California drivers summed up

[Jesse OBrien]

People still look at me funny when I say California has the worst drivers I've ever seen. A BMW owner flipped her car in front o my office today. Either that's spectacular skill (she was doing about 15mph) or her driving is spectacularly Californian. ... and by that, I mean bad.

 

Read more: http://www.drivendaily.org/news/flipped-bmw/

[JMortensen]

You haven't been to Canada. When I went to Whistler a couple years ago I was on the freeway and I noticed that cars would change lanes when there was a freeway onramp merging into the right lane. My wife and I thought it was hilarious. Then two different people STOPPED at the end of an onramp getting onto the freeway. I was looking over my shoulder to merge with the traffic when my wife yelled "STOP!!!" Thank god she did too. Apparently that's not common practice, but it's common enough that people change lanes en masse to get away from the few who do it.

[Jesse OBrien]

I do the same thing. I've seen enough people who think 'merging' means literally merging their car together with another one, and run the gauntlet of the onramp like so:

 

1 - grip wheel firmly in both hands

2 - mash gas pedal

3 - gaze steadfastedly toward the lane you're merging with

4 - ignore cars going faster behind you... they're behind you, THEY should be watching out for YOU.

 

Because of the number of times I've seen this practiced all over the US, I tend to hang out in the leftmost lane pretty universally.

 

... where I come from, some onramps have stop signs on them. Seriously. Those can be pretty intense.

[xxjoeyxxeb]

Yes, Californian's are terrible. They brake hard for no reason whenever there's a turn.

[Michael]

Wherever you live, there the drivers are the worst. Except when traveling - there the the drivers are even worse than that!

[CArFAn]

Yes, Californian's are terrible. They brake hard for no reason whenever there's a turn.

 

 

LOL. My grandma does that and scares the hell outta me. I just coast up to the stop, if its green i just go around and hug the corner. If someone is tailing me to close i will stop far from the limit line and just creep up really slow.

[capt_furious]

The stopping on the onramp thing astounds me. Onramps are long and at a shallow angle relative to the other lanes for a good reason - you're supposed to match your speed to the traffic. Evidently, very large portions of the population missed this point in whatever driving instruction they received. If most people don't stop, they're still merging at a severely deficient speed. I can't count the number of people I've been behind that insist on merging at 45 mph when traffic is screaming by at 70+.

[Jesse OBrien]

So New Hampshire drivers are superb. All that bad-weather driving seems to make a big difference. People use directionals, merge correctly, and rarely drive under the speed limit. These things make sense to me, and make driving waaaaay more enjoyable. Screw California.

[thrustnut]

I just got back from a vacation with the family down to So. Cal. I will agree that the worst drivers in America are there. I grew up in Redondo Beach, but don't remember the traffic being quite so bad. You leave just enough room between you and the car in front of you for another car, and someone will cut you off. The weird thing is they cut you off for no reason, they don't get any further ahead. I think the biggest problem is that people drive at all different speeds all over the freeway. You can be in the fast lane and get stuck behind someone doing 50 mph. then merge into the middle lane and have people want to do 80 mph. If people stayed in lanes based on how fast they want to go, traffic would be allot better down there.

[tube80z]

You haven't been to Canada. When I went to Whistler a couple years ago

 

I drove back from Alaska and found the drivers from BC nuts. Passing on blind corners, into tunnels, etc. This was all out in the middle of nowhere but it was always plates from BC.

 

Cary

[tube80z]

The stopping on the onramp thing astounds me. Onramps are long and at a shallow angle relative to the other lanes for a good reason - you're supposed to match your speed to the traffic. Evidently, very large portions of the population missed this point in whatever driving instruction they received. If most people don't stop, they're still merging at a severely deficient speed. I can't count the number of people I've been behind that insist on merging at 45 mph when traffic is screaming by at 70+.

 

I can't count the times I've almost ran over another car towing and trying to get up to speed to merge on a short onramp only to have someone barely moving or stop at the end.

 

Cary

[Calgary280ZT]

Yup, they do the same thing here in Calgary. I once interviewed a cop for a traffic news story and he mentioned how it drove him nuts, so safe to assume it's common. I have no explanation for why Canadians are so dumb with merge lanes.

 

On a related note, for 5 years I drove from Calgary to points south every month and California drivers were very bad, but the women of Salt Lake City tried to run me off the road six (!) times by changing into my lane while yakking on a cell. I15 through SLC was always the scariest part of my trip. After SLC the further north I went the more curteous the drivers were. Until I hit Saskatchewan...then it was damn combines pulling onto the highway from a grid road! Or air seeders....hate air seeders....

