What state has the best drivers?

I gotta hand it to them. I've driven back and forth across the US and lived in several regions. The best drivers I've seen are in Texas.

When I saw the road signs on the Texas border about driving politely being the Texas way, I laughed. But its true. I saw people move to the right onto the shoulder to let you pass. In many other states, people try to keep you from passing, as though they're a lesser person if someone gets ahead of them. Or, they just clog up the left passing lane like a moron who doesn't know the rules of the road like in Wisconsin and Indiana.

Every time I drive in Texas I find myself in shock over some of the polite things I see local drivers do. I haven't witnessed that in other states. Plus, they don't all drive like grandma on Sunday either because its a big state and you have to drive fast to get anywhere. Perfect.

Some of the cities may be different but I've found this to be true in at least the smaller towns and rural roads. The only downside is that I would never want to drive in Texas after snow. They don't know how to deal with it.

What are you talking about?
We were there this weekend, and watched a little of the traffic while we were sitting on a bridge waiting to pull into the train station, and the drivers were scary.
This is why we took the train this weekend instead of driving. :scared:
Duckie

they were fast, or what? Being slow doesn't make someone a good driver.

If the freeway has two lanes in one direction, that means there are four lanes. The two normal lanes, and then the right and left shoulders, when you absolutely have to pass right now.

And if the shoulder is gravel, well, windshields are cheap, right?

they will run you over and run you off the road if they need in the lane you happen to be in at the time. They don't care about the drivers around them. They just go.
Duckie

...with the exception of Madison.

Best drivers in the US.

aren't good drivers.

...and I passed thru Wisconsin many times.

I know this: I could drive thru Milwaukee in the madness of evening rush and if I needed to switch lanes all I had to do was signal. By the second blink someone was opening up a space for me. EVERY TIME! In every other city of the same (or greater) size I'd have to wait for ten or twelve vehicles to pass me. In the really bad cities (Boston) I'd just have to force my way over.

It was the same all over the state. People used their turn signals. They didn't tailgate. They were aware of the other people on the road. They didn't drive aggressively. They were decent winter drivers.

I'm not saying they're all perfect but, on average, they're better than the drivers I encountered everywhere else.

I refuse to drive it. I sit in the passenger seat close my eyes. Last time I was through there this chick was driving beside us, in rush hour, talking on her cell, crying and smoking a cig. :scared:

your driving experience in Wisconsin is limited to I-90 between Beloit and the Dells. Where there are mostly Illinois drivers in the summer.

Just deal with them on Illinois roads occasionally. They aren't as bad as Indiana drivers.

We called IL drivers FISH-F*ckin' Illinois ShitHeads because they drove like shit and thought that they, and only they, owned the damn roads.

in Northern WI during Christmas break when I was a teenager.

They said if I maneuver the roads there and in the UP then I would be allowed to have my license.

I'm an excellent driver in the snow and ice to this day, except at night. (I have mild nightblindness that is made much worse when there is snow or ice. I choose not to drive at night under those conditions unless I absolutely must-then very slow and back roads only.)

All the states up here have some bad drivers.

but Nevada seemed to have pretty decent drivers considering how crowded the tourist traps are

people in El Paso are INSANE.

but once you leave the city, its not bad at all.

We have the worst drivers in the world.

and they pull over to the side when faster traffic comes up on 'em

I use that one a lot, and if I don't get one when I let someone in, I get a touch miffed. :)

Another local idiom are the varieties of honks, but I think that's peculiar to Dallas. A short honk means, "Hey, wake up!" but isn't necessarily rude. Even a bit longer of a honk is deemed more of an attention getter ... only the really long honk is the "F U" style honk. However, I hear in that in Austin, any honk at all is rude, so I suppose that varies a lot...

In Knoxville Tennessee I never heard people honk, and if I ever used my horn I got the feeling that I had just ruined that persons entire day.

I have been the recipient of the short "Wake Up!" honk, and felt it was well deserved. :) I'd often give them the, "Sorry, I'm an idiot" wave. :D

the drivers there are so polite, a 4-way stop can take hours to navigate. "You go first. No, YOU go first. No, I insist..."

"No! Stop being nice to me! Go, before someone comes up behind you!"

In Florida, we seem to have three main categories of drivers:

1) Tourists who have driven before but are too busy looking at maps and the sites to bother following any rules of the road -- they usually drive modest family sedans.

2) Tourists who have never driven at all but somehow think it's OK to come to Orlando and rent a car and learn how to drive -- you can find them in the biggest van the rental company has, because it's America, dammit, and they want to ride in a big car for a change!

3) Walking corpses who probably could have been declared legally dead about seven years ago, yet somehow still manage to renew their drivers license even though they can't see, much less see over the steering wheel -- car of choice would be a Buick or Caprice Classic, of course. Variations include the hipper ones who will drive a PT Cruiser, or the richer ones who will drive a Lincoln.

Maybe it's just because I *get* New York drivers (I'm one of them). When I go into other states, the drivers seem irrational, insane, and unskilled!

However: city drivers in Montana are really great -- cautious and respectful of pedestrians. They're nuts on the highway, though.

At least Germans know to stay to the right when they aren't passing slower traffic.