# freeways
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freeways/561733
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [November 24, 2010, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freeways/561733 "2010-11-24T02:15:22Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@misterkrc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/misterkrc)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2010, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freeways/561733/1 "2010-11-24T02:15:22Z")
i have lived in socal for 65 years. i recently went on vacation in northern cal in Aug. driving on many hwys. Car drivers up there were slow & relaxed. why are there so many “A” holes an tailgators in socal.
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### Author:  [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2010, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freeways/561733/2 "2010-11-24T03:48:00Z")
49 and one-half states and all the provinces of Canada have asked that question for decades. Still no adequate responses.
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### Author:  [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2010, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freeways/561733/3 "2010-11-24T04:14:01Z")
I grew up in LA, and I’m completely amazed at the competence of high speed freeway driving in LA. I live in a slower town now, but I like to think that I can channel my inner LA driver when necessary. People drive way too slow in the SF bay area. Don’t even bring up Oregon.
And then if you think that’s bad, I dare you to drive in Florida.
Don’t drive slow in the fast lane and let people pass. If it’s raining, slow the fuck down.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2010, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freeways/561733/4 "2010-11-24T04:31:34Z")
Socal is the only place people know how to drive. If I ever have to go through Oregon again, I might just go postal. **That** is a state full of assholes. I have never wanted fender-mounted machine guns more than my last burn up the 5 to Seattle.
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### Author:  [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2010, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freeways/561733/5 "2010-11-24T04:56:53Z")
> [@misterkrc](#):
>
> i have lived in socal for 65 years. i recently went on vacation in northern cal in Aug. driving on many hwys. Car drivers up there were slow & relaxed. why are there so many “A” holes an tailgators in socal.
They have a lot better weed up in NoCal.
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### Author:  [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2010, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freeways/561733/6 "2010-11-24T06:43:32Z")
> [@silenus](#):
>
> Socal is the only place people know how to drive.
I agree. I’ve lived all over the country and the drivers in L.A. are the best. They may not be the friendly or laid back, but they know _how to keep the traffic moving_.
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### Author:  [@AmunRa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AmunRa)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2010, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freeways/561733/7 "2010-11-24T07:50:47Z")
I’m going to have to jump on the SoCal drivers know what they’re doing bandwagon. I never really appreciated SoCal drivers until I had to spend a year in Washington.
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### Author:  [@B.Serum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B.Serum)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2010, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freeways/561733/8 "2010-11-24T08:26:36Z")
I gotta take issue with the “L.A. drivers are the best” meme going on here…
In my experience, while L.A. has got a group of traffic-hardened experienced drivers, it also has an _overabundance_ of aggressive douchebags, distracted cellphone-gabbers, slow-driving elderly immigrant ladies, casually-moving pickup trucks piled 10-feet high alternately with lawn-care or construction implements, and traffic-stopping clueless tourists.
Add to this icy/hot blend of driving styles the death-defying motorcycle lane-splitters flying through rush-hour traffic at MACH 2; the unwritten rule that at least 2 cars are going to advance through the intersection to turn left **AFTER** their light turns red; and intermittent awareness of the concept of not “blocking the box.”
Pour this automotive bouillabaisse over a surface area of 500 square miles officially known as [the city with the worst traffic in America](http://www.latimes.com/sns-worst-traffic-cities-pictures,0,648793.photogallery), you have an experience that is not-at-all enjoyable.
_ **Having said that, I still love L.A.!** _🆒
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### Author:  [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2010, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freeways/561733/9 "2010-11-24T14:25:01Z")
> [@silenus](#):
>
> Socal is the only place people know how to drive. If I ever have to go through Oregon again, I might just go postal. **That** is a state full of assholes. I have never wanted fender-mounted machine guns more than my last burn up the 5 to Seattle.
I drove a rental car with decent performance through some highways in Oregon several years ago. I think the highway speed there is like 35. I made terrific time getting from A to B as well as figuring out where they got the idea for that old video game “Pole Position”.
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### Author:  [@figure9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/figure9)
#### Post date: [November 24, 2010, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freeways/561733/10 "2010-11-24T20:26:22Z")
> [@](#):
>
> the unwritten rule that at least 2 cars are going to advance through the intersection to turn left AFTER their light turns red;
This might explain why so many drivers do not start moving until one minute after the light has turned green.