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There is so much anger and impatient lack of care for others on the Texas highways. The two foot tailgating at a 80 miles an hour is the most selfish form of macho narcissism. A pile up of death and destruction one millisecond away, all because you can’t keep a bit of distance or merely go around. There is something imbedded in this behavior—something about our ever eroding sense of responsibility to each other. The American individualism as a pathology. The road warrior rage is just another deadly expression.

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oh wow I have a lot of thoughts on TX roads and also NYC roads...having grown up in TX and being allowed to drive (with parental oversight) at age 14, I've seen the speed limit go up to 65-75 and even up to 85 on roads in the middle of nowhere...all I hear is the TXDPS driving course I took in high school to get my license "add 1000ft of stopping distance for every 10 mph over the speed limit"...I drive often btwn ATX and HTX and I get off of 71 asap at La Grange and take a nice lil jaunt of back roads through cute towns and past Round Top...and I arrive safely and not traumatized...and when I drive in HTX, I take local streets and bc I grew up there, I know plenty of back roads...you could not pay me enough to take 59/69 or 610...and I-10, which I grew up off of, I'll take the feeder the entire way or head to Memorial Drive to inside the Loop...am I a little insane?...yeah maybe, but I see lovely homes and yard veg and places I grew up near and can view them at a leisurely pace...and arrive at my destination feeling calm...contrast that with my 25 years of NYC, where I drove a personal car or rented cars for at least 2/3 of that time...driving up 6th Ave during midday doesn't even phase me...the Westside Highway is a breeze and I'll cross any and all bridges with no concern, except for the increasing prices...I don't love JFK, but I also know back entry tricks...fuck LGA...sure flipping ppl off is common and I will admit to doing it more often than I should, but if I do it, it becomes a flip off war at most...no one whips out a gun and aims it at me...I live mostly FT in ATX now and I avoid the highways almost always...I also like to see pretty homes and yards and to arrive at my destination calmly, but I do fear for my 83 year old father...he still drives and he is fine, but he does still stick to the low end of the speed limit on Mopac and tells me every day of guys in huge trucks riding his bumper in the center or far right lane...it used to be understood that you'd be fine not driving fast, as long as you stayed out of the far left lane...now it's become if you are anywhere near obeying traffic laws and someone is pressed to get to wherever (is there a pregnant woman who is in labor with a flaming baby in the car or what?) you are in their way and the aggressive tailgating and swerving is just how to let you know...I don't know, I have nothing helpful to add except yep TX roads are insane, I learned the term "rolling coal" from drivers here and I choose to drive respectfully, but likely OFF the highways...

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…not a matter of if. It’s a matter of when.

This is exactly how I feel driving.

It’s a kind of limbo.

Also the enormous number of people running every red light! and sitting lots of extra seconds at the green lights because: phones.

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In 2010, I gave my oldest daughter my car. I didn’t renew my license until 2018. I didn’t miss driving at all, though I felt sure that riding a bike all over DFW was probably more risky. Driving had become so stressful and scary that I just quit for a while, and it was a lovely break. I felt more plugged into my life, and noticed so much more of my surroundings on bikes and public transportation. I only resumed driving in 2018 because I didn’t want my partner to feel like my chauffeur, but the truth is, even though I was born here, I don’t drive like a Texan, and I despise guns (gasp). I think I may have been switched at birth, and it’s only a matter of time until I find my homeland, where I’ll garage the car and walk/ride/bike to work.

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Sold my motorcycles because it was no fun being invisible to cell phone drivers . Sold the 75 VW camper to a family guy back east who could use it more than I. People would either flip me off or show me a peace sign just for observing the speed limit in the right lane .Sold the battle axe F-250 truck . All of those were like driving in a convection oven in texas heat . My current vehicle is a tall van , which I traded art for, was once used for ghost tour groups in NewOrleans. It has AC , and a rubber chicken on the dash board I can shake out the window in case of extreme road rage directed at me. I used to Imagine what it would be like if people didn't pass on the right or used their turn signals. Now I see wrecks so regularly it has ceased to be anything other than business as usual.

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Is it the SUVs and huge pickups? I don't drive huge amounts anymore.....but I do go on 75 alot.

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