What do you hate about driving where you live?

"blacktruck18" (blacktruck14)
08/21/2014 at 10:59 • Filed to: None

Party-vi's post laughing at me about how long my commute takes (12miles, 25 minutes) got me thinking. What do you hate about driving where you live?

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

I live in Tacoma, WA. which is in Pierce county. There are many reasons I hate driving here.

1. The infrastructure- According to one source I found online the population of Pierce County has increased 113K people since 2000. Also, Joint Base Lewis McChord, a combined Army, Air Force base is in Peirce County. I found a lot of varying information on this but the population of JBLM has increased about 30K people in the same time frame (counted as service members and civilians that work or live on JBLM and family members and retirees that visit JBLM on a regular basis). The huge population increase has severely stressed the road infrastructure of Pierce County. Basically, every road I drive on seems like it would work if it was one lane wider. Especially I-5 around JBLM, every exit off of I-5 from exit 125 to exit 118 can be used to access JBLM, and almost every exit from 129 to 111 is affected by traffic going to and from JBLM. Well, the Washington State Department of Transportation decided in all their wisdom to shrink I-5 from 4 lanes to 3 from exit 127 to exit 118. So the most heavily traveled area in Pierce County also has the least amount of lanes. Brill-fuckung-iant. That is getting fixed though as they will be widening I-5 starting in 2015 or 2016. Also the DOD is adding more ways to get around JBLM without having to go on the interstate which depending where on JBLM you are going you have to do now.

Unfortunately, the only thing Pierce County is doing about the surface roads around JBLM is making them worse. Every time some group of concerned citizens bitches about the amount of traffic from JBLM driving through their neighborhood the county will make it so that traffic from JBLM can't drive there. For example, there are certain smaller streets around JBLM that you cannot turn onto from major streets between the hours of 4:30pm and 6:00pm (when the vast majority of traffic is leaving JBLM) which means, you have to stay on the packed busy roads instead of turning off of them and cutting through neighborhoods to get where you are going and thus off the roads faster.

2. Speed Limits- The speed limits on a lot of roads in Pierce County seem like they could safely be raised 5-10mph. Because of the low speed limits there is a mix of people who speed and others who do the actual speed limit. Which creates a giant fustercluck

3. Other drivers-People in this area can't drive for shit. First off every bad driving stereotype exists here. Dumbshit brotrucks, BMW assholes, SUV soccer moms, self-righteous Prius drivers, and ricers, every kind of ricer, Honda ricers, 240 ricers, V6 Mustang ricers,V6 Camaro ricers, toybaru ricers, all of them.

Everyone drives super passive aggressively. I have to drive down a 4 lane road near my house to get almost anywhere I need to go. There is one traffic light then about a mile stretch until the next light. I always set my cruise on this mile stretch. The speed limit is 35 I set my cruise at 41 or 42, whenever I pass anyone they will start pacing me. They could be doing 12 and I will catch up to them and start to pass them and they will speed up to match my speed and then sit right next to me. It happens 90% of the time when I pass anyone and almost everyone does it, everywhere. You will be driving down the interstate and come upon huge packs of cars because the cars in front are pacing each other and no one can get by. If you accelerate away from a light people will match your speed just so you don't get in front of them, it doesn't matter if you are trying to change lanes or not, they just don't want you to be in front of them even if you are in the other lane.

If you are trying to change lanes people will not let you. If you turn on your blinker to change lanes the car next to you will usually accelerate to block you and not let you change lanes, it happens all the time. I have reached the point where if I need to change lanes I either won't use my blinker at all or as soon as the car next to me speeds up at all I just change lanes and make them jam on the brakes or hit me. Also a lot of people when entering the highway will just cut across the white painted markings on the road (can't remember what they are called) if, they do stay in their appropriate lane hardly anyone merging on the highway yields they usually just do the speed match thing and slam on their brakes right before you run them off the road if you don't slow down for them.

Everyone here tailgates all the time. It doesn't matter if it you are on multi-lane or single lane road. If someone is behind you they will ride your ass. When I first bought my C4 Corvette people would ride so close to me that I wouldn't be able to see their headlights. At first I thought I was being paranoid or, not used to the car so it seemed like they were close but they weren't. I parked Mrs. Blacktruck's Volvo S60 behind my Vette in the driveway one night and measured the point where I could no longer see her headlights, it was 32 feet. That shit ain't safe. If people were riding my ass in my Vette's I used to just down shit as far as possible so I would slow down without my brake lights coming on, then they would back off. In Blacktruck I either turn on the bed lights or down shift then they usually get off my ass.

