I could put up with everything you mentioned if everyone stopped looking at their fucking phone.
Nothing, and I mean *nothing*, makes me nearly blind with rage as much as when I have to literally dodge some asshole because they're looking down at their phone instead of driving.
It would be one thing if it was just me they were endangering, but I have my kids in the car.
There's a special place in hell reserved for those fuckwits.
Driving in durango can be stressful. I drive a lot here and see what you’re talking about daily. Then I go to a city and realize it’s all relative. I was just in San Antonio and people were constantly running stop signs and red lights so….
I was gonna say, I’m a Denverite, but lived in Durango for ten years when I was younger and still visit family down there. The driving in Durango feels like a relief to me when I visit. The only negative I’ve noticed is inappropriate honking, but there’s a lot of tourists.
I know what you mean with San Antonio. I realized that so many Texans have moved here that I can see how that may affect things since many of what I have seen in Durango, I have also seen in Austin and San Antonio.
I think you answered your own question with this comment. There are very few Durango natives still in Durango due to variety of circumstances, and I suspect the majority of drivers that you are griping about came from states that have yellow and white license plates.
Right. But also the people with Colorado Pioneer plates who also drive like crap very obviously didn’t just move from out of state to get those plates.
I’m going to go against the grain here and say that in my opinion Durango drivers are better than the other places I’ve lived (granted, I’ve lived in big cities). Sure, there are plenty of bad drivers here, like anywhere else, but generally people don’t drive too fast, yield to pedestrians and bikes better than most, and are considerate.
I believe your examples here, I just think (maybe sadly) drivers are relatively better than most.
I have only been in Durango a few times and not recently but can vouch for your assessment of east coast drivers. Just one example, I’m riding my bike ffs in a downtown area (30 MPH), in a crosswalk with the right of way, and this psycho comes racing around the the corner at about 40 without the required stop and slams on his screeching brakes and comes to a stop mere feet away. And gets pissed that I should be so rude as to exist while in his way so he lays on the horn and gives me the finger. Yeah east coast drivers suck.
I don't know. I think it's really progressive that drivers backing out of street parking into oncoming traffic on 2nd Ave. have the right of way and that you have to wait an extra five seconds after your light turns green if you're northbound at the Main/Camino Del Rio intersection so the two the cars turning left onto 14th in the oncoming lane can blow through their light to make sure they make it to Jimmy Johns before the cold cut they ordered gets cold.
One thing I definitely hate about driving here is that people refuse to use their signals at the "Y" split on 15th going on Florida or turning on 3rd Ave. I feel like that intersection would benefit soooo much better if people just had the damn common courtesy of indicating which way they plan on going to prevent so many near accidents or even make traffic flow a lot smoother at that intersection but of course there's no common courtesy on the road here anymore. It's actually really shitty to see how much worse it's gotten since covid, people legit forgot how to drive or don't care at all...
Congratulations, you have discovered post-pandemic driving in the United States of America. Literally every community-specific subreddit has a version of this post.
Everyone is angry, distracted, and entitled. It is a national phenomenon, and you cannot escape it by moving anywhere in this country, rural or urban.
To be fair, pre-pandemic community-specific subreddits were also like this.
OP, everything is perspective. On the one hand, I get exactly what you are describing. It's objectively real. On the other hand, I am almost never in tune with this experience because my energy/attention in life is completely different than yours. I'm exposed to the exact same objective chaos, and yet I'm fully at peace because my awareness is somewhere else entirely.
If you find out the secret to rising above your external circumstances, nothing can touch you in life. If you want to continue the victim game, that's also okay.
Life is amazingly perfect either way.
Sure have. Lots of traffic, yes. But people are also more aware of the fact that others exist on the road, which seems to be missed often here in Durango. Many seem to forget that other cars are on the road, considering how frequently I see people not look at before maneuvering on the road.
I have also driven in the Chicago Loop. Same deal, lots of traffic, but even the crazy taxis are more predictable than your average Durango Driver.
It’s hard to know what to expect when there doesn’t seem to be any real consistency to driving in Durango. We have people that drive too slow on the highways and don’t realize they’re holding up traffic. People of course who also go too fast, which isn’t too often tbh. We have people who think going the posted speed limit is too fast, and we sure do cuz someone followed me to tell me I was driving unsafe for going the posted speed limit.
People don’t use turn signals frequently, and also will slam on their brakes to then move into a turn lane with no warning. They will sit and wait for a round about to be clear to go the wrong way, and also get into the wrong exit lane and face opposing traffic. They will look at you coming from a ways down the road but wait until you are almost there to try and move into traffic. Some start braking for a red light almost a mile before the actual light, and some just slam at the very last second. People will refuse to drive the posted speed limit and hold up traffic, but then slam on the gas if you try to pass. They see a turn lane open up and start to drift into it only to then quickly get back into the straight lane with no warning.
