Woo Hoo! Austin TX is number 9! I would have never guessed but my job starts so early that the traffic lights on Hwy 620 are still flashing yellow and I nearly am the traffic. Rush hour going home is not bad, the real jackasses come out at night, the bar and night club traffic. I make a point out of staying out of town during SXSW and when F-1 is in town.
That’s on the freeways. You can get places faster if you stay on the surface streets and you don’t have to drive through bad areas after dark. When I used to travel there way too much for work, I’d stay near LAX. I could get to Santa Monica on surface streets way faster than local friends that would take the 405 at afternoon drive time.
I’ve driven in that city too often. On residential streets, 50 mph was not enough
for many, especially in south L.A. School children were speed bumps to them. Bad areas?
Where? Okay, L.A. is not Detroit. People say, “SF has bad areas too;” oh please…
I was warned to avoid south/central. LA.
I’ve never looked for any kind of list for these stats but I’m going out on a limb here and stating that Philly would rank near the top. Has to…
I have stories that would either turn you white as a sheet or make you laugh in disbelief. If you dont live around here you really have no idea the mayhem going on…
No reason to warn anyone. L.A. is not “bad” compared to Rochester, NY, I attended school in that city, and Rochester can get scary. L.A. was just a stroll in the park for me, but I was always indoors at night. Some people just see a Hispanic, and call it a “Bad” area, I wonder about the school grades of these people. This was also in SF; they don’t know, but they see Hispanics to label it as “Bad.” Take a Sociology class people; that is, if you’re accepted in a university, or college. I’ve lived all over this country, the areas I avoid are in southern states, too much fattening food in those cities.
1 Like
@Manolito, I’m in Sacramento as well, and I would suggest it might depend upon which suburbia you pretty much stick to. I went through one intersection in South Sac. last week and watched 4 cars in a row turn left against the same red light. Pretty much on a daily basis I see people turning from through lanes, going straight from turn lanes, bump drafting (I mean tailgating), speeding (i.e., 40 - 50 in a 25 zone, 50-60 in a 45 zone, 70-75 on the freeway when towing), etc. I fully believe Sacramento deserves its spot on the list. To all, wherever your are, my best suggestion would be to invest in a dual dash camera, so you can at least have something to show the police when it all goes bad.
1 Like
Wow! They actually give you FIVE whole FEET! Wish our south Florida tailgaters gave that much 
2 Likes
On our bumpers when we are slightly exceeding the speed limit. I have previously commented on this but it seems to only get worse. I use NASCAR pit road rules and usually drive 5mph over the speed limit usually matching the traffic flow speed which is considered legal in my state. Driving 60 mph in a 55mph (state speed limit for rural roads and state highways unless otherwise posted) is mostly OK. I frequently experience someone tailgating (mostly giant pickups and SUVS). On a 2 lane where I can see no oncoming traffic for nearly a mile. I will pull to the right, slow down, and even lower my window and hand signal them to pass. They are obviously not interested in passing. They want to force me to speed up. I suspect if I accelerated to 90mph they would still tailgate! I got an excellent grade in Psych 101 where a need for control was classified as a neurological disorder. In my opinion displaying this with a very likely possibility of killing your victim and yourself would be classified as an actual mental illness.
4 Likes
I moved from jobless Oregon in January 1974 to San Gabriel, CA. Working for Toro Irrigation. We did residential and commercial/government. In the Summer of that year we did a new municipal project in Watts. A 16ft chain link fence topped by coiled barbed wire had been installed with 6 Doberman guard dogs inside. The next morning the 6 dead dogs were hanging on the inside of the fence! The project was a multi purpose community center. LAPD had a cruiser with 2 officers guarding the gate. Us 3 white boys were ready for lunch at the McDonalds across the street. The officers advised against leaving the compound. We assured them we would be fine and were. With the exception of the officers we were the only whites as far as we could see. We had our lunch and returned to work with no problems whatsoever. We finished the job 3 days later and had lunch at McDonalds every day. We chatted with the employees and some customers. When the fear and suspicion is removed most people can just be people. It was July. It may have been different the next month on the 10th year anniversary of the Watts riots.
2 Likes
When driving, and especially while operating a motorcycle, choose your battles carefully when it comes to encountering aggressive drivers.
I’ve always found that arguing with or fighting with jerks or dumb-axx people is counterproductive and usually nothing good will come from it.
Call in the license plate number and a description and let the police handle it.
CSA
2 Likes
I think I encountered a little road rage yesterday on the Washington DC beltway. I was driving at 55 in the right most lane. Someone merged behind me. I was going at a constant speed with cruise control so I didn’t adjust my speed to beat him to the merge. He then starts having his hands at me. Since I thought everything was OK I tried to see if I recognized the driver. I did a small wave and he started flashing his lights at me. I thought he was trying to warn me that there was a problem with my car. I stopped on the shoulder. Everything looked OK. 10 miles later I stopped at a rest stop and asked someone to look at the rear of my car, no problem. Later my sister-in-law followed me at 50MPH and she saw no problems. I guess this other driver was pissed that I didn’t slow down to 45MPH to let him in at the merge or he was annoyed that I wasn’t driving at 65MPH in a 55 zone in the right most lane (I do drive faster if I’m in a lane to the left).
1 Like
I used to ride a Firecracker Red Kawasaki GPZ750 - loved that bike, right up until a young mother with two screaming kids in a Chevette came within 6" of removing my left leg. Stepped off without a scratch, and still enjoyed it when traffic was light. My skin would crawl when the cars started to bunch up, so I sold it shortly afterwards. When my son started riding a Buell Firebolt I told him to ride like everyone was trying to kill him - like a fighter pilot. Don’t give them a clean firing solution, as the submariners are fond of saying.
1 Like
Yep, the trick to survive riding a motorcycle is to pretend everyone is trying to kill you, but they have to make it look like an accident or they won’t get any points for killing you. That way, when someone does something stupid that puts you at risk, you’re not surprised.
I stopped riding in 1993. I got tired of feeling like “Grandfather” in ‘Little Big Man’ when he was “invisible”! Traffic congestion, stop sign/red light runners, surprise lane changers, and jacked-up 4X4 pickup trucks had noticeably increased. For three years I had limited my riding to fair weather “fun rides” on the many two lane blacktop country roads available. I was approaching a side road intersection when a giant motorhome stopped at the stop sign. I was already braking when the elderly male driver looked directly at me and my bright headlight and of course proceeded to turn in my direction onto the highway!!! That was enough for me.
1 Like
… and then we have the people who are stopped on side roads for an extended period of time while there is no oncoming traffic, but then they decide to pull-out directly in front of traffic on the main road.
2 Likes
Not just motorcycles. My daily driver is a 2014 white CRV. I’ve given up counting the number of times oncoming traffic has abruptly turned left in front of me, close enough to force me to hit the brakes. Maybe the previous owner of the car installed a Romulan Cloaking Device…
1 Like
Have you done anything to make the car more visible? What color is it?
This is why I drive with my headlights and tail lights on, day or night. This is why, when I ride a motorcycle, I wear reflective gear and high contrast colors. This is why I put DOT truck tape on my utility trailer and my motorcycle’s saddlebags. (Don’t worry, it was discrete and worked into the design of hard saddlebags, so it was not an eyesore.)
1 Like
It’s a white car. (We’re in central MD. There’s no snow on the ground for the car to blend in with, nor has there been for some while.). Headlights are on at dusk/ dawn, and in inclement weather (rain, fog). The car has DRLs, but I’m not terribly impressed with them.
Traffic is so bad that I think people just lose their patience and do foolish things.
1 Like