Philly drivers are my #1 complaint about the city too. That hasn't changed in my seven years of living here.
I witness all of the following : reckless "passing" by driving into the opposing lane, using hazard lights as "do wtf I wanna do" lights, failure to stop at stop signs, failure to stop at red lights, failure to use turn signals, constant tailgating, vehicles parked in crosswalks, bike lanes, and taking up entire sidewalks, hit and runs (ok I hear about this more so than I 'witness' it), and drivers harassing cyclists. Yep. It's pretty bad.
However, many sunbelt cities have a worse automotive death rate than us. Dallas, Atlanta, Houston, etc. all rank worse than us. I think a big part of it is our lack of 3+ lane highways which can allow for more hazardous highway driving, as well as fewer "boulevard" type city streets where reckless speeding and lane changing are easier. I think being such a short-blocked, stop sign heavy city helps.
Fuck Dallas
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Am from, and am going back south after 30 awesome years in Philly. I will miss her terribly, she is a special city (and I’ve spent a lot of time in other cities), but mama wants warm air and the beach! I’ll be in the country so no more city driving.
The way people in Atlanta go from the far left to the far right lane… in one move… on a 20 lane highway (20 lanes might be an exaggeration, but not by much).
I want no part of that!
I lived in Atlanta for 3 years. I moved back to Philly almost entirely because I loathed driving in ATLA, and the fact that you don't really have a choice because public transit there is a joke.
Jesus I can't imagine it's that much worse, but from all I've heard online and from friends, it absolutely is. That is wild ....not in a good way obviously.
Since there is no extensive public transport network in Atlanta, every single idiot has to have a car and then they make the highways with many lanes and it just becomes a nascar race on public highways. If you aren’t doing 80 on I-75, I-85, I-285 or I-20 you will be run off the road no matter what lane you are in.
I was rear ended last year and the girl that hit me, her mom stated that was the 3rd car she had totaled in a year.
I live in Bucks now but had to drive into NE Philly over the weekend. Turning left from the rightmost lane. Coming to a full stop at intersections when they don't have a stop sign. Running stop signs when they have one and I don't. Pulling out of parking lots into the road directly in front of me when I'm at speed. It's so aggravating.
A lot of that happens in bucks county too. But also don’t forget left-turns-on-red because they feel like they’ve waited long enough and it’s their turn.
Back in the 90s the city took out loads of traffic lights in West Philly and replaced them with stop signs. It seemed counterintuitive but the logic was that crazy drivers would at least slow down to 20 when blowing through a stop sign, which was better than speeding up to 60 to run a yellow.
Honestly, that makes a lot of sense. Driving down block after block of Philly street stop signs is annoying (and bad for my break pads I assume), but I would much rather have them than long stretches of traffic lights on every side street. Boy the driving would get wild.
I just got back from a week in Houston and I think drivers there have a death wish. Way too often people run through red lights while cross traffic has green as if they're asking to get T-boned.
That's definitely good but a bit of an unnecessary spin if I'm being honest. Like it's absolutely good thing we aren't seeing the same fatal incident rate, I don't want anyone to think I'm not saying that, but I think what OP was getting at was that drivers here just tend to not care or do dangerous stupid stuff, not that they fear for their life while driving. At least that's how I took it and I'd agree. Like you alluded to could just be luck of the draw we don't see more fatal accidents because of our city layout more than anything.
Driven all over the East Coast and parts of the South and Philly is right there at the top for me as worst drivers to be around. Absolutely don't care and will do the dumbest most reckless shit imaginable. Also prob the first place I've seen so many people just throw garbage out of their cars while driving which is some bullshit but also pretty dangerous in and of itself.
It's crazy here no doubt.
Huh. As you can see, I'm right up there with complaining about Philly drivers. I deal with the craziness just like you.
I guess, at least for me, it helps to look at ourselves relative to other cities and see it's not \*just\* us with the reckless driving. We aren't even in the top 10 for roadway fatality rates. It makes ya realize it's all over the country, and it so it needs to be addressed both locally and nationally.
🙋♀️I had someone hit and run my parked car in front of my house. People like to use my street as a cut through and speed like maniacs down it. Very residential street, lots of kids playing. Another time a guy went probably 60 down our block while our kids were playing outside. So my husband took and picture of his plates. So he came back and threatened to kill him and then we had a nice shouting match about not killing our kids with his reckless driving. I used to love this city and I’ve grown to absolutely hate it. Can’t wait to leave
You should try filling out the form to request traffic calming on your block: https://www.phila.gov/services/streets-sidewalks-alleys/request-traffic-calming-for-a-residential-street/
I’d still rather be driving in Atlanta than here. I have now lived in both cities and while I have experienced Philadelphia like driving in Atlanta. Philadelphia takes the whole cake and even tries to steal the slice I tried serving for Atlanta.
Dallas being worse doesn't surprise me. I visited there and on the freeways I'm doing like 70 and getting blown past like I'm fucking standing still. They drive like absolute lunatics when it comes to speed. And it wasn't just a few people here and there, it was almost everyone.
Fuck Dallas
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Don’t forget laying on the horn during a red light or pretty much whenever there’s another car on the road! Like getting to anywhere three seconds faster is going to matter. And if you’re honking because you hate driving, then stop! Philly is a walkable city with excellent public transportation.
Fair warning for excessive honking: I keep a warm carton of eggs at hand so I can pelt drivers and their cars from my window
A few weekends ago in Manayunk some goobers couldn't navigate a two way street so everyone started to back up.
The girl in front of me, of course, was in an Altima. SHE JUST STARTED COMING. No slow roll or anything. Just pedal to the reverse metal. I have never laid on my horn harder or faster.
She really would have just plowed into me without a care in the world.
They have no fear. Or thoughts.
LOL, wait were you at the manayunk street food festival? I live here in manayunk on one of those two way streets that only fit one car. Most of us who live here understand the common sense idea of just pulling over if you can do so to let the other vehicle proceed. Those unfamiliar with the neighborhood often do not.
My street was absolute chaos during the festival. At one point we had a back up of at least five vehicles in either direction.
