Florida drivers are horrible!!

[scrapquilter]

Dh and I always say that driving in the Orlando area seems to be a real challenge compared to driving here at home in CT. I do think there are several reasons for it:

In the Orlando area, there are a HUGE percentage of drivers driving on roads that are unfamiliar...tons of tourists means tons of people who don't have a lot of confidence about where they need to turn, what exit to take, how many lanes wide the highway will be where they get on it, etc.

The huge percentage of tourists also includes a HUGE percentage of people who are driving a rental car. I know that when I drive a rental car, I don't drive with the familiarity and confidence that I normally have. I'm not exactly sure where the blind spots are in a rental car, the signal lights on the rental might be where my wiper switch is on my regular car, the brakes might be more or less sensitive than I am used to, etc.

And yes, there tend to be more retirees driving around in Florida. Many of them drive differently than we do, their reaction times are slower and they might drive slower as a result, they might be extra cautious etc.

As a result, when driving in the WDW area, it is important to drive with extra care and caution. THe most important thing in the OP's incident is that no one is hurt.

 

[mhsjax]

Stop or no stop, right or wrong - the Op backended a car... even if the person in front of you is screwing up, that does not give you the go ahead to ram into them... and if you're behind them, it becomes your responsability.
Whether they should have stopped or not, is irrelevant.

Um, excuse me, but where did I say it was ok to go ahead and hit the person, maybe you should read more carefully. I said I don't understand why people stop to merge, I didn't say it was ok to hit someone, BACK OFF.

A person who does stop to merge does make themselves a stitting duck sometimes. Btu again that doesn't mean that you can hit them it just makes them more prone to getting hit.

 

[manning]

Whenever I enter an entrance ramp and there are several cars in front of me I slow down at the beginning of the ramp to allow a big gap in front of me. Then I accelerate to merging speed. If the car(s) in front decide to slow or stop I can react accordingly. There have been a few times where I had to stop and once steer off onto the shoulder. But I never have been close enough to get into an accident.

 

[Keggy]

Driving in FL is a whole different ball game. After 9 years, I still don't feel like I have it mastered! I lived in St Pete/Clearwater for 3 years and you do have a larger abundance of elderly drivers there. Our car insurance was higher there than it was living near Disney! I am sorry about your accident and totally understand what you are trying to say. You just made some broad generalizations which are never good...

In FL, as well as other places, there are 3 really bad groups of drivers:
1 - Some elderly drivers who drive well under the speed limit and are overly cautious to the point of making it hazardous to drive anywhere around them.
2 - Tourists - who have no idea where they are going, sometimes driving in a rental vehicle, that they are not familiar with and who see no problem with coming to a dead stop in the middle of highways or reversing on highways because they missed their exits... sometimes who don't speak or read English...
3 - Young drivers on cell phones, texting, etc. Normally driving too fast and are not courteous.

My MIL is a drive under the speed limit driver. It drives us insane and I feel unsafe driving with her. She isn't even elderly, not even close!!

Just try to use this as a learning experience to add extra car lengths between cars on on ramps and I am glad that you are ok.

 

[moto31160]

We have just spent 1 week on vacation in Florida and I confirm that
compared with other drivers I have encountered across the United States,
Florida drivers are the absolute worst.
I can understand the elderly on the road driving slowly although some of them need to have their licenses revoked.
On the other hand, what gets me is the rudeness of many of the drivers on the road which are more than happy to either cut you off, or get one whole car length ahead before being stopped at the next traffic light.
Even more than this I noticed for some reason that men drivers, (especially in the bigger than 1/4 ton pick-up trucks), drove like total buffoons.
It seemed as though a number of these idiots must've been picked on as children or were butt hole bullies growing up, as they drive their trucks liked they owned the road and you better not get in their way.
I was so not intimidated by the sight of their impressive man trucks knowing that at any moment I may upset one of these morons if I got in their way.
These idiots also need their licenses revoked for driving with an obvious chip on their shoulder and for just being complete butt wipes on the road.
Maybe next time we come down to Florida I won't have to see as many as these apes on the road that wear their manhood on their big trucks and trying to act as if they own the road.