I’m open to the possibility that it’s just me being more aware/sensitive to how people are driving around me too. And I’m not necessarily talking about drivers I have to interact with myself but just seeing what people are doing in general.
I’m open to the possibility that it’s just me being more aware/sensitive to how people are driving around me too. And I’m not necessarily talking about drivers I have to interact with myself but just seeing what people are doing in general.
Reading over the responses from people here, I’m realizing that Philly drivers really are as bad as I believe they are.
Most of the responses here describe what I’ve been seeing in Philly for decades. Running red lights, blowing through stop signs, turning right on red from the left-turn-only lane. I refer to that as the “Philly Right Turn”. There’s also a “Philly Left Turn” (AKA, turning left on red from the right-turn-only lane) which is slightly more advanced because it involves crossing at least one additional lane of moving traffic.
I had a guy hit me because he went straight in the right-turn-only lane and the road had a dog-leg at the intersection because of construction. He said it was my fault because “everyone does it”. His insurance didn’t agree with his argument, and I got my deductible paid (thanks, dashcam).
When I was in college 30 years ago, I used to joke that Philly drivers should have their horns linked to their brakes so that when they leaned on their horn to warn other drivers that they were going to run the red light, the car would automatically brake instead. That wouldn’t work since then because people stopped bothering with the warning honk.
The things I’ve seen change more recently is what I mentioned in my other comment: driving on the wrong side of the road and driving while staring at their phone.