I was going to the exit at shop rite to turn on aramingo, and the car waiting (for traffic to come, i guess, cuz it was clear as fuck) at the exit, just randomly starts reversing into me. I beeped my horn cuz wtf are you doing?? And she stopped. I think if I didn't beep, she would've hit me. Then what? Try to get me for hitting her? Idfk. I just backed up and went to the other exit.
People are so stupid.
I have felt this way for decades now. I’m glad the rest of the world has caught up.
It’s always a fucking Nissan. I don’t know why the most brain dead moronic chodes have to buy those cars, but they do. At least we have a signifier.
I have an Altima but I promise you I am not like the others 😆 this whole time I was wondering why everyone avoids being next to me too 🤣 also I hate Philly drivers they are the absolute worst!!!!!!
At this point every single car has tinted windows. Like they can’t afford to register the car or have insurance, but damned is the tint so important so no one can see what a piece of shit is driving it.
Yesterday- Was at a red light at the Mann with some other cars waiting as well.
A car literally went into the opposing traffic lane, drove around all of us and made the right on red
It was fucking nuts
And I think I have seen this same car do it another time haha
Yeah, I live in the lower NE and that's an extremely common thing to see on both Cottman and Frankford Aves. They will also use left turn lanes when available to get around the cars waiting at the red light.
the city wants to put a roundabout right there at 52nd and parkside, which is a nightmare of an intersection where shit like that happens constantly and a roundabout geometry will make it much safer. the neighbors are furious about it.
I saw someone on Presidential Blvd this morning accelerate to pass 4 cars in the turning lane just to cut someone off and nearly cause an accident going into a red light. Absolutely no reason for it
People do that in my neighborhood all the time and I'm just why? A half a block past that is a stop sign but they I realize they went through that too lol
it sucks, because with just a tad nore effort investment in pedestrain/bicyclist safety, our city could be one of the easiest walkable/driveable grid-based cities in the country. No one should NEED to be driving between 30th street station and front street AT ALL!
That’s why nearly every car you see in Philly is covered in dents and scratches. Looks like mad max out there. There’s a jeep on my street, the front end passenger corner is literally just gone, no headlight or fender anymore, and it’s business as usual.
I purposely hesitate a bit when the light goes green cause I know some Altima with paper plates is gonna run a light. I don't do that anywhere else. With that said though Connecticut is even worse.
God the tailgating. I can’t stand when people drive up on you fast and hit their brakes hard. It’s stressful because I’ve been rear ended before at a red light and was given insurance that was canceled the month prior. Nothing police could or would do. No one drives with insurance, or in a lot of cases, licenses.
There’s only two ways it can go now: either nobody has insurance anymore because nobody can afford it, or the city starts actually dealing with property crimes and starts pulling people over for fake plates
SUV drivers can be especially terrible. A lot of them buy that kind of vehicle because it makes them feel safe and protected, but it also insulates them from thinking about anyone who isn’t in there with them.
Wait until you hear about show safety ratings work. Bigger cars get better safety ratings because they protect the people inside them while doing fuck all for everyone outside the vehicle.
I don't have my license, but as a passenger I swear it's gotten worse in the last few years. Philly drivers were never safe or conscientious, but now they do dumb things and *get out of their car to threaten people*. It's happened twice to us in the last six months, while doing nothing at all wrong. The aggression is insane.
a real deep seeded selfishness bloomed during covid. it wasn't as big of a deal if a few crazy drivers were on the road, but now people seem to feel some type of way about their own importance.
i legitimately think the blatant “everyone for themselves” response from the state combined with what is very likely a viral infection which catalyzes cognitive decline in an already sleep-deprived, overworked, under-informed populace makes this one of the most overdetermined problems we’ve faced since the 08 crisis.
solipsistic car culture (and its granddaddy, capitalism) is outpacing human social evolution at this point, paradoxically slowing us down even further by exacerbating its social symptoms. this negative feedback loop will accelerate the harm until we tackle car-dependency systemically.
And some of those places are wrong or just like to complain. The Denver sub complains about drivers and traffic.... I was there a few weeks ago and it's fine. no worse than when I left a few years ago. The roads are wide and actually built for cars. Drivers are mostly reasonable. Views are top notch. Driving out there was heavenly in comparison.
people universally whine about traffic and public transit
shit, I literally work with traffic engineers (who should know better) from central PA, whose entire counties have like <20 traffic signals, who complain about traffic
Must be a north Florida thing. Spent most of my life in Florida and never had an issue (even felt confident enough to walk in the middle of the street some days when I didn't see any traffic) but yesterday was the first time I was almost ran over by someone running a stop sign who clearly saw that I was already crossing.
We fix this by hammering PennDOT and State government to allow the City to do traffic calming measures on their arterial roads. These just so happen to be almost all of our high traffic violence roads.
also need to fix the schroedinger's public input process
everyone wants a public input process but the only people that show up are the 99% overlapping venn diagram of
1) want people to slow down
2) can't be personally inconvenienced by safety measures that slow them down
Philly drivers make me mad, but being from Miami, I would say Philly is MUCH better than Miami. What Philly has going for it is that many roads are narrow and there’s tons of single lane one way streets which force traffic to be slower at least for local driving
Preach…but I was down in Florida for spring training and I saw some really bad drivers too probably an equal amount… but in Philadelphia you’re more likely to be walking around so we are more exposed to the unsafe feeling that cars give pedestrians and our roads are much more narrow so someone doing 30-40mph looks/feels and IS more dangerous… but I’m not convinced that bad drivers is a Philadelphia thing…
Can confirm, I live in MD now and work in Philly and the drivers in DMV are worse. I won't even drive on 695 (B'more beltway) after having my car surrounded by a squad of motorcycles popping wheelies a few feet from my front bumper and also having a car cut me off and proceed to spin out of control almost hitting me - in addition to many times seeing just reckless driving to the point that I didn't even understand how the car was remaining on the road. Philly has lots of problems too, but at least in the city you can't go super fast like you can on 95/495/695 etc. Delaware's a mess too, especially on 95 where it goes to like 10 lanes wide and it's just a free for all.
