Driving habits of rural folk

[Jstpssng]

All this talk of people driving to slow and the reasons for is funny to me,
no one has even come close to mentioning the reason some people slow down.
How can I see what shape the neighbors cows are in at 60mph.
Is that a new tractor beside the shed, wonder when they got that, I'll have to slow down more on th way back to see what model it is.
Who in the heck, plowed, planted, tilled, mowed those crooked rows.
Dang look at all the feed they missed in those corners.
Looks like the corn, beans or grain has sprouted in his field, I'll have to look closer at ours.
Wow look at that mower, baler, winrower, chopper or what ever is out working.
And I could go on and on :laughing:

My neighbor is like that. He'll step on the gas and speed up, then coast. Meanwhile he's gawking around, and knows everything that is going on in everybody's yard. Then he can't understand why I don't know whet he's referring to in somebody's back yard.

 

[tallyho8]

I almost always drive with the cruise control set at 5 MPH over the speed limit. If I go the speed limit I wil pass no one and about 10 people will pass me each mile I go so I believe it is safer driving as I do. Twenty years ago we took a vacation out west from Louisiana for 18 days with plans to see almost every state west of the Mississippi. I wish I had at least 60 days to take that same trip again because we didn't see nearly as much as we planned going around all major cities and not doing much interstate driving.

In all the states we went to, we found that the most courteous drivers were in west Texas where they have long straight roads with wide clean shoulders on them. Whenever we would come up on a car they would pull over on the shoulder and continue driving the same speed so we could pass them. Our courtesy wave to them was always returned. Sometimes we would pull over to take photos of something interesting and one time we passed the same driver 3 times with him pulling over each time. The amazing part was that this was straight, empty 2 lane
roads where we could have easily passed but the driver was courteous enough to pull over and give us the lane so we did not have to change lanes.

We traveled through 14 states and only saw the remnants of one wreck which was on a straight, boring highway in west Texas where an 18 wheeler hit a bridge abutment probably while falling asleep, and was killed.

I was a drag racer 50 years ago and am still awful tempted when someone pulls alongside my sports car and challenges me but the most I ever do now is hit the gas for about 1 second just to see what he can do. Sounds crazy but I only do that rarely under very safe conditions and save my serious racing for the drag strip.

 

[oosik]

I have high coverage on the Taco Wagon with State Farm. I have been with State Farm for 55 years. I have a ridiculously low premium. Reason - no accidents, no tickets, my location, annual mileage, length of coverage with State Farm. YES - it does pay to slow down and smell the flowers.

 

[newbury]

The real problem is people in a hurry moving into rural areas.



Bruce

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

I've a 16 mile drive to the nearest town, usually light traffic, but a narrow curvy two lane road with only about 2 (YES TWO) places to pass on the entire drive.
Most of the drive the speed limit is 55.
Frequently there is some person driving 40 to 45 mph the entire trip. I just put up with it. The time difference is about 7 minutes.

What really gets me is my drive to the big town, Tupelo. That's a 41 mile drive mostly on the Natchez Trace with a heavily enforced 50 mph speed limit.

The Trace has about 6 good passing areas over the 40 miles. And there are SOME drivers that will drive 40 mph in the no passing zones THEN speed up to 55 or 60 in the passing zones. I dread getting behind those guys.

 

[jaxs]

I almost always drive with the cruise control set at 5 MPH over the speed limit. If I go the speed limit I wil pass no one and about 10 people will pass me each mile I go so I believe it is safer driving as I do. Twenty years ago we took a vacation out west from Louisiana for 18 days with plans to see almost every state west of the Mississippi. I wish I had at least 60 days to take that same trip again because we didn't see nearly as much as we planned going around all major cities and not doing much interstate driving.

In all the states we went to, we found that the most courteous drivers were in west Texas where they have long straight roads with wide clean shoulders on them. Whenever we would come up on a car they would pull over on the shoulder and continue driving the same speed so we could pass them. Our courtesy wave to them was always returned. Sometimes we would pull over to take photos of something interesting and one time we passed the same driver 3 times with him pulling over each time. The amazing part was that this was straight, empty 2 lane
roads where we could have easily passed but the driver was courteous enough to pull over and give us the lane so we did not have to change lanes.

