Pocket Ninja: I've never thought about it by city, but it is true that Maryland has the worst drivers in the nation. Anybody who doesn't think so simply hasn't spent enough time driving in Maryland. If you see Maryland plates on a car, simply assume that the person driving knows nothing about merging, accelerating, decelerating, yielding, stopping, parking, or just about anything else.

You forgot signals. Nobody has any idea how the fark those work.

2wolves: Pocket Ninja: I've never thought about it by city, but it is true that Maryland has the worst drivers in the nation. Anybody who doesn't think so simply hasn't spent enough time driving in Maryland. If you see Maryland plates on a car, simply assume that the person driving knows nothing about merging, accelerating, decelerating, yielding, stopping, parking, or just about anything else.

Florida is next on the list, though, not Jersey.

While Virginians feel compelled to swing out right to make a left, feel good about driving on the berm, and get quite irate if you don't jump into an intersection in the first pico second that a light turns green.

There is no regional driving style because too many people come and go while adding in a significant number of people who never drove before getting their license in MD/DC/VA.

I disagree. Most of those transient gov't workers live in VA. MD is the cheapest to live (except MoCo) so that's where many of the service workers in DC/VA live. And they f*ckin suck at driving for some reason. I was not suprised at all to see that the places with the two worst drivers are around MD.

Though i will give you the bolded statement. I at least wait til a 3 count to honk. Even then it's usually at a MD plated car.

As a Baltimore motorist I request the following:

1. If you are not doing 10+ the speed limit get out of the Left lane!

2. Check your brake lights yearly, all three probably are not working now.

3. When driving your X5, get off your cell phone Mr. Important.

Thank you.

jaylectricity: I'm not going to use my blinker if my travel path isn't going to affect yours.

Turn signals aren't for the cars you can see. They're for the cars you CANNOT see.

ThatGuyGreg: Well then move the fark over into the right farking lane, scaredtogo80mitter.

This. Lots and lots of this.

/my daily commute requires both the Parkway and the Turnpike
//yeah, you're jealous

You know, having just moved to Jersey, I think they're actually REALLY good drivers, just aggressive.

The inability to make U or left-turns normally, the constant jughandles, it's definitely not user-friendly.

If you learn to drive here, you can probably handle driving anywhere.

shivashakti: You know, having just moved to Jersey, I think they're actually REALLY good drivers, just aggressive.

The inability to make U or left-turns normally, the constant jughandles, it's definitely not user-friendly.

If you learn to drive here, you can probably handle driving anywhere.

I'm writing this while my friend is dodging maroons on I84 Hartford Viaduct that have no concept of the turn signal, or keeping a measured speed, and happen to be a NJ native! So i'm really getting a kick outta....


/and yeah, maryland is the worst farkin' state to drive through, ain't gonna get any arguement from me, there.
//CT and Rhode Island are close after...

the problem with MD and DC are the ridiculously aggressive drivers.

I think that we have a higher % of douchebags (*cough* political hacks *cough*). so, for example, while most states have .5% douchebags, MD and DC have 1% douchebags. So, out of 500 drivers, MD/DC have 5 douchebags, while most areas have 2 or 3.
Now, add in the high number of cars on the road, its easily possible to drive by/interact with 500 cars in a normal 20 minute commute (if not more).
This means that you have *5* people who think that you should go 100 MPH on the highway with 55 mph speed limit. That makes a huge difference on your ability to drive safely!

uhhhh....Miami, FL anyone? sheeeeeet.

My wife and I were on a motorcycle ride through a small river side town called New Hope in PA a few years back, its across the Delaware River from NJ,..obviously.

Anywho, were filling the gas tank at a station and these bikers are pulling out from the gas station and this car with Jersey plates cuts them off and nearly knocks one over.

They surrounded the New Jersey guys car and started banging on it yelling "GO back to your own farking state!"

Cool starry bra?

sentex: As a Baltimore motorist I request the following:

1. If you are not doing 10+ the speed limitsomeone is behind you get out of the Left lane!

2. Check your brake lights yearly, all three probably are not working now.

3. When driving your X5, get off your cell phone Mr. Important.

Thank you.

