Here Are The Worst Things About Driving In America

Especially lack of skill requirements. I’d like to see a tier system. A basic tier which allows travel but restricted to speed and lane usage. Plus one or more higher tiers that require skills proficiency qualification to obtain. This tier(s) provide for higher limits and high speed lane usage. Abuse would result in demotions. The tier could be identified by the color of the license plates. Skills in the northern climes would require snow and ice driving. Qualification requirements for boxcars and pickups would include skills related to the heftier size, greater braking distances, and less maneuverability. Driving is similar to playing a sport and not everyone will attain the same skill level.

Suggested by: Panhead

In Arizona we discovered that the center median lines are a casual suggestion (along the lines of speed ignores, crossignores and lightnores) so people wander three or four feet into oncoming traffic like it’s nothing. And bike lanes are apex curbs designed for motorists to entirely use around blind curves.

Suggested by: Pete Fowler (Facebook)

After driving in Belgium I realized how amazing driving can be when people have good lane discipline. It’s literally night and day. In the U.S. people will argue with you that it isn’t the law in places where a google search will tell you it is in 10 seconds, will tell you that the 73.2856mph they choose to drive in the left lane is “fast enough” etc. all the while not realizing how much better their lives could actually be. The situation continues to get worse and worse here and most times here in the Northeast the cars will be clumped in the left two lanes and the right will be completely open. I’ve been cut off in the second lane by people who just got on the highway and “needed” to get over even though there wasn’t a car in front of them for miles.

Really this comes down to the complete lack of interest and attention we show when we’re driving but I would settle for keeping right except to pass.

A very close second is the dismal condition of the roads in some states. I moved from MA to NH recently and you don’t realize how insane the roads in MA are until you live somewhere the roads are actually good. Almost every road in MA is bad. There is a road in my town that crosses the state line and you can literally see and feel where the state line is by the condition of the road.

Suggested by: endus

The taxes. You’re taxed when you purchase a car, taxed yearly for driving on the roads, taxed on the insurance you have to keep on it, taxed for repairs to keep it roadworthy, property tax on said vehicle…

I take it back. Taxes are what’s wrong with America.

Suggested by: Chris Price (Facebook)

The worst thing about driving in America is unquestionably the police. The problem stems from the end of prohibition when the federal government and the states had a plethora of prohibition agents that needed jobs. Being a good bureaucracy, the respective governments created the ATF, DEA, and various State Highway Patrols to keep their thugs employed. Since then, any engagement with ‘law enforcement’ has become an ordeal that the lowly citizen going about their business, is forced, by threat of violence, to endure. That’s why today almost all encounters with police are contentious. The highway men, highway robbers, serve little more purpose than to tax the motorist, or to seize their assets because a canine ‘alerts’. This is a fundamental component to the civil unrest we’re experiencing today. Minor regulatory infractions, which we’re all guilty of every single day, result in people being killed when they offer any form of resistance because the cop is going home to his cherished family. It infuriates me. There are a lot of good Police Officers out there, but even they are subject to the quotas established by their departments. Police shouldn’t be allowed to impede commerce for anything short of a felony. Leave the taxing, err ticketing, to a remote sensor (which thankfully can be mitigated with a can of spray paint), and reduce the negative public vs police interactions by, what would you say, 90%?

Suggested by: Billy Bob

Long haul truckers on the interstate, 62 mph in the right lane and 63 mph in the left lane passing and taking five minutes to accomplish the task.

Suggested by: Mark Reinhart (Facebook)

Unbelievably loud cars, and coal rollers. I live in a state without annual or bi-annual inspections. That means all the diesels are deleted and a lot of mufflers are gone. There are multiple insanely loud cars in my neighborhood (two Mustangs, a WRX, and Golf) that wake us up at night. There are also lots of people around town more than willing to fill an intersection with black diesel smoke when they feel like it.

Suggested by: dave1827

Listening to all the whining that gas is so expensive when they pay some of the lowest prices in the world and they all drive pick ups and SUVs.

Suggested by: David Poirier (Facebook)

GIANT FUCKING PICKUP TRUCKS, and the people (99.5% of the time, a guy who looks exactly like the picture below) who drive GIANT FUCKING PICKUP TRUCKS. They unironically see themselves as predators and any smaller vehicle as their prey. I once had an F-150 deliberately pull out dangerously close in front of me, and then 3 Silverados appeared out of nowhere and boxed me in, completely out of the blue (I was driving a rather run-down Saturn). What’s sad is that I didn’t even see it as unusual. This wasn’t even in a particularly redneck area, either (although it was a smallish town).