Left lane bandits, it is so bad here that the Washington State Patrol puts commercials on TV and the radio reminding people that the left lane is for passing only. People here just ride in the left lane. No matter what speed they are doing. On the four lane sections of I-5 I just stay in the two right lanes and usually the only other vehicles there are semis and I can make forward progress without other cars being in the way. If someone is in the left lane and you flash them to get over they will not move, ever, it has never happened in the history of the state of Washington. They just ride there. If you pass someone on the right and get in the left lane, they will speed up and ride your ass until you change lanes back to the right then they will get next to you and slow down and pace you, again, blocking the left lane. It is fucking insane. If you are in the left lane people will fly up on your ass then when you change to the right lane to let them pass they won't they will just pace you in the left lane.

Distracted driving here is also horrible. I regularly see people with a coffee in one hand and their cell phone in the other driving down I-5. It's like how the fuck does that seem like a good idea to you.

All of that being said if you swerve at people or just floor it away from lights or whenever they are next to you they will usually stop whatever bullshit they are doing and back off. But that shouldn't be necessary people should just drive like they aren't idiots.

I think that sums it up.

What do you hate about driving where you live?

DISCUSSION (50)

mcseanerson > blacktruck18
08/21/2014 at 11:03

Not a damn thing.
#Backroadsfordays

Alfalfa > blacktruck18
08/21/2014 at 11:05

Most of the things that bug me can be seen most anywhere, but there is one specific to Utah.

Road construction. All the time. The joke here is that there are four seasons in Utah: Construction season, pre-construction season, post construction, and winter.

TwinCharged - Is Now UK Opponaut > blacktruck18
08/21/2014 at 11:06

*starts drizzling*

OH MY GOD WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE MUST DRIVE SLOWLY IN MY AUDI Q7

*on roundabout*

Oh, there's a bus approaching the roundabout. I'll stop to let him out!

Oh, and the roads here are slowly becoming shittier due to the rubbish construction workers who can't be half arsed to use identical grades of tarmac when paving different sections of roads.

Jcarr > blacktruck18
08/21/2014 at 11:07

What do I hate about driving where I live?

Other drivers.

/thread.

Conan > blacktruck18
08/21/2014 at 11:07

Nothing other than that the high school, my work place, is right next to the vocational school, middle school, elementary school, and school board. It can make for super inefficient bus traffic. There's a nice highway, beautiful back roads, and an exquisite set of twists right near my apartment.

mcseanerson > Alfalfa
08/21/2014 at 11:08

Ohio's state flower.

505Turbeaux > blacktruck18
08/21/2014 at 11:09

I hate out of state drivers causing traffic/safety headaches. There are alot of native asshole drivers here in Maine, but you add CT and MA to the mix and all hell breaks loose.

thebigbossyboss > blacktruck18
08/21/2014 at 11:10

My beefs in order of size of beef:

1) Road salt!!! Every car becomes a rust bucket by age 15. It's sad really.

2) Max speed limit = 100 km/h even though we have some of the best roads in the country, we have the lowest limit. Parts of the 417 (or the 416) is so sparsely traveled and is 4 lanes and are flat and are limited access and the speed limit is 100. It's retarded.

3) People near my house trying to merge into stopped left turn lanes blocking the go straight lane. I hate those people.

4) Construction. We are building some type of subway or something, and it ain't gonna be done anytime soon.

fhrblig > blacktruck18
08/21/2014 at 11:14

Drivers who will stop in the middle of the road (or drive 5-10 mph) because they are looking for something. I'm sorry to inform you of this, but you don't get to inconvenience every other driver on the road just because you feel like it. When this happens, I am not a nice person. Lots of horn. Pull the fuck over and figure it out.

wabbalosthiskey > blacktruck18
08/21/2014 at 11:15

I saw the first line on the FP and thought, I wonder if it's as bad as the Seattle area. And oh look, you're right here :P At least in the south end things are a little more spread out and they CAN expand/improve, unlike downtown where they thought it best to encapsulate I-5 by running it through/under the convention center. That pretty much limits the capacity of that one. Not that it isn't similar from Sodo to Everett. Basically the whole place is fucked and there's no where to go but around.

CAR_IS_MI > blacktruck18
08/21/2014 at 11:17

Exactly all of this is literally what drives me mad on my 25 mile each way commute to work out here in Vegas. Luckily, Vegas has a decent enough infrastructure (6 - 7 lane wide highways, which is absurd for the number of vehicles that are actually on the road, but these idiots drive so poorly that we could almost use another lane just to space these clowns out)

I have also spent a good bit of time driving through SoCal (my old corporate office was out there so I would drive Vegas to LA at least once a month) and it's the same there.

