Worlds absolute worst drivers- Atlanta

I have a 32 mile commute into town 6 days a week. Rush hour in the morning and usually after 9 in the evening. Evening is my fave as you can actually see the mindless @#$% trying to kill me by the glow of his and her phone. Abrupt moves in the rain without looking and no signal? Got em. Dead F$%^&* stop on the interstate fast lane to drool at the flashy lights six lanes over? Oh yes. Mindless pacing of the vehicle in the next lane that is preparing an omlet in his yaris? Only if we are thirty under the limit. Twenty five under the limit on the no passing zone two lane? Ya shoor. Hey its a school zone right. Even at 10pm Saturday night. Keep Moving Sign? Nah. Got to cross four lanes at once for no reason Ill just sit here until Mike tries to get home from work. Sigh. No guns in the car. No guns in the car. No guns in the car.

Awesome

Marietta--accident capital of the world. Loved the morning-radio road reports when I lived in Sandy Springs. Took longer than the weather. My commute was From exit 6 on 400 to Jim Ellis on Peachtree-Dunwoody in Chamblee. 10 miles--thirty minutes. Don't miss it.

Hah! too funny. From Loganville to Jim Ellis Mazda. 285 was gridlocked at 9 this evening...

Why do drivers here (I'm a transplant) treat a flashing yellow at an intersection that just lost its traffic signals as a need to stop as if it were a flashing red? KEEP MOVING!

gjz30075 wrote: Why do drivers here (I'm a transplant) treat a flashing yellow at an intersection that just lost its traffic signals as a need to stop as if it were a flashing red? KEEP MOVING!

Technically slow down and proceed with caution but ya we have that happen here as well. As I get older I seem to be less irritated with this kind of thing. Being a little more careful is not a bad thing. Drivers being stupid or inconsiderate on the other had irritates the hell out of me.

I'ma fan (means: I'd punch 'em in the face) of the super- helpful ones who instantly drop their speed by 30 and flip on the hazards whenever it starts to rain. Who's telling them to DO that?

I'm not sure who is worse: "Even though my plates indicate I live in this county, I apparently didn't know the exit I need is a left-side one so I'm sure you won't mind if I zip across six lanes from the right shoulder and sit here stopped in the second-left lane waiting for someone to let me in" or "I know the left lane exits to 285South up here in a few miles and I'm in no hurry to get anywhere so I'll get over ASAP and go 45 in the left lane until we get to the exit... It's sort-of a sharp curve"

But I DO hate the "I know all these people are waiting in this cue in the right lanes to exit to 285North but I'm in a hurry so I'll cruse up to the front of the line in the middle lane and park here until someone lets me in." I'm always afraid THAT asshat is going to get me killed. BTW, I live OTP on 20W.

If you really think these ate the worst in the world, I immediately know you've never been out of the USA much, try Italy, central and South America, the Middle East, or if you really want fun Afghanistan

We have active members of the 5 Under and 10 Under Clubs around here. I can always tell when there's been a recruiting drive because I'll have to pass more than two of them on my way into town.

icaneat50eggs wrote: If you really think these ate the worst in the world, I immediately know you've never been out of the USA much, try Italy, central and South America, the Middle East, or if you really want fun Afghanistan

Don't forget the Caribbean! Good to see that there are other places where the idiots use "the buddy system" on the highways.

"Better keep pace with the car next to me while driving at a snail's pace so nobody can berkeleying get anywhere! What good is upgrading the highways to multi-lane if we can't buddy up?"

In reply to GameboyRMH:
So true, but in the rest of the world you seldom see an actual crash, and they seem to manage to keep things moving, in a crowdsourcing hive mind fashion.
Like independent blood cells flowing through an artery, each one gets through somehow.

Boston. That is all.

Hahaha not here, people love to gawk because there's a good chance it's someone you know and according to small-town mentality you MUST know who's doing what. I've been held up by accidents that should have improved traffic flow along the route I was driving, just because of gawking.

People crash early and often here in spectacular ways, I can't figure out how they do it. Some that stand out are a rolled Focus in a gentle curve and a pickup doing a skateboard grind on a highway barrier, facing the wrong way, in the middle of a very long straight. The speed limits are low and most people don't test them.

