AMEN! I’m amazed at the looks I get from people in SoCal when I try to pull a parking ninja move and fit in a spot everyone else passed over. Yes, I’m sure your late model luxury car is quite precious. It has a bumper. It can be bumped at .001 mph to no one’s detriment. In fact if you could grok them we’d probably find bumpers feel happy when they get gently bumped.
Kinda makes me miss the northeast, where it just seemed part of the DNA of driving.
Thanks for that! I was unaware. I see there are a few in Canada; I need
to visit Windsor or Ottawa now!
I’m not sure why, but I’m not comfy with the U-turns required; I know
they’re legal at most intersections, but they just seem so… wrong…
They aren’t conventional U-turns. They are dedicated lanes, traversing the median. Most don’t have lights, you just join traffic as soon as there is an opening. Some have protected entrance lanes so you can get up to speed with the flow of traffic before merging.
Much safer than any of the types of left turns that involve crossing oncoming or perpendicular traffic.
Lake-effect snow is a very real thing too. It doesn’t even require a very big lake, but it can be really heavy around parts of the Great Lakes. It’s why Buffalo and Rochester, among others, are so snowy.
My grandpa (from Wisconsin) drove Greyhound busses all over the Great Lakes states, and Illinois drivers are the only ones he ever mentioned - with seething hatred.
Most Michigan drivers will complain about how garbage Ohio drivers are (and they truly are crap), but Indiana drivers are worse. Why? Because they’re intentionally shitty to out-of-state drivers. Ohio drives tend toward obliviousness rather than malice.
That is true!
But the thing about Wisconsin drivers that gets me (not all, obviously) is that they’ll drive side-by-side on a road for MILES, blocking everyone behind them.
Illinois drivers: slower traffic keeps LEFT.
Chicago drivers: if you use a turn signal to indicate you want to shift lanes or turn, someone will speed up to block you. And general road rage, especially if the driver in question is the one to have broken the rules and/or nearly caused an accident.
I think the other thing is Chicago does not plow the “sides” of the streets except on specific major routes. So, no the city won’t look after it within a few days. Not that I’m in favor of dibs.
Hey, at least they were each going 75 MPH! When this happens in Ohio, they’re all going maybe 65.
75? I’ve never seen that! More like 53 or 54. Drives me nuts!!
That’s consistent with my contention that dibs/parking chairs are more likely to exist where municipal snow removal is lacking (most likely because snowfall is moderate compared to places where lax snow removal is simply not an option).
That makes a cleared parking spot more valuable and gives the person who did the clearing a reason to be territorial.
Even if that’s all wrong it’s still a cultural oddity that I’m glad not to have to worry about. Parking sucks enough as it is without having to observe this ridiculous bit of etiquette and/or get into fights over parking spots.
Unpossible! Wisconsinites are genetically programmed to drive 75 on the interstate. This programming also compels them to root for the Packers, no matter what.
Well, you can’t fault them on that!
Well, that’s going to fuck with anyone from where the left lanes are the fast lanes (based on the idea that all passing is done on the side considered “opposite” if it’s a two lane road).
As far as I know the left lane is legally designated as the passing lane everywhere in North America, so from the sound of it what’s being described is widespread passive-aggressive (or self-righteous?) driving: deliberately camping in the left lane to police would-be speeders.
That’s something I’ve seen everywhere I’ve driven but it doesn’t surprise me to hear that it’s more common some places than others. Culture is funny that way… we tend to copy each other’s good ideas even when they aren’t actually good ideas.
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