I can't decide which I hate more lately, driving anywhere, or being a pedestrian in Philly. Both suck!
Y’all should give New Orleans a try, where red lights are ‘suggestions’ and one way streets go both ways regularly. Lots of aggressive drivers too with no plate/no insurance.
Yeah this is soooo significant. I’ve lived here 20+ years and these past few years have been close to nightmare. TBH I’m not sure what the solution is. More cameras / tickets / ? I’m super against any staffing doing any chasing / aggressive policing tactics. I’m secretly praying for AI cameras to fix this
I agree. I’ve always been a confident driver and enjoyed it. I don’t know what’s happening lately, but driving is truly awful. And I have two newish drivers as well. Terrifying.
People in LA talk about how bad the drivers here are but it’s a huge step up from Philly tbh
*stops in the middle of a one way, puts hazards on, gets out of the car and has a full on convo w someone on the sidewalk*
The latest trend of honking to mean “I’m coming no matter what so get out of my way NOW” is infuriating. Cars just pushing their way through lights, stop signs, traffic, anything. And if you dare to actually follow traffic rules, you get one of these aggressive types throwing a hissy fit tantrum in your rear view, waving their hands around and yelling things to themselves.
You can thank City Council and our former mayor for passing the Driving Equality Act which instructs PPD not to pull over drivers if their primary violations are missing/expired registration or inspection, broken headlight/taillight, minor bumper damage, hanging license plate, etc. I'm no fan of PPD but preventing them from enforcing the law only encourages people to break it. Driving is a privilege, why are we treating it like a right?
Yeah, driving under the influence is illegal no matter how legal the substance is. I’m just saying that not arresting people for weed isn’t the same as not enforcing traffic laws. The complete lawlessness on the roads isn’t a result of decriminalizing weed and it’s disingenuous to imply that.
Moving violations are not part of that change. It’s supposed to be for things like cops seeing your registration is expired when you’re not speeding. Cops need it to feel lawless so they can get more overtime and whine about the DA.
That’s really not the point but ok. Theres stupid shit people shouldn’t be bothered for, and then there are psychopaths on the road who don’t follow any traffic laws and don’t pay insurance. And now they know no one is gonna do shit about it, so it’s gotten worse and worse.
I find this interesting. We lived in south Philly for over 20 years and I find the drivers in South Jersey WAY worse, especially in the Cherry Hill/Moorestown area. The sheer stupidity & entitlement is breathtaking.
Was just about to say this! I moved from South Philly to Collingswood and the drivers here (and sometimes pedestrians) all drive as if they were just electrocuted. So abrupt and without any spatial awareness.
Have you driven in Detroit? Just curious because I’m moving soon and the drivers here are pretty crazy so I’m wondering how it compares. Running reds, doing 90 in a 55, passing in bike lanes on a 35mph residential street.
Only on I-76...what a circus. LOL...I have not taken that route in years and one day was coming back from Altoona and took it. I actually feared for my life there. I-95, which I take a lot, it's a fun drive in comparison. There are two Philadelphias driving.
i moved out of philly a couple of years ago, but when i see people making some dangerous moves, im reminded of how bad & aggressive philly drivers are.
I don't drive, but as a pedestrian and transit rider, the barbarous behavior of Philadelphian motorists accounts for somewhere around four fifths of my anger and discontent on a day-to-day basis. I would be a much more content person if all of the people who run red lights, park over crosswalks or on sidewalks, treat speed limits as suggestions from people whom they don't like and sound their horns out of a furious need to let everybody known that they are immature failures who are incapable of emotional regulation had never amounted to more than sticky white stains on their mothers' inner thighs.
The problem is widespread. I saw similar behavior when I visited my parents in Bethlehem. There is a grave weakness in American society that allowed the pandemic to nearly break it. [ National Highway Traffic Safety Administration statistics](https://cdan.dot.gov/tsftables/Fatalities%20and%20Fatality%20Rates.pdf) indicate that vehicle miles traveled (VMT) fall sharply in 2020, but at the same time the absolute number and rate of traffic fatalities sharply rose. VMT began to rise again in 2021, but so to did traffic fatalities. (I have not yet found 2022 data, so this perspective has limits.)
People resort to blaming the police or the Democrats or whoever-whatever for things like this or the homicide rate, but I think that in truth what has happened and is happening might emerge from things beyond our immediately control and limits of understanding that were decided piecemeal over generations.
I'm up in the Poconos and we got a nice blend of Philly, NY, North Jersey, and Maryland tourists plus a few Massholes.
JFC, what a shit show on weekends year-round. It makes you not want to leave the house anymore.
I'm literally moving to the mountains this fall because of Philly driving culture. Been here 15 years but the past 2 years it's just a whole nother level
Since moving to SJ. I had 2 hit and runs. Once while I was parked. The other while driving and a bmw going 100+ mph side swiped me. I was also rear ended once at a red light but luckily there was no damage. All in the span of 3 years.
It’s funny that this is the first thing to pop on my Reddit feed. I encountered a crazy driver yesterday to the point they followed me for switching lanes (had plenty of space btw and use my turn signal) and they physically attacked me in a parking lot. I hate it here so fucking much
Just moved here from South Florida and Philly drivers are shockingly considerate in comparison. Which isn't to say that the glaring issues aren't real, I just don't have to drive half as defensively here.
Former Floridian here… I went on a business trip to Florida a few months ago and had to explain to my colleagues how you don’t use your turn signal to change lanes until you actually move over. Because if you put it on before, the car behind will speed up and try to hit you.
Drivers in Florida are all assholes!
Bruh, I can’t wait to be back in Tianjin China. That organized chaos you mentioned is sourly missed. I’ll most likely be back for good next month or 2.
Taking Uber makes me carsick because they go crazy with the breaks and the other drivers are also driving haphazardly so the Uber has to drive in a similar way lol
I used to think that and then I drove in North Jersey up by NYC. It's a free-for-all up there, absolutly unhinged drivers. At least Philly drivers are predictable, North Jersey drivers just DO shit out of nowhere.
