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Started by gonealookin, November 27, 2018, 11:43:03 PM

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kphoger

Quote from: Max Rockatansky on February 29, 2024, 12:20:11 PM
Every other year when I visit Jalisco I get a refreshing reminder on what poor driving behavior and poor driving behaviors actually look like.  At least I feel comfortable in saying that nowhere in the United States is overall road experience as bad as it seems to be typically assumed.

Depends what you're looking at.  Slower traffic tends to keep right in Mexico, more than in many US states.  Sharing the road with pedestrians and bicycles is more ingrained in Mexican driving than in US driving.
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.


Plutonic Panda

I've yet to venture to the northeast(and a few other regions but I've heard the NE is notorious) so maybe my opinions will change but so far oddly enough Dallas seems like it has the fastest and most aggressive drivers I've seen. I guess drivers in Vegas and LA align more with my style of driving minus a few habits.

Max Rockatansky

Quote from: kphoger on February 29, 2024, 01:01:32 PM
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on February 29, 2024, 12:20:11 PM
Every other year when I visit Jalisco I get a refreshing reminder on what poor driving behavior and poor driving behaviors actually look like.  At least I feel comfortable in saying that nowhere in the United States is overall road experience as bad as it seems to be typically assumed.

Depends what you're looking at.  Slower traffic tends to keep right in Mexico, more than in many US states.  Sharing the road with pedestrians and bicycles is more ingrained in Mexican driving than in US driving.

I'm thinking of Autopista driving behavior versus freeway driving this time around.  The truckers by far seem to be the most skilled drivers on the Autopistas by a considerable margin.  The amount of aggression and high speed by passenger vehicles around Guadalajara is beyond what is typically seen state side.

kphoger

Quote from: Max Rockatansky on February 29, 2024, 02:09:48 PM

Quote from: kphoger on February 29, 2024, 01:01:32 PM

Quote from: Max Rockatansky on February 29, 2024, 12:20:11 PM
Every other year when I visit Jalisco I get a refreshing reminder on what poor driving behavior and poor driving behaviors actually look like.  At least I feel comfortable in saying that nowhere in the United States is overall road experience as bad as it seems to be typically assumed.

Depends what you're looking at.  Slower traffic tends to keep right in Mexico, more than in many US states.  Sharing the road with pedestrians and bicycles is more ingrained in Mexican driving than in US driving.

I'm thinking of Autopista driving behavior versus freeway driving this time around.  The truckers by far seem to be the most skilled drivers on the Autopistas by a considerable margin.  The amount of aggression and high speed by passenger vehicles around Guadalajara is beyond what is typically seen state side.

Mexican driving is a weird combination (from my perspective) of aggressive and easy-going.

They'll pass you on the right at high speed, or to the left of road construction barrels in the closed-off lane, or with oncoming traffic.  They'll ride your bumper so close you couldn't fit a shoebox between the two cars.  Yep, totally get that.

But if you do the same stuff around them, they won't harbor any bad feelings toward you.  They'll just move out of your way or slow down, if need be, and go on about their day.  They'll also stop on a dime at an intersection in town if you get there a half-second before they do, sometimes even if you're the one with a yield sign.

I've hardly ever heard a driver in Mexico blare his horn in anger or annoyance.  I was once driving into Saltillo from the northeast, on a multi-lane thoroughfare doing 50 or 60 mph, with another driver following me who was unfamiliar with the area.  A bus came plunging into traffic from the right, intending to take an upcoming left exit.  First thought:  what an aggressive bus driver, typical Mexico.  I swerved around the bus on the left, got ahead of it, then darted back onto the main road.  The other driver, thinking I intended to take that left exit, followed me and ended up getting pinned on the left side of the bus.  He slammed on the brakes so hard that I could hear his tires squeal, and he came to a dead stop.  Then he pulled out into the 50-60 mph traffic from a standstill and caught up to me (I had slowed down).  It occurred to me only later:  nobody on that whole road had honked their horn.  They all just took it in stride, made room for the craziness, and kept driving like it was all completely normal.  That is also "typical Mexico".

I've come to reconcile these two extremes by thinking of them as just not caring all that much about the rules.  They'll drive however they need or want to, and they're perfectly happy to let you drive however you need or want to as well.
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

Max Rockatansky

To be clear, I do enjoy driving down in Mexico when we visit family.  My big takeaway is not to assume that all the traffic rules and signs will be followed to a tee.  I tend to find that kind of driving more engaging than plodding down a modern freeway. 

Off freeway you get a lot of really wildly different variances in surface quality.  Cobblestone just isn't a surface frequently encountered state side very often.  In town driving usually requires a consider amount more of attentiveness given how narrow roads tend to be. 

kphoger

Quote from: Max Rockatansky on February 29, 2024, 02:59:45 PM
In town driving usually requires a consider amount more of attentiveness given how narrow roads tend to be. 

Missing manhole covers, too.
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.



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