Do Southerners make very s-l-o-w turns?

[briantroutman]

Not infrequently, I'll be driving in the right lane of one the four- or six-lane boulevards that stretch on endlessly in suburban Florida and suddenly realize I'm closing in on a vehicle in front of me. I'm hardly speeding (generally within 10% of the speed limit), and there's no traffic signal or stop sign ahead–no apparent obstructions. Then I see that the car is making a right turn into a driveway or onto a side street, but doing so at what seems to be an absurdly low rate of speed.

There was one other place where I spent a considerable amount of time and noticed this same phenomenon regularly: Wilmington, NC. I mentioned this to my wife, who lived in Wilmington for a few years earning her master's degree, and she immediately fired back: "Southerners...they make very slow turns."  

Is this true? Have you noticed the same? And if so, why?

You could argue that there are few Southerners in Tampa and other havens for migrating Northerners, but I've noticed this in a variety of towns throughout the state.

A few possibilities come to mind.

One possible explanation is lower turn signal use–therefore making the turning maneuver a surprise. But I don't have any solid evidence that turn signal use is lower here than the other states in which I've spent many years driving (PA, NY, NJ, MD, VA, CA) though the incidence of slow turn offs is definitely much higher here.

So is the issue age, the propensity for old people to drive slowly, and the floaty boaty cars seniors historically favored? That might partially explain FL, but it would be less applicable to Wilmington.

Is it flat terrain necessitating deeper drainage gutters? Less generous radii at intersections? More driveways along moderate to high speed arterials?

Or is this just an extension of the ingrained "slowness"  of the South?

[8.Lug]

The issue seems to revolve around intelligence. Age is a huge factor in diminishing intelligence, making a turn such a daunting task. Take a look at their faces next time. Mouths agape, tongues hanging out, eyes WIDE open - you'd think they were diffusing a bomb.

[Brian556]

Quote from 8.lug:

The issue seems to revolve around intelligence. Age is a huge factor in diminishing intelligence, making a turn such a daunting task. Take a look at their faces next time. Mouths agape, tongues hanging out, eyes WIDE open - you'd think they were diffusing a bomb.

That behavior annoys me too, and it also significantly increases the chance of rear end collisions. I make my turns as fast as possible without it being uncomfortable or throwing objects around in my car

[kurumi]

"Defusing" is the word you want.

[Max Rockatansky]

I noticed when I lived in Florida that the bulk of drivers were absurdly slow at getting up to speed from a stop light.  I have no idea what the issue was, I remember people in Orlando were some of the worst of all and would take 20 plus seconds sometimes to reach the 45-50 MPH speed limit.  THEN you turn around to something like I-4 or Florida's Turnpike and the same slow placid driver's sudden turn into Dale Earnhardt trying to win the Daytona 500.  I had a theory that the slowness from the stops might have something to do with the heavy amounts (4 PM on the dot in the summer time) of rain on evening commutes or general wonky nature of the vehicles being driven.

[roadman65]

Sea World employees are the worst as they seem to block Central Florida Parkway to make that turn into the employee entrance on the four lane arterial without a turn pocket.

Anyway, others do it especially on OBT in Orlando, and in Kissimmee on US 192.

[Revive 755]

I think it is more than just southerners.  There are enough drivers in Chicagoland that seem to have difficulty turning without almost stopping completely, much less handle minor curves without slowing noticeably.

[jwolfer]

I think it is more than just southerners.  There are enough drivers in Chicagoland that seem to have difficulty turning without almost stopping completely, much less handle minor curves without slowing noticeably.

I have noticed this in NJ and FL. People turning like they have an 80 foot box trailer behind them. NJ state highways generally have full shoulders so not as much of an issue

Sort of related the people with an SUV and lots of ground clearance driving over a speed bump like they are in a low rider

[wanderer2575]

At the risk of hijacking the OP, I also call out freeway drivers who start slowing down a half mile before their exits, while still in the thru lane.  There is one freeway exit near me, no sharp curve or anything to impede traffic flow, that is like this ALL THE TIME; I swear it must radiate some kind of call to Mecca for these drivers and they make the pilgrimage (across country, if necessary) to participate.  And they're all in front of me.

[roadman65]

At the risk of hijacking the OP, I also call out freeway drivers who start slowing down a half mile before their exits, while still in the thru lane.  There is one freeway exit near me, no sharp curve or anything to impede traffic flow, that is like this ALL THE TIME; I swear it must radiate some kind of call to Mecca for these drivers and they make the pilgrimage (across country, if necessary) to participate.  And they're all in front of me.

We have that here near Disney World on I-4, that is why you can not do more than 50 mph through moving traffic.  In Downtown Orlando, where the posted speed limit is only 50 you can go pretty much as fast as you want providing that some tractor trailer does not jacknife going through the Fairbanks Curves, or you have the usual heavy lane volume exiting at SR 408 which backs up westbound traffic to Ivanhoe Boulevard because the ramp is only single lane with volume for at least a three lane ramp.

[sparker]

This phenomenon of premature slowing on freeways, reduced-speed turning motions, and the like certainly isn't confined to the South -- although, having driven through there several times, I can see why central FL is effectively "ground zero" for this sort of occurrence.  Off the top of my head I'd attribute it to the general aging of the population combined with the large-scale self-selection of such into widely recognized "retirement areas".  The West Coast concentration of these areas is a bit more diffused; I've encountered driving "methodologies" such as these near the various Del Webb communities in So Cal (Laguna Woods, Sun City) as well as in the greater Palm Springs-La Quinta-Indio area (the infamous "Other Desert Cities").  Up here in Northern California, the area around Lincoln is rife with dedicated "55-plus" tracts; while not yet to the extent seen in FL, greater care must be taken while driving in and around these zones to avoid not only the motions previously cited but also that of a vehicle pulling out extremely slowly from a side or frontage road into an arterial. 

Maybe I'm lucky -- reaching my later 60's with my basic driving skills intact.  But I still have a full-time job and juggle a consultancy besides that; I need to maintain my faculties as acutely as possible.   Perhaps it's the basic deliberate act of decelerating ones' lifestyle -- coupled with passive enabling from the peer group with which one associates -- that has, probably inadvertently, resulted in diminished driving skills.  The saving grace may be that some self-recognition of this is taking place, and the slowness of action may simply be a logical response to that.   

[qguy]

Indulge me bringing up a related phenomenon: drivers of ordinary automobiles or pickups who drift left to turn right (or vice versa), as if they were driving a long straight truck or pulling a trailer and they need to clear a wide turn. You even see it with drivers of compact cars. I've almost been side-swiped in an adjacent lane by that kind of driver.