Driving habits of rural folk

[Jim Nelson]

I had an old friend who started driving back in the '30's and spent a considerable amount of time as a truck driver. When I knew him he was in his late 60's and up into his 80's a pretty aggressive but very safe driver. He always cussed people for not watching traffic well ahead of themselves and being ready when things happened. He also said that the worst thing ever put on cars is the elevated stop lamp because people would see someone way ahead of them touch the brakes and they would hit their brakes. I think in most cases the higher brake lights are a good thing but at the same time I've seen what he complained about an awful lot of times also. In Ca. traffic on the freeways this is particularly true. Another strange phenomenon out here is traffic will slow to a stop and pretty soon get going again with no obvious reason for the slow down.

I'm just glad I'm an old guy and very seldom have to go anywhere and my wife drives when we do have to go.

 

[Sigarms]

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?

You and I are alot alike.

Anyone driving below 5MPH per the posted limit is good IMO.

I use to drive the beltway around DC two different times in my life. First time, I was scared crapless. Second time, I had it figured out, drive like a butthole with a car you don't care about, and all your anxiety will go away.

Today I was out with a walk with my wife and dog. Rural road, two lanes 5 miles, the only thing the road does is connect two other roads going into a very rural town. Local Baptist church let out (only church on the road). Some people drive "respectful" when they see two people walking a dog on a rural road, and some other drive like idiots.

Guess my only point is that it doesn't matter where you are born and learn how to drive. People will always be kind and courteous and some will drive like idiots.

There is a place down from my house about 300 yards where cars will always end up in a ditch from time to time. Coming home a couple years ago, a car was in that ditch (driving to fast not knowing what was coming up per a curve in the road). It was a couple I knew from a church I attended some years ago. Their son went around the bend to fast and flipped his car). State trooper was there. They were "local, born and bred" and still their son drove to fast on a "perfect" road.

Being a relocated yankee, the obvious is that southerners don't know how to drive in the snow. News flash... doesn't matter if you were born in Maine or Florida, people don't know how to drive in the snow unless they make a mistake and learn never to repeat what they did in the first place (and I've had an accident in the snow and I learned from my mistake about 30 years ago).

When I get behind someone driving too slow, I just need to remind myself that I have no clue why they are doing so on a rural road.

Now, people driving 50MPH in the left lane on a major highway is another story....LOL

 

[strantor]

Guess my only point is that it doesn't matter where you are born and learn how to drive. People will always be kind and courteous and some will drive like idiots.

I suppose that's true for this country anyway. I lived for several months in Manila, Philippines, and I do not think courtesy is any component of driving there, in anyone's mind. When you show courtesy there, people get confused, probably assume you're crazy, and treat the situation like a standoff with a rabid dog. I almost died every time I went out LOL. Once I nearly had a head-on collision with a fully loaded passenger bus; the bus was driving at night with its headlights off, in the oncoming (my) lane, passing a line of stopped cars.

 

[MossRoad]

I use CC on open limited access highways ONLY. Never anywhere else. Most roads I drive are too rural to use it, the rest are in small cities.

One thing that always annoyed me was leapfrogging semis. I'm on CC and maintaining speed within 5MPH while they slow and drop a gear or six climbing hills then fly downhill. I can recall passing and being passed by the same truck a dozen times over 15 or 20 miles. Got so I'd watch for it coming up behind me and move left so it didn't have to.

If you'd bump your speed up by 1mph or down by 1mph, very soon you will either see the truck fade in your mirror forever, or clear the horizon forever and not have to keep switching lanes. It drives me nuts when I see people pull into the left lane to go slower than other traffic.

 

[dodge man]

Anybody here ever have someone they knew admit they were a bad driver?

 

[Sigarms]

I suppose that's true for this country anyway. I lived for several months in Manila, Philippines, and I do not think courtesy is any component of driving there, in anyone's mind. When you show courtesy there, people get confused, probably assume you're crazy, and treat the situation like a standoff with a rabid dog.

The question becomes, how does that type of driving become the "norm"?

But you're right, it may depend on the country per how people drive on having "manners".

That could be a stipend for some academic intellectual for that field alone...

 

[ruffdog]

Anybody here ever have someone they knew admit they were a bad driver?

Yeah, my sister.....at least she was honest.

 

[strantor]

The question becomes, how does that type of driving become the "norm"?

But you're right, it may depend on the country per how people drive on having "manners".

That could be a stipend for some academic intellectual for that field alone...

I think it became the norm there due to congestion. "Dog eat dog." They say "when in Rome, do as the Romans do," well I quickly had to adapt to their way of driving. You have to drive with no regard for your vehicle or anything (anyone) else. Otherwise you'll just sit there all day as people cut in front of you, (maybe) getting an opportunity to advance a few inches every half hour.

I do not think it's a symptom of the nature of people's hearts there. I found the people just as nice as anywhere else, but behind the wheel of a vehicle it's a different story. Ruthless, high stakes, no room for courtesy.

 

[strantor]

Anybody here ever have someone they knew admit they were a bad driver?

I admit I used to be. If I still am, it's something I'm not aware of. No accidents or traffic citations for over a decade. My insurance is very affordable now.

My wife admits that she is a bad driver. So does my sister.

 

[ovrszd]

I'm beginning to think you are the problem driver in your area. And it wouldn't matter where you are, you'd be the problem driver. Hopefully you'll grow out of it. We'll see in 30 years.