Deplorable Driving

According to Forbes.com, Houston is the 5th worst city in the United States for traffic.  My evidence:

Before we came to Houston we heard about the way people here drive.  We were hoping it was just rumors.  It's not.  After living here for only a couple of weeks, I can already come up with a list of bad driving habits here that I have consistently witnessed.

1.  Speed Limit - more like "What speed limit?"  If I am obeying the speed limit almost EVERYONE with the exception of maybe one or two vehicles will pass me within seconds.  It is normal to go 5 or 10 miles an hour over the "limit."

2.  School Zones - luckily, school is out for the summer now but this is also an area in which the majority of Houston drivers pay no attention to.  Come on people!  It's a SCHOOL ZONE!!!  There's a 20 MPH speed limit for SAFETY reasons!  This is not only irritating, but dangerous!

3.  Turn Signals - don't exist.  People will cut in front of you without giving even a seconds worth of notice.  They will slow down in front of you for no apparent reason and then turn into a driveway, parking lot, etc.  I wish they would just use their turn signal... that's what it's there for isn't it?

4.  Brakes - the drivers here definitely know how to use their brakes.  They're on them all the time.  There's NO coasting if you see that people are stopping in front of you.  Nope, they're on the gas (already going faster than they should be) and then slamming on their brakes!  I don't think they can imagine going any slower until they absolutely have to stop!

5.  Turn Lanes - apparently don't exist either.  If you are in the inside turn lane I always thought that meant you were supposed to turn into the inside lane of the street you are getting onto.  They must have learned different driving rules here.  Hardly anyone ever follows their turn lane into the correct lane on the road.  This is especially worrisome when there is more than one turn lane and people seem to think that they will be just fine ending up in whatever lane they want.  I'm sure I will see an accident because of this before we leave here.

I heard a conversation on a radio station here this morning that went something like this:

Radio DJ 1:  "And the commute from the Sam Houston Tollway into downtown along the Katy Freeway is only 15 minutes this morning!  Do you people out there even know what a speed limit is?"

Radio DJ 2:  "I think they know what a speed limit is but they're just like the rest of us - they don't pay any attention to them!  That's what the radar gun is for, right?"

Well, there you have it.  The Houston driving mentality in a nutshell!

I refuse to speed just because everyone is passing me.  I will NOT speed in a school zone (how STUPID do you have to be?!).  I will coast instead of slamming on my breaks, and I will turn into the correct lane unless I am trying to avoid an accident because YOU are not turning into the correct lane and are going to cut me off.  I've decided that if the Houston drivers don't like my driving or get annoyed with me, they can just blame it on my out of state plates!