I will not miss: Lubbock drivers

Everybody likes to make fun of New York drivers. Obviously driving in New York City is crazy and almost every movie set in the city over dramatizes some long extended car chase or traffic jam. So clearly, New York has a bad reputation for driving. In my opinion, NY drivers just don't fuck around. You can't be an oblivious moron to drive in NYC. Well, I guess you can but you would literally get run off the road or rendered deaf from collective horn honking. People drive fast and aggressive because they got shit to do. That doesn't make them bad drivers.

Personally, though, I would put the erratic and idiotic behavior of Lubbock drivers on a whole different level. In Lubbock, you are confronted with every type of bad driver imaginable - people that go too fast for no reason, people that drive too slow for no reason, people that are unaware of their turn signals, people who don't pay attention to stop lights/sign/arrows, people who don't stay in turning lanes, and on and on. I see an accident or almost get into an accident every time I leave the house! Most frequently, people run red lights, cut across traffic, and rear end fellow drivers. People just seem to make bad choices behind the wheel. I cannot understand it!

I think the lack of directionals/blinkers/turn signals infuriates me the most. Drivers simply do not like to indicate that they are turning. Or they turn on the signal for one flash as they are already turning. To make matters worse, everyone feels like they have to basically stop in the road in order to turn into a driveway, business, etc. So imagine a driver stops in the road in front of you and crawls slowly to the right into their destination. Holy fuck, my head explodes. The New Yorker in me usually lays on my horns for ten seconds (the duration of the turn) because I can't help it, and then the driver flips me off. FLIPS ME OFF! Are you fucking kidding me! It is common courtesy and the goddam law to let the driver behind know that you are turning!

As for unsafe speeding, I have never seen so many people is such a hurry to go NOWHERE! Take "the Loop," for example. It goes around Lubbock. You use it to bypass the stop lights and signs of cross streets. But it doesn't go anywhere! It is just a 20 mile circle. And yet, people will speed and weave and pass on the Loop, especially between University and Slide, as if they are actually fucking going somewhere! I assume the speeding occurs because it is one of the only three roads around Lubbock that have speed limits over 40 mph. It turns into a free-for-all as cars merge onto the loop at University, only to exit one mile later at Quaker. Everyone is in a huge hurry to pass two cars, even though they plan on getting off the highway in less than 30 seconds. Then, of course, the exit/merge process on the access roads is a nightmare. Everyone on the left is trying to get right in 5 seconds and everyone on the right is trying to get left in the same five seconds. All the wonderful politeness and courtesy in Lubbock disappears when people get in their cars. People will literally speed up to prevent you from switching lanes. Argh!

I think part of it, at least on the weekend, is people that are from out of town. There are quite a few "country bumpkins" that can't handle the "big city" driving of Lubbock. These are the terrified, timid drivers that stop in the middle of traffic to change lanes or cut across three lanes to turn into the Olive Garden parking lot. Driving too slow and timid is just as dangerous as driving too fast.

I know that Masshole drivers will be awful, as well, but I will not miss Lubbock drivers.