Austin drivers are the worst. Because you've got a lot of rich assholes with nice cars making it their personal mission to cut everyone off and weave and bob through traffic on the crappy two lane highways that we are reduced to because non stop construction on Mopac. **** Austin transportation and whoever is in charge of it. There's a mini rush hour at 8pm because some ****ing genius thinks that its the perfect time to reduce a highway to one lane.
I'm not going to lie, my Dad is a die-hard tailgater. It's ridiculous, and everybody in my family knows it, and he never changes. I would hate if he was driving behind/beside me. He is one of those guys that, for example, you are an a one-land ramp to the freeway, if you dare travel below 5 MPH above the speed limit, he will be bumper to bumper. At the absolute first chance, he will try to scream past you, and get's pissed every time when the person in front of us "Cuts him off". Like seriously, everybody getting on the freeway is most likely going to get out of the lane that is an exit-only; it is not a travesty. It is literally the definition of insanity: doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome. I am seriously sometimes like a little scared when he drives because it is like a mad-man. He gets into a decent amount of wrecks, and it is always the other guys' fault. "He cut me off!" "He pulled into my lane!". "Idiot was a wreckless driver." Nah, man it's your fault. I've seen how you drive, you are asking for a wreck with that style. For reference, I am one of those guys that usually goes/tries to go 80+ on the freeway and generally accelerates ahead of somebody, when appropriate, to get in a lane I need to get into.
A lot of rage inside him. I like to leave plenty of time so I don't have to drive too aggressively on the roads. When I see people driving aggressively and or speeding, I feel sorry for them. They either have rage issues or didn't properly leave themselves enough time to get where they're going. They need to work on their lives.
I am fairly confident that 0% of the drivers in Houston do 70 MPH OVER the speed limit while switching 3 lanes of traffic.
This has never happened to me once. Also, I hardly ever see anyone speeding that much on regular roads. Or at the very least it's very infrequent when it does happen and even still they're not going 70. Maybe 60-65 at the very max. Lastly, it was funny when you used Memphis as a point of reference in your comparison. Lol...Memphis. Drivers in places like Chicago, LA, and the like are just as bad as the Houston ones.
A long time ago I worked with a guy who was a true Mr. Milquetoast everywhere except behind the wheel. People told me about him but I didn't believe it until I saw it for myself. Is your father always a very aggressive guy or does he change persona on the road? My former co-worker had a speech impediment and it caused others to often not take him seriously when he argued his position on work-related issues. I suspect his pent-up frustration about this partially fueled his driving behavior.
I think that's the point he's trying to make. If you're in the left lane, move over and let faster traffic pass. And comparing traffic in Memphis to Houston is silly. I live in the DFW area, lived in Houston, driven in California around LA/San Diego, and have driven around Arkansas, Lousiana, Tennessee, Kentucky, etc. The craziest drivers always seem to be in the biggest cities where everybody needs to get somewhere but it takes forever to get there. The nuts driving down freeways around San Diego/L.A. were just as bad as the ones in Houston who are just as bad as the clowns in Dallas. I go to Arkansas and things are fairly peaceful again (with a few exceptions).
this was a typo. I meant the slow lane (or right lane) is what I stay in. I'm sorry for taking this thread in this direction, but I have never ever been a crazy driver, and yet I find myself doing things on the road (in houston) that I would never have ever thought I would do. Like for example, this dude was bumper to bumper with me the other day (on a regular street like clay road), when I saw him, I lost it and I came to a safe (but controlled 5 miles an hour with my hands flailing at this dude). I then saw him about to get over to pass me and I swung my car into the other lane before I saw that another car was there and I swung back into my lane. The guy meanwhile gets in the other lane, passes me, and then comes to a stop. I told myself after that that these people are going to make me hurt myself on the road, because it is constant, constant. I am trying to control my own rage about these tailgaters because I'm liable to get into an accident because of these idiots. I mean it is really NOT FUNNY. It's serious.
if your own safety is really your main concern why didn't you just move over? going 5 mph on a street with other cars is never safe and is just as bad if not worse than speeding.
I wasn't saying do 70 in a 45. That would mean you are on a secondary street where speeds that high are not a good idea. The reason that fog accident happened (which was east of the Houston metro) was because it was some really dense fog and there were 18 wheelers speeding that caused part of the problem. That's why the smart drivers were pulling over because the fog was unsafe to drive in, regardless of speed. Not to mention it was a holiday weekend. And that's part of the problem. People think just getting out of the left lane helps. It does...until you slowly reach that car in the right middle lane and are basically driving side by side with that car. This is with clear concrete in front of both cars. Scarface's tips to stopping unnecessary slowdowns on the freeways: 1. Do not cross the solid white lines. Only move over once they are dashed. Don't be a dick and try to cut before the dashes because this only causes more problems behind you 2. If on the freeway, yield to the cars entering. 3. When you are in a merge lane, use all of the concrete provided. Go to the front of your merge lane. Drivers not in the merge lane should yield and let you in. Should be like a zipper. 4. If in rush hour traffic, realize you do not always have to use your brakes, unless you enjoy going through brake pads. When the freeway is going uphill, or you are on a flyover ramp, please use gravity to slow you down. 5. Leave at least 5 or 6 car lengths between you and the car in front. Increase that length the faster your speed is. This leaves room for cars to get in front of you and join the convoy in that lane, or to get over to the other lanes to the left and they can speed away 6. Continue passing the cars to your right. If you aren't going to pass vehicles to your right for the next mile+, move over to the lane to your right. And when I say pass, I don't mean pass at 1MPH greater than the vehicle to your right. You need to pass quickly so traffic doesn't build. This is especially annoying wen people side by side drive next to big rigs. Do this especially if you see vehicles coming up behind you. 7. Now this one is very important......PAY ATTENTION! We will all make it to our destination safely and efficiently if people would follow those simple rules and stop taking things so personal on the road. Don't try to control traffic by left lane hogging and speeding up when you see that someone has a path to get in front of you. Don't brake check when you can move over.
with all that's being said i just wanted to say that the biggest issue i have besides people going too slow in the left lane is when you are indicating to turn into another lane and the person speeds up to block you just because they don't want to let a car in-front of them. that **** is ridiculous and counter-productive, and it ALWAYS happens.
I feel like an ass every time I'm in the front at a stoplight and the car behind me wants to turn right. So there's that.
I can see this both ways. Sometimes I see someone turn their signal on and I let of the gas to make the gap larger to let them in. They act scared. I say "eff it" and just pass them because they are slowing me down. Look in my rearview mirror and what do you know, they made it over, only to be the slow car in the middle lane. Good, aggressive drivers will speed up and get into the gap and move with the flow.
