Driving habits of rural folk

[jaxs]

Thatç—´ nothing. I lived in Pinehurst NC for 7 years, itç—´ like a retirement home. Itç—´ 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.
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With that kind of life expectancy,they must be doing something right. Sound's like a safe place to live.

 

[Gem99ultra]

When I was about your age I moved from Co. to Ca. for the ability to work year round in construction and more money. I took one look at the housing tracts near the cities where most of the construction work was and said no thanks. My wife agreed so we got a place out in the sticks and commuted. In Ca. it's not the country folks but the number of folks out there. For the majority of the jobs I worked It was only an hours drive in low traffic times but on work days it was a nightmare. I had to leave home between 3:30 & 4:00 am to start at 7:00 am. this meant that I sat around for 1 1/2 - 2 hrs to start work. If I waited til 5:00 am to leave I would get to the job between 8:30 & 9:00 am which doesn't go over very well with management. The drive home in the evenings was just a long 2 1/2 - 3 hr drive, no options.

Like someone else said you could move to town but I couldn't stand that and in the construction business if you move to town A to go to work the next job is in town B or C. Just the nature of the beast. All you can do is bite the bullet until you get to be an old phart like many of us and retire.

I visited LA on a m/c tour once. On the Interstate 5 morning traffic speed ran 0 to 70 to 0, constantly. I also had the pleasure of running over an extension ladder laying in the road while pulling my little m/c trailer. Yeah, we went airborne but somehow I managed to land on both wheels and never crashed.

However, compared to my home at the time in Houston, drivers in LA are simply totally crazy. They'd just as soon run into you, or over you, as to look at you. Now, however, living in rural mid-Georgia, I realized that Houston drivers are also crazy. Perhaps not quite as bad as in LA, but in either case, I don't want to be on the road with either one of them. In the whole of measurements though, neither can compete with drivers in Atlanta. I simply will not go there again - ever.

 

[LouNY]

A great many years ago when I lived in West Texas I went down to Houston for a job interview.
When I got to the interview location I went on in with the intention of just letting the receptionist know that I wouldn't be staying for the interview.
The people I was going to interview heard me and tried to get me to stay for the interview, we visited for awhile and I finally got it through to them that no way was I going to work or drive in that area and that was almost 40 years ago.
When I left it was the start of the evening rush and I ended up just driving up on the shoulder well off the road and just sitting and waiting for the traffic to slow down, I ended up pulling back on to the road around 7 pm as I recall.
Of course I was driving about the worst vehicle possible for down there, an old Scout 4 cylinder 3 speed.

 

[jaxs]

A great many years ago when I lived in West Texas I went down to Houston for a job interview.
When I got to the interview location I went on in with the intention of just letting the receptionist know that I wouldn't be staying for the interview.
The people I was going to interview heard me and tried to get me to stay for the interview, we visited for awhile and I finally got it through to them that no way was I going to work or drive in that area and that was almost 40 years ago.
When I left it was the start of the evening rush and I ended up just driving up on the shoulder well off the road and just sitting and waiting for the traffic to slow down, I ended up pulling back on to the road around 7 pm as I recall.
Of course I was driving about the worst vehicle possible for down there, an old Scout 4 cylinder 3 speed.

Driving that 3 speed,4 cyl Scout on the streets of Houston could be called "defenseless" driving. :laughing:

 

[daugen]

I live in the farm country of Eastern NC and not too far outside of the county seat, which is a very small city really. If I wait until 9am to go downtown, most of the time I can get all the way downtown and not get behind another car or truck. Simply marvelous. Here the speed limit is often 55 on two lanes that really should be 45, blind curves, lots of driveways, poor sight distance.
Like many of us I was a left lane type A over achiever for much of my life, always trying to maximize my drive and get there in the shortest period of time. When I retired, that all changed, like Lou I try to see what's behind houses, what kind of tractor they have, the goats in a pen, whatever. But if someone comes up behind me and there is no place to pass, I speed up to the limit so as not to be a traffic hog. I think it's all about courtesy, not my rights vs your rights. And safety too.

I use cruise control as much as possible, not only to get better gas mileage, which it absolutely will achieve except on the steepest hills, but also to avoid radar tickets. I set it usually at 5-7 mph over the limit because that satisfies most folks behind me, and keeps the tailgaters off my bumper. I absolutely hate tailgaters...and sometimes folks simply won't pass you in a passing zone because I guess they are scared of it. So they figure if they get up on your bumper, they will somehow make you speed up. All that does is make me put my four ways on and that usually works.
And sometimes I just look for a place to pull off and let them go by. I may be in the "right" but who wants to get in an accident with some fool?

