Driving in the south!

[Rob LaMoy]

My brother came home for thanksgiving with his girlfriend and my aunt that he lives with in Columbia SC. Well he had a bad case of pnemonia and was admitted to the hospital. His ride had to leave so they could be to work and I got the task of bringing him back. I've made the trip (alone often) at least a half dozen times before, but never in winter. First of all WHAT the #&!! is with people driving slow in the left lane and staying there??? This phenomenon of stupidity seems to start around Virginia and gravitates south! In NY, I have literally been pulled over by state troopers for going too slow in the left lane. I was going 10 mph over the limit. "DON'T slow down the traffic" was the troopers response. Sorry, but down there, folks get in that lane and then seem to get right along another slow poke driver in the right lane and proceed to block traffic for 20 miles! Sorry, but DUH! Then we hit the beginning of this storm on the way down in the hills of VA on 81 Thursday night. Before I got back Saturday afternoon I saw at LEAST 40 accidents. We came to the hills in VA and traffic was dead stopped for about 15 miles, no doubt another 10 behind us as well. We had my mom's Honda CR-V, don't crack them lil buggies, they can go. We renamed my mom's the 'lil ditch witch! LOL We proceeded to drive in the median, on the shoulder, in the ditches and in between the lanes between rigs that left enough room for us to get through. They were saying people would be staying the night on the highway until they could figure out how to get those trucks up the hills. NOT a NYer! We got through, then everyone that had 4x4 started following us! LOL THEN at 8:30pm, we finally got to an exit for dinner and ya know what??? In VA, apparently 1.5" of snow is reason for a state of emergency and they shut down everything but gas stations! LOL Anyhow, we got there and on the way back drove smack through this ugly mess we have now. It was really in Phili and north. But in NY the roads were actually better.....less snow, go figure. Anyhow, just had to vent a little about the apparent lack of driving literacy I have repeatedly encountered south of PA. And whats up with truckers? The USED to be the best on the road, now most are just a hazard! I was almost side swiped and forced off the road by two different trucks that just came over regardless that two vehicles were there. One poor guy did get forced off right in front of us, and did the trucker stop???? Hell no! He knew what he did and boogied outta there. Ok, I'm done now!

 

[Michael Snow]

Rob, first, it's illegal to drive on the median, shoulder, and weave in and out of traffic. Second, the left lane's speed limit is the same as all other lanes. Third, the more snow an area gets, the more they are able to cope with it. For instance, my first year in Texas, we got 1/4" of ice on the highways. It made the NATIONAL news. The city was almost completely shut down. We waited for God and mother nature to fix the issue. We don't have the time, resources, etc to devote to this once/10 year phenomenon. Our salt piles were in one place for so long that the bridge pilings were deteriorating (note to world... don't store salt around a bridge piling.. DUH).



Of course, in Texas our motto is "drive friendly". That means wave with one finger instead of the whole hand.

 

[Kenneth Brown]

Hey Rob, I live here and agree 100 percent. These idoits don't know how to drive in the rain much less the snow. they close schools because of flurries.

 

[Bob G.]

Rob,



Glad you made it back ok! I drove over the Adirondacks on my way home from PA yesterday. Most people rode in the right lane and I was able to pass the trucks in the unplowed left lane. Had to drive with BOTH hands and keep my eyes on the road!!



Bob G.

 

[Robert Spradley]

We down here in Florida have a good excuse for this. You people from up north send all the old retired people down here to live. lol Robert

 

[fatrap]

Rob



Glad your back in one piece. I used to live in Florida and yes to all your gripes about the driving. BUT you forgot a biggy. Driving down the on ramp then stopping at the end of the ramp to look for oncoming traffic. I planted a 62 chevy in the rear of a rambler on my initial run on the freeway. Any they call Iowans I.idiots O out W wandering A around. Sheeesh.

fatrap

 

[fatrap]

Robert



Figure out how to send em all back. They're ruining my plans for a return. I told all my buddies I'd move back after college and the Navy. It's been 28 years now. Ever fish Orange Lake or Lake George?

fatrap

 

[Donnie Matney]

We call I75 "Buckeye 75" for that same reason fatrap. Thats all the Buckyeyes that travel on it except for TEE, he spends enough time at Cumberland, so he is now an offical Hillbilly like the rest of us!!