FTFY.

i see that none you you have been to New Orleans

Dallas and Houston, Texas are freakin horrible. Houston probably worse than Dallas. Those farkers just don't know what the white dashed lines are and why they should stay between them.

Everything in Los Angeles is backwards. On the highway, the right lane is the fast lane, the exit only lane is the passing lane, and everyone is doing 500 things while driving. Unfortunately, of the 500 things, paying attention to their farking driving is item #478 on the list.

Pocket Ninja:I've never thought about it by city, but it is true that Maryland has the worst drivers in the nation. Anybody who doesn't think so simply hasn't spent enough time driving in Maryland. If you see Maryland plates on a car, simply assume that the person driving knows nothing about merging, accelerating, decelerating, yielding, stopping, parking, or just about anything else.

Florida is next on the list, though, not Jersey.

I completely agree with this. I've lived all over this country. Maryland by far has the worst drivers in the United States.

We moved to Florida a couple of months ago. Drivers suck here. But they are not nearly as bad as the ones in Maryland.

The fact that no one in Seattle knows how to drive in the rain doesn't help. And snow? Forget it... four things stack very badly in Western Washington for that:

* Hills
* Drivers inexperienced with snow (doesn't happen often)
* Cities (Everett and south) have no idea how to keep roads clear
* The occasional lunatic with Vancouver plates

I can't even get mad about those stats... we've got some idiotic drivers. Not of the aggressive nature (Cali and Vancouver plates aside) just clueless.

And seriously... why the fark can't anyone up here drive in the rain? The mind reels.

I'm a good driver. I just drive fast. It's the other cars that are at fault for going the speed limit in the left lane.

This is worthless without Mass data

JerseyTim: I love this discussion. Where exactly are the good drivers? Which is the state where people say, "Oh man, I can't wait to get back there. Driving is such a pleasure in that state! It's so goddamn enjoyable that sometimes I'm so happy I drive with my stiff junk!"?

You'd have to travel to Germany, unfortunately...

Germany, where "driving pleasure" is such a force they had to invent a word for it. {If I remember correctly, the word is both a verb AND a noun.} No billboards on the Autobahn, either. {at least in the early 80s, hope none are there now. GORGEOUS scenery!}

Pocket Ninja: I've never thought about it by city, but it is true that Maryland has the worst drivers in the nation. Anybody who doesn't think so simply hasn't spent enough time driving in Maryland. If you see Maryland plates on a car, simply assume that the person driving knows nothing about merging, accelerating, decelerating, yielding, stopping, parking, or just about anything else.

Florida is next on the list, though, not Jersey.

I would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

And write an article.

/farking NOVA area...

As a Baltimore City pedestrian, I get a kick out of how regularly I have to give a death glare to drivers when trying to cross a street regularly.

My nightly challenge when coming home from work is at a notable intersection near a college campus. When the pedestrian light is in my favor and I cross. I notice how drivers love to SPEED UP when they see me on the crosswalk. Trying to beat me reaching the point where they are to make their illegal right turn.

Sometimes I have to stop to let them pass. And most act indignant when I keep walking and quickly drive around behind me. As if this is some overseas country without any pedestrian traffic laws.

Yield sign crosswalks at my job are the worst on the major BLVD that runs through it. People regularly talk on their cellphones while leaving the job or passing through it. Last week I nearly got hit by a woman talking on a cellphone whom drove around a bus that had stopped at the crosswalk to let me pass. She was not paying attention and drove around the bus and nearly hit me and other woman.

I wanted so much to flip her off but I maintained my professionalism and just gave her an evil glare. I made sure our eyes met but I doubt she remembers her near catastrophic fark up.

MmmCrime: b. - If I put my blinker on, check my mirrors twice before moving in and notice you suddenly accelerating, I'm coming in whether you like it or not. I use the fast lane for passing slower traffic. if you wanna get in front of me, wait until I pass the car and then claim your road dominance.

