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Author Topic: Worst Places to Drive. Phil Hill I love my cootie bug Posts: 7595 From: Hollywood, CA USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 01-19-2004 02:09 AM                  Hi Stephanie and welcome to Film-Tech! Please see Brad Miller's (The Grand-Poo-BAH) rant in some other thread about using short paragraphs for conveying thoughts and for "easy" reading by us less than smart peoples... >>> Phil  |  IP: Logged David Favel Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 764 From: Ashburton, New Zealand Registered: Feb 2002 posted 01-19-2004 03:33 AM                     Actually, the best place in the world to get around is Melbourne, Australia. Excellent trains/trams, motorways as far as the eye can see. The only bad thing is "hook right turns." When you turn right over a tram line you park in front of the cars on your left till the lights change to green, then go. The most un-nerving thing ever.  |  IP: Logged Bruce McGee Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1776 From: Asheville, NC USA... Nowhere in Particular. Registered: Aug 1999 posted 01-19-2004 07:26 AM                     Hi Stephanie, and welcome. I lived in Nashville in the 1970's. I kinda hoped that things there might have improved. Guess not. While driving around Nashville, I have seen people in the far-left lane on the I-40/65 loop around Nashville suddenly, without a hint of a signal/ suddenly veer to the right across all lanes and go down an exit ramp. It happens all the time on the surface streets, too, so I figure that it is a part of getting a license in Davidson County. I use signals for any lane changes. This weekend, I replaced the turn signal flasher on my most-used car. I wore it out. Have a happy day. I have to go and drive the highways. "Floridiots" GO HOME!! (No insults for any Florida drivers that drive at the speed that the others are driving. I mean the ones that are driving the minimum speed and looking at the fall leaves! Guess what? The leaves are gone, now, so go home.)  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 01-19-2004 07:34 AM                        I'm surprised that no one has complained about New Jersey yet. The drivers there are rude and dangerous, at least in my experience. I have no problem with driving in Boston (except for the excessively high auto insurance rates here), but New Jersey and New York drivers scare me.  |  IP: Logged Randy Stankey Film God Posts: 6539 From: Erie, Pennsylvania Registered: Jun 99 posted 01-19-2004 11:41 AM                     The thing that gets me upset is when you're going down the highway and traffic comes to a standstill for about 2-3 miles. When you finally get moving again you look for what it was that caused the slowdown and there's nothing there! You'd expect there to at LEAST be a stalled car on the side of the road or some kind of accident but there's NOTHING. No construction zones. No cop car parked on the side. Nothing! This happened to me a lot driving South on I-81 between Bristol, TN and Knoxville, TN. I've never figured it out. As to the lack of use of turn signals in the South... It's not entirely true that they don't use them. They do signal turns. It's just not with blinking lights on the bumpers. You might call it the "redneck turn signal" but it's not just for rednecks. If a car is in the left lane and wants to change to the right lane. You'll see the driver's right arm go up onto the back of the seat and his head will momentarily swivel around to look behind. The second you notice that, get out of the way because the guy's going to move! Imagine the thought of an old, rusty Ford pickup truck with a confederate flag on the bumper and a dog in the back. The driver, "Billy Bob", is wearing a "wife beater" T-Shirt and has the stub of a cigarette in his mouth. He's going about 85 MPH down the highway and wants to make the exit ramp coming up on the right. The arm goes up. The head turns. You might notice a puff of smoke come out of the mouth then, with a little squeal of the tires, he darts across two lanes of traffic and dives for the ramp. That's the "classic" redneck turn signal but there are more subtle versions. You may think it's a joke. I did too... until I experienced it first hand! It's REAL. It's just one of those things that's so engrained in society that it becomes second nature to those who live there. If you don't believe me, try it for yourself and see if it doesn't work.  |  IP: Logged Michael Schaffer "Where is the Boardwalk Hotel?" Posts: 4143 From: Boston, MA Registered: Apr 2002 posted 01-19-2004 01:48 PM                        Do people drive on the left side in Australia and NZ? Funny, when I came here, I found the freeway and road system (?) confusing and often got completely lost. I thought that was just because I was new in the area. Then I found out that the local people also often get lost. The best strategy to find places is - do not use mapquest - do not under any circumstances ask people for directions - use the Thomas guide - have a compass with you (I am not kidding) - adopt a kind of Zen attitude; do not try too hard, then you will get there  |  IP: Logged Jason Burroughs Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 654 From: Allen, TX Registered: Jun 99 posted 01-19-2004 02:00 PM                     I generally find that the drive in the Dallas metro area to be not TOO bad. Like any major population center congestion is just about always a concern however. Now the biggest pain, highway wise is LBJ Freeway (I-635) Its not uncommon to have traffic backups at 2, 3, and 4 AM. Within the past 10 years, the highway and road system has gotten much better, primarily by FINALLY completing the Central Expressway (75) project, which took over 10 years to complete, from 4 lanes to 8+ As Bobby mention the High 5 project is the last part of that project.  |  IP: Logged Bill Carter Expert Film Handler Posts: 162 From: Minneapolis, Minnesota Registered: Sep 1999 posted 01-19-2004 02:39 PM                     I've got to join in with the folks that mention Nashville. Not only are they in a "perpetual construction" mode, it's one of those towns where you can see the building you're going to, and not be able to figure out how to get over to it. Lots of the cities mentioned have street systems unable to handle their current traffic loads, but my memories of driving through Nashville are that there's no apparent rhyme or reason to the layout. Even DC streets have a logic to them. You may not agree with it, but it is possible to figure it out. Nashville's lack of logical layout is much like St. Paul, Minnesota, although St. Paul doesn't have the same traffic problems. Our former Governor Jesse "The Body" Ventura once told Jay Leno on the Tonight Show that St. Paul's streets had been planed by "drunken Irishmen".  |  IP: Logged David Favel Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 764 From: Ashburton, New Zealand Registered: Feb 2002 posted 01-19-2004 06:01 PM                     Yes, we drive on the left.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 01-19-2004 08:19 PM                     My main complaint about New Jersey: the dumbasses running the road system there have a big missing link for I-95. If you drive north up through Philadelphia you'll find that I-95 dead ends in Trenton. Trenton!! Yaarrgh! Some people get lost because of that, and a lot of them wind up having to lurch along US-1 up to Edison where they can pick up I-287 and the NJ turnpike, or just save some time and backtrack around cut over to the turnpike at an earlier point (but pay a higher toll). Really it is just a scam to move people driving north from places like DC over on the New Jersey Turnpike. It is the quickest way to take. But the political bullshit thing still has I-95 numbered through Philly when the designation should really be on the NJ TPK. Either the renumbering should happen or the original alignment of I-95 should be finished. Oh, for those that might like to see photos of that Dallas High Five interchange, check out http://www.texasfreeway.com. There is a link to a lot of high rez photos on the opening page.  |  IP: Logged Bruce McGee Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1776 From: Asheville, NC USA... Nowhere in Particular. Registered: Aug 1999 posted 01-19-2004 08:41 PM                     Randy: You almost described me and my old rusty truck! One small problem: I use the signals in it, too. Nashville was in perpetual building phase in the 1970's. too. Then, it was I-24, and the 440 loop around the city that cut through some fine real estate. I've driven I 95 thru New York in a big Econoline 350 van. The Cross-Bronx Expwy is fun. On the way back, I didn't have to drive, so I got to be a tourist and gawk at the big buildings. The NJ Turnpike is old, but the day I was there it was moving along. This was from the US highway 9 in New Jersey toward NYC. There are few toll roads here in the SOUTH. I was amused at the big toll collection areas. What a $$$ pit!  |  IP: Logged Rachel Craven Madam Moderator Posts: 2190 From: Pensacola, FL Registered: Dec 2000 posted 01-20-2004 12:02 AM                     quote: Rach, check out the area on Marshall Street. On 21'st and Marshall, you will find two taverns and St. Mary's Church. That's only two blocks from where I lived as a teen-ager. It still has not changed. Paul, I need to learn my streets. They're all numbered and I'm not used to it!!! Plus there are so many taverns and churches around here that I have no clue as to where you're talking about. Now I'll have to make an effort to find out.  |  IP: Logged Gracia L. Babbidge Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 709 From: Bowdoin, Maine Registered: Aug 2000 posted 01-20-2004 09:39 AM                        Last April, I took a road trip with my mom & my little brother & sister - I got to play navigator the whole trip. My mom has a mammoth book of road atlases - she works for a trucking firm, so they get the good ones. The trip was from home in Maine, to the Philly Zoo. On a Monday, we drove down to somewhere in NJ that was a hop, skip & jump from Philadelphia, stayed overnight, went to the zoo Tuesday, drove as far as somewhere in Connecticut that night, then went to Dinosaur State park Wednesday before driving home. Yeah, it was fun trying to figure out the best route northward back through New Jersey... We ended up taking the Garden State Parkway (no big trucks allowed), and that was pretty smooth sailing - yet damn! Jersey drivers fly! We were going faster than the posted limit, and still getting passed as though we were at a crawl!  |  IP: Logged Evans A Criswell Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1579 From: Huntsville, AL, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 01-20-2004 03:09 PM                        Some of you have mentioned Nashville. I've always thought Nashville had a pretty decent road system. Nearly every place I go is right off a freeway. Construction is the main thing that messes it up. For the past year or so, the main problems are the areas of freeway where there is a concrete barrier RIGHT ON THE EDGE OF THE OUTERMOST LANES. This is extremely dangerous because it makes drivers in those lanes uncomfortable since there is no leeway for error at all. Drivers tend to get as far as they can from those barriers, making it tight for people in the middle lane. I don't understand why they couldn't move those things a couple of feet away from the lanes. The other hazard with those is if a breakdown occurs, there's no place to pull over. Many of the exits do not have the merge space they once had in the construction areas. It seems to be taking far too long to get those construction areas done. They're getting about as bad as Alabama. If I could make a change for Nashville, it would be to convert the section of Briley Parkway from I-40 to I-24 into a freeway, and make the parts within several miles of Opry Mills have 3 lanes (which may already be in progress). I guess I'm lucky here in Huntsville where a traffic jam is where people have to slow down to 40 MPH on a freeway.  |  IP: Logged Paul Cassidy Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 549 From: Auckland, New Zealand Registered: Aug 2001 posted 01-20-2004 03:24 PM                        The only thing I found confusing on my recent trip from LA to Utah on the I-15 is that when entering other cities it was hard to know if I was still on the correct Freeway as all signs showing that it was the I-15 disappeared ???? in the end when coming into other cities I would get into the "Car Pool Lane" and ride it out hoping I was still going the correct way , also coming back into LA at night I had the same trouble making sure I was on the correct Freeway for the same reason , signage is not the best for tourist .... but then maybe they think all tourist are going to fly  |  IP: Logged

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