Driving

[Red Baron 0]

Getting stuck on the 401 in downtown Toronto is not fun, or even if there's an accident on the 400, and then your fucked.

[Guest Vitamin X]

L.A., Dallas, and Miami are the worst traffic jams of the cities I've been to.

 

L.A. just has that bigass urban sprawl and a lack of public transportation outside of that, plus so many people commuting really long distances, it's destined to be that way. I don't know what Dallas' deal is, but it didn't seem like there were a whole lot of freeways. It's like Houston with that stupid loop shit around the city. Quite annoying. And Miami has gotten way too big for its britches, and there's only one expressway going east-west, and another one way the hell out west that goes south to the suburbs. Not enough transportation or freeways either, although I hear they're trying to catch up with that there.

 

I don't miss traffic one bit. Even Seattle has pretty light traffic as well.

[In Credible 0]

I just think that stupid people drive badly and there are a lot of stupid people.

[CanadianChris 0]

Getting stuck on the 401 in downtown Toronto is not fun, or even if there's an accident on the 400, and then your fucked.

Child's play compared to the QEW coming out of Toronto (or going into Toronto in the morning).

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0]

As a New Jersey driver, I have to step in and say that we are awesome drivers.

 

The worst in my experience are Pennsylvania drivers.

[Ravenbomb 0]

Not having driven out of state yet, all I can say is that most of the shitty drivers around here I've noticed are from Illinois.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

As a New Jersey driver, I have to step in and say that we are awesome drivers.

 

The worst in my experience are Pennsylvania drivers.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

 

No seriously, what makes Jersey drivers better? Is it assuming that every bit of open space on the road constitutes a turning lane?

[Guest George's Box]

I cut my driving teeth in the northwest suburbs and came out of it a pretty good driver. I think Ripper nailed it: it's a team effort out there, and when everyone's not on the same team is when things go awry. As long as everybody has a feel for the area and what to do, you can all be stupid together and aware of one another's stupidity and you'll be okay, for the most part.

 

Rural Wisconsinites drive like lobotomy subjects when they're sober.

[Red Baron 0]

Getting stuck on the 401 in downtown Toronto is not fun, or even if there's an accident on the 400, and then your fucked.

Child's play compared to the QEW coming out of Toronto (or going into Toronto in the morning).

 

The QEW is fairly easy to drive. Come up to the Ford Plant exit it'll bog down, but its not as painful as the 401 or the DVP.

 

The DVP is bad every day.

[Matt Young 0]

Not having driven out of state yet, all I can say is that most of the shitty drivers around here I've noticed are from Illinois.

 

Illinois drivers aren't that bad. Then again, if they are driving out of state, that's semi-understandable.

 

Despite the often horrid traffic in southern California, I must say that the worst drivers I have seen are in St. Louis.

[FroGG_NeaL 0]

St. Louis for sure. They said on the news a few months ago that we're supossed to actually be the worst in the country, going by accident rates or something.

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

It's essentially been all addressed by now, but there's not too much to driving.

 

Outside of a little technique, such as, say, parallel parking, most of it is common sense. Once you get a little comfortable behind the wheel, you'll be fine. Everyone's nervous the first few times, I'd say, but easy to shake off.

 

As for your test, work on parallels, stopping distance, and following distance. Those all fell through the cracks between my G2 and G test.

[The Dames 0]

I didn't get my license til I was 24 cuz I also lived and grew up in NYC and I had to get a car when I moved to CT. Took a few driving lessons, passed on the first try. Driving is easy, but nerve racking in the beginning.

 

Boston drivers are the worst I've ever seen, by far. FUCK the whole rotary system.

 

CT drivers look at the speed limit and think of it as a minimum as opposed to a maximum.

 

NYC isn't necessarily bad, its just that the pedestrians don't care about walking in front of cars and you're gonna hit 56 traffic jams and lights before you reach your destination. And cabbies feel they're entitled to every inch of the road.

 

Dames

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Boston drivers are by far the worst I've ever seen. Just an all out madhouse of insanity on the roads.

 

Portland and Seattle have the worst traffic problems this side of LA, but the drivers are, on the whole, courteous and responsible.

[Guest Vitamin X]

Are you f'n kidding me, cheech? Portland has some of the best traffic I've ever been through, if such a thing was actually enjoyable to begin with- I'd imagine Seattle is a lot worse, but getting stuck in traffic here means a slight hindrance of maybe 5-15 minutes at worst, and there's always the MAX or whatever. I remember driving from San Fernando Valley to Anaheim, and I left the house maybe an hour too late, and that was that- I usually still hit a bit of traffic, but it would take me an hour at most usually- and in this case, it would tack on about another hour or so. For most big cities, traffic is like a minor inconvenience, but if you live somewhere like Miami, Atlanta, L.A., Dallas, San Francisco, Chicago, etc. traffic becomes a major obstacle that you have to plan around to make your day and plans work out. It's insane.

[Broward83 0]

Brownsville, Tx. Worst drivers ever.

 

Seriously... not only do you deal with shitty American drivers, you get to deal with the even worse Matamoros drivers that have no fucking insurance and drive older model cars that they can afford to wreck in.

