As some of you know and most do not care, I have been traveling lately. Most recently we took a trip to the great land of Up North.
As with all travel, I learned quite a few things, but maybe the most shocking was that people up there – at least in the big city where we were – know how to drive.
That led me to think about my driving adventures and eventually to rank cities where I have driven.
Pittsburg, Pennsylvania was great. Drivers know how to merge. They do not tailgate. They obey posted speed limits and other roadway labels. They were kind and forgiving, perhaps recognizing from my out of state tag that I was not a local and did not know my way around. But overall, courteous and I would rate them with an A grade.
Other cities were nearly as good, including Cincinnati, Ohio and Louisville, Kentucky.
Let’s look at the other end of the spectrum.
Drivers in Pensacola, Florida, my hometown, are poor at best. They drive too fast, ignore speed limits and other things like ‘no U turn’ and ‘left lane must turn’ and overall drive like entitled jerks.
I have driven in Houston several times and Dallas a time or two. Other than speed, they were generally all right places to drive, you just have to expect vehicles to weave in and out of traffic, even on smaller arteries.
Casper, Wyoming is one of those places I dread driving through. Not only does everyone drive too fast, they often speed in semi-trucks and change lanes with gay abandon. They are coming over whether there is room or not, and they will make room with their might.
In Salt Lake City, the drivers don’t seem to care if you are driving a big rig, or in our case, a bigger rig. I went through there pulling a gooseneck trailer loaded with horses, which adds considerable weight and requires much greater stopping space and time. But many of those drivers thought nothing of dropping in front of us, at 80 miles per hour, then suddenly braking for traffic and expecting us to be able to do the same. Luckily we did not hit anyone, but it required us to slow significantly, which put us in danger of being hit from behind by other drivers doing the same thing as the ones who had dropped in front of us and caused us to slow traffic in the first place. I won’t route through SLC again, instead taking a circuitous route around the town.
But in my estimation, the absolute worst drivers are right here in Oklahoma City. This is backed up by a No. 10 ranking on the list of most highway deaths. I am sure when adjusted for population, that rank would climb significantly. LA, of course, has the highest.
But in OKC, the drivers think nothing of driving more than 80 miles per hour in a 70 (or 60) mph zone. They absolutely do not know how to merge, instead fling themselves into traffic and expect the oncoming vehicles to yield to them rather than the other way around. No concept of speeding up or slowing to easily meld into the stream of oncoming cars. Just jump out there, blunt as bricks.
The standard practice is to jump on the accelerator, floor it, then slam on the brakes in the next block, or if it is on the interstate or turnpike, when the traffic ahead of them slows or stops. Change lanes without warning or looking, just jerk it over there.
I understand the roads are not in perfect shape, and I also understand that we all have places to go and we’re in a hurry to get there. But for the love of Pete, slow the truck down and give a rat’s patootie about the people who are sharing your road. They have places to go, too, and everyone wants to get out of the daily commute alive. It isn’t that hard, folks.