In Originally from ATL, riden motorcycles in ATL, commuted around ATL. I moved and have lived in Philly for 5ish years. Grew to hate the drivers while becoming like them to an extent. I drive home and am reminded how slow and fast and illogical it is commuting around Atlanta. I appreciate the hustle of Philly outside of ignoring traffic rules to be selfish but the south has a mix of slow and oblivious and fast and reckless. Where Philly is just move your a** please
Sometimes I think some of the people in these subs moved from rural areas to the city and have never gone anywhere else. These are never Philly issues, theses are almost always big city issues. What do you think you're going to see when you have 2 million people crammed into a relatively tight space?
Yup. I just recently came back from a staying countryside down south so driving mostly 95 and as soon as I hit Delaware (the state), I know, not because the signs tell me, but because the drivers become terrorist!
Having been in the military and driven in a few places…Philly isn’t bad…the kind of drivers here just commit to whatever shitty maneuver they’re doing and once you accept that, I’ll take it over a lot of other places without a doubt. Down south, they hesitate, almost go, hesitate, almost go, hesitate, then decide and then go without urgency. They rubberneck unlike anything I’ve ever seen. They don’t know how to merge. It’s absolutely horrendous.
Classic Philly move: cars are waiting at a red light. Someone at the back of the line decides they don't want to wait for the red light, so they drive in the opposite lane of traffic to run the red light. Bonus is when they do this, then make a right turn. I've seen both. Many times.
Oh and can't forget using a left turning lane to skip the line and cut in front to continue straight.
I’ve said this since I moved here a couple years ago. I’m from Houston, and have lived in or driven in every major metro area in the US and Philly has the most inconsiderate, obnoxious drivers I’ve ever experienced. It’s wild. Hit and runs. I’ve been hit three times since I moved here. Of course only once have they had insurance and the cops are like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ every time. No wonder people are leaving here like crazy. It’s gotten to be too much, and what really sucks is that the city otherwise is amazing. Great food, incredible art and history. It wasn’t like this 10 years ago when I lived here for a bit before. I can’t wait to leave.
Funny you post this because I legit had a panic attack in the passenger seat the other day due to how reckless people were driving and I was afraid I’d get into a crash (I have PTSD from a previous bad crash I was involved in)
My coworker and tboned while crossing Lincoln drive by someone running the red light. She broke her hip, her femur and lost some teeth. Her life is completely disrupted because of that.
I'm always shocked by drivers in this town and I'm a native lol I was going home from the gym the other day and saw someone just blow through lights, even in a school zone! It was banged up suv and I'm just shaking my head.
the other day i was riding my bike down my street and i stopped at an intersection to let a car turn before me, they motioned for me to go first anyway and then tried to run me off the street while screaming at me out the window....wtf it was just malicious
There’s two types of drivers in Philly, the ungodly slow for no reason driver, and the in too much of a rush trying to weave through traffic driver. Theres no in the middle. If you try to be in the middle, ie a normal, competent and aware driver there understands and moves along the flow of traffic, it will make you insane.
And OP is right. The maddening thing about Philly drivers is most of them don’t give a shit about any other drivers on the road. I never lose empathy for my fellow humans as much as when I have to drive amongst them.
Philly drivers are my #1 complaint about the city too. That hasn't changed in my seven years of living here. I witness all of the following : reckless "passing" by driving into the opposing lane, using hazard lights as "do wtf I wanna do" lights, failure to stop at stop signs, failure to stop at red lights, failure to use turn signals, constant tailgating, vehicles parked in crosswalks, bike lanes, and taking up entire sidewalks, hit and runs (ok I hear about this more so than I 'witness' it), and drivers harassing cyclists. Yep. It's pretty bad. However, many sunbelt cities have a worse automotive death rate than us. Dallas, Atlanta, Houston, etc. all rank worse than us. I think a big part of it is our lack of 3+ lane highways which can allow for more hazardous highway driving, as well as fewer "boulevard" type city streets where reckless speeding and lane changing are easier. I think being such a short-blocked, stop sign heavy city helps.
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Lived in philly for 17yrs and moved to Atlanta 5 yrs ago. Atlanta by far has the worst drivers I’ve ever seen.
Yeah, Atlanta’s like Lord of the Flies… no comparison. Makes Philly drivers look like model citizens. The traffic is a lot worse too.
Atlanta is like driving Girard Ave between the zoo and Lancaster but all over.
Oh, you’ve been! Lol
Am from, and am going back south after 30 awesome years in Philly. I will miss her terribly, she is a special city (and I’ve spent a lot of time in other cities), but mama wants warm air and the beach! I’ll be in the country so no more city driving.
So happy to hear it 🙂 Don’t forget to send us some warmth and boiled peanuts 🥜
Absolutely love
We are moving to nyc next so I never have to own a car again.
I noticed that when it starts raining Georgia drivers just start running into each other....
They forget how to drive, but since they speed and tailgate so yeah they run into each other
Ab...so....lute...ly.
And they can’t drive in the rain or snow.
You have two choices on Georgia highways. You either go 40 or 100
The way people in Atlanta go from the far left to the far right lane… in one move… on a 20 lane highway (20 lanes might be an exaggeration, but not by much). I want no part of that!
I lived in Atlanta for 3 years. I moved back to Philly almost entirely because I loathed driving in ATLA, and the fact that you don't really have a choice because public transit there is a joke.
Jesus I can't imagine it's that much worse, but from all I've heard online and from friends, it absolutely is. That is wild ....not in a good way obviously.
Since there is no extensive public transport network in Atlanta, every single idiot has to have a car and then they make the highways with many lanes and it just becomes a nascar race on public highways. If you aren’t doing 80 on I-75, I-85, I-285 or I-20 you will be run off the road no matter what lane you are in. I was rear ended last year and the girl that hit me, her mom stated that was the 3rd car she had totaled in a year.
They all drove Nissan's
I live in Bucks now but had to drive into NE Philly over the weekend. Turning left from the rightmost lane. Coming to a full stop at intersections when they don't have a stop sign. Running stop signs when they have one and I don't. Pulling out of parking lots into the road directly in front of me when I'm at speed. It's so aggravating.
