, you pulled out as far as you could into the intersection so if the light turned red, you had the right of way (and so did the other two cars that pulled out behind you to sit in the intersection) could turn left. When sitting at a red light in East TN you may have a "creeper" next to you. These are the folks that even though the light is red, their car moves forward a few inches every 10 seconds or so. This is fine if it is the car next to you, not so much if you are a passenger in that car. hehehehehe
The nice thing is that if the car next to you on the interstate puts on their indicator and wants to change lanes, you easy up on the accelerator and let the in...THEY WAVE THANK YOU TO YOU! I do the same if it is me because people actually let you in. It is so nice.
Very rarely do I have someone creeping up my bumper either, most folks actually leave space between your car and theirs...nice.
The bad? There are a lot of drivers here that have no clue how to use an on ramp. It is not unusual to try to accelerate down an on ramp preparing to merge into traffic in a 70 mile an hour zone yet to have the car in front of you almost stop to look back at on coming traffic to see if they have spot to pull out. This practice perplexes me.
There are some folks here who's cars only go one speed. Example: You can be driving on a main highway, say 65 miles an hour speed limit, this person goes 50, you follow them off the ramp onto the narrow rural roads, yep, still going 50 now in the 30.
We have A LOT less "thumper cars" here (punk kids with the lowered cars that have a perpetual thump from the stereo)
A lot less aggressive drivers.
As for Knoxville and Nashville, Asheville you find more aggressive drivers and more construction so I think folks are more stressed behind the wheel. I notice when I follow folks through these towns, they light up once we are out the other side , I tend to also ahhahahhaaaha.
One thing I noticed everywhere in TN is that if you are on a non highway and you want to turn right, about 50 yards or so before your turn, you pull into the emergency lane and then slow down as not to have to have the car behind you slow down with you. Nice.

[JMT]

That's one thing that used to drive me crazy about living in Memphis: after the light turned yellow (and even red) about 4-5 cars continued to turn left. I mean, ALL THE TIME. I'd never seen that anywhere else in Tennessee. I finally decided I wasn't going to be like that, so I would sit defiantly in the left-turn lane and not move after the light turned yellow. Drivers behind me would start honking their horns and giving me dirty looks, but I refused to do it.

One thing that drives me crazy about something a lot of people around here do: they'll turn on their blinkers if the car IN FRONT of them is turning.

[hiknapster]

There are a lot of tailgaters here. Not aggressive ones. I worked with a girl that has lived here all her life. She says she does it all the time and she is not sure why. Isn't that funny? It's like they glom onto your taillights. It's a real pet peeve of mine, though, so I usually slow waaaaay down and force them to go around me.

[EagleI]

Can you turn right at a red light after coming to a complete stop?

[LauraC]

Originally Posted by hiknapster

There are a lot of tailgaters here. Not aggressive ones. I worked with a girl that has lived here all her life. She says she does it all the time and she is not sure why. Isn't that funny? It's like they glom onto your taillights. It's a real pet peeve of mine, though, so I usually slow waaaaay down and force them to go around me.

Want to cure a tailgater? Pull your lights on but keep up your speed. They'll slam on their brakes thinking you are braking.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by EagleI

Can you turn right at a red light after coming to a complete stop?

Yes, you can turn right at a red light after coming to a complete stop unless it's posted otherwise.

[OneKEighty]

Originally Posted by CAtoGA

Okay, I have an unusual question - one that comes forth out of sheer frustration. When driving in Tennessee, if one comes to a traffic light that is yellow, does one speed up and try to make it through like they do in CA or do they actually prepare to stop like I was taught 20+ years ago in CA?!? I have been getting SOOOO very frustrated when I'm stopped at a light that turns green and I have to wait for 5 cars to go through the other way before I can proceed!! I'm really hoping things are different in TN......

Been driving here since the 70's and one of the first things I learned when I started driving: Red means stop; green means go; yellow means go real fast!