At least once a week though some old guy in a pickup is going 40 mph up the two lane marked 55 with a long line of cars behind him. It's really aggravating and he clearly is just a bad driver with little situational awareness. We need to stay out of the left lane except while passing and try to accommodate others on the road. When I go back to PA and have to drive the Blue Route near Philadelphia, everyone is going 20-30 mph over the limit on windy four lanes. My only thought is these folks are nuts and all drive like they've had way too much coffee. So I just try to stay over in the right lane and let them go by.

 

[strantor]

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.

I see you've given up on calling it a suburb, but you still seem bent on insisting it isn't "country." Not sure why this means so much to you.

California is the nation's most populous state. Does that make it one giant city/suburb? Is there no room for country in California? You said Brazoria county is Texas' 28th most populous County. Does that make it one giant suburb? Is there no room for "country" here?

You do realize that the population of any geographic region is going to be clustered in its cities, leaving most of the land between "country?"

I've marked there I live with a yellow dot beneath the "O" in "Brazoria." The bulk of our population numbers come from the very northern edge which borders on Houston, and the port area to the south.





Maybe it would help if you answered my question about what qualifies an area as "country." My property borders a 2,000 acre ranch, there's nothing but rice and hay fields for miles around, we have bobcats, wild hogs, all kinds of poisonous snakes, deer, alligators, etc. Not sure what more it takes. Is living in total desolation, hundreds of miles from any human establishment the only thing that counts?

 

[ruffdog]

Interesting read....the OP at 34 is the same age that I was when EVERYONE was slower than I was on the roads. I had fast bikes that were modified to be dangerously fast and I would run them if I was not putting others in danger. I always respected other drivers and the speed they want to drive at. I was VERY lucky and survived through that period with all my body parts. Will the OP make it to the "slow age" where people are content to be alive and willing to enjoy it? Maybe, but maybe not. Not everyone does. I now drive in a manner that I hope to live a long life. I worked hard to make it to retirement and I don't want to throw it away by rushing into a accident. Oh, I would LOVE to get a bike on Road America or another track one more time, but, I sure don't drive on the street that way anymore. The roads don't belong to any one type of driver and we should all respect others way of driving too. Let's all live together.:drink:

 

[MossRoad]

Interesting read....the OP at 34 is the same age that I was when EVERYONE was slower than I was on the roads. I had fast bikes that were modified to be dangerously fast and I would run them if I was not putting others in danger. I always respected other drivers and the speed they want to drive at. I was VERY lucky and survived through that period with all my body parts. Will the OP make it to the "slow age" where people are content to be alive and willing to enjoy it? Maybe, but maybe not. Not everyone does. I now drive in a manner that I hope to live a long life. I worked hard to make it to retirement and I don't want to throw it away by rushing into a accident. Oh, I would LOVE to get a bike on Road America or another track one more time, but, I sure don't drive on the street that way anymore. The roads don't belong to any one type of driver and we should all respect others way of driving too. Let's all live together.:drink:

I agree.... now get out of my way. :laughing:

 

[Chilliwack Murray]

So many interesting viewpoints so far.

I live in a rural area about an hour out of the city and around here it’s the city tourists that hold up locals who are just trying to go about their business. They come out for their weekend drives in the country (or worse, bike rides) and drive below the posted speed, bike 3 abreast and go out of their way to make it difficult to pass. Don’t get me started on all the Harleys with straight pipes on Sunday mornings... I can only imagine what would happen if I drove though their neighbourhoods making that much noise every weekend.

I was a fast driver for a number of years when I started driving in the 80s and am not a slow driver but I’d say I take a measured approach - I wait when necessary for my safety and the safety of others but when things are clear I’m faster than maybe 80% of the other cars.

I just finished a 2700km (about 1700mile) trip for work through BC which is mostly 2 lane winding highway with occasional passing lanes. What drives me nutty though is the large percentage of people that drive below the speed limit though all the winding and single lane stretches only to drive 20, 30 Kmh above the speed limit where there is a passing lane. Driving a company vehicle I’m stuck behind these people endlessly and can’t pass at that speed when the opportunity arises. I get that they don’t want to go fast and that’s just fine by me but accept that others want to go the posted speed and let them by. I think for some it’s not even a conscious action.

 

[dodge man]

George Carlin said “everyone driving slower than me is an idiot and everyone driving faster is a maniac”. I think most people feel that way.

To the OP I don’t think most people are driving slow just to enforce their speed limit. In most cases that is how they drive.