Why do suburbanites drive so bad?

[eharri3 10+ year member]

Anybody in the Delco/Philly or surrounding areas, tell me if I'm crazy. I guess growing up driving in Philly I took certain things for granted about how people drive. Like, in the city, if I'm the 3rd, 4th, 5th, or even usually the 6th car in line at a light most of the time, I would still make the light. Or that everywhere, even the worst of idiots knows how to make a right turn off a busy thoroughfare into a parking lot without bringing traffic behind them almost to a complete standstill. And then I moved to Delaware County and started driving on Baltimore pike in Springfield and on Mcdade in Riddley Park and Darby. The laws seem to be completely different here like it should be its own state.

1) At a light Delaware County law says you don't go on green, you go in the last couple seconds of the yellow. Combine this with shorter green lights than in Philly and it's a miracle when more than 2-3 cars make it through any green light.

2) When you get the green left turn arrow every car makes the left as slow as they possibly can so only maybe 2-3 cars get through on the actual green arrow. Then when the arrow turns yellow and red red they start moving ALOT faster and 4 more vehicles go through even though it's the other side's turn. And since I am usually the one who refuses to run it I get stuck for another cycle.

3) Mcdade and Baltimore Pike: Impossible to build up any speed because every 15 seconds someone suddenly stops in front of you and puts their signal on at the very last possible minute for a left turn at a random place with no turning lane.

4) People who when pulling right off a mainroad into a parking lot or secondary road will slow down to about 5 mph a good 50 yards before their turn comes up. Then when they get to the actual turn rather than just getting it over with and getting out of peoples' way they slow to about .0001 mph and take a good 20 seconds to make the turn causing traffic behind them to have to stop completely. Sometimes when doing this they'll actually swing wide into the lane next to them. It's quite funny actually, they could be in a compact sedan but they'll still handle a right turn as if they're in an 18 wheeler. Then if the turn is into a parking lot they pause right there in the entrace to the lot while they look for a spot so nobody else can make the turn yet.

5) People who just absolutely HAVE to force a left turn across four busy lanes of traffic to get into a gas station on the opposite side of the street. Then just absolutely HAVE to force their way back out across 4 lanes of traffic and make everybody stop to let them get going again, when there's a gas station on their side of the road just two blocks further up.

6) Apparantly even though in the rest of PA you can make a right turn on red if there's no sign otherwise, this law must have been changed just in DELCO because I find myself spending lots of time sitting behind people at red lights with their right turn signal on with no cars coming but they absolutely refuse to go until they get a green.

I actually used to consider myself a patient driver, never thought I'd see me slamming on my horn and screaming detailed and colorful descriptions of where to find the gas pedal to other drivers but I seem to have to do it regularly now. Is this common in the suburbs? Sometimes I think it's better to deal with people running red lights and stop signs in Philly all the time than these idiots. IF this were an isolated incident it wouldn't be so bad but almost EVERYBODY seems to drive like this around here and it's enough to make me wonder if it's me that's wrong somehow. And it's not just the old and senile, alot of these people are middle-aged or lower middle aged.

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[MisterGrubbs 5,000+ posts]

You outta come to Georgia. That's all I got to say

You know what we do down here when people do that shit, slow down to a 1/3 of a mph? We bump them

 

[CRXBMPN 5,000+ posts]

yeah up in Maine heah we got them Moose to deal with rathah then cahz, drivin down the road at fifty five miles per howah then one comes catapulting out in front of you, gotta smash on them theah brakes before you pile into it wicked wicked haaaaaaahd. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

 

[MisterGrubbs 5,000+ posts]

Cars I dont mind hitting.

Moose - hell no. FTL

That would destroy my truck, haha

I wanna go moose huntin - you need to find me somewhere to stay CRX

 

[CRXBMPN 5,000+ posts]

well man you have to be put in a "lottery" to get a permit/license/whatever for moose... but I have come across one when I was driving my 83 Olds Delta 88, that thing was a lead sled but it still wouldnt have touched the moose that I nearly cleaned out. It is scary!

you cant moose hunt in GA?

 

[geowick07 10+ year member]

Here in the Detroit area, they put in the right turn arrows, the one's that have to be green before you can turn. To me, they are a huge waste of time. Half of the people just go when traffic clears, regardless of the arrow. 40% of people wait for a green light, not just the arrow. The other 10% handle the turn the correct way most of the time.

 

[faulkton 5,000+ posts]

I have become a SHITTY driver since moving to a rural area.

If you think its bad in the suburbs move to a remote area.

I never stop at stop signs, CONSTANTLY txt while driving because its flat, straight, and empty.

You dont know shitty drivers till you have to deal with old farmers wives in their Cadillac going 4, giant city block sized combines doing 10, and the occasional house being moved taking up both lanes of the highway.

 

[CRXBMPN 5,000+ posts]

try honking at one of them and flipping it off when it tries to cut across 4 lanes of traffic to get some gas //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif :laugh:

no thats not me... lol

check out something like http://www.rosslakecamps.com for northern maine outdoor adventure type of sh!t.

/thread jack

edit* adding another moose pic lol

 

[jdc753 10+ year member]

yeah up in Maine heah we got them Moose to deal with rathah then cahz, drivin down the road at fifty five miles per howah then one comes catapulting out in front of you, gotta smash on them theah brakes before you pile into it wicked wicked haaaaaaahd. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

You sure your not from Boston instead of Maine. Cause that post was wicked friggin pissa.

Luckily I have yet to see a moose in the roads driving between home and Caribou, ME, but whenever we get out on the sleds they are always there to slow us down

The thing I can never stand are drivers who aren't considerate to the others on the road, use your turn signals, when ya jump out in front of someone please actually push down on the skinny pedal instead of forcing those who are already in the right of way to jump on the brakes, when turning onto a side street or parking lot, GET OFF THE ROAD then ***** the parking lot or whatever, oh and whenever traveling on a multi-lane road please don't match your speed to someone in the lanes or the left and right of you and make a rolling roadblock, if your not in the slow lane then PASS the people to the right of you instead of just sitting there oblivious to all the people behind you who can't go anywhere cause of your inconsiderate a$$ who doesn't know what a mirror is unless its for putting on makeup.

 

[MisterGrubbs 5,000+ posts]

Moose huntin GA? Hell yeah

Only one problem

I've never seen a Moose in GA in my life

I get to take aim at plenty of nice whitetails though

My 300 Win Mag gonna drop a moose???

 

[CRXBMPN 5,000+ posts]

i honestly dont know what would drop a moose, i've never hunted a day in my life...

and its funny, some people never have seen a moose in their life and have lived in maine all of it, or vice versa someone just pops in to get to canada or something from down south and they get killed running into one haha...

btw I'm a very conservative driver //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/redface.gif.62fdbfe1a101588a808c4cff71bcb942.gif I have a nice looking car but its not fast enough to make me want to do stupid things lol

 

[thaster 10+ year member]

what are you talking about? Philly drivers are pretty bad especially in Center City and female drivers.