D.C. = Nation's worse drivers

Or so says Allstate: http://www.thecarconnection.com/news/1078782_where-do-americas-best-and-worst-drivers-live

Clearly, they've never driven in Detroit.

HA! See, North Cakalaky ain't even on the LIST!

Scary though, I thought we would be like number 3.

It's painfully obvious that 'near misses' don't count. Around here, there's a lot of 'em and that would put us near the top.

Thats because of their gun laws.

Grew up outside of DC and would have to largely agree with the study. When you are in bumper to bumper traffic almost every time you leave the house you are much more likely be involved in a rear ender. Doesn't help that there will be breaks on the highway where you get up to 75mph only to have everything come to a stop again. Repeat the cycle a few times in a commute and someone gets up to speed and doesn't pay enough attention.

Moved to FL 4 years ago. Not nearly as bad as the greater DC area.

Knock on wood but I have 13 years with no real accidents. My younger brother (25) in the DC area has had 3. Two at fault.

Ah, misinterpetation of the data set. I'd certainly go along with DC (and Baltimore) for having a heck of a lot of incidences of banging into one another. Lots of cars, very little space. Everyone trying to squeeze into what there is, it's like a giant bumpercar game.

But worse drivers? Phoenix in my experience. Started getting warnings while riding well over 100 miles out. They were right. Detriot is pretty darn bad also, but half of that is the condition of their roads.

I work in DC but never drive in town (viva la metro), live up in Montgomery Co MD and have to agree that the driving up there at least is HORRIBLE.

The things that really push it all over the edge? Oblivious immigrant types, noone has any patience, crowded roads, SPEED CAMERAS...

Have lived down here since Februrary and have only seen a police car pull someone over a handfull of times (seen more car accidents). All of the actual traffic enforcement seems to be done electronically. We have speed cameras, redlight cameras, and even in certian areas... agressive driving cameras!

From my experience, they are not clustered in certain areas.

THEY ARE ALL OVER.

Have any of you driven in Austin, Texas?! LOL

They also list Alexandria, VA on that list and that's one of the burbs of D.C. so that means D.C. is basically on the top 10 list twice.

Depending on who you talk to Baltimore is just about considered a DC suburb these days!

I've lived in the DC Metro area for all of my 53 years - a short walk from the DC line the past 30. I've never driven in Asia or Africa, but have driven pretty extensively in the US and Europe, and I'm convinced that the drivers in the close-in suburbs to NW DC are the worst I've seen by far.

What I find odd is that there's utterly conflicting behavior patterns in play for most of these people.

If we have a baseline assumption that they're at minimum disinterested in the process of driving, more likely actually disliking or possibly scared of it. Now add cell phones - probably 20% are on the phone at any time. Add texting - not as prevalent - but I'm a race driver who is challenged zero by street driving pace, and I tried texting to see what it was like, and I was terrified by how much of my bandwidth disappeared.

Now add a huge volume of work trucks during the day, most of which are driven by people who may not be entirely documented w/ regard to being legal drivers. So they stay in whatever lane they're in no matter what, and drive sub-speed limit.

Now add loads of predatory, revenue generating speed cameras. They're fixed-position, and it you keep your eyes up you can see the lines on the road from 1/4 mile off - but rather than be observant - the bulk of drivers follow DC's blanket 25 mph speed limit, everywhere.

There's more prius' here than anywhere but the HOV lanes on the 5 in Orange County, CA.

Now - the paradox: These "drivers" are simultaneously slow, inattentive, aimless, lacking in direction or decisiveness, and genuinely don't like driving.

...Yet they're astonishingly territorial and defensive to anyone who feels otherwise.

If you are a talented driver, who's driving a car they like, and you know where you're going - you will be subjected to displays of at best, passive aggressive behavior, and more likely, treatment that's somewhere between mere rudeness to open hostility.

Example from 15 minutes ago: I arrive at the light on Connecticut Ave. at East-West Hwy, heading North and intent on taking a right on Conn. Ave. There's a turn cut w/ a small island on the right, and even w/ 2 not-turning cars waiting to continue on Conn. you can still do the turn.

There's a car stopped on Conn at the edge of the crosswalk. Behind them, a full car length back is a Prius which is not signalling a right turn, and they're blocking myself and the line of cars behind me who would turn right if possible. I tap the horn to see if they'll roll forward the 5 feet I need to make the turn. No movement. I tap it again. Nope. I try honking. Nothing. So I sit.

The light turns green. No movement. Enough already. I lay on the horn, and eventually, they begin to creep....

To take the right onto East-West Hwy, which they could have done at any time in the previous 2 minutes. Sigh. They "accelerate" at approximately the same rate that tar cold-flows. I pass them briskly going only as fast as my beater Tacoma accelerates WITH NO THROTTLE APPLIED.

Multiply this by every second you're driving around here. It's staggering. When I return from a week driving in Europe my head explodes on the Dulles Airport access road on the way home, within 7 miles, every time.

And if you're on a motorcycle and don't ride as though you're a New York messenger who's an ex- road racer, escaping the zombie apocalypse, you're as good as toe-tagged and zipped up.