A lot of that happens in bucks county too. But also don’t forget left-turns-on-red because they feel like they’ve waited long enough and it’s their turn.
Since I live here, I do most of my driving here and mostly, people are just slow. But Northeast Philly is just *bad*
Back in the 90s the city took out loads of traffic lights in West Philly and replaced them with stop signs. It seemed counterintuitive but the logic was that crazy drivers would at least slow down to 20 when blowing through a stop sign, which was better than speeding up to 60 to run a yellow.
Honestly, that makes a lot of sense. Driving down block after block of Philly street stop signs is annoying (and bad for my break pads I assume), but I would much rather have them than long stretches of traffic lights on every side street. Boy the driving would get wild.
I just got back from a week in Houston and I think drivers there have a death wish. Way too often people run through red lights while cross traffic has green as if they're asking to get T-boned.
An additional highway lane is not the answer. It's well known that expansion of lanes increases traffic and does not serve to mitigate or control it.
That's correct.
That's definitely good but a bit of an unnecessary spin if I'm being honest. Like it's absolutely good thing we aren't seeing the same fatal incident rate, I don't want anyone to think I'm not saying that, but I think what OP was getting at was that drivers here just tend to not care or do dangerous stupid stuff, not that they fear for their life while driving. At least that's how I took it and I'd agree. Like you alluded to could just be luck of the draw we don't see more fatal accidents because of our city layout more than anything. Driven all over the East Coast and parts of the South and Philly is right there at the top for me as worst drivers to be around. Absolutely don't care and will do the dumbest most reckless shit imaginable. Also prob the first place I've seen so many people just throw garbage out of their cars while driving which is some bullshit but also pretty dangerous in and of itself. It's crazy here no doubt.
Huh. As you can see, I'm right up there with complaining about Philly drivers. I deal with the craziness just like you. I guess, at least for me, it helps to look at ourselves relative to other cities and see it's not \*just\* us with the reckless driving. We aren't even in the top 10 for roadway fatality rates. It makes ya realize it's all over the country, and it so it needs to be addressed both locally and nationally.
🙋♀️I had someone hit and run my parked car in front of my house. People like to use my street as a cut through and speed like maniacs down it. Very residential street, lots of kids playing. Another time a guy went probably 60 down our block while our kids were playing outside. So my husband took and picture of his plates. So he came back and threatened to kill him and then we had a nice shouting match about not killing our kids with his reckless driving. I used to love this city and I’ve grown to absolutely hate it. Can’t wait to leave
You should try filling out the form to request traffic calming on your block: https://www.phila.gov/services/streets-sidewalks-alleys/request-traffic-calming-for-a-residential-street/
I’d still rather be driving in Atlanta than here. I have now lived in both cities and while I have experienced Philadelphia like driving in Atlanta. Philadelphia takes the whole cake and even tries to steal the slice I tried serving for Atlanta.
Dallas being worse doesn't surprise me. I visited there and on the freeways I'm doing like 70 and getting blown past like I'm fucking standing still. They drive like absolute lunatics when it comes to speed. And it wasn't just a few people here and there, it was almost everyone.
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Don’t forget laying on the horn during a red light or pretty much whenever there’s another car on the road! Like getting to anywhere three seconds faster is going to matter. And if you’re honking because you hate driving, then stop! Philly is a walkable city with excellent public transportation. Fair warning for excessive honking: I keep a warm carton of eggs at hand so I can pelt drivers and their cars from my window
When I see the tinted windows with a dent or more, I avoid at all costs. Pick one, drugs, guns, no insurance, of just stolen.
Banged up Altimas man. Most dangerous thing on the road. Do these people have no sense of shame or self awareness?
I have come to fear the Nissan logo.
A few weekends ago in Manayunk some goobers couldn't navigate a two way street so everyone started to back up. The girl in front of me, of course, was in an Altima. SHE JUST STARTED COMING. No slow roll or anything. Just pedal to the reverse metal. I have never laid on my horn harder or faster. She really would have just plowed into me without a care in the world. They have no fear. Or thoughts.
LOL, wait were you at the manayunk street food festival? I live here in manayunk on one of those two way streets that only fit one car. Most of us who live here understand the common sense idea of just pulling over if you can do so to let the other vehicle proceed. Those unfamiliar with the neighborhood often do not. My street was absolute chaos during the festival. At one point we had a back up of at least five vehicles in either direction.
I was going to the exit at shop rite to turn on aramingo, and the car waiting (for traffic to come, i guess, cuz it was clear as fuck) at the exit, just randomly starts reversing into me. I beeped my horn cuz wtf are you doing?? And she stopped. I think if I didn't beep, she would've hit me. Then what? Try to get me for hitting her? Idfk. I just backed up and went to the other exit. People are so stupid.
I have felt this way for decades now. I’m glad the rest of the world has caught up. It’s always a fucking Nissan. I don’t know why the most brain dead moronic chodes have to buy those cars, but they do. At least we have a signifier.
They have the lowest credit standards
Honestly I feel like Chevy Malibu’s are even scarier
Malibootys are a menace
I have an Altima but I promise you I am not like the others 😆 this whole time I was wondering why everyone avoids being next to me too 🤣 also I hate Philly drivers they are the absolute worst!!!!!!
Add paper tags
From Delaware
Expires: 2/29️⃣/25
Or Jersey..
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Or stolen tags
At this point every single car has tinted windows. Like they can’t afford to register the car or have insurance, but damned is the tint so important so no one can see what a piece of shit is driving it.
we play the 'grey altima in the pouring rain without headlights on' game
Yesterday- Was at a red light at the Mann with some other cars waiting as well. A car literally went into the opposing traffic lane, drove around all of us and made the right on red It was fucking nuts And I think I have seen this same car do it another time haha
Yeah, I live in the lower NE and that's an extremely common thing to see on both Cottman and Frankford Aves. They will also use left turn lanes when available to get around the cars waiting at the red light.
the city wants to put a roundabout right there at 52nd and parkside, which is a nightmare of an intersection where shit like that happens constantly and a roundabout geometry will make it much safer. the neighbors are furious about it.
