American Drivers Suck

[ogrowup]

They suck so bad, they redefine what sucks means.32,000 people die in car accidents every year. I really don't want to be one of them. I'm a rabid fan of the GT86, have DD heavily modded FRS. I am convinced of the following:

Most American drivers see nothing more than 30' in front of their car.

They have NO IDEA that other cars are around them.

Hands free phones are no less distracting than holding it in your hand.Everyone here is on the phone, all the time.

They sit in the left lane on roads with 65mph speed limit doing 58mph.I call it the "rolling roadblock". This results in a steady stream of cars passing them on the right and doing all kinds of crazy things just to get around them. This results in some very aggressive driving and a very dangerous environment.

They tailgate. A lot. Especially Suburbans.

When I taught my 17 year old son to drive the #1 advise I gave him was "Assume everyone is actively trying to kill you. Driving a car is the most dangerous thing you can do."

I Am Not Making This Up.The other night he was following me in his car and to my horror I watched some shitweasel pull out of a side road without slowing or even looking, and headed straight for my sons car. A massive T- Bone was inevitable. Fortunately, my son took evasive action and avoided what would have been a bad crash. As fortune would have it, I caught up to the guy at the next light and said to him, " Did you know you just cut off a car? You came within inches of hitting him. He said "Huh? No.Too Bad". I said that was my son in that car. He said "Good." ( Must Control Fist of Death...)

I asked my son about it and he said he could just tell the guy wasn't going to slow down, and that he wasn't looking at incoming traffic and he just knew he was going to pull out, so he was ready for it. That made me proud.

True Story, You Can't Make this Up: I was on a 65mph road, and pulled up behind an older pickup doing 55ish. I gave him a quick high beam blip to indicate I was in the passing lane behind him. He responded with slowing down AND turning on 2 very large and bright driving lights mounted to his rear bumper. If there was a D-Bag Hall of Fame, he'd have his own wing, along with the guy who almost hit my son.

We recently were able to drive on the German Autobon. Such disciplined drivers. Left lane= pass slower cars, then get the hell out of left lane. I would pass cars at 120mph, and couldn't get back into the right lane fast enough because I knew some big ass BMW was coming in hot. Never once saw a rolling roadblock,or any of the crap that US drivers do.

Most of the guys on this forum are pretty young and have not had the privilege of teaching their 17 year old how to drive. I would offer this to give them...Tyrian Lannister's advise to Daenerys Targaryen, " Are you afraid? You should be. You're in the great game now, and the great game's terrifying."

[mdm]

"Left lane= pass slower cars, then get the hell out of left lane"


Because they have laws that explicitly require doing that, as well as prohibit passing on the right.

In many US states, you are not required to get out of the left lane, and if you do, it's much less strict than in Germany (or Europe in general). And passing on the right is generally allowed on multilane highways.


So it's not only about the drivers, it's about the laws.




Buit I agree that most drivers lack even minimal situational awareness, they do not check mirrors before changing lanes (let alone peridocially just to know hat's going on around). They do not read signs.


On my way home, the right lane of a six-lane divided highway becomes right turn only (the highway is reduced to 4 lanes here). There is a gigantic sign saying exit only above that lane, about 1500 feet before the exit. And another other one after that. Still a lot of drivers realize they are in an exit lane only at the exit and cross through the gore area.

[Tcoat]

I have driven military vehicles all over the world. Americian drivers are no worse than anyplace else. In fact they are way better than some places even when at their worst. The legendary great European drivers are every bit as bad no matter how much people love to tell their tales of wonder.
What I love the most about American drivers is their total contempt of the law. Everybody complains about how bad the other drivers are but the second they get caught then the police are wrong, incompetent or just criminals robbing the poor innocent driving public to fill their overflowing coffers with more cash. "Damn all those other drivers suck. By the way what is the best radar detector I can buy so I can speed but avoid being caught".

[mav1178]

Sorry, it's painfully obvious OP has never driven in another country.

I go to Taiwan at least once or twice a year, here's pretty much what I see all the time:

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oLApJxvrP0"]Dash Cam Mania in Asia, Mostly in Taiwan, Real Road Accidents Captured on Camera - YouTube[/ame]

[guybo]

ogrowup, are you in Florida? This place has the worst driving of anyplace I have lived int he US. It's appalling and everything you mentioned I see every day and I drive upwards of 200 miles/day for work.

My oldest son is 16 and he's got his permit and I am scared shitless because of the shitweasles.

[ogrowup]

To clarify, and to be fair, I'm comparing US drivers to German, Danish and Swedish drivers. I believe they are exceptional. I have heard of the horror stories of traffic in Rome, I experienced automobile anarchy in Cairo, I hear China is no treat either. That said US drivers still suck.