BTW - my earlier protestations about Detroit's exclusions are in no way intended to distract from the study's all too valid conclusion about the crappiness of DC traffic. I drove through on the way south a month ago and there were basically police and fire vehicles going up and down the freeways just stopping at the various fender-benders occurring. There were three in the space of a mile and a half and it wasn't even rush hour. And I-95 south out of DC is like something straight out of Dante's Inferno.

motomoron wrote: Now add loads of predatory, revenue generating speed cameras. They're fixed-position, and it you keep your eyes up you can see the lines on the road from 1/4 mile off - but rather than be observant - the bulk of drivers follow DC's blanket 25 mph speed limit, everywhere.

Not true on the fixed position

http://www.wjla.com/articles/2012/08/montgomery-county-starts-mobile-speed-camera-program--79245.html

http://washingtonexaminer.com/look-out-a-speed-camera-could-be-lurking-behind-that-bush/article/2505271

Vehicle mounted as wel as movable boxes.

The thing that REALLY pisses me off is that the camera company gets $16 or more of every $40 ticket in Montgomery Co! (there are battles being fought in courts over this)

In reply to kazoospec:

Not sure why you think Detroit drivers are all that bad. I drive a metro based commute daily, and it's not that bad.

Chicago has a lot worse drivers. and more people doing it.

DC- I'd just assume not drive there.

No.

There are all the fixed position cameras - the locations of which are easy to learn by means other than trial/error/negative reinforcement.

In addition there are are car-based cameras, most of which are as obvious as the fixed cameras - generally in DC proper you'll see a flashing trailer-mounted "your speed is" sign for a month before they build infrastructure for a parking area for an unmarked car, minivan or police cruiser w/ the flash set up on a little stand 10' down the road.

MoCo has cops w/ radar or lasers, but much less so than in decades past. I imagine the 6 speed camerason Conn. Ave. between the DC line and Kensington generate more revenue than an equal number of officers poaching speeders, so the cops stay in their cars for the most part.

What's nice about speed cameras, is that the police essentially don't go where they are. If you know the cameras, you can go as fast as you want - slowing ~just~ enough to stay clean.

BTW - an informative fact about speed cameras, at least the mobile car-based ones: They're dumb. As in (as near as I can tell) once you enter range at a speed above their threshold to collect an image, they assume you'll maintain a constant velocity, and trigger the shutter when you're going to be in the center of the frame between the reference lines on the pavement.

I was on Macarthur Blvd on my KTM 690 returning from picking up a bag of takeaway on a chilly day. I was sort of hauling ass as the food was cooling, and not 100% focused. I realized I'd just blasted into a mobile car camera's range, and with nothing to lose, did a full-on "end of the straight braking for T1 at Summit Point, daylight under the rear tire" braking event.

When I was about even with the car's front bumper, the flash fired. I was still 40' from the camera's frame. "Whoa...", said I. "I have learned the secret".

Next time I was riding by, bear down on the car at about 60mph, panic brake, watch the flash up ahead.

Most satisfying.

In any case, my intent wasn't to argue the finer points of what we have for enforcement here - I've driven here daily since 1976 and really know how to DC metro. I was offering substantiation of the survey's results from a local who presumably drives like the typical GRM (or possibly faster).

Been to DC for hockey games and women. Never driven there and don't plan to.

Last time I was there I almost got hit by an off the boat cabbie.

Grizz wrote: Been to DC for hockey games and women. Never driven there and don't plan to. Last time I was there I almost got hit by an off the boat cabbie.

yeah, and in both cases you got two minutes for roughing!

but srsly, DC is a melting pot for the world, so they're not just the worst drivers in Murrica, they're the worst drivers in the world!

or as my buddy Homeboy used to say, "the last thing that motherberkeleyer drove was an ox. and on an ox, when you want to turn left, you just turn left."

I relearned how to use my turn signals after moving away from the DC metrofux...

But we do got some non-mergin' onto the interstate M-Fer's down here. 35 mph is not the appropriate speed for the "acceleration" lane onto a highway with a posted speed limit of 60 mph or greater. Stopping when you get to the end if the "acceleration" lane is completely idiotic. Yet I observe these phenomena on a weekly basis.

Also, the only people who use a horn in efforts to correct idiot drivers down here are not "from around here!" Locals appear to be terrified of setting off their horn for fear their Pastor might be the offender?

I do a lot of work in NYC and DC... I will take NYC anyday.. at Rushhour, on the Cross Bronx, in the rain

I drive from Logan Circle up 16th to Silver Spring, well, used to be once a week but has been creeping up to every day the last month. The only way to drive anywhere around here that doesn't make you want to drive yourself off into Rock Creek is going the opposite direction during rush hour. That's the time and direction when you have the highest concentration of people who just want to get where they are going.

Also, the threshold for a ticket from a speed camera in a 30 zone is confirmed at 41.

Been an outside rep driving around the DC Metro area for the last 15 years. All I can say is that if you expewct the worst you won't be disappointed.

I have only driven into DC twice since they opened the Metro. Not worth the hassle unless you absolutley have to.

The 2 times I did drive in I needed a truck to pick up some stuff. So I borrowed the nephews lifted F-350 with the 35" tries. Didn't notice many drivers doing stupid things, they were mostly trying to stay out of my way. Did have one driver who wasn't paying attention when the light turned green. After 30 seconds the train horns on the truck moved the car half way across the intersection and we got going.