When I lived in the States, I couldn’t spend 10 minutes on the road without some asshole in a lifted Ram riding a foot behind my bumper at 55 MPH the entire way. I moved to Canada in 2017, and while people still drive big trucks here, they’re nowhere near as aggressive on the road. It really is a uniquely US phenomenon.

Suggested by: Young person yelling at clouds

All of the left lane sitters. My understanding is that, on the Autobahn if someone is passing you on the right you are ticketed heavily for being the problem. Traffic would move much easier if people would just stay in the correct lane and full-size semis that can’t achieve the speed limit up a hill have absolutely no business leaving the far right lane up a hill.

Suggested by: Jeff Harris (Facebook)

The mismanagement of our rest stops - when traveling for work, often rest stops are closed - on holidays, they are usually out of coffee, diet sodas, and more - this was not the case when rest stops had the “roach coaches” - the owners had guns - you didn’t have machines broken into, out of stock on holiday weekends when huge demand should be anticipated - this is a critical service! Signs are lit telling drivers not to drive drowsy - pull over - uh, where? And of course many are full - no place to park just to quickly use the restroom - we need our dollars to stop being largely wasted by the DOT - get our roads in great shape, rest stops managed well, and reasonable gas prices!

Suggested by: apple Mustang dude

The worst part about driving in America? Easy. The fact that it’s your only choice for transportation in 99% of the country. It wouldn’t be a problem if you absolutely love commuting (and I don’t know of a single person who at the very least likes it), but if your idea of a good time is spending 3 hours in a car to drive 30 miles, then you do you.

I did the calculation and my old three-hour commute to Los Angeles cost me almost two months every year in wasted time. Mind you, the destination was 30 miles away, so yes you are literally doing 10 MPH every day in a car. I can imagine being a lot more satisfied with taking a train to work so I didn’t have to waste six hours a day doing nothing but driving, I could’ve used that time to watch videos or play games, but there were no proper routes into the city from my house. Honestly the public transportation network is so primitive in the US that expecting to go anywhere without a car is like thinking a random stranger will give you their social security number just because you ask nicely.

The fact that the only way to get anywhere involves you being actively invested in what you’re doing for long periods of time is the exact reason why driving sucks. 2nd place goes to the fact that we have to pay so much money to do it.

These days I take pride in the fact that I don’t have to commute and I’m not limited by car whenever I wanna go somewhere. But again, 99% of us don’t have that luxury.

Suggested by: Lil Xanos

Note, almost every “speed limit” is incorrect. There’s supposed to be a study done before setting them and a high percentile of the speed people are going should set it. Instead they are completely arbitrary and many still have 55mph set because it’s been that way since 1974.

The 55 MPH speed limit for instance was created in response to the 1973 Oil Crisis, not for safety reasons.

Suggested by: fastm3driver

Plot twist - it’s actually a fantastic place to drive and a lot better than driving in the UK. As a Brit living in California for 10 years, I love driving here because of the following uniquely American driving experiences:

You don’t need a front license plate (even though it’s the law in CA, I consider the $25 fix it ticket a beauty tax to keep my front bumper clean).

There are no speed cameras. You have to actually get pulled over here, and if you are unlucky enough to get a speeding ticket, you can usually use a traffic lawyer to get you out of it for the same price as the fine without any points on your license.

Cars are much bigger, more powerful and much better equipped than their European counterparts.

Gas - despite current prices here in CA - is still a lot cheaper than everywhere in Europe.

Until 2019, we could drive with dealer plates on in CA for the entire duration of your lease so your car always felt “new”.

It’s perfectly acceptable to ‘undertake’ so those left lane hogs don’t really matter.

Despite the bad traffic in urban areas, there are still some incredible, world-class driving roads a short drive outside many major cities.

The car culture - especially in CA - is incredible. I’ve never seen such an awesome variety of vehicles in any other place on Earth.

Finally, I think American license plates are really cool with tons of personality for each state.

Suggested by: William

For me - as a civil engineer working in transportation - it’s our undying need to put in a traffic signal or a four-way stop where a roundabout is really the perfect solution. Do any amount of driving in Europe outside the main city centers, and you almost never come to a stop, you just flow from roundabout to roundabout. Whereas here, I find myself constantly sitting at traffic signals with cars stopped in 3 directions and a green phase for no traffic. I find it infuriating.

Suggested by: BirdLaw900