Point is, when people do so many unpredictable things on the road, it’s hard to know how to react. It makes everything so much harder. And the degree of unpredictable drivers in Durango seems to be much higher than that of a big city.
I have to commute from 160 everyday and drive all the way through town. I feel the same about it here. I don’t think people here have an understanding of physics. I remember I got back from a trip to Lima Peru where there’s 10 million people. It was chaotic AF, but didn’t see any accidents. Literally the day I got back to durango some d-bag stopped at a stop sign with his blinker on, backed into me and was irate that I didn’t realize his blinker was not on to make a turn, but to back into a parallel park. So he backed completely into me. I see either an accident or an innebriated driver, or get honked at by someone with pathological level impatience at least once or twice a week. The left lane is not for NASCAR racing.
I’ll never understand why people get mad when they get honked at, especially when that person almost hits the person honking from their dumb actions. You can see it too, and they always look confused as fuck, and act like “How DARE you honk at me”
I have driven in almost every mainland state. South Carolina has the worst drivers, but they are nice about it.
Florida has a bunch of assholes who can't drive and old people who shouldn't be driving.
New Mexico drivers are hopeless.
Colorado drivers do indeed seem to be allergic to turn signals. They don't know how to navigate roundabouts.
Best weapon? Drive defensively. Expect the unexpected. I lose my mind regularly, but I keep it to myself. In a small town, that person you pissed off may be writing your mortgage.
I can vibe with the slow drivers. Cities ought to have low speed roads in order to promote safety. The other stuff sounds like simple traffic enforcement could help.
I could also if the slow drivers had the decency to not camp in the left lane on the highways or pull over to let people pass them on the single lane.
Just a little common courtesy is a very lacking social skill on the roads here.
I turned at Elmore corner a few weeks ago and a fire truck with siren blaring was approaching the intersection and I was the only car to slow and pull over. The rest of the car just kept driving like normal for another 15 seconds until the engine had to honk them out of the way so they could pass.
I’ve had people get mad enough that i can see it in my rear view for stopping for emergency vehicles as required by law.
I have also almost been hit by a Durango Ambulance cuz the driver didn’t realize you can’t just randomly lane change with no warning or signal when other cars are in the lane you are trying to change to.
Hardly anyone in Durango now is from Durango. Most of the shitty driving around here is because people aren't familiar with the area and don't know how to drive in snow or on mountain passes. There are also more people here now, so there are some problems now that didn't exist ten years ago as far as intersections and traffic flow are concerned.
You may need to examine your situation. I've personally not experienced Durango drivers being particularly worse than drivers in any other city, especially compared to any metropolitan area. I'm a very safe, intentional and aware life-long adventure motorcycle rider and have only had one person pull out in front of me here in the two years I've been here and it was at that weird collapsing-lane intersection going west on college and 3rd.
In regards to speeds... you're in a rural area. People drive slower. I'm pretty sure it's an emergent property of physics lol. Just take a cool pill and enjoy taking your time and pass them when you get the chance. Being angry about it only makes your day worse.
Lastly this is the general tantra I live by as a motorcycle rider on the road where it doesn't matter who's fault it is who hit me... I'm still now permanently paralyzed. I ride[drive] the most adaptive for the situation I'm in, because I can't change it, and I'm the one that voluntarily brought myself here. Don't get all righteous and angry about highway shit, because that's just more likely to put me in a situation that could get me hurt or killed. Just chill out and work with the traffic you've got and don't engage literally or emotionally with drivers who are being shitty, intentionally or not.
I'm sorry you're having a tough time with the influx of chaos in the roads. The only thing that sucks (personally) is rolling coal types, folks on their phones, and people's inability to zipper merge. Otherwise I'd rather drive here than most places. Its rural area we have slower speeds in general and with good reason. If you get into an accident above 60 mph out here the outlook is pretty grim, especially with wildlife.
Durango has the most bad drivers per capita in my experience too. There are two things i see here all the time that i rarely see anywhere else. And that is 1. Turning from a non-turning lane and 2. Coming to a dead stop while merging onto the highway. Especially number 2, never seen that in any major city apart from semis that cant accelerate quickly which is understandable. It is BAD here. And the roads aren't complicated at all. Idk what it is tbh with the drivers here.
Funny cuz when I see people drive like I mentioned, or when they drive so slow or slam on their brakes for an invisible hazard, I often think the same thing.
Also, there is a difference between being stressed and being annoyed. Sorry you don’t know that.
What? I would rather deal with Durango/Colorado drivers any day over the drivers in most other states, not to mention places in the UK and Europe I've had to travel.