 

You haven't been to Canada. When I went to Whistler a couple years ago I was on the freeway and I noticed that cars would change lanes when there was a freeway onramp merging into the right lane. My wife and I thought it was hilarious. Then two different people STOPPED at the end of an onramp getting onto the freeway. I was looking over my shoulder to merge with the traffic when my wife yelled "STOP!!!" Thank god she did too. Apparently that's not common practice, but it's common enough that people change lanes en masse to get away from the few who do it.

[hoov100]

This is why I ride a crotch rocket. the more you are able to predict the actions of the people in front of you, the more likely the chance that you will not get hit. It's all about how they design these new cars. They don't give any sensation of driving or feeling of the road at all. You feel like your in a floating box going down the road. there is no sensation of speed, no steering feedback, no brake feedback and there are too many little stupid electronic gizmo's that you don't need distracting you. They literally put these stupid little screens right in front of your face. a car is no longer a car, it's merely a disposable transportation craft.

Edited April 10, 2010 by hoov100

[thrustnut]

I don't know how safe the crotch rocket thing is in Cali. I don't know if it's legal there, but in the week and a half I was there I must have been passed by 10 bikes line riding in HEAVY traffic. As a rider, I think that's about the dumbest thing you can do. I agree that there are WAY to many gizmos in new cars. I rented a 2010 Buick Enclave (Sp?) for the trip and that thing had so many displays it was ridiculous. You had no road feel, the ride and steering where so smooth it was crazy. I think riding a bike on the highways in So. Cal is a good way to knock 20 or so years off your life.

[hoov100]

I don't know how safe the crotch rocket thing is in Cali. I don't know if it's legal there, but in the week and a half I was there I must have been passed by 10 bikes line riding in HEAVY traffic. As a rider, I think that's about the dumbest thing you can do. I agree that there are WAY to many gizmos in new cars. I rented a 2010 Buick Enclave (Sp?) for the trip and that thing had so many displays it was ridiculous. You had no road feel, the ride and steering where so smooth it was crazy. I think riding a bike on the highways in So. Cal is a good way to knock 20 or so years off your life.

 

I have my own rule of splitting lanes. In traffic, only do it when vehicles are completely stopped and even then do no more then 15mph. When passing to cars, make sure they don't know you are there and make sure there is nothing immediately in the road, that would cause them to swerve. I have fallowed those two rules and they have served me well.

[woldson]

This is why I ride a crotch rocket. the more you are able to predict the actions of the people in front of you, the more likely the chance that you will not get hit. It's all about how they design these new cars. They don't give any sensation of driving or feeling of the road at all. You feel like your in a floating box going down the road. there is no sensation of speed, no steering feedback, no brake feedback and there are too many little stupid electronic gizmo's that you don't need distracting you. They literally put these stupid little screens right in front of your face. a car is no longer a car, it's merely a disposable transportation craft.

 

 

BIG YEP to this!

[Drax240z]

You haven't been to Canada. When I went to Whistler a couple years ago I was on the freeway and I noticed that cars would change lanes when there was a freeway onramp merging into the right lane. My wife and I thought it was hilarious. Then two different people STOPPED at the end of an onramp getting onto the freeway. I was looking over my shoulder to merge with the traffic when my wife yelled "STOP!!!" Thank god she did too. Apparently that's not common practice, but it's common enough that people change lanes en masse to get away from the few who do it.

 

Jon, the catch is that 90% of the population of Whistler are tourists.

[thrustnut]

I have my own rule of splitting lanes. In traffic, only do it when vehicles are completely stopped and even then do no more then 15mph. When passing to cars, make sure they don't know you are there and make sure there is nothing immediately in the road, that would cause them to swerve. I have fallowed those two rules and they have served me well.

 

 

That works until someone in stopped traffic decides they want the next exit and start changing lanes in front of you. If you bounce off a car even at 15 MPH your in for a bad day, not to mention it would be your fault. Don't get me wrong, I love to ride and don't think I would give it up for anything. I'm just lucky enough to live in a city with the population in the 80,000's where traffic is never stopped (unless you go through downtown at mid-day).

[JMortensen]

Jon, the catch is that 90% of the population of Whistler are tourists.

With Canadian license plates. And it was Vancouver where they were stopping on the onramps. And all the Canadian drivers were changing lanes when there was an onramp merging. I don't think you're getting out of this one so easily. I take it YOU don't stop at the end of the onramp then?

[Calgary280ZT]

Hahahaha...he's got you on that one. Wonder how many BC drivers bought their licences out the back door? I seem to recall various scams uncovered over the years. Probably thousands. Might explain some of the incompetent Vancouver drivers.

 

With Canadian license plates. And it was Vancouver where they were stopping on the onramps. And all the Canadian drivers were changing lanes when there was an onramp merging. I don't think you're getting out of this one so easily. I take it YOU don't stop at the end of the onramp then?