Eastern U.S. vs Western U.S. drivers...??

Denser populations

Probably thought you had keeled over at the wheel and planned on checking on you AFTER he got parked...........nobody waits 90 seconds for a parking spot, they just keep circling until one opens up then GRAB it :B

After making 6 1/2 complete trips across US there are rude drivers everywhere.
Lots of good & courteous drivers...but the rude ones stick out.

Continue on your trip an ENJOY it.

Avoid the DC area if that stuff bothers you. This area has some of the worst drivers. I personally love the homesteaders... the people that drive in the left lane at whatever speed they want, with complete and total disregard for any other traffic that wants to get around. We drive to Florida almost every winter for a 2 week get away. Traffic between Baltimore and Richmond is some of the most ignorant drivers I have ever seen. Once you get close to Richmond, you tend to have a lot less people just cruising in the left lane at the same exact speed as the guy in the right lane.

Another one that I love is when you are waiting to turn left across traffic or pull out of a side street/parking lot. I love it when people speed up (to a red light none the less) to avoid letting you turn in front of them. They would rather hurry up and wait longer at the light then to have the common decency to let you make your turn in front of them. I will never understand this mentality...

Turn signals are rarely used, but be careful if you do use your turn signal to change lanes... the guy behind you will SPEED UP to avoid letting you in front of him. He was perfectly fine driving at whatever speed in whatever lane... but once you decide you want to drive in his lane... he ain't having it.

Merge lanes in other areas mean that traffic should be equitable and allow traffic to merge. In the DC area it is a challenge to see who can speed up to the closed portion of the lane fastest, then cut off as many people as possible... usually slamming on their brakes in the process, thus causing a chain reaction behind them.

Parking spots are "international waters" up here too. People park wherever they want, park across multiple spots, park in the fire lane, park in the loading zone in front of the grocery store, etc.

There are some great places on the east coast to visit, but you might need to take anti-anxiety medication to deal with the traffic...

bigred1cav wrote:
Denser populations

Maybe denser heads:)

LOL - you are in for a treat. Sorry the East Coast is living up to it's reputation. I sadly think, on a whole, that we are pretty rude here.... but some of us try. And then we lose our resolve and become pushy so that we can ever get A) to our destination and B) park.

example - on our first trip west of the Mississippi River this summer I was fumbling in my wallet for my cash. We planned a cash trip and I had divided the cash into different parts of my wallet for the day so I didn't open it up and show everyone a wad of cash (NY mentality). Before I could find it a nice older gentleman reached around me and PAID my Burger King bill! I nearly died from shame b/c he had just witnessed us pulling up in a quad cab Dodge 2500 with a new truck camper on it - so he knew we weren't broke. But he just figured that since he didn't see any cash in my wallet, that he would treat us to a $10 meal! My son kept asking "WHY did that strange man try and PAY our BILL?? Is he allowed to do something like that?" Made me realize how isolated we have become as a society in NY. You just don't see things like that on a regular basis.... sadly. So people are nicer and it shows in their actions and driving.

Do not drive slow and then "pull wide" when making a Right hand turn at a traffic light (when you are in a compact car and have no need to "swing wide"). Some moron behind you will take the hole shot and scoot around you on the left and cut you off right under the light... aaaaaand I know this because I actually did it once, with my DH in the car. He screamed, looked at me and stated, "I don't care if we eat dog food, we have to get you out of the city and back upstate before you become one of them!" LOL That was not my proudest moment and I still cringe to think about it.

But, yes, we did laugh about many driving situations that we encountered in other states that would have resulted in road rage in NY. That said, our state is very, very pretty in spots and worth a look.

City-style rude driving every where east of the Mississippi, even in the suburbs ... and often in the rural areas too.

At least west, we get rural drivers in rural areas. City-style rude driving still lives in the west tho. Try downtown SF, or LA ... or anywhere along Hwy 101... south of SF all the way to San Diego ... or Seattle!

Sad but true, there is a world of difference in standards once you cross the Appalachians. That is not to say that the west is lovely everywhere. Tacoma/Saettle can be testing & California really is a world all its own.

Old-Biscuit wrote:
Probably thought you had keeled over at the wheel and planned on checking on you AFTER he got parked...........nobody waits 90 seconds for a parking spot, they just keep circling until one opens up then GRAB it :B

After making 6 1/2 complete trips across US there are rude drivers everywhere.
Lots of good & courteous drivers...but the rude ones stick out.

Continue on your trip an ENJOY it.

So grab it even when there is a guy who obviously has been waiting for it? My dad taught me better than that.

1) There are all kinds of drivers everywhere. It is true, however, that certain behaviors predominate in a specific locality. Sometimes it is related to the laws - in some states, the person on the freeway has the right-of-way, in others it is the person merging.

2) Judging the East Coast by behavior in Florida is ... odd. Florida is the outlier on the East Coast in just about every category. Read a Carl Haiisen novel and imagine it set in New York. Impossible.

You're going to love New Jersey. :B