Driving in Texas
I love driving on Texas highways. I have a lead foot, and Texas highways are generally pretty open and not monitored too closely (though I have heard of certain areas you need to be careful in).
But oh gosh I hate Texas drivers in the city.
First thing: No one does the speed limit. They all go slower for some reason. I can't stand that at all as I typically speed! I tend to drive at whatever feels right for the road, whatever speed I feel I have control of the vehicle. And so being stuck behind slow people is very frustrating, especially if they are going too slow for me to stay in fifth gear, in which case its doubly frustrating because I feel like I'm burning money! (Your car is typically most efficient in its highest gear and lowest RPM, which for me is about 40-45mph). If I'm in a 35, I do 40 just to stay in fifth.
Second thing: Texans appear to be magnetically attracted to the left lane. I don't know what it is but when I go to and from work it is always faster to drive in the right hand lane, most people travel in the left and I can pass them. This is freaking backwards! You travel on the left and pass on the right! And its amazing how pronounced this is, the left hand lane will be full, and the right hand lane will be empty! You can come up to a light and there will be ten cars sitting in the left hand land waiting for it to turn green and maybe one or two in the right.
Maybe they have trouble keeping those dualies off the sidewalks?
Which brings me to the third thing: FREAKING TEXAS EDITION ARMORED PERSONAL CARRIERS. These guys think they own the road or something! Now they are a lot less common than you would think by the stereotypes, but they are a lot more common than in Ohio for sure. There's lots of dualies, lots of F-350 super duties and lots of Texas editions of the above. Not all of these guys are bad, but a lot of them are the really slow ones that hold everyone else up. Also they can't seem to turn their freaking tanks without slowing to three miles per hour. In any case they annoy me a lot.
Some weird things I've noticed about down here:
1) If you see an older car that has really fancy/shiny wheels, it is almost always being driven by a black person.
2) Remember the race scene from Grease where the bad guys shred the tires on the good guy's car? I've seen spokes mounted on car tires that stick out at least a foot on each side like that on several occasions down here. Also always driven by a black person. I have no clue how that is legal.
3) It is apparently okay to lower, tint and put shiny wheels on a Kia???
3a) I don't know what it is about black people and shiny wheels, but almost every car I've seen with aftermarket wheels has been driven by a black person. Also it doesn't matter what type of car it is, it can be a piece of junk and they'll still put shiny wheels on it.
4) The Toyota Prius is surprising popular, most common car I've seen after pickup trucks. (There are three people at KBSI that drive them!)
5) Texans don't feel the need to smooth over intersections. If you are on the larger of the two roads you are fine, but if you are on the smaller of the two there's a dip on each side of the intersection. That means if you are driving a low rider kiss your paint job goodbye, some of the dips are very steep.
6) Same as above but for parking lot entrance/exits
7) Texans also don't feel the need for logical on/off ramps. I've been on a couple where you cross traffic (with nothing more than a yield sign) as you get off. Note that the cars coming off the highway have the right of way.
8) At a lot of intersections there is often a dedicated right turn lane that gives you about 200-500 feet to merge with traffic. However, sometimes these lanes don't give you any distance to merge and you have to stop and wait for an opening. This has almost gotten me killed once. On a test drive. It was embarrassing.
9) If you don't wash your car for very long it gets sticky. Gross.
These are just observations, I'm not attempting to pass judgment (except on the armored edition F-9000 super heavy "If I only had a pickup truck I'd be a real man" Texas edition truck owners, I am judging you. If you don't pull fifth wheels every day with that thing shame on you for owning it) on anyone. So don't go crying about me being racist or something.
But oh gosh I hate Texas drivers in the city.
First thing: No one does the speed limit. They all go slower for some reason. I can't stand that at all as I typically speed! I tend to drive at whatever feels right for the road, whatever speed I feel I have control of the vehicle. And so being stuck behind slow people is very frustrating, especially if they are going too slow for me to stay in fifth gear, in which case its doubly frustrating because I feel like I'm burning money! (Your car is typically most efficient in its highest gear and lowest RPM, which for me is about 40-45mph). If I'm in a 35, I do 40 just to stay in fifth.
Second thing: Texans appear to be magnetically attracted to the left lane. I don't know what it is but when I go to and from work it is always faster to drive in the right hand lane, most people travel in the left and I can pass them. This is freaking backwards! You travel on the left and pass on the right! And its amazing how pronounced this is, the left hand lane will be full, and the right hand lane will be empty! You can come up to a light and there will be ten cars sitting in the left hand land waiting for it to turn green and maybe one or two in the right.
Maybe they have trouble keeping those dualies off the sidewalks?
Which brings me to the third thing: FREAKING TEXAS EDITION ARMORED PERSONAL CARRIERS. These guys think they own the road or something! Now they are a lot less common than you would think by the stereotypes, but they are a lot more common than in Ohio for sure. There's lots of dualies, lots of F-350 super duties and lots of Texas editions of the above. Not all of these guys are bad, but a lot of them are the really slow ones that hold everyone else up. Also they can't seem to turn their freaking tanks without slowing to three miles per hour. In any case they annoy me a lot.
Some weird things I've noticed about down here:
1) If you see an older car that has really fancy/shiny wheels, it is almost always being driven by a black person.
2) Remember the race scene from Grease where the bad guys shred the tires on the good guy's car? I've seen spokes mounted on car tires that stick out at least a foot on each side like that on several occasions down here. Also always driven by a black person. I have no clue how that is legal.
3) It is apparently okay to lower, tint and put shiny wheels on a Kia???
3a) I don't know what it is about black people and shiny wheels, but almost every car I've seen with aftermarket wheels has been driven by a black person. Also it doesn't matter what type of car it is, it can be a piece of junk and they'll still put shiny wheels on it.
4) The Toyota Prius is surprising popular, most common car I've seen after pickup trucks. (There are three people at KBSI that drive them!)
5) Texans don't feel the need to smooth over intersections. If you are on the larger of the two roads you are fine, but if you are on the smaller of the two there's a dip on each side of the intersection. That means if you are driving a low rider kiss your paint job goodbye, some of the dips are very steep.
6) Same as above but for parking lot entrance/exits
7) Texans also don't feel the need for logical on/off ramps. I've been on a couple where you cross traffic (with nothing more than a yield sign) as you get off. Note that the cars coming off the highway have the right of way.
8) At a lot of intersections there is often a dedicated right turn lane that gives you about 200-500 feet to merge with traffic. However, sometimes these lanes don't give you any distance to merge and you have to stop and wait for an opening. This has almost gotten me killed once. On a test drive. It was embarrassing.
9) If you don't wash your car for very long it gets sticky. Gross.
These are just observations, I'm not attempting to pass judgment (except on the armored edition F-9000 super heavy "If I only had a pickup truck I'd be a real man" Texas edition truck owners, I am judging you. If you don't pull fifth wheels every day with that thing shame on you for owning it) on anyone. So don't go crying about me being racist or something.