Have Texas drivers got so bad that even the rural parts of the interstate feel dangerous now?

[Raider Scott]

Originally Posted by DabOnEm

Nah there are places worse than others. Sure there are bad drivers everywhere but there are several things that will affect the driving practices of a certain area: average age of drivers + range of driving age (Florida has way more seniors driving on average than other states for example), presence of law enforcement, terrain/geography, road design, local traffic laws, local traffic customs (like people in California who stay as far left as possible in the right lane so cars are still squeeze by and make a right turn or lane-splitting motorcycles), transplant vs native population, international immigrant population, density, pedestrian levels, etc. It all makes a difference.

This is why you can take someone from a big city like LA or Houston or Dallas and drop them in a small town in Alabama and they wouldn't feel uncomfortable driving. Do the same thing with that small town Alabama person, and initially they will likely feel overwhelmed by all that goes on in LA or Houston or Dallas traffic. I've heard this a countless amount of times from family members who live in small towns that visit a big city.

True, but all big cities that I have driven in have the same kind of problem drivers. No one is better or worse than the other.

People LOVE to say..."oh wow...Dallas, Miami, etc, etc has crazier drivers than XYZ City" when in reality, all cities of equal size face the same traffic problems.


Of course driving in a town of 13k people is WAY different than driving in Dallas or Los Angeles....we know this.

[Need4Camaro]

Yeah I agree. Take someone from Tyler TX and put them in the middle of Downtown Chicago.. ..it will be cultural shock..

I will say, drivers in DFW do seem to drive a bit more reckless than most places I've been to.

Drivers in LA were actually very shockingly tame and courteous for such a big city.

Drivers in Seattle actually do the speed limit

Drivers in Atlanta are pretty close to Dallas except there's less variation of speed and slightly less weeving in and out of traffic to do 90+.. ..just slightly. People on the surface arterials of Atlanta also tend to drive alot slower than in DFW too.

Drivers in Chicago will practically slit your throat if you don't hammer the gas in a decimal of a macro-second after the light turns green.