Aren’t drivers in your metropolis simply the worst? Apparently, folks in each metropolis appear to assume so – a minimum of if native on-line communities will be believed.
If you frequent these communities in locations like Reddit, you’ve most likely seen posts that insist that folks in your metropolis simply don’t know methods to drive correctly. And if, like our editorial workforce, you frequent a couple of group, you could have observed that the identical seems to be true for virtually each metropolis.
After studying the umpteenth thread on our native subreddit about how our metropolis definitively has the worst drivers, we needed to see if we may discover the identical sentiment on native subreddits for different cities. Our researchers took a take a look at subreddit communities for every of the highest 30 cities by inhabitants within the U.S. and, as anticipated, discovered that one way or the other each metropolis on the listing apparently has the worst drivers within the nation.
Yes, People in Every City Think Their City Has the Worst Drivers
In the next part, you’ll discover posts from native subreddits for the ten largest cities within the nation by inhabitants about how drivers in that metropolis are certainly the worst within the nation (and in some instances, past).
New York City, New York
New York City is the biggest metropolis within the U.S., a middle of tradition, and apparently dwelling to probably the most horrible drivers round. The creator of the thread “Drivers flouting basic traffic laws” on r/nyc questioned if metropolis visitors officers “enforce traffic laws in Manhattan.” They additionally recommend that drivers “would be thrown in jail if they tried to drive like this in California.”
Los Angeles, California
The r/nyc poster who urged that unhealthy driving would get one thrown in jail in California should have been excluding Los Angeles. Residents within the City of Angels say on Reddit that their drivers are actually the worst. This signifies that both L.A. is exempt from the apparently strict visitors enforcement within the Golden State or that the LAPD simply hasn’t gotten all of the unhealthy drivers off of the streets and in jail but.
“L.A. drivers are terrible,” is a thread that shares an opinion piece from the Los Angeles occasions. While a number of Angelinos within the thread have been fast to defend drivers of their metropolis, some agreed. This consists of one poster who mentioned, “I’ve lived in Florida, NYC, San Francisco, Boston, North Carolina, and here in LA. LA drivers are absolutely the very worst of the bunch.”
Chicago, Illinois
Chicago might need the moniker of “The Second City,” however in accordance with The Chicago Tribune and the Reddit poster who shared the article, it could be first in the case of having the worst drivers. In a thread that goes deeper than a Chicago pizza pan, many posters agreed with the sentiment. While it additionally featured just a few defenders of the town’s drivers, the top-rated remark mentioned, “After learning how to drive in Chicago I have had no problems driving in any other American city I’ve been to.”
Houston, Texas
Drivers within the different cities which have the worst drivers don’t have anything on Houston, in accordance with the one that requested the (presumably rhetorical) query of “What the hell is it with Houston drivers?” The poster lists Chicago among the many locations the place they “have done most of [their] driving” however states emphatically that “Houston is by far the worst,” contradicting the likes of The Chicago Tribune and a number of other Reddit customers. Maybe Paul Wall was making a public service announcement.
Phoenix, Arizona
One r/phoenix consumer isn’t mad concerning the state of driving in Phoenix, they’re simply upset. In this thread, the unique poster (OP) rattled off a protracted listing of unhealthy driving behaviors which can be apparently extremely concentrated in Arizona’s capital.
Several Reddit customers urged that folks not from Phoenix are the issue. “What did you really expect? A bunch of non-natives live here.” Another pair of customers singled out “snowbirds” – folks from northern elements of the U.S. that flee to southern cities to flee chilly winters. One mentioned, merely, “Snowbirds are the goddamn worst.”
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
The 76ers aren’t the one supply of frustration in Philadelphia. One driver turned to Reddit for group help once they posted a thread entitled, “I can’t be the only one who is frustrated by my fellow drivers. I drop at least one F-bomb behind the wheel while driving in Philly.” And help is what they discovered within the subreddit for the City of Brotherly Love. One Reddit consumer provided affirmation, saying, “You are not alone with your frustration. The asshole drivers in Philly are working overtime.”
San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is known as after Saint Anthony of Padua, patron saint of shipwrecks. While collisions are few and much between on the San Antonio River, they’re to be anticipated on the roads of Texas’ second-largest metropolis. That is, a minimum of in accordance with r/sanantonio.
A succinctly and enthusiastically-titled thread, “SA Drivers!!” elicited a flood of responses who echoed the exasperated sentiment. The OP referred to as out the “lack of intelligence” of 1 driver, which was supported by one other San Antonio Reddit consumer who blamed the town’s apparently uniquely-poor driving on “a mix of uneducation and self-entitlement.” According to a different, San Antonio doesn’t simply have the worst drivers within the U.S., it has the “worst drivers on the planet.”
San Diego, California
The California coverage of jailing unhealthy drivers that the r/nyc poster referred to should additionally exclude the town of San Diego. A thread titled “What the hell is wrong with drivers here?” confirms that unhealthy drivers are nonetheless allowed to navigate the streets of the town and its suburbs freely.
The high touch upon the thread singles out drivers in Temecula, a suburb north of downtown San Diego. A commenter mentioned that drivers from Temecula are, “the worst on earth,” despite the fact that these drivers clearly reside in San Antonio, in accordance with customers of one other native subreddit.