Whats sad is, I normally try to be a nice guy, if I see something happen I try to help out, but since I moved here, I've seen so many stupid accidents that I've stopped pulling over to help. When I see you cut across 5 lanes with no signal and not really looking and then you hit the jersey barrier becasue you weren't paying attention, sorry but you deserve to deal with it on your own.

unclevanos (Ovaltine Jenkins) > blacktruck18
08/21/2014 at 11:17

In NJ, I do the speed limit in residential areas (troopers on interstates and turnpikes don't care about you going 10-15mph over the limit). I have no need for getting a ticket, this results people tailgating me and using their high beams on me. My car looks like a POS but don't tailgate me or I'll go into full BMW asshole mode.

Nibbles > blacktruck18
08/21/2014 at 11:17

Of all the interchanges in Denver, the worst one is the only one without a name. It's also the one I live directly off of.

I-25, I-76, I-270, Hwy 36, and C224 all join up in the same fucking place. There is never a good time to drive this portion of highway. Now they're doing construction! I originally thought they were adding a lane to NB and SB I-25 and cleaning up the merge lanes, but no they're building more fucking toll road/express lanes. Just what we fucking need, more asshats death-merging from the center of the freeway right over to the next immediate exit, slowing the flow even more.

jariten1781 > blacktruck18
08/21/2014 at 11:18

Move to Kitsap. Once you get past Port Orchard the traffic is much more predictable.

I do agree with the left lane campers. Only in WA have I been raged at for right passing a person who is left lane camping and I've lived all over the country. The worst was down by Olympia; I was just cruising down the right lane and there was no traffic. CC was set maybe 3-5 over the limit. Some cotton head was the only other driver in sight and she was just moving along in the left lane. No problem, didn't speed up, change lanes, flash her or anything...just went by still on cruise. Suddenly chaos erupts as she switches into the right lane, pulls up on my ass honking and flashing her lights, then she pulls next to me and honks some more and flips me off, then she swerves in front of me. Expecting a brake check I just switch to the left lane...and yup, brake check without a car behind her. I switch back to the right and she rockets around me on the left and disappears off into the distance. Never took it off cruise the whole time. So weird.

Sn210 > blacktruck18
08/21/2014 at 11:23

specifically about my commute: I take like three roads to work and have a ridiculously short drive but there has been some sort of construction project going on at least on one of those roads since I moved in to my house three years ago. #firstworldproblems

Bad Idea Hat > blacktruck18
08/21/2014 at 11:33

The people, Bob. The people.

buford-t-justice > fhrblig
08/21/2014 at 11:39

I find horns don't work, or high beam flashing when this happens, which scares the shit out of me. If you are too distracted to even hear my horn get the feck off the road

buford-t-justice > thebigbossyboss
08/21/2014 at 11:40

Ahh just described Ottawa driving perfectly . The speed limit is kept that low on purpose

buford-t-justice > blacktruck18
08/21/2014 at 11:41

People who don't accelerate to high way speeds on the on ramps. 50km/h is too slow

thebigbossyboss > buford-t-justice
08/21/2014 at 11:52

The other stupidly low speed limit is King Edward. 40 km/h???!!!??? That road should be an actual real highway at least until Rideau. Ugh.

PelicanHazard > blacktruck18
08/21/2014 at 11:53

Live in Pittsburgh:

The three rivers really cut down on available routes if you have to cross even just one of them. Coincidentally, those routes are often choked with traffic. It's not impossible to find a way around, but you're going to have to get creative, and sometimes no matter what the traffic-filled way is still faster. Driving with a manual in it is just something I have to live with now and then.

bob and john > blacktruck18
08/21/2014 at 11:57

holy fuck.

ok, I live in richmond Hil, ontario. its part of the GTA (greater toronto area) and right next to markham

couple if problems.
1: roads have 2 states. being paved, and in need of repaving (although, to their credit, it HAS gotten better in the 4 years I have been driving) but Highway 7? has been under construction for 7 years now. SEVEN. FREAKING. YEARS. and they still havent even gotten to the halfway point yet.