We traveled through 14 states and only saw the remnants of one wreck which was on a straight, boring highway in west Texas where an 18 wheeler hit a bridge abutment probably while falling asleep, and was killed.

I was a drag racer 50 years ago and am still awful tempted when someone pulls alongside my sports car and challenges me but the most I ever do now is hit the gas for about 1 second just to see what he can do. Sounds crazy but I only do that rarely under very safe conditions and save my serious racing for the drag strip.

Thank you for giving a visitor's opinion on "Driving habits of rural folk in Texas". Where you are talking about actually is country but where op lives and drives is not country by a large margin. Out of 254 counties in Texas,OP's ranks 28th most populous at 200 people per square mile. Counties you were visiting have 1 to 10 people per square mile. Though there are many oil and gas wells in West Texas,as you noticed they have no traffic around them. OP's county has one of the largest of International Sea Ports,many chemical plants,including the largest Dow Chemical plant in the world. And all the country folks don't live in West Texas,less than an hour's drive from OP's front porch can put you in the wide open space of the King Ranch. By comparison there's 1,500 square miles in OP's county and 1,400 in the King Ranch.

 

[MossRoad]

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

I've a 16 mile drive to the nearest town, usually light traffic, but a narrow curvy two lane road with only about 2 (YES TWO) places to pass on the entire drive.
Most of the drive the speed limit is 55.
Frequently there is some person driving 40 to 45 mph the entire trip. I just put up with it. The time difference is about 7 minutes.

What really gets me is my drive to the big town, Tupelo. That's a 41 mile drive mostly on the Natchez Trace with a heavily enforced 50 mph speed limit.

The Trace has about 6 good passing areas over the 40 miles. And there are SOME drivers that will drive 40 mph in the no passing zones THEN speed up to 55 or 60 in the passing zones. I dread getting behind those guys.

Yeah, that happens everywhere. The road is curvy so they drive slow. It straightens out, so they drive fast, which happens to be where the passing lanes are.

 

[timbatrader]

I grew up in the country and that's where I learned how to drive. I drove predictably like a teenage male, and everyone on the road was too slow for me. Then I went off to the military, city driving in places across the country and the world. After I got out I lived in the city for about 7 years and then moved back to the country.

Everyone here still drives too slow for me.

...correction... 1 in 10 drives too slow, and therefore everyone on the road for half a mile behind them must also drive too slow.

My elders repeatedly told me (and nearly had me convinced) that as I got older I would outgrow the "need for speed." I think I'm old enough now (34) that if that were true, it would have happened already.

I commute 45 miles every morning and 45 miles back every evening, to my job in the city. If I leave at 4am before anyone is on the road, I can make the drive in 45 minutes. If I wait until 7, it takes an hour and a half or more, and this is NOT because of traffic in the city; at least not in the greatest part. It's mostly because someone out here in my rural community drives like they have no destination, no expected ETA, no purpose in life, or some combination thereof. Or maybe they're hobbyist highway safety vigilantes with nothing better to do after they wake up, than to get out on the two-lane blacktop and enforce their own arbitrary speed limit.

They don't merely drive 55 in a 60 zone; no, they drive 50, then 60, then 50, then 60, then 50. The next few cars behind them slow down to maybe 45, then speed up to maybe 65 to catch up. This oscillation is amplified more and more the longer their line of rolling captives grows. In the case of a half mile parade, the people at the end of the line are likely coming to a complete stop, followed by a gas-guzzling acceleration to 80mph, followed by a dangerous rapid deceleration to zero again.

Why? What is it about living in the country that leads to lethargic driving? Is this a side effect of spending more time in the seat of a tractor than in the seat of a passenger vehicle? Will this happen to me if I stay until I retire?

I think the Answer here is to buy yourself a nice little commuter motorbike very easy to safely pass a long line of cars on a small motor bike I find if I'm riding and I pull up behind a car they pull over for me and as you work your way up the line each car sees what is happening and when you get to them they pull over as well

 

[coobie]

I grew up in the country and that's where I learned how to drive. I drove predictably like a teenage male, and everyone on the road was too slow for me. Then I went off to the military, city driving in places across the country and the world. After I got out I lived in the city for about 7 years and then moved back to the country.