Dallas, Texas
One of the extra in style genres of native subreddit driving threads is the general public service announcement (PSA). In one thread on r/dallas, a useful Reddit consumer posted a nearly-300 phrase PSA to assist educate drivers “who [don’t] seem to understand the concept of an acceleration ramp” on how, precisely, to make use of one – little question getting the message throughout to the drivers who wronged them.
According to the OP, driving in Dallas is “just one big circus.” Another useful consumer urged that Dallas drivers wanted to be taught “how to operate a motor vehicle before we can get into zipper merging,” in a press release that under no circumstances belittles individuals who grew up in and across the metropolis.
San Jose, California
The r/nyc poster who cited the California state coverage of jailing individuals who drive like New Yorkers should have forgotten about particular exceptions within the coverage. Or, maybe they have been confused concerning the very existence of such a coverage, as a result of the town of San Jose is seemingly additionally dwelling to an abundance of unhealthy drivers.
In an open letter to the drivers of San Jose, a member of the r/sandiego group deplored the “aggression on the streets.” A Reddit consumer who felt the necessity to point out being from “the South Bay” (meaning San Francisco for the uncouth) urged that San Jose is “home to a particularly full-on angry, aggro breed (mostly dudes) that I’ve not encountered elsewhere.” Another commenter replied, informing them that the rationale San Jose has such uniquely aggressive drivers is “because they are complete losers in life.”
Why Every City Thinks It Has the Worst Drivers
It is fully doable that there exists a roving band of flip sign ignoring, red-light operating, improperly zipper merging, too quick and too sluggish on the identical time drivers touring from metropolis to metropolis with the only purpose of annoying native subreddit customers. But in accordance with Professor Dr. Dwight Hennessy, Ph.D., chair of the SUNY Buffalo State Department of Psychology, what’s extra probably is that driving is annoying in all places and other people usually take to social media or on-line boards to precise their frustrations and blame exterior components within the course of.
“When we are inconvenienced and slowed down to some extent, most people look to the other drivers for blame or responsibility, rather than look to the context, environment, or themselves,” mentioned Hennessey. “And as we become aroused, stressed, or angered, that tendency increases. The other drivers become our source of frustration.”
Hennessey mentioned that this frustration can compound with different human psychological tendencies.
“Add to that something called the fundamental attribution error, which is a bias that leads us to attribute others’ actions to something internal, such as other drivers being unskilled, rude, aggressive, selfish, or threatening,” he mentioned. “So, when the driver slows down in front of us too quickly, when they have to merge and push their way in, when they fail to signal, when they drift over a line – which, honestly we all have to do at some point – we blame them. We attribute it to an internal and stable quality – they’re a sucky driver. When that happens over and over, everyone sucks.”
Relocation Can Add To Driving Stress and Create Something To Blame
Hennessey mentioned that a part of the rationale we discovered so many examples of Reddit customers insisting that drivers of their metropolis are uniquely horrible has to do with the stress of navigating a brand new atmosphere.
“I’m sure the novelty or newness of the commuting environment plays a role,” mentioned Hennessey. “Not knowing the environment or the best routes is a challenge because you increase the number of sources of frustration.”
But Hennessey says that the existence of cultural variations in a contemporary world the place folks transfer round greater than ever earlier than additionally probably performs an enormous position. We discovered a considerable undercurrent in lots of the threads we learn of presumed locals blaming outsiders and presumed new residents blaming locals that help that concept.
“I would say that this is especially impactful when you consider that the ‘unwritten’ rules of the road vary from place to place,” he mentioned. “We really don’t talk enough about how important and impactful unwritten rules are. Driving is much more than just transportation from point A to point B – it’s a social environment with very unique social transactions. But we still learn and ‘share’ the local driving customs just like any other customs. We learn it from others and through experience.”
A Shift of Perspective Could Diminish Road Rage
Taking complaints to native boards and social media will be cathartic, however it isn’t probably to assist alleviate visitors issues or cut back the stress of driving. To have any likelihood at doing that, Hennessey says drivers ought to work in direction of altering how they view visitors and driving.
“The intent of traffic psychology has long been to educate people about the process in the hopes that we can collectively change how we view driving,” he mentioned. “Again, it’s not just about transportation. In the bigger picture, there are efforts to create a culture where people start to view traffic events and drivers more realistically.”
Hennessey means that, whereas there may be little or no drivers can do about different automobiles and other people on the street, a change in perspective could make the expertise much less irritating.
“Everyone makes mistakes while driving, everyone does something stupid from time to time,” he mentioned. “So extending others some courtesy and realizing that they probably didn’t slow down just to tick you off, or to also think about the magnitude of positive events while driving, and to understand that the number of conflict points is really quite low compared to all the times other drivers have not been a threat or challenge, can hopefully change the overall outlook on driving.”
Another motive Hennessey suggests a change in angle is that notion can affect actuality, and viewing one’s metropolis or city as being stuffed with unhealthy drivers can change into a self-fulfilling prophecy.
“Sometimes coming into a commute with the expectation that everyone else is a jackwad puts us at risk of easily finding jackwads,” he mentioned.
Source: www.automoblog.web