 

[Bill McElroy]

There's a whole lotta moron's driving slow in the left lanes on the Ohio and PA turnpikes too!! Signs EVERYWHERE stating,.."Slower traffic use RIGHT lanes"....yet they get in the left lane and do 10 MPH slower than the "flow"...it is annoying as hell. Just gotta do what everyone else does...pass'em on the right and salute them on the way by!!..LOL

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

We here in VA drive on the whole road....there is no passing lane. You pass left, right, in the median, on the shoulder, wherever there is room it's OK once you get used to it. LOL. It's when you yanks (listen to me a Nebraska boy), come down here and try to drive civilized that we have problems. You gotta watch out for the truckers. They have the weight and size!! They don't care what is near or around them, it is up to you to avoid them!! If you got that frazzled, you coulda called me and I woulda escorted ya through our fine state!! Nothing compares to Boston...75mph bumper to bumper in a blizzard, them folks move!!



TOXIC

 

[Bill McElroy]

Kinda like Detroit!!!....except around here we don't use our horns,..we use MP5's, Mac10's and Uzi's....all full-auto!! LOL...

 

[fatrap]

Mac



That has to be a BLAST!!!

fatrap

 

[Greg Meyer]

Driving in Boston is like a Rod Serling Driving Lesson starring Vincent Price! Nothing ever prepared me for that level of aggression behind the wheel.

 

[Robert Nappier]

This "Southern Boy" flew to the Clinton heaven of NY last Dec. The morning that I was going to leave there was 2 inches of snow and about 1/4" of ice. I had a 7:00 AM flight so I drove my economy rental car to the airport and arrived on time with no trouble. I did pass several wrecks and cars in the ditch but there was no-way that they could have been local NYers because all people from the north are superior drivers. My flight was canceled several times because the flight crew could not make it to the airport but it was a enjoyable day, spending it with all of those friendly people from NY.

PS- That person in the left lane in the south driving slow is usually someones grandmother, so we just say- " Bless her heart"

 

[Larry Harp]

Rob you've hit on my favorite pisseroffer. I see these morons get on the freeway and then hit the left lane like there's a giant magnet that's pulling them towards the guard rail. I will move to within a few inches of their rear bumper and ride there until they move over or I give up.



Harpo

 

[C C]

I don't disagree with the Mason-Dixon Line left lane puttin thing but I wouldn't limit bad driving habits to Southerners. I find that the drivers up here in Mass are the most obnoxious drivers I have ever encountered anywhere. They drive in the middle, left and right lane all going like they were at the Daytona 500 and as if they were the only one on the road.



I am certain that if I could ask the ones that drive on the shoulder the medium or up the right lane at 80mph or more they would tell me that regardless of how many lives they put in jeopardy that where they are going is far more important then where anyone else is going. Yep, he's special...just ask em.



We have a saying when we see someone flagrantly breaking the law, "Aww look, he's special...just ask him.

 

[Larry Harp]

If you think the south or the north or whatever is bad, just go overseas. My brother told me when he was in Italy, one day he was in the right lane waiting to make a right turn. Before the light changed there were five vechicles (cars, scooters, and bicycles)to his right. The Italians consider anything that's paved either a road or a parking place.

Harpo

 

[Rob LaMoy]

Oh, don't get me wrong, NY has it share of nimrod drivers...ever been in midtown Manhattan at any time of the day. But for the most part, if you're in the left lane and you see someone coming up, and there is nothing to your right....MOVE OVER! These folks in the left lane had nothing to the right, they were just sittin there, fat, stupid, and happy. LOL And when we were in the median and shoulder, it was at a max of 10 mph, the traffic was stopped, and I don't care what anyone says, with my brother having pnemonia, and me getting shaky with low blood sugar, I was NOT staying the night on the highway because everyone wanted to act like sheep and just sit there. Funny, once the crazy yankees started, a lot of other folks followed us! LOL

 

[Rich Stern]

Driving in the south is great!



I love fender benders where everyone was trying to be polite and all four cars at a four way stop decided that eventually somebody had to go first...

 

[Larry Harp]

Oooh Rich, don't even get me started on four way stop morons. They can't seem to figure out that the east/west cars go then the north/south cars go and so on. I want to strangle these idiots that think each direction should take their turn. I need to start a driving school and everyone who fails will be taken out back and shot.



Harpo