In another life this article may have been known as 'Worst States to Drive In'. I am rating 3 states (California, Minnesota & Washington), from best (spot 3) to worst (spot 1). You may be surprised, but all my witty adadotes will make you laugh - guarenteed or your money back (first you have to send me the money, I do apologize for the inconvience).
The 3 Spot:
California. I know, some of you may be surprised at this choice given the traffic in the big state, but everybody who lives here, or at least 95% of them, know how to drive a motor vehicle with almost no problems. The 5% that have problems are easy to avoid. You will occasionally see a tricked out Asian car weaving it's way through stand still traffic with the ease of a ballet dancer and a Califorian's response to a turn signal may be 'make me', but this just illustrates the skills you need to navigate. If you aren't going fast you stay in the right two lanes (unless you are a transplant from Oregon) and, the item that put them over the top, you can still drive 70-80 MPH in a rainstorm.
The 2 Spot
This was a hard decision: Washington. This state has several problems, the main one being the damn carpool lanes which gives those people who would normally drive really slow in the far right lanes an excuse to drive really slow in the far left lane. There also appears to be a problem with the driving the speed limit in the left-er (but not carpool) lanes, these lanes are made for people who are at least going 70 people, not 61. They also slow waaaay down when it rains, which is often and begs the question: if it rains all the time, why the hell are you always braking for it? However, most people know that if they don't let you merge you will hit their car and, overall, mostly polite because of the problems with road rage.
The 1 Spot
Minnesota. These people don't understand the concept of 'merge' or even really the word 'drive', 'speed', or 'don't brake really hard during a snowstorm or I'll rear-end you'. I knew one Minnesotan who blamed all the 'out of staters' who move to MN and then drive horribly. I thought it was that nobody moved OUT, which just proves it's all you natural born MNs that cause the problems (though not LoWriter, because she's only slightly crazy). Every time there is a snowstorm there is a mix of those that think 'I have a four wheel drive and can therefore drive 90MPH' and those that can't drive above 20. Everybody is CONSTANTLY braking HARD in traffic, which made me car sick even though I was the one driving. They also can't drive in rain and, occasionally, have problems understanding what the left lane is for. In a land filled with snow and ice some drunk Irish genius decided to design the highways with lots of turns, and inevitably some Minnesotans crashes their car during the first, second, third, and fifth snowstorms of the year. They also don't have Botts-dots, which the other two states do. Minnesotans are extrememly polite to some people, not store clerks, and not in their cars where some of them fly into a rage at the slightest provocation. I should probably close this by mentioning one way they drive well, when I think of one I'll let you know....
I hope you all enjoyed that and you didn't get offended by my mocking of those who are still living in Minnesota. You all know I miss braking during the first snow storm of the year. Sniff, it gave me a chance to enjoy the senary.
Posted by 10lees at April 7, 2005 08:37 AM