[mav1178]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

What I love the most about American drivers is their total contempt of the law. Everybody complains about how bad the other drivers are but the second they get caught then the police are wrong, incompetent or just criminals robbing the poor innocent driving public to fill their overflowing coffers with more cash. "Damn all those other drivers suck. By the way what is the best radar detector I can buy so I can speed but avoid being caught".

Then you have people in parts of Asia who basically don't help injured parties in an accident, for fear of a liability lawsuit.

Yes, it's true.

[extrashaky]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

What I love the most about American drivers is their total contempt of the law. Everybody complains about how bad the other drivers are but the second they get caught then the police are wrong, incompetent or just criminals robbing the poor innocent driving public to fill their overflowing coffers with more cash. "Damn all those other drivers suck. By the way what is the best radar detector I can buy so I can speed but avoid being caught".

Sure thing. A lack of radar detectors would certainly prevent people from pulling out in front of other people, tailgating, changing lanes without looking, talking on their cellphones and generally driving like ****s. All those people I see doing those things on a daily basis while not speeding would surely stop all that if they didn't have radar detectors.

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by ogrowup

To clarify, and to be fair, I'm comparing US drivers to German, Danish and Swedish drivers. I believe they are exceptional. I have heard of the horror stories of traffic in Rome, I experienced automobile anarchy in Cairo, I hear China is no treat either. That said US drivers still suck.

Meh, drivers suck everywhere. The top countries treat driving more as a privilege than a right. We have lax standards and Mustangs.

http://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/c...ts/by-country/

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by extrashaky

Sure thing. A lack of radar detectors would certainly prevent people from pulling out in front of other people, tailgating, changing lanes without looking, talking on their cellphones and generally driving like ****s. All those people I see doing those things on a daily basis while not speeding would surely stop all that if they didn't have radar detectors.

That was in reference to the circumvention of the law in general not a statement that they cause accidents. Don't take my comments out of context and try to twist them to meet your needs. I am well aware of your stand on law enforcement and do not expect for one second that you will see the point I was making. All the things you just listed are other examples of the typical disrespect for basic laws and rules of the road and I bet you figure they should all have tickets but if you got one for speeding or sliding around a corner oh the horror.
Typical US driver attitude is "I am perfect it is all those other idiots that are the problem". Hate to break it to you but you probably do just as much dumb shit but you do see it so will never acknowledge it.

[mdm]

I have driven I several European countries, from Germany and Austria to Italy and Poland. And in several US states. For me, the biggest difference is that the American drivers are much more passive, disengaged and oblivious to surroundings. They drone in one lane at constant speed or worse at constant throttle position. Drivers in Europe seem to be much more oriented on interacting with other drivers, whether it is moving over to allow a faster car to pass well before that car has to brake for them, or demanding by flashing headlights that the slower car moves over. Whether it's better or worse is hard to tell, but definitely it's more engaging.

Oh, and I like European traffic laws and road design better. Four-way stops are not the best idea.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by ogrowup

To clarify, and to be fair, I'm comparing US drivers to German, Danish and Swedish drivers. I believe they are exceptional. I have heard of the horror stories of traffic in Rome, I experienced automobile anarchy in Cairo, I hear China is no treat either. That said US drivers still suck.

The drivers in those places are really no better. The infrastructure however is so even the bad drivers don't stand out so bad. What they also have is a respect for the law and the officers that enforce it. That is sadly lacking in many places in North America.

[extrashaky]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

I am well aware of your stand on law enforcement and do not expect for one second that you will see the point I was making.

I think I do understand the point you were making. You were trying to call us hypocrites for supporting some laws and not others.

The problem with that is that this thread wasn't about laws. It was about rude and dangerous driving, and going five or ten miles over the speed limit does not automatically equate to rude or dangerous driving. You know that I drive a tremendous number of miles, and the dangerous things I see people do every day rarely have anything to do with speeding. Even when speeding is involved, it's not actually the speeding that is rude or dangerous, but other actions like cutting people off, passing carelessly or tailgating people who are traveling slower. Having a radar detector (mine's a Valentine 1, by the way) to alert a driver to when he's under electronic surveillance does not mean that driver is doing any of that.

I find it ironic that you corrected the original poster for making unfounded generalizations about Americans, then in the very next sentence did the exact same thing yourself.

[shellslinger]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Typical US driver attitude is "I am perfect it is all those other idiots that are the problem". Hate to break it to you but you probably do just as much dumb shit but you do see it so will never acknowledge it.

I have to agree with 100%. I work in the insurance industry and even though they are blatantly at fault for the collision, they still think they were not at fault even though they rear ended someone because they all of a suddenly stopped.