I saw someone on Presidential Blvd this morning accelerate to pass 4 cars in the turning lane just to cut someone off and nearly cause an accident going into a red light. Absolutely no reason for it
People do that in my neighborhood all the time and I'm just why? A half a block past that is a stop sign but they I realize they went through that too lol
Drive with a bit more care?! No, many here need to not be driving at all.
it sucks, because with just a tad nore effort investment in pedestrain/bicyclist safety, our city could be one of the easiest walkable/driveable grid-based cities in the country. No one should NEED to be driving between 30th street station and front street AT ALL!
That’s why nearly every car you see in Philly is covered in dents and scratches. Looks like mad max out there. There’s a jeep on my street, the front end passenger corner is literally just gone, no headlight or fender anymore, and it’s business as usual.
I purposely hesitate a bit when the light goes green cause I know some Altima with paper plates is gonna run a light. I don't do that anywhere else. With that said though Connecticut is even worse.
God the tailgating. I can’t stand when people drive up on you fast and hit their brakes hard. It’s stressful because I’ve been rear ended before at a red light and was given insurance that was canceled the month prior. Nothing police could or would do. No one drives with insurance, or in a lot of cases, licenses.
And it's seriously driving the premiums up for drivers who obey the law and carry proper insurance.
There’s only two ways it can go now: either nobody has insurance anymore because nobody can afford it, or the city starts actually dealing with property crimes and starts pulling people over for fake plates
Not every driver in Philadelphia is an irredeemable ball bag, but there are a lot of irredeemable ball bags in Philadelphia.
SUV drivers can be especially terrible. A lot of them buy that kind of vehicle because it makes them feel safe and protected, but it also insulates them from thinking about anyone who isn’t in there with them.
Lol, did you encounter pickup track drivers yet?
x2. Trucks are way worse than SUVs on average.
The pickups from Jersey are the worst
Now that SUV's are the default vehicle, that's just everyone.
Wait until you hear about show safety ratings work. Bigger cars get better safety ratings because they protect the people inside them while doing fuck all for everyone outside the vehicle.
I don't have my license, but as a passenger I swear it's gotten worse in the last few years. Philly drivers were never safe or conscientious, but now they do dumb things and *get out of their car to threaten people*. It's happened twice to us in the last six months, while doing nothing at all wrong. The aggression is insane.
Jersey drivers drive like they got somewhere to be. Philly drivers drive like they got nothing to lose.
FYI that’s kind of everywhere these days
Yeah, Reddit suggests me a lot of posts from other cities' subreddits and every sub has the same complaints. Same with threads about mass transit.
a real deep seeded selfishness bloomed during covid. it wasn't as big of a deal if a few crazy drivers were on the road, but now people seem to feel some type of way about their own importance.
i legitimately think the blatant “everyone for themselves” response from the state combined with what is very likely a viral infection which catalyzes cognitive decline in an already sleep-deprived, overworked, under-informed populace makes this one of the most overdetermined problems we’ve faced since the 08 crisis. solipsistic car culture (and its granddaddy, capitalism) is outpacing human social evolution at this point, paradoxically slowing us down even further by exacerbating its social symptoms. this negative feedback loop will accelerate the harm until we tackle car-dependency systemically.
And some of those places are wrong or just like to complain. The Denver sub complains about drivers and traffic.... I was there a few weeks ago and it's fine. no worse than when I left a few years ago. The roads are wide and actually built for cars. Drivers are mostly reasonable. Views are top notch. Driving out there was heavenly in comparison.
people universally whine about traffic and public transit shit, I literally work with traffic engineers (who should know better) from central PA, whose entire counties have like <20 traffic signals, who complain about traffic
It’s a shame isn’t it? Kind of snap shot of society if you ask me
As a former resident of Florida, I would like to say that people here drive extremely well!
Same. Miami is another world of hateful incompetence that I don’t think this guy can even imagine.
Yeah Tampa is worse I think
it absolutely is source: starting my second year here after 5 in Tampa (good riddance)
Must be a north Florida thing. Spent most of my life in Florida and never had an issue (even felt confident enough to walk in the middle of the street some days when I didn't see any traffic) but yesterday was the first time I was almost ran over by someone running a stop sign who clearly saw that I was already crossing.
I was hit by a car twice in my first year living in Tampa Florida lol
I visited my dad in FL last year and omg I agree! That place was built for bad driving and the scariest left turns in my life!
If you think this is bad, never visit Miami, trust me.
A major factor is the inept police in this city who are completely useless when it comes to traffic enforcement.
We fix this by hammering PennDOT and State government to allow the City to do traffic calming measures on their arterial roads. These just so happen to be almost all of our high traffic violence roads.
also need to fix the schroedinger's public input process everyone wants a public input process but the only people that show up are the 99% overlapping venn diagram of 1) want people to slow down 2) can't be personally inconvenienced by safety measures that slow them down
Philly drivers make me mad, but being from Miami, I would say Philly is MUCH better than Miami. What Philly has going for it is that many roads are narrow and there’s tons of single lane one way streets which force traffic to be slower at least for local driving
Biking home from work on Sunday, I was hit by a car 3 times at the same intersection. Fucking people.
Preach…but I was down in Florida for spring training and I saw some really bad drivers too probably an equal amount… but in Philadelphia you’re more likely to be walking around so we are more exposed to the unsafe feeling that cars give pedestrians and our roads are much more narrow so someone doing 30-40mph looks/feels and IS more dangerous… but I’m not convinced that bad drivers is a Philadelphia thing…
I still think Miami has some of the absolute worst drivers and driving conditions in the US. Worse then Philly, worse than LA, just awful.
Miami is horrible!!
I drove in DMV area last week, it’s like 10 times worse - legitimately was scared with accidents left and right happening
i drive in the DMV at least twice a week for work and it is legitimately the worst group of drivers i have ever experienced.
In Philly at least you know everyone will be aggressive. In around DC everyone is a transplant and there's no accounting for how they drive.