 

 

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Are you f'n kidding me, cheech? Portland has some of the best traffic I've ever been through, if such a thing was actually enjoyable to begin with- I'd imagine Seattle is a lot worse, but getting stuck in traffic here means a slight hindrance of maybe 5-15 minutes at worst, and there's always the MAX or whatever. I remember driving from San Fernando Valley to Anaheim, and I left the house maybe an hour too late, and that was that- I usually still hit a bit of traffic, but it would take me an hour at most usually- and in this case, it would tack on about another hour or so. For most big cities, traffic is like a minor inconvenience, but if you live somewhere like Miami, Atlanta, L.A., Dallas, San Francisco, Chicago, etc. traffic becomes a major obstacle that you have to plan around to make your day and plans work out. It's insane.

 

Getting through Portland in the mornings or evening can be a 1 or 2 hour affair. That's a ridiculous amount of time for how small (relatively) the city is.

 

It takes my gf a minimum of an hour to get from SE Portland to Hillsboro, no matter what time of the day she leaves.

[Guest Vitamin X]

I suppose I-5 can be a bitch, and if you're out in the Clackamas part of SE Portland, it'd be a far drive. But Hillsboro is pretty far out there either way. The other day I was driving to Corvallis from downtown Portland, I left the house at like 5:30 and got there by 7:15. So traffic can't be all that bad on the west side of the Willamette, anyways.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Trying to traverse Portland through any of the highways (217, 26, I-5, 205) is a bear nearly any time of the day. I often have to make my way around several of Portland's "suburbs" in a day for work and it's a bitch almost every time. It's not that it's a terrible city traffic-wise, but suprisingly unmanageable given its size.

 

Seattle, on the other hand, is awful. Screw Boeing.

[spman 0]

CT drivers look at the speed limit and think of it as a minimum as opposed to a maximum.

 

Wait, I thought those speed limits were just a suggestion, go figure

 

Anyways, yeah the Drivers here are pretty bad. I'll be doing 80 in a 65 zone and people STILL try and pass me out, it drives me nuts.

[tominator89 0]

I agree with Boston being the worst place to drive. The people there have yet to discover an invention known as TURN SIGNALS.

 

As far as my license, I got my permit on my 16th birthday and passed the driving test two weeks later. I don't know about other states, but anyone who can't pass the Pennsylvania test must be retarded. The guy who went with me was filling out my form about two minutes after I left the DMV. I signed it as soon as we got back. The only thing he complained about was I had my radio up too loud.

 

[Scroby 0]

I didn't get my license until I was 21. It's not that I didn't want it, because I did, it's just I never had a car and I had no one to teach me. My mom wouldn't teach me because her car is a stick and she worried that I would burn out the clutch and her boyfriend was just an ass and would make excuses to not let me drive his truck to work and back. I passed both tests without a problem, then 6 months later I got into a small car accident...now I drive much better. :0)

 

I wanna say the Bay Area of California has bad drivers, but i don't think it has the most. There are plenty of shitty drivers...real shitty drivers but it's not like everyone out here is a horrible driver.

[Maztinho 0]

The main complaint with Southern Utah drivers... people like coming to dead stops to make a left hand turn even if there is no traffic coming the other way to necessitate such an action. And usually they don't slide over to the middle of the road to make some room to pass on some of the non-lined roads forcing you to stop behind them so they can make a damned left turn that should have been made on the fly.

 

Also in a similar vein people don't slide over to the right turn lane and pull the same shit making a right hand turn stopping up traffic. THERE'S A FUCKING LANE TO DO THAT SLOW DOWN AND TURN SHIT PEOPLE! A WHOLE GODDAMN LANE!

 

 

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

As a New Jersey driver, I have to step in and say that we are awesome drivers.

 

The worst in my experience are Pennsylvania drivers.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

 

No seriously, what makes Jersey drivers better? Is it assuming that every bit of open space on the road constitutes a turning lane?

 

My GF is from NJ and she says drivers from MD are all "fucking idiotic morons" and yet she gives me the pleasant stories of her driving on the turnpike up in NJ and almost getting run off the road. Im sooooo looking forward to going up there in 2 weeks.

 

I should point out shes had 4 Brand New Cars (All Nissans) in I think 5 years and she totalled 2 of them and had one taken from her due to a recall. She has a 07 Versa now (and I've got an 07 Yaris, they're almost the same exact car)

[Red Baron 0]

Since it is summer season, Niagara Falls is a bitch to drive.

 

You have regular Niagara Falls drivers, people coming from the Buffalo. Plus include people who drive to the falls for a vacation (Every state and province possible) and Asain drivers.

 

Don't forget to weave through the pedistrians trying to cross the road even though there's a cross walk 15ft away from them.

[CanadianChris 0]

I never liked driving in Niagara Falls. My sister worked there for a couple of years, and whenever I went to visit, I felt like I was taking my life in my hands on the roads.

[Red Baron 0]

Its not an easy drive in the summer time. It also does not help that when you come from the QEW Toronto bound its two lanes with shitty cut offs. If you don't know the back roads of Niagara Falls it is torture.

 

And don't drive Clifton Hill. You aren't going to find parking. Just go to the casino as and get free parking there.

[At Home 0]

I lived in THE OC for the lion's share of my childhood, and can easily say that despite the traffic when there is traffic (even though there is a plethora of alternative routes), that the drivers down there know what they're doing. 75, 80 is considered a reasonably slow speed on the freeway.

 

Now, I live in hawaii, where the freeway is a 6 lane freeway, half of many of the freeways in Southern California, and the driving is all around terrible. There are a lot of damned old people here, which means obeying the speed limit, which is 50 at best. 50 MPH on the freeway. Similarly, if at one point, you have to merge, then you can just expect a traffic jam.

 

San Francisco also sucks because you can't take a left turn to save your life anywhere. I took BART and MUNI wherever I went, so it wasn't a problem.