Whilst I agree with you on this, for the most part, if you see me approaching and can't get up to the speed I'm traveling at then wait a few seconds for me to go by. Note - I'm not going to close a gap in traffic to keep you out, I'm talking about morons who do not even attempt to judge the speed of approaching cars when changing lanes.

Oh, and would someone please add "Drive Right, Pass Left" to the Maryland Driver's Handbook? I've never seen more *oblivious* left-lane bandits anywhere else.

IrateShadow: Pocket Ninja: I've never thought about it by city, but it is true that Maryland has the worst drivers in the nation. Anybody who doesn't think so simply hasn't spent enough time driving in Maryland. If you see Maryland plates on a car, simply assume that the person driving knows nothing about merging, accelerating, decelerating, yielding, stopping, parking, or just about anything else.

You forgot signals. Nobody has any idea how the fark those work.



And I don't wanna take no drivers' tests. Y'all muthafarkas lyin' and gettin' me pissed!

Sorry. Wisconsin drivers take the worst driver award.

Iowa drivers are a close second.

As a relatively recent transplant to MD, who has also driven in 40+ states, allow me to suggest you bite my ass.

What the hell is wrong with PA drivers, who seem universally to *stop* at highway on ramps? For that matter, the whole "yield sign on on-ramps" that seems to be an east-coast thing is counterproductive and dangerous -- accelerate and merge, retards. Then there's the entire midwest's tendency to decide to stop *right* before they merge in front of you, too.

What the hell is wrong with VA drivers, all of whom are 2-5mph under the speed limit at all times? Oh, and take your radar-detector ban and shove it up your tailpipe.

But I will grant you the tailgating in MD is ridiculous, as is the "tailgate... then not pass" behavior that is just a sign of paying -zero- attention to your driving.

Drive right, pass left. It's not that hard -- and, surprise! Everyone benefits when everyone follows that little rule, no matter what speed they wish to travel.

JerseyTim: "Oh man, I can't wait to get back there. Driving is such a pleasure in that state! It's so goddamn enjoyable that sometimes I'm so happy I drive with my stiff junk!"?

I'd vote for Hawai'i, as I've never, not once, been mad driving around the big island. But I'm guessing some locals complain there, too?

The_Sponge: Drivers in Miami are agressive psychotics.

/That is all.

Lumber Jack Off: uhhhh....Miami, FL anyone? sheeeeeet.

Lived in Miami for 6 years... I concur

Doesn't surprise me one bit. I've lived in Indiana, Seattle, and Baltimore, and the drivers are by far the worst here in Balmer. But you know what their single worst habit is? It's not aggressive or erratic driving, lack of signaling, terrible merging, or any of the standard complaints. Drivers in Baltimore think that it's OK to come to a complete stop in moving traffic, on a major street, so that they can get out of the car and hang out with their friends, unload their groceries, or whatever. There can be an empty residential cross-street just 5 feet in front of them, but they won't turn into it. There can be parking spots everywhere, but they won't even bother to use them. Just stop, hazard lights, parked. Pisses me off to no end.

Last year our little Hicktown got a chicken lane (left turn only lane in the middle of a two way road) put in the main drag through town. You'd think the world was ending. Most the people around here had not idea how to deal with this. They use it as a passing lane, a stand still lane, and a I'm just gonna sit here with my right turn signal on until someone lets me in lane. If it's that bad here I don't want to know how bad DC is.

slykens1:
Oh, and would someone please add "Drive Right, Pass Left" to the Maryland Driver's Handbook? I've never seen more *oblivious* left-lane bandits anywhere else.

I'll just leave this right here...

Pocket Ninja: I've never thought about it by city, but it is true that Maryland has the worst drivers in the nation. Anybody who doesn't think so simply hasn't spent enough time driving in Maryland. If you see Maryland plates on a car, simply assume that the person driving knows nothing about merging, accelerating, decelerating, yielding, stopping, parking, or just about anything else.

Florida is next on the list, though, not Jersey.

This.
Jersey drivers will get out of the left lane if traffic is passing them on the right.

/most of the time