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Are Utah drivers any worse than other drivers?

Are Utah drivers any worse than other drivers

  • Yes

    Votes: 7 36.8%

  • No

    Votes: 8 42.1%

  • Only when they're out of cheese

    Votes: 4 21.1%
  • Total voters
    19
Log, well since I can't rep you just wanted to make a point to say.... I think I love you.

Every single one of those I see everyday (multiple times) and have become pet peeves of mine and I make a horrible passenger because of it because I'll either let out uncontrolled sighs or make snide comments the whole time.

Also those same mini-vans/soccer moms can all die a fiery death *yes I'm joking kind of* I say that knowing my mom used to drive a mini van. Along with what you said, have you noticed that if your unfortunate enough to have to be by or behind them on the freeway all the way to the neighborhoods a lot of them speed through the 25mph neighborhoods. A bit ironic the reason you have a mini van is kids and the reason the speed limit is low is kids occupy neighborhoods and yet your speeding through them.
*Yes neighborhoods are the only place I wont speed well more then 3-4mph over anyway*
 
I think of myself as a defensively aggressive driver. I rarely go less than 10 over the speed limit. I am one that will change lanes to be able to go 2 MPH faster than the lane I am going in (I don't weave back and forth). It drives me batty when people are in the far left lane going slower than everybody else. I don't tailgate, but I let someone know they are holding me up. I have no hesitation about crossing the double white line to get into the car pool lane to get around somebody. I will swear somebody up one side and down another if they cut me off, especially when there's nobody behind me for a half mile. In my 17 years of driving legally, I've had two tickets: one when I was 17 for speeding, and one earlier this year when I hit a puddle of standing water on the freeway and spun out (taking no one else with me).
 
Archie Moses said:
You got a ticket for hitting a puddle? What a douche. ;)
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I know right? The problem was I fishtailed and eventually spun all the way around before hitting the concrete barrier. I would have just flipped around and driven off, but there was a Highway Patrolman about a half mile behind me. He got to me before I could make sure I was able to drive off.
 
catratcho said:
I know right? The problem was I fishtailed and eventually spun all the way around before hitting the concrete barrier. I would have just flipped around and driven off, but there was a Highway Patrolman about a half mile behind me. He got to me before I could make sure I was able to drive off.
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Why was there a ticket issued though?
 
catratcho said:
I think of myself as a defensively aggressive driver. I rarely go less than 10 over the speed limit. I am one that will change lanes to be able to go 2 MPH faster than the lane I am going in (I don't weave back and forth). It drives me batty when people are in the far left lane going slower than everybody else. I don't tailgate, but I let someone know they are holding me up. I have no hesitation about crossing the double white line to get into the car pool lane to get around somebody. I will swear somebody up one side and down another if they cut me off, especially when there's nobody behind me for a half mile. In my 17 years of driving legally, I've had two tickets: one when I was 17 for speeding, and one earlier this year when I hit a puddle of standing water on the freeway and spun out (taking no one else with me).
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I hate those double white lines, liked it better years ago before they added that, I often want to cross them but rarely let myself, guess I abide by all or most of the traffic laws other then the speed limit signs and stop signs when it's obvious no ones coming (I don't blow by any stop sign and will slow down to 1-2mph).
 
Archie Moses said:
Why was there a ticket issued though?
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I'd guess it would be wreckless driving? Under driving faster then weather conditions allow or something along those lines.

When I had my 91Mustang (interceptor) back in 1999 for Christmas I was driving from CO back to UT, going through WY I was fish tailing on black ice so I slowly was slowing down and so diesel trcks started to pass me and the wind force blew me off the road I did just short of a 720 into the dirt dividing the east and west bound traffic and I didn't get a ticket.
 
I've been in Salt Lake for 3 years now. I grew up in Reno. I usually drive with the flow. When I was in Reno that meant I went 0-5mph over the speed limit. In Utah it means I go 10-15 mph over.

It's crazy how fast people drive on I-15.


I've driven in TX and PA. In PA people were a lot more aggressive and I had to change the way I drove. In TX, people would let me merge and were friendlier.
 
I've lived in 7 locations since getting my driver's license: Maryland, Provo, Germany, California, different part of Maryland, Wisconsin, Orem. And I've driven in countless other locations (too many to list). Utah drivers have been the worst of any of those places.

The most egregious offenses have already been mentioned: not letting people merge, not using turn signals, and aggressive driving.
 
San Francisco drivers are vicious and impatient. Parking there is a pain in the *** too. Utah drivers > San Fran drivers, IMO...but we're not that much better. Lately, I've noticed that a lot of the drivers here I get frustrated with turn out to be Asian. :rolleyes: Yay for stereotypes! :D (I'm an EXCELLENT driver, though!)
 
LogGrad98 said:
I am sure that Utah drivers are no worse than other states, but there are a few things I see more in Utah than any other state I have lived or driven in (close to all of the lower 48, the driving part at least, lived in 8).