Everyone here still drives too slow for me.

...correction... 1 in 10 drives too slow, and therefore everyone on the road for half a mile behind them must also drive too slow.

My elders repeatedly told me (and nearly had me convinced) that as I got older I would outgrow the "need for speed." I think I'm old enough now (34) that if that were true, it would have happened already.

I commute 45 miles every morning and 45 miles back every evening, to my job in the city. If I leave at 4am before anyone is on the road, I can make the drive in 45 minutes. If I wait until 7, it takes an hour and a half or more, and this is NOT because of traffic in the city; at least not in the greatest part. It's mostly because someone out here in my rural community drives like they have no destination, no expected ETA, no purpose in life, or some combination thereof. Or maybe they're hobbyist highway safety vigilantes with nothing better to do after they wake up, than to get out on the two-lane blacktop and enforce their own arbitrary speed limit.

They don't merely drive 55 in a 60 zone; no, they drive 50, then 60, then 50, then 60, then 50. The next few cars behind them slow down to maybe 45, then speed up to maybe 65 to catch up. This oscillation is amplified more and more the longer their line of rolling captives grows. In the case of a half mile parade, the people at the end of the line are likely coming to a complete stop, followed by a gas-guzzling acceleration to 80mph, followed by a dangerous rapid deceleration to zero again.

Why? What is it about living in the country that leads to lethargic driving? Is this a side effect of spending more time in the seat of a tractor than in the seat of a passenger vehicle? Will this happen to me if I stay until I retire?

Just talk on your cell phone while driving that will slow you down like the rest of the road rage folks.

 

[Jstpssng]

Yeah, that happens everywhere. The road is curvy so they drive slow. It straightens out, so they drive fast, which happens to be where the passing lanes are.

Sometimes that's the case. Other times people do it just because they can. A former coworker admitted that she does it intentionally... I don't know why. I told recently of getting behind a line of cars on my way home after being away all week, all traveling at 40-45 in a 55... when we came to the only truck lane in 60 miles I went around all of them. only to have the guy in front straddle both lanes to keep me from getting by. On another occasion I got behind a pokey driver, but when we got to a long truck lane they sped up so that I couldn't get past. I was doing 75 and couldn't catch them. As soon as that lane ended, they slowed so fast I had to hit the brakes. Others will come up behind you in the passing lane, only to speed up and go by just as it switches back to two lanes.

It's against the law in many states to speed up when somebody is trying to pass, but that would be a hard law to enforce. I try to pay attention when people are behind me and run a steady speed, maintaining it when the opportunity to go by me arises. They may be speeding, yet it's not my job to enforce the laws.

 

[Frankenkubota]

That痴 nothing. I lived in Pinehurst NC for 7 years, it痴 like a retirement home. It痴 not rural but the posted speed limit is 25 mph EVERYWHERE. The average age seems to be 100 years old and by far the blue hairs are the primary drivers.

Like it or not, well off white folks from the metro NE move down to Pinehurst after Mr retires, he loves golf, she don稚 care. He lasts maybe 5-10 years, if he痴 lucky, health wanes, Mrs takes over ALL the driving. It痴 amazing the things I致e seen.

A friend said women are like horses. They are afraid of anything that moves, and afraid of anything that doesn稚 move. Fear makes for sketchy driving at best.

I lived in Scottsdale AZ and Florida and those are similar but not quite as intense.

In Cali if you got I think 5 cars behind you you are supposed to pull over to let them pass. Ha, yea right.

I致e lived in the country off and on for 40 years. The thing that scares me the most is rural drivers seem to think that clipping the apex or in NASCAR terms, cheating the turn, is ok. I learned a long time ago if I知 approaching a bend in a rural hwy I can expect someones F150 to be using 1/3 of my lane.

If you are trying understand behavior, start with this. We are a me culture, not a we culture. The guy going 40 in a 55 couldn稚 care less about you, nor you he.