Eh, not much you can do about it, so relax, enjoy the scenery, stay alert and go with the flow.

Then pass when you can.

That's why I find driving the Samurai so much more relaxing. It tops out only a little above the speed limit and you really have to push it to accelerate at highway speeds, and when you're going 60MPH it feels like you're diving into a strafing run in a WW1 fighter plane.

The 'rolla is always creeping up to higher speeds and doing 100MPH feels like sitting in your couch at home. It's like driving a F1 through a retirement community.

wrongwheeldrive wrote: Boston. That is all.

QFT. I got on an expressway one evening to find a woman going the opposite direction of the on ramp. No, she wasn't drunk. She just made a wrong turn and couldn't be bothered to find an alternate path... Thankfully it was late at night and I didn't need to accelerate hard to merge into traffic.

Boston drivers is a major reason why I hate the city.

Having only passed through, Atlanta is third on my list of rampant crappy driving. I'd put Washington D.C. first, Detroit second, and Atlanta a distant third.

kazoospec wrote: Having only passed through, Atlanta is third on my list of rampant crappy driving. I'd put Washington D.C. first, Detroit second, and Atlanta a distant third.

Yes! Having driven in Detroit, Atlanta, and DC I have to say Washington DC drivers are terrible.

I only take the highway in off peak hours. Back roads to work. Also I made my schedule 1 pm to 930 pm on purpose to avoid the gridlock.

dankspeed wrote:

kazoospec wrote: Having only passed through, Atlanta is third on my list of rampant crappy driving. I'd put Washington D.C. first, Detroit second, and Atlanta a distant third.

Yes! Having driven in Detroit, Atlanta, and DC I have to say Washington DC drivers are terrible.

the country agrees on DC.. from the last time I read on commute times.. DC drivers spent the most amount of time stationary in the country. from WAMU

The Washington, D.C. metro area has the worst commute in the country. Drivers in the metro D.C. area spend an average of three days per year in bumper to bumper traffic, according to 2011 rankings from Texas A&M University released this morning. That 74-hour yearly traffic figure is enough to earn the area the title of the most traffic-congested region in the country, according to the 2011 Urban Mobility Report from the university's Texas Transportation Institute. That time sitting in traffic amounts to 37 extra gallons of fuel per year, and nearly $1,500 in lost wages, on average. D.C. drivers will hardly take comfort in having bested other high ranking cities, Chicago and and Los Angeles -- the metro areas that ranked second and third, respectively, in the traffic congestion study. There is good news, though. As for the reason D.C. is number one for traffic congestion, the study cites the region’s relatively strong economy. That, and the ongoing road construction that never seems to stop. Local transportation experts say the region could grind to a standstill by 2030 unless more highways are built and more mass transit options are created.

Having an Alfa Spider made my commute bearable. Just drop the top and take it easy!

cwaters wrote: But I DO hate the "I know all these people are waiting in this cue in the right lanes to exit to 285North but I'm in a hurry so I'll cruse up to the front of the line in the middle lane and park here until someone lets me in." I'm always afraid THAT asshat is going to get me killed. BTW, I live OTP on 20W.

That happens here a lot. Funny thing is when someone cuts you off and you catch them at the next light. I had a guy yell at me once because I pointed out the fact that cutting me off and speeding away did him no good.

worst I ever saw with that: came up on some construction in Berks County Pa on 422. Tractor Trailer got stuck in the lane that ended because nobody would let him merge. After ten minutes of inching up.. Semi is still there.. so I let him in.

Guy behind me went ballestic. Flashing lights, honking horn, yelling, screaming, and all but got out of his car.

A minute later we cleared the construction and the truck moved back over.. guy behind me is still honking and flashing his lights while riding my bumper.. so I followed the truck over to the right.. guy behind me pulls up right next to me and is SCREAMING at me through the open windows. A quick glance to the mirror showed nobody behind me.. so I smiled and waved and jammed the brake pedal to the floor

Toronto. I've never been scared, driving, until I got into Friday afternoon rush, in Toronto. Cities that have bumper-to-bumper snail's pace “rush" hour have nothing on Toronto. Those berkers are bumper-to-bumper, also, but do it at 135kmph. Being in a mini van, pulling a loaded trailer only made it worse.