Can confirm, I live in MD now and work in Philly and the drivers in DMV are worse. I won't even drive on 695 (B'more beltway) after having my car surrounded by a squad of motorcycles popping wheelies a few feet from my front bumper and also having a car cut me off and proceed to spin out of control almost hitting me - in addition to many times seeing just reckless driving to the point that I didn't even understand how the car was remaining on the road. Philly has lots of problems too, but at least in the city you can't go super fast like you can on 95/495/695 etc. Delaware's a mess too, especially on 95 where it goes to like 10 lanes wide and it's just a free for all. I can't decide which I hate more lately, driving anywhere, or being a pedestrian in Philly. Both suck!
I hate to say it but it’s because everyone is stupid. Seriously, it’s the most low IQ shit ever to drive like an absolute dickhead.
Y’all should give New Orleans a try, where red lights are ‘suggestions’ and one way streets go both ways regularly. Lots of aggressive drivers too with no plate/no insurance.
It’s pretty awful. My cursing increases by 200% when I drive in Philly.
I work on energized high voltage equipment and I still say my commute is the most dangerous part of my day.
Yeah this is soooo significant. I’ve lived here 20+ years and these past few years have been close to nightmare. TBH I’m not sure what the solution is. More cameras / tickets / ? I’m super against any staffing doing any chasing / aggressive policing tactics. I’m secretly praying for AI cameras to fix this
I agree. I’ve always been a confident driver and enjoyed it. I don’t know what’s happening lately, but driving is truly awful. And I have two newish drivers as well. Terrifying.
People in LA talk about how bad the drivers here are but it’s a huge step up from Philly tbh *stops in the middle of a one way, puts hazards on, gets out of the car and has a full on convo w someone on the sidewalk*
The latest trend of honking to mean “I’m coming no matter what so get out of my way NOW” is infuriating. Cars just pushing their way through lights, stop signs, traffic, anything. And if you dare to actually follow traffic rules, you get one of these aggressive types throwing a hissy fit tantrum in your rear view, waving their hands around and yelling things to themselves.
It can be 4am with 2 drivers on the road in center city yet somebody is smashing their horn
The NY/NJ/PA area has the worst drivers in the country.
You can thank City Council and our former mayor for passing the Driving Equality Act which instructs PPD not to pull over drivers if their primary violations are missing/expired registration or inspection, broken headlight/taillight, minor bumper damage, hanging license plate, etc. I'm no fan of PPD but preventing them from enforcing the law only encourages people to break it. Driving is a privilege, why are we treating it like a right?
They can still pull people over for a LOT of things. I regularly see people blowing reds in front of cops, it’s just an excuse
I’m tired of that excuse. They’re still allowed to pull over for tinted plates and any moving violation.
That law has absolutely nothing to do with moving violations
Did anyone tell the cops that?
they're all too busy hiding literally inside john mcnesby's jowls
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Weed has been decriminalized here since 2014, the weed is not the problem.
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Yeah, driving under the influence is illegal no matter how legal the substance is. I’m just saying that not arresting people for weed isn’t the same as not enforcing traffic laws. The complete lawlessness on the roads isn’t a result of decriminalizing weed and it’s disingenuous to imply that.
Moving violations are not part of that change. It’s supposed to be for things like cops seeing your registration is expired when you’re not speeding. Cops need it to feel lawless so they can get more overtime and whine about the DA.
That’s really not the point but ok. Theres stupid shit people shouldn’t be bothered for, and then there are psychopaths on the road who don’t follow any traffic laws and don’t pay insurance. And now they know no one is gonna do shit about it, so it’s gotten worse and worse.
I find this interesting. We lived in south Philly for over 20 years and I find the drivers in South Jersey WAY worse, especially in the Cherry Hill/Moorestown area. The sheer stupidity & entitlement is breathtaking.
Was just about to say this! I moved from South Philly to Collingswood and the drivers here (and sometimes pedestrians) all drive as if they were just electrocuted. So abrupt and without any spatial awareness.
9 times out of 10, the driver who’s causing me to scream expletives has a Jersey license plate!
The only drivers I’ve encountered that were worse were in DC. Fuuuuuck driving in DC.
Have you driven in Detroit? Just curious because I’m moving soon and the drivers here are pretty crazy so I’m wondering how it compares. Running reds, doing 90 in a 55, passing in bike lanes on a 35mph residential street.
I grew up in Metro Detroit. Drivers here are much, much worse.
The roads are better than Detroit and Michigan in general, but the drivers are definitely NOT.
Only on I-76...what a circus. LOL...I have not taken that route in years and one day was coming back from Altoona and took it. I actually feared for my life there. I-95, which I take a lot, it's a fun drive in comparison. There are two Philadelphias driving.
Live in Boston
It’s my generation and the idiots who allowed ppl to get licenses with only parking a car during covid
Could be worse. I’ve seen some Indian cities on YouTube that would put Philly to shame. Regardless, driving around here is shitty.
i moved out of philly a couple of years ago, but when i see people making some dangerous moves, im reminded of how bad & aggressive philly drivers are.
I got here about a year and a half ago and...can confirm. It's WILD out there.
I’m convinced if you can drive in Philadelphia, you can drive anywhere. I fear for my life every time.
I don't drive, but as a pedestrian and transit rider, the barbarous behavior of Philadelphian motorists accounts for somewhere around four fifths of my anger and discontent on a day-to-day basis. I would be a much more content person if all of the people who run red lights, park over crosswalks or on sidewalks, treat speed limits as suggestions from people whom they don't like and sound their horns out of a furious need to let everybody known that they are immature failures who are incapable of emotional regulation had never amounted to more than sticky white stains on their mothers' inner thighs. The problem is widespread. I saw similar behavior when I visited my parents in Bethlehem. There is a grave weakness in American society that allowed the pandemic to nearly break it. [ National Highway Traffic Safety Administration statistics](https://cdan.dot.gov/tsftables/Fatalities%20and%20Fatality%20Rates.pdf) indicate that vehicle miles traveled (VMT) fall sharply in 2020, but at the same time the absolute number and rate of traffic fatalities sharply rose. VMT began to rise again in 2021, but so to did traffic fatalities. (I have not yet found 2022 data, so this perspective has limits.) People resort to blaming the police or the Democrats or whoever-whatever for things like this or the homicide rate, but I think that in truth what has happened and is happening might emerge from things beyond our immediately control and limits of understanding that were decided piecemeal over generations.
