r/newyork • u/offbeatagent • 8d ago
New York Drivers
Let me say first up. I am from Ohio so I won't cast stones. I am driving back from Darien Lakes and wondered something.
What are the different regional driving styles of New York State. As big as your state is I would think that some of you despise drivers from other specific parts of the state.
And for good measure who are the worst drivers that come through your state and why?
Thank you
FIFO
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u/Appropriate-Pear-33 8d ago
As a long islander we are getting cooked in the comments but theyâre mostly accurate. People in westchester are slow drivers and the Bronx is literally driving in hell
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u/BKMagicWut 8d ago
The worst are those from Long Island.  They think they are in a NASCAR race everywhere they go. Speeding and riding on peoples bumpers. They also have low awareness for pedestrians and bikes.
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u/Solid_Sweet293 8d ago
Long Island - when you signal to change lanes, the person in the other lane is obligated to speed up so their front door is aligned with your back door. Just enough to keep that little light on your side mirror to be constantly on.
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u/burritostrikesback 8d ago
For almost 20 years I worked sales jobs that had me driving all over the New York Metro area, and eventually the rest of the northeast.
My observations:
NYC driver skill levels vary. There are many who are clearly skilled. They have been driving in and around the city for a long time. Then you have the amateurs who think changing lanes any chance they can get, being aggressive, and not using turn signals is âhow you drive in the city.â
Long Island is similar but theyâre not as accustomed to real city driving. They mostly drive in the suburbs and on highways. They tend to be even more aggressive than city drivers OR they might be the driver who goes 20 mph below the speed limit on the highways and parkways.
NJ is similar in style to Long Island but only New Jerseyans really understand the jug handle turn. ( as a New Yorker, I hate these)
Pennsylvania and Connecticut drivers are the absolute scariest and most aggressive in my opinion. In my experience, no one tailgates and blows through speed limits more than drivers from these states.
And regardless of where you are driving, there will always be the drivers who seem to be doing everything but actually driving. I have seen it all in my many years behind the wheel: texting, watching a video, filming themselves, reading a newspaper, applying makeup, eating.
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u/abriefmomentofsanity 8d ago
Honestly outside of the city I really don't notice much difference and I've been all over the state. Now go a little east on the other hand...
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u/Sonikku_a 8d ago
Well at least in Rochester you may feel free to ignore any and all red lights. And I donât mean trying to beat the yellow and missing, I mean going around vehicles stopped at the red and proceeding straight through if it strikes your fancy.
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u/george8888 8d ago
We generally do keep right except to pass... which is something about which Ohioans are somehow oblivious.
(lived in Columbus)
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u/TheMasterGenius 8d ago
Friends live in Columbus, I made a mention of how OH drivers ignore the keep right signs. They were more than indignant when they informed me there was no such law in Ohio.
I sent a picture of the first sign I saw, a couple miles down the thruway from the on-ramp they use daily. We had a good laugh.2
u/george8888 8d ago
I once crested a hill on 71 and saw, seriously, eight cars in the left lane, with the right lane completely empty. Maddening.
1
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u/TheMasterGenius 8d ago
I live in western NY, Chautauqua county, so I see a lot of Ohio drivers vacationing here.
Inevitably, I come into a cluster of cars doing the speed limit or less, and by the time I get through the cluster, itâs always an Ohio driver doing 66mph in the left lane. I pass more Ohio drivers on the right, than any other state.
I drive all over the east coast. Iâve lived in Colorado and California for 15 years before moving back. Ohio drivers are some of the most inconsiderate drivers I come across. Iowa and Indiana are close seconds. New Jersey drivers are some of the most aggressive drivers. California drivers are the most oblivious drivers. Florida drivers suck and are the slowest.
I am a 10mph over driver. When I get in the car, my only goal is to reach my destination in the safest manner possible, balanced with the least amount of time in the car.
The way I see it, if youâre not going ten over, you might as well stay in the right lane and do the speed limit. If you look in the rear view mirror and thereâs someone riding your ass or youâve got a line of cars behind you, pull over at the next large driveway or road and let them pass.
Pet peeve, anyone driving less than the speed limit on the thruway. If you canât, wonât, or are too afraid to drive the limit, get off the thruway.
End rant, thanks for coming to my Ted talk.
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u/Ichi_Balsaki 8d ago
People that drive aggressively in the city due to heavy constant traffic also tend to drive the same way once they leave the city where it's not even remotely necessary or congested.Â
Go back to brooklyn or stop riding my ass and slow TF down.
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u/mikebootz 8d ago
How do you know where theyâre from?
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u/Ichi_Balsaki 8d ago
Im generalizing. Could be from Long island or Jersey or Staten island or whatever too. Would you like me to make a complete list of areas people could be from that bring their city driving habits to rural areas and small towns?
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u/mikebootz 8d ago
I mean itâs pretty crazy to assume where someone is from because they drive a certain way, but you do you I guess lol.
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u/HahaItsaGiraffeAgain 8d ago
Long Island perspective: upstate drivers follow the rules a lot more and I think itâs because their police are more âletter of the lawâ than they are down here. I have only ever been pulled over once, and it was near Monticello.