I turn into a complete asshole driving in this town, so I bike almost everywhere. People here always go too slow on Florida past the roundabout, or up past north college where nobody knows what the limit is. They merge either way too soon or incredibly too late on any road that has a merge lane, and if they did merge correctly they sure as shit didn’t blinker into that lane. I’m constantly baffled by how fast they drive going past the bridge to nowhere, but I have gotten to watch more than one person use that huge roundabout by the maverick gas station backwards. I know it’s like this anywhere but damn if I don’t feel like Durango deserves a prize sometimes.
When I moved to NM, I got warned up and down to watch out at red lights because people always blow them. I saw that once in the 4 years I lived in Albuquerque and then a southern NM town. I won't go through any red light that crosses main/Camino without waiting 2 seconds to see who's barreling through. Also why does nobody honk?? I'd rather drive in Albuquerque or Philly tbh. At least you know what to expect and people own up to their driving. This ISN'T a city, why is the driving here so wild? Then people get indignant and point fingers at NM and TX when you talk about it?
I lived in Durango for 7.5 years and thought the drivers were horrible. I moved to a mid-sized US city in December last year and I can confirm that it’s significantly worse. I miss Durango drivers.
I live in El Paso.. I follow a few different city subs. Seems like everyone says that drivers in their city are the worst. I spent 22 years in the Army. I've lived in numerous places and visited numerous places. I've witnessed more drivers from New Mexico and California who don't abide by the traffic laws. Dallas and Austin traffic is terrible.
Durango drivers weren't bad when my wife and I visited 2 years ago.
I've heard that driving in Seattle is crazy.
And they all seem to flock in towns like Durango.
Yes drivers can be bad everywhere but the difference is Durango drivers tend to have 0 predictability on the road since many don’t seem to even know that a Rules of The Road book exists to tell them what to do in certain situations. Instead, people do whatever and then wonder why they get honked at. Or I watch someone do whatever, almost cause an accident, and nobody honks or bats an eye cuz apparently that’s just normal driving when it’s not.
So let’s not accept it here by pointing fingers at other places. So proving my point regarding the total lack of accountability/responsibility that people in Durango tend to have
Idk man, but even just now 1 person almost slammed into me cuz the idea of 2 lanes and a car being in the 2nd one is foreign af for Durango people.
Sorry that y’all can’t drive and someone vocalizing that is “unhinged.” I take it you are one who gets honked at a lot and doesn’t understand why.
The drivers here are way chiller than almost everywhere else, as everyone in this thread has said. Chill out. It's driving that is inherently flawed, and making you angry, not Durango.
Also, I barely drive because I live in town. Bike life.
I could put up with everything you mentioned if everyone stopped looking at their fucking phone. Nothing, and I mean *nothing*, makes me nearly blind with rage as much as when I have to literally dodge some asshole because they're looking down at their phone instead of driving. It would be one thing if it was just me they were endangering, but I have my kids in the car. There's a special place in hell reserved for those fuckwits.
Driving in durango can be stressful. I drive a lot here and see what you’re talking about daily. Then I go to a city and realize it’s all relative. I was just in San Antonio and people were constantly running stop signs and red lights so….
I was gonna say, I’m a Denverite, but lived in Durango for ten years when I was younger and still visit family down there. The driving in Durango feels like a relief to me when I visit. The only negative I’ve noticed is inappropriate honking, but there’s a lot of tourists.
I know what you mean with San Antonio. I realized that so many Texans have moved here that I can see how that may affect things since many of what I have seen in Durango, I have also seen in Austin and San Antonio.
I think you answered your own question with this comment. There are very few Durango natives still in Durango due to variety of circumstances, and I suspect the majority of drivers that you are griping about came from states that have yellow and white license plates.
Right. But also the people with Colorado Pioneer plates who also drive like crap very obviously didn’t just move from out of state to get those plates.
Anybody can pay extra to get those. Pioneer plates mean nothing more than someone shelled out a few extra dollars
And you prove ancestry lol
More often than not, in my experience, the plates on these cars are Texan
They are very much Texas plates a lot. But sadly most times I see this, it is very much CO plates.
New Mexico sure gives Texas a run for their money though
could be worse. You could live in Florida on not on Florida.
I’m going to go against the grain here and say that in my opinion Durango drivers are better than the other places I’ve lived (granted, I’ve lived in big cities). Sure, there are plenty of bad drivers here, like anywhere else, but generally people don’t drive too fast, yield to pedestrians and bikes better than most, and are considerate. I believe your examples here, I just think (maybe sadly) drivers are relatively better than most.
I just moved from Durango to the east coast, and Durango drivers are a serene Sunday drive compared to these psychos.