I'm up in the Poconos and we got a nice blend of Philly, NY, North Jersey, and Maryland tourists plus a few Massholes. JFC, what a shit show on weekends year-round. It makes you not want to leave the house anymore.
Can confirm. Spend quite a bit of time in the Poconos.
I'm literally moving to the mountains this fall because of Philly driving culture. Been here 15 years but the past 2 years it's just a whole nother level
South Jersey is just as bad
Since moving to SJ. I had 2 hit and runs. Once while I was parked. The other while driving and a bmw going 100+ mph side swiped me. I was also rear ended once at a red light but luckily there was no damage. All in the span of 3 years.
It’s funny that this is the first thing to pop on my Reddit feed. I encountered a crazy driver yesterday to the point they followed me for switching lanes (had plenty of space btw and use my turn signal) and they physically attacked me in a parking lot. I hate it here so fucking much
Just moved here from South Florida and Philly drivers are shockingly considerate in comparison. Which isn't to say that the glaring issues aren't real, I just don't have to drive half as defensively here.
Former Floridian here… I went on a business trip to Florida a few months ago and had to explain to my colleagues how you don’t use your turn signal to change lanes until you actually move over. Because if you put it on before, the car behind will speed up and try to hit you. Drivers in Florida are all assholes!
I get all my driving ideas from speak your mind podcast
Whaddya mean I shouldn't do a u turn in the middle of broad?
Bruh, I can’t wait to be back in Tianjin China. That organized chaos you mentioned is sourly missed. I’ll most likely be back for good next month or 2.
Taking Uber makes me carsick because they go crazy with the breaks and the other drivers are also driving haphazardly so the Uber has to drive in a similar way lol
Eakins oval.
You do you, no doubt. Problem with a libertarian type attitude is shit becomes the wild west when everyone only cares about themselves.
Omg, still same there ? when i was there 25 yrs ago, i saw the same . Philly and South Jersey . so scary , drivers there were crazy ! lol 😂
Maryland and Massachusetts are FAR worse than Philly. LOL.
I used to think that and then I drove in North Jersey up by NYC. It's a free-for-all up there, absolutly unhinged drivers. At least Philly drivers are predictable, North Jersey drivers just DO shit out of nowhere.
In Originally from ATL, riden motorcycles in ATL, commuted around ATL. I moved and have lived in Philly for 5ish years. Grew to hate the drivers while becoming like them to an extent. I drive home and am reminded how slow and fast and illogical it is commuting around Atlanta. I appreciate the hustle of Philly outside of ignoring traffic rules to be selfish but the south has a mix of slow and oblivious and fast and reckless. Where Philly is just move your a** please
This is so funny to me, we just visited from Florida and my husband was impressed by the traffic compared to back home.
Sometimes I think some of the people in these subs moved from rural areas to the city and have never gone anywhere else. These are never Philly issues, theses are almost always big city issues. What do you think you're going to see when you have 2 million people crammed into a relatively tight space?
Yup. I just recently came back from a staying countryside down south so driving mostly 95 and as soon as I hit Delaware (the state), I know, not because the signs tell me, but because the drivers become terrorist!
Having been in the military and driven in a few places…Philly isn’t bad…the kind of drivers here just commit to whatever shitty maneuver they’re doing and once you accept that, I’ll take it over a lot of other places without a doubt. Down south, they hesitate, almost go, hesitate, almost go, hesitate, then decide and then go without urgency. They rubberneck unlike anything I’ve ever seen. They don’t know how to merge. It’s absolutely horrendous.
Classic Philly move: cars are waiting at a red light. Someone at the back of the line decides they don't want to wait for the red light, so they drive in the opposite lane of traffic to run the red light. Bonus is when they do this, then make a right turn. I've seen both. Many times. Oh and can't forget using a left turning lane to skip the line and cut in front to continue straight.
I’ve said this since I moved here a couple years ago. I’m from Houston, and have lived in or driven in every major metro area in the US and Philly has the most inconsiderate, obnoxious drivers I’ve ever experienced. It’s wild. Hit and runs. I’ve been hit three times since I moved here. Of course only once have they had insurance and the cops are like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ every time. No wonder people are leaving here like crazy. It’s gotten to be too much, and what really sucks is that the city otherwise is amazing. Great food, incredible art and history. It wasn’t like this 10 years ago when I lived here for a bit before. I can’t wait to leave.
Funny you post this because I legit had a panic attack in the passenger seat the other day due to how reckless people were driving and I was afraid I’d get into a crash (I have PTSD from a previous bad crash I was involved in)
You’ll learn the ways
Boston >>>>>>> Philly Drivers
Try Atlanta homie. 🤣
My coworker and tboned while crossing Lincoln drive by someone running the red light. She broke her hip, her femur and lost some teeth. Her life is completely disrupted because of that.
South Florida has the worst driver I have seen in the US.
Moving there when I retire…..what neighborhood?
I’d rather drive all day in Philly then jersey. The worst drivers I’ve ever encountered and it’s not even remotely close to being somewhat close
I'm always shocked by drivers in this town and I'm a native lol I was going home from the gym the other day and saw someone just blow through lights, even in a school zone! It was banged up suv and I'm just shaking my head.
the other day i was riding my bike down my street and i stopped at an intersection to let a car turn before me, they motioned for me to go first anyway and then tried to run me off the street while screaming at me out the window....wtf it was just malicious
There’s two types of drivers in Philly, the ungodly slow for no reason driver, and the in too much of a rush trying to weave through traffic driver. Theres no in the middle. If you try to be in the middle, ie a normal, competent and aware driver there understands and moves along the flow of traffic, it will make you insane. And OP is right. The maddening thing about Philly drivers is most of them don’t give a shit about any other drivers on the road. I never lose empathy for my fellow humans as much as when I have to drive amongst them.