First, the "you can merge in front of me when you pry that piece of asphalt from my cold dead fingers" attitude. I get this the very most from soccer moms in vans. Honestly, lady, eventually all of the 15 cars backed up behind me will have to merge, and it won't make you late to the primary function if you let one car in front of you. Same goes for lane changes. I came around a lady in a van once on the freeway and signaled to move over so I could get to my exit. I had plenty of time and space (other than her van maybe another 4 cars in sight). I was a good 2 car-lengths ahead of her when I signaled. She shot forward and closed that gap fast and glared at me as I slowed down to drop behind her to get to the exit. Then she promptly slowed back down to the speed she was going before so I had to hit my breaks.

Second, the truck thing (already mentioned). It blows me away how all logic, reason, and driving skill drops completely out of some people's brains when they get behind the wheel of a 20 foot high truck. Apparently the turn signal is broken in every truck in Utah, I can't think of the last time I saw one actually signal on the freeway before drifting across 2 lanes of traffic nearly clipping the tail-lights of the cars in front of them. Really, if you are coming up on my in the middle lane of the freeway, and I am going 10 over the speed limit already, you can change lanes ANY TIME IN THE ENTIRE HALF MILE you covered to reach my position. But no, they all wait until they have to scrape paint off your fender to slide by you. These are also the prime offenders of my third Utah driver gripe.

Third, turn signals in Utah are all stuck or broken and Utah drivers have no idea how to make a left turn. I kind of figured out from my experience in my "first" section above why they don't signal. If you do, you alert the other drivers to your intentions so they have time to thwart your evil attempts to wrest their personal asphalt away from them. You *******!! The left-turn thing I used to attribute to old people, now I think people are just stupid. It seems like every time someone turns left into a street with 2 lanes they turn into the far right lane, which is illegal. Often they do this, then move back to the left lane, without signaling of course. One of the scariest experiences I have ever had on the road was just this scenario. I was in Ogden turning from Washington onto 12th street (turning right). I had green and there was not much traffic. As I made my turn a huge Ford barreled through the intersection, turning wide left, blaring his horn as he nearly took off the front of my car (he did actually hit me). In fact he almost hit the curb he turned so far to the right lane. He actually stopped, which shocked me, then proceeded to swear at me for 10 minutes while we waited for the cop to show up, telling me how stupid I was that I couldn't see that he was turning. Three witnesses stopped with us and, of course, the guy got a ticket, and freaked out about it.

Yes, everywhere you can find bad drivers. I just find the things listed above as egregious in terms of safety, driver knowledge, and sheer arrogance/stupidity and rarely have I seen them in such abundance as in Utah.

[/venting]
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I like your reasons. I will say however that #1 is the cause of #3. If you signal in Utah your gap gets taken by the idiots who don't want you in front of them. So to combat this people change lanes without signaling thereby eliminating the chance for these morons to prevent your lane change.
 
Gameface said:
I do, however, think driving skills have gone way down hill over the last 10 years and I think the reason why is because so many people are using their cell phones while they drive. Just talking on a cell phone impairs people to the same degree as someone with a BAC of 0.14, almost twice the legal limit as far as alcohol goes. So, in essence, we're driving around with a bunch of impaired drivers.
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It is ridiculous how many people drive while talking on the cell phone. I sat out on my porch one day and was a little bit shocked with how many drivers (mostly women) went by that were on their cell phones.

Gameface said:
The rolling road block is alive and well in Utah. That is one thing I think is worse here than most other places.
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It is called the double or triple idiot formation.
 
gregbroncs said:
I like your reasons. I will say however that #1 is the cause of #3. If you signal in Utah your gap gets taken by the idiots who don't want you in front of them. So to combat this people change lanes without signaling thereby eliminating the chance for these morons to prevent your lane change.
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I'm a stickler when it comes to signaling. I even caught myself signaling when I went around a curve once.
 
Millsapa said:
I'm a stickler when it comes to signaling. I even caught myself signaling when I went around a curve once.
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I always signal to turn. I am less inclined while trying to change lanes in rush hour traffic. Especially if I'm in a hurry to get over. Too many times I've had people speed up to block me. Why should I let them know what I intend? :)
 
I can't speak for all places, but certainly the drivers in the Eastern Townships of Quebec and NW Washington state are much better than the ones in Utah. Night and day.
 
I've never had a person zoom up and not let me get over. That is a pretty dick move, and I doubt there are many people who would consciously do that. My guess is that those people were:
A) Asian.
B) Women.
C) 70+ Years old.
D) All of the above.
They probably didn't even realize that's what was happening.

My biggest gripe is people who don't get what a fast lane is. It's for going fast. If someone passes you on the right, YOU'RE IN THE WRONG LANE. My favorite thing to do is tap my rearview mirror as I drive by them on the right, or squeeze my face up into the most retarded looking position possible and pretend to stab myself in the chest. Both are equally entertaining and don't involve my middle finger or cursing.
 
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