Public Service Announcement

[midnight Target]

I have driven all over the Country, and I have seen idiots everywhere. BUT! I would rather be driving 75 next to a California driver on the interstate than just about anyone else. Here is the breakdown as I have experienced it from worst to best:

Worst: New England - anywhere in New England. Once saw 30 cars run a stop sign....all in a row! Had a guy in Hartford turn right into me FROM THE LEFT LANE! He missed his turn!

Better: South - Depends on the area

Even better - Far West - Texas / Arizona / Nevada all pretty good and no traffic to speak of in most areas.

Best Drivers: California - We grow up in a car fer kris sakes!

Nicest Drivers: Northwest - In my experience.

[milnko]

I was in the Navy for 8 years, and have seen much of Europe (England, Scotland, Italy, France, Spain, Germany).

I lived in Jacksonville, Florida for 5 years, Seattle, Washington for 5 years, and lived in L.A. California for 5 years before moving to the boonies of Oregon.

My wife sees me curse and spit spiteful things at other drivers when I have to drive into Portland, I guess after Seattle and L.A. I've become hyper-sensitive to the stupidity of motorists.

Many of my relatives and friends say I have changed into a *redneck since moving out here, and my response is "If I'm a redneck, it's by choice, not by birth."

I'm totally content drivin' down lil' HWY 30 west of Longview Washington.

It's 15 miles from my home to work... it takes 20 minutes to do the drive.

*Note: Redneck defined as a Flannel shirt wearin',  heavy beard grownin', fishin', and huntin', suspender wearin' good ol' boy)

[Nifty]

hehe, I agree with that New England comment.  flew up to Boston a few years back.   I was scared of 'em all!  Needless to say, out of fear our driving became limited to going from the hotel to the nearest T terminal and up to New Hampshire to visit some friends.

I-75 & 85 in Atlanta ain't fun either at rush hour.

I found Houston to not be as bad as I thought it would be the few times I've visited.

[StSanta]

How many people lose their lives in the US as a result of car accidents? 50 000 a year?

Getting a driver's license in the US is dirt easy, and just as cheap. i wonder id this has something to do with it, or whether it might be attributed to Americans really not liking the safety belt.

I dunno. The US stats on people killed in car accidents still astound me.

[capt. apathy]

while the ease of getting a licence is probably one reason for the high accident rate here another is the distance (at least in the western us) many of us travel to get to work or wherever, most major citys are several hundred miles apart.  we are very spread out here.
 
while my drive isn't typical it's not rare either. i drive over 600 miles per week and i've had jobs where i've driven double that

[Tuomio]

Here in Finland we have long distances too, but the new cars, car owning and car driving (gasoline tax is 75%, spare parts have 22% tax, etc.) is taxed beyond belief, so you cant reasonably drive over ~60km per day. If you dont want to use your daily salary for the fun of driving to work, that is....
Thats why we have 15% unemployment rate, people can only go to the job next door because of the fediddleing taxing of car ownership.
Did i mention the crappy roads? You dont even notice the difference when coming from soviet roads to Finnish roads. About 2% of the tax income from cars go back to road improvements etc. Even thinking this BS gets me soo angry..

Off topic? naaah..