2018 Version I have been enjoying driving around the last 2 months...really going nowhere..other than just cruising to take a break from being in the house. Also to add to the pollution, and help oil prices come back up. But now that the idiots are back on the road...I am going to lose my mind again. Holy smokes...the amount of bad drivers have dramatically gone up. I am talking about....going 30mph mbelow the speed limit on the left lane with no traffic kind of idiocy. not using their blinkers. at all. i am just supposed to know you are slowly drifting in to my lane on purpose..or by accident because you are on your phone. not using headlights in the evening. these are newer cars. why isn't it on auto!?? hogging the left lane. i gave up on this battle a few years ago and just drive in the middle or right lane now. driving 5-20 mph below speed limit with no regards for traffic flow so now everyone has to make a lane change. i observe this more on highways with more lanes like i-10. apparently it's pick your own speed highway. what's with people coming over to the straight lanes before they make a left turn at an intersection? you don't drive a freaking 18 wheeler. just turn left. Folks who have switched over managing their cell phone as priority one, with driving priority two High beams being left on or used in heavy traffic Also I hope the idiots who switched over to 100,000 mega watts HID bulbs for their shitty civic crash that into a wall Not merging at speed! Do they expect everyone minding their business on the highway to come to a halt to let them in?? Not practice zipper merging! Tapping your brakes to slow down 1 mph. either you are too damn close to the car in front of you, or you just need to let go off the gas. Does anyone these days know how to make a 90 degree turn these days out of a parking lot without going into the other two lanes? Have cars gotten so powerful you can't control the initial thrust? wtf! A variation of this is people rushing to get onto the main road only to go 20 under the speed limit. WHAT WAS THE HURRY!?! Same goes for the "right turn on red". Seriously. Just wait. You don't need to risk your life to pull out onto oncoming traffic.
... Houston drivers sucked before COVID. People were fine up until 17/18. Worked out of state for 2 years and came back, it was straight-up chaos.
houston drivers have always been aggressive as hell...this isnt a recent thing. it was a great town to learn to drive in b/c if you can hang there you can hang anywhere...but after 25 years in austin i get scared s***less when im back driving in h-town! i do think covid is generally making people drive much more aggressive. i work a couple days a week in san antonio so im on I-35 all the time and its definitely gotten worse since march. the funny thing is, its made me start driving slower and being happy to cruise behind an 18 wheeler. i can get 42 miles per gallon on the highway doing that! im also really adhering to the 2 seconds behind the car in front of you rule. people used to be much better about it, but the norm these days is to tailgate the car in front of you while going 80.
For safety reasons, I'd avoid following an 18 wheeler. Their tires pop regularly and can kick up all kids of debris and sling it at you, much less cause people to swerve everywhere and potentially cause accidents.
I always thought the traffic on 290 would kill me. I now realize it will be the a-holes driving 110 mph on 290 that will kill me, not the traffic.
It was the wild west out there for months. Tons of insane driving with empty roads and cops less aggressive to give out tickets. That doesn't just go away, especially because heavier traffic has been introduced slowly.
What? My experience is the opposite. Get close to UT at night during the school year and all bets are off. Picked up my wife and in-laws from Bass Concert Hall (Hamilton) a while back. Accident on 35 made it incredibly slow and frustrating getting there, but it was chill once I made it to just outside the hall for them. As soon as it let out, traffic laws were abandoned and driving became a game of chicken. Astros games while not fun to leave, are a piece of cake in comparison.
I'm 100% work from home now and we get our groceries & any takeout delivered. No dining out. I have noticed that I am way more tentative driving now. I used to be one of those bat-out-of-hell Houston drivers, now I've finally settled into housewife-on-Xanax driving for my few errands a week. @CometsWin coming to you from Fast and Furious World.