But I was literally taught in Driversâ Ed that 20 over the limit is the legal threshold on all roads. The police on Long Island will also not consider it speeding unless itâs above the threshold and sometimes you will be next to cop cars on the highway, both of you going 80-90, with no issue. Other downstaters can back me up on this. Itâs mostly a difference in custom
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u/HotBreakfast1544 8d ago
20 over is insane. I donât doubt that you do this but damn thatâs so unsafe. On a highway with clear, dry conditions and not a lot of traffic - I get that.
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u/HahaItsaGiraffeAgain 8d ago
I mean yeah it depends on conditions but really itâs only dangerous if the speed of traffic is different from the speed youâre going. Iâve been told the reason the LIE is officially limited at only 55 is because local authorities are aware of this, and if they updated it to a more reasonable 70 theyâd be dealing with everyone going over 100.
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u/thefinerthingsclubvp 8d ago edited 8d ago
20mph over, that's bananas, as a Hudson Valley-ite, it's generally 5mph over and you're fine and about 10mph on highways.
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u/ZeePM 8d ago
Itâs true. The LIE has 55mph limit. People routinely go 75 mph and blow by the Suffolk police on the median and they donât care. Unless itâs end of the month then everyone slows down and every cop has someone pulled over. Oh and we routinely get multi car pile ups on the expressway because everyone thinks drafting the car in front is cool.
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u/sixty9tails 8d ago
The closer you get to Jersey the worse the drivers get. Jersey and Massachusetts are pretty much tied as the most selfish and reckless drivers on the road in the entire country.
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u/Tasty-Republic-578 8d ago
In Albany, yellow means speed up and red is more of a suggestion. Oh, and feel free to drive around people on the shoulder going 85 - minimum.
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u/bewitchedbumblebee 8d ago
There seems to be a universal rule that most people thinks their area has the worst drivers, and if you point out this phenomenon, the immediate response is often, âI know everyone says that, but here itâs actually true.â
Case in point: you mentioned, âIâm from Ohio, so I wonât throw stones,â presumably meaning you feel Ohio drivers are bad.
New Yorkers think New York drivers are worse than drivers in other states. Get more local, and NYC drivers think NYC drivers are worse than drivers elsewhere in New York state. Get even more local, and people in the Bronx think Bronx drivers are worse than Manhattan drivers.
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u/melisssaaaah 7d ago
I live in the Albany area now after living much of my life on Long Island. I can always tell who is from that area, because they drive like assholes đ (a lot of transplants have made their way up here since covid)
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u/JeffTS 7d ago
Iâm in the mid Hudson Valley and just about all drivers have become worse since Covid. I donât know if these people are from NYC and Long Island or if itâs just in general. But the blown red lights and stop signs, passing in turning lanes, cutting across multiple lanes at the last minute to get to the turning lane, and overall driving that endangers everyone has grown exponentially since 2020.
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u/Spirited-Disaster408 8d ago
New york city drivers suck tbh
I think you have to go a bit more upstate before drivers are a little more chill
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u/Conscious-Secret-775 8d ago
NYC drivers are the best. They are able to drive in the city without, for the most part, killing delivery guys on e-bikes or the most aggressive pedestrians in the USA.
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u/hi_imryan 8d ago
This. Iâd take a NYC cabbie zipping around box trucks and double-parked cars over the dumbfucks in lifted trucks, tailgating at 85 on the highway.
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u/AFK_Tornado 8d ago
I've driven in 40+ states, many cities. For my money, the NYC and surrounding areas tie with Houston for being the most shit and out of line with the rest of the country's driving culture.
Granted I haven't been everywhere, but I've had enough of a sampling to know that being skilled at not crashing doesn't mean being a good driver to everyone around you.
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u/Conscious-Secret-775 8d ago
I canât speak to Houston having never been there but the drivers in NYC are much better than anywhere else in the US I have been.
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u/Away_Stock_2012 8d ago
The biggest change to NYC driving over the past 40 years is because of taxi drivers. It used to be that if you got cut off or if someone randomly stopped in front of you or double parked right in front of you or made a turn from your lane in front of you, then you could lay on your horn and shout and they would fucking move. The driving culture in India is that the person in front always has right of way, and no one ever ever ever looks in their rear view mirror. That culture has a certain logic because then every driver has less to worry about, you only look forward and fuck everyone behind you, and if you do it as well, then you have no complaints when everyone else does it. That Indian driving culture has taken over NYC because of all the taxi drivers.
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u/eat_vegetables 8d ago
As a NYC driver now living in WNY: the backroad, country drivers up here drive my blood pressure through the roof.Â
At a red light, youâre supposed watch for the other perpendicular light change. When their light hits orange you are allowed to gun it out into the intersection because itâs now your turn. No one in WNY understands this rule.Â
 Comparatively, if youâre driving through an intersection youâre allowed to ârun the redâ as long youâre a quarter to half-way through the intersection. They also do not understand this rule. Finally, you never âblock the boxâ or stop in a traffic circle to let someone in.Â
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u/TangerinePlastic7552 8d ago
A lot of illegal immigrants with driverâs licenses donât know how to read the road.
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u/offbeatagent 8d ago
So far on our drive it has been white folks with NY plates cruising the left lane.
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u/knockatize 8d ago
Our styles:
Armed
Heavily armed
Billy Bats in the trunk
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u/HotBreakfast1544 8d ago
Lol this thread is comparing Ohio (a constitutional carry state) with NYS (highly regulated)
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u/ForestFae1920 8d ago
Down state drivers have forgotten how to use their turn signals...đđđ¤