the second point revolves around the drivers.
90% of the population here is either just immigrated rich asian or just immigrated super rich persian.
They can NOT fucking drive to save their life. no turn signals, no checking blindspots, 80km/h on a 100 limit hwy with EVERYONE doing 130. They accelerate like a glacier and all of their cars have dings and dents. to make it worse, they ALL have money, so they ALL drive MASSIVE merc and BMW and Audi suvs. yesterrday, I saw an old asian lady, cant have been younger then 50, 5'5", get into the drivers seat of a RAPTOR. Also, this shit extends to their kids. I can name one whos parents bought him a CLS550 CPO. he crashed it within 3 weeks. 180km/h~ in a 40km/h residential area. went into the ditch and bent the car like a banana. and what did he parents do? BOUGHT HIM A BRAND NEW ONE. another guy got a Lotus Evora as his first car (it was a stick) and i would run out of fingers and toes thrice before I could name all of the 500+hp subarus and civics and lancers in my high school parking lot. not to mention the girls whose parents would buy them a Porsche cayenne when they turned 16.

the distracted driving, hogging the left lane, and the sheer amount of people driving with their taillights burnt out...if I had a dollar for every person who i told their tail lights are out, i'd be able to buy a new motorcycle every year.

ass soon as you get 45min away, its fine. but around here.....YIKES.

Decay buys too many beaters > blacktruck18
08/21/2014 at 12:17

I live in Portland, so share many (fuck it, all) of the same gripes, with the additions of..

The fucking river, Portland has the Willamette river cutting it nearly in half. If anything screws up traffic flow, it's cutting a major city in half and only giving traffic half a dozen points to travel between the east and west sides of the city.

Speed limits, everyone in Portland drives the fucking speed limit. It's maddening when you come up to two priuses (they are like a biblical plague here) on the highway and one is doing exactly 55 in the right lane while another passes it at 55.1

and sorry I'm sorry for the sins of my people, not all of us toyobaru drivers are ricers, but I know that can be pretty hard to believe in the PNW...

FromCanadaWithLove > thebigbossyboss
08/21/2014 at 12:58

I used to take the River Parkway (Westboro to downtown, then to Rockcliffe) every day when I lived in Ottawa full-time. I love that they tried to post a 60km/h speed limit. I don't think anyone followed that.

FromCanadaWithLove > blacktruck18
08/21/2014 at 13:00

People in my area take the word 'limit' a bit too literally. Areas with 50km/h speed limits will often be held up by a Saturn Ion wafting along at 29km/h.

thebigbossyboss > FromCanadaWithLove
08/21/2014 at 13:04

Oh I am familiar with both of those parkways. 60 is way too slow. The river parkway should be 80, but at least you can pass slow idiots on there.

On rockcliffe, tourists do about 40. I hate those tourists.

FromCanadaWithLove > thebigbossyboss
08/21/2014 at 13:07

Especially by the Aviation Museum. That place is the worst.

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > blacktruck18
08/21/2014 at 13:09

The seemingly drunk drivers, no back way to get anywhere, everything is a main road and busy, and well this explains it all: http://www.reactiongifs.us/wp-content/upl…

thebigbossyboss > FromCanadaWithLove
08/21/2014 at 13:12

There are decent sight lines near the aviation museum though so you could over take if you were so inclined unless you were on the aviation parkway coming towards the museum.

Side note;
They now close the rockcliife parkway on sunday mornings for bicyclists east of the aviation parkway. The other day I came down the aviation parkway trying to go west onto rockcliffe and these dicks were just blocking the entire road waiting to go east. There was several cars and a median so I couldn't get around. I was livid. If they want to wait to go East they should be forced to wait in the opposing left turn lane, at least this way cars that want to go west can continue.

FromCanadaWithLove > thebigbossyboss
08/21/2014 at 13:16

Yeah, I just remember being awful between Rockcliffe and the museum. And I think they've been closing the parkway on Sundays for a few years now. From what I remember, it only until noon, but I haven't lived in Ottawa for 4 years.

thebigbossyboss > FromCanadaWithLove
08/21/2014 at 13:20

Yeah it's till 1 now I think. It can be annoying though.

FromCanadaWithLove > thebigbossyboss
08/21/2014 at 13:21

It seems like there's a ton of Oppos in Ottawa (Oppawa?). Do you guys every do meet-ups? I need to get to Calabogie sometime.

thebigbossyboss > FromCanadaWithLove
08/21/2014 at 13:23

"I need to aching to get to Calabogie sometime."

You need to aching into grammar!

Just kidding.

We did this last year:

FromCanadaWithLove > thebigbossyboss
08/21/2014 at 13:24

Edited. It's been a long week. :(

By the way, that looks awesome. I had no idea you could drive across. I guess the downside is you end up in Gatineau.

thebigbossyboss > FromCanadaWithLove
08/21/2014 at 13:31

Actually you both start and end in Quebec.

http://www.pontdeglace.com/

nostradimas > blacktruck18
08/21/2014 at 13:51

Here in Brooklyn, every day you commute on the Belt Parkway and/or Cross Island leads to more heart problems than smoking a pack of cigarettes while eating 3 pounds of red meat, raw.

Why?

The roads are constantly under construction, and this is due to the fact that the roads that are "fixed" are full of manholes three months after completion.

People have no lane etiquette, no spatial awareness, no sense of mechanical pity, and eyesight that is far from 20/20.

The storm drains seem to ALL be indented about 6 inches into the ground, meaning going over any of them at above 55 MPH probably earns each of your suspension components a psychosomatic disorder.

Ever since about a year ago, there are 3x the number of troopers in the NYC area, and probably 3x the speeding tickets issued. The annoying thing is they never go for the guy blatantly being aggressive in traffic, they go for the easy pickings. Forget the tickets for reckless endangerment, not showing turn signals and weaving from the leftmost lane to the exit on the right at the last moment; they don't exist, they are myth.

Every time I encounter a courteous driver, my reaction is akin to the reaction of a kid getting a Sega Genesis for his birthday in 1991.

Most people don't even bother driving here, and for good reason.

blacktruck18 > jariten1781
08/21/2014 at 13:57

Heading out that way or east of the mountains most people act like they have some clue of what to do in a car. It glorious.

I think I know that lady, I see her everyday.

blacktruck18 > Decay buys too many beaters
08/21/2014 at 14:00

I have only been to Portland once, for a show at the Roselawn, but I was drunk so I don't remember the taffic situation.

I know not all are toybaru drivers are ricers so I try to not judge.

Mike > blacktruck18
08/21/2014 at 14:01

I live in Monroe, Michigan. A bit south of Detroit, for reference.

1) Potholes. Potholes everywhere. Michigan roads have a reputation for a reason.

2) Absolute thundercunts in their F-1250 Super-Mega-Awesome Duty trucks that think they own the road. The younger drivers especially. I've literally had my Civic run into a ditch by fellow high school students.

3) On the flipside, the other type of driver is the oblivious soccer mom in her Ford Escape/Explorer. Equally annoying, and often equally dangerous.

4) Rock salt. 'Nuff said.

5) Speed traps on I-75 and I-94, especially up near Romulus. These guys bring a whole new meaning to the phrase "revenue collecting".

JEM > Alfalfa
08/21/2014 at 14:49

That's a joke for many states in the Northeast as well except it's Winter, Mud season, Construction season, Fall.

JEM > buford-t-justice
08/21/2014 at 14:51

People need to be taught/learn how to merge. Seems like half the people out there just can't. I leave people room to merge but they don't speed up to match traffic, then get pissed at me when I won't let them in at the last minute. Sorry, you had your chance and lost it fucknut.

Or worse, the people who slam on their brakes at the end of an on ramp.

JEM > blacktruck18
08/21/2014 at 14:52

Holy shit, it sounds like you have the worst passive aggressive drivers out there. I'd hate to be on a motorcycle. In Mass. there are a lot of bad drivers but for the most part people are actually getting better it seems.

Alfalfa > JEM
08/21/2014 at 14:57

Haha the version I've heard for the northeast is winter, more winter, still winter, and construction.

JEM > Alfalfa
08/21/2014 at 15:02

haha, yeah, I've seen a couple years like that. Thankfully the winters here have mercifully mild (in temps at least) the last few years.

blacktruck18 > JEM
08/21/2014 at 16:54

Every once in a while I will start thinking I need a motorcycle. Then I talk to my buddy's who have them and they all, literally all, as in everyone I know that owns a motorcycle, has been hit by a car or something at least once.

Jedidiah > blacktruck18
08/21/2014 at 20:13

Kinja'd!!!

Tohru > blacktruck18
08/21/2014 at 20:24

Road salt, construction, and Illinois tourists.

Tohru > Alfalfa
08/21/2014 at 20:26

Wisconsin cuts the crap and just has construction season and winter.

MountainCommand > blacktruck18
08/21/2014 at 22:43

its not the people that are my problem, its the lack thereof. The abundance of cute fluffy frolicking bricks are constantly intercepting cars and bikes around my area. I think im probably at around a dozen confirmed KO's. Thankfully with minimal damage.

buford-t-justice > JEM
08/22/2014 at 10:01

or the people going 75 km/h (46 is mp/h) on the highway.