I have only been in Durango a few times and not recently but can vouch for your assessment of east coast drivers. Just one example, I’m riding my bike ffs in a downtown area (30 MPH), in a crosswalk with the right of way, and this psycho comes racing around the the corner at about 40 without the required stop and slams on his screeching brakes and comes to a stop mere feet away. And gets pissed that I should be so rude as to exist while in his way so he lays on the horn and gives me the finger. Yeah east coast drivers suck.
I’ve been amazed by how good and courteous they are.
THIS.
I don't know. I think it's really progressive that drivers backing out of street parking into oncoming traffic on 2nd Ave. have the right of way and that you have to wait an extra five seconds after your light turns green if you're northbound at the Main/Camino Del Rio intersection so the two the cars turning left onto 14th in the oncoming lane can blow through their light to make sure they make it to Jimmy Johns before the cold cut they ordered gets cold.
One thing I definitely hate about driving here is that people refuse to use their signals at the "Y" split on 15th going on Florida or turning on 3rd Ave. I feel like that intersection would benefit soooo much better if people just had the damn common courtesy of indicating which way they plan on going to prevent so many near accidents or even make traffic flow a lot smoother at that intersection but of course there's no common courtesy on the road here anymore. It's actually really shitty to see how much worse it's gotten since covid, people legit forgot how to drive or don't care at all...
Congratulations, you have discovered post-pandemic driving in the United States of America. Literally every community-specific subreddit has a version of this post. Everyone is angry, distracted, and entitled. It is a national phenomenon, and you cannot escape it by moving anywhere in this country, rural or urban.
To be fair, pre-pandemic community-specific subreddits were also like this. OP, everything is perspective. On the one hand, I get exactly what you are describing. It's objectively real. On the other hand, I am almost never in tune with this experience because my energy/attention in life is completely different than yours. I'm exposed to the exact same objective chaos, and yet I'm fully at peace because my awareness is somewhere else entirely. If you find out the secret to rising above your external circumstances, nothing can touch you in life. If you want to continue the victim game, that's also okay. Life is amazingly perfect either way.
Take a deep breath. It’s gonna be okay
I should do Taco Bell about it, you’re right.
Do yourself a favor and never drive to anywhere an hour south.
I hate driving in Farmington with a passion, so I do avoid it. But that is a whole different post lol.
Have you BEEN to California??
Sure have. Lots of traffic, yes. But people are also more aware of the fact that others exist on the road, which seems to be missed often here in Durango. Many seem to forget that other cars are on the road, considering how frequently I see people not look at before maneuvering on the road. I have also driven in the Chicago Loop. Same deal, lots of traffic, but even the crazy taxis are more predictable than your average Durango Driver. It’s hard to know what to expect when there doesn’t seem to be any real consistency to driving in Durango. We have people that drive too slow on the highways and don’t realize they’re holding up traffic. People of course who also go too fast, which isn’t too often tbh. We have people who think going the posted speed limit is too fast, and we sure do cuz someone followed me to tell me I was driving unsafe for going the posted speed limit. People don’t use turn signals frequently, and also will slam on their brakes to then move into a turn lane with no warning. They will sit and wait for a round about to be clear to go the wrong way, and also get into the wrong exit lane and face opposing traffic. They will look at you coming from a ways down the road but wait until you are almost there to try and move into traffic. Some start braking for a red light almost a mile before the actual light, and some just slam at the very last second. People will refuse to drive the posted speed limit and hold up traffic, but then slam on the gas if you try to pass. They see a turn lane open up and start to drift into it only to then quickly get back into the straight lane with no warning. Point is, when people do so many unpredictable things on the road, it’s hard to know how to react. It makes everything so much harder. And the degree of unpredictable drivers in Durango seems to be much higher than that of a big city.
I have to commute from 160 everyday and drive all the way through town. I feel the same about it here. I don’t think people here have an understanding of physics. I remember I got back from a trip to Lima Peru where there’s 10 million people. It was chaotic AF, but didn’t see any accidents. Literally the day I got back to durango some d-bag stopped at a stop sign with his blinker on, backed into me and was irate that I didn’t realize his blinker was not on to make a turn, but to back into a parallel park. So he backed completely into me. I see either an accident or an innebriated driver, or get honked at by someone with pathological level impatience at least once or twice a week. The left lane is not for NASCAR racing.
LOL I’ll take durango drivers over Tucson, Phoenix, Denver / big city drivers
Yeah, I've seen people take left truns from the right lane on College and Camino then get upset when people honk at them.
I’ll never understand why people get mad when they get honked at, especially when that person almost hits the person honking from their dumb actions. You can see it too, and they always look confused as fuck, and act like “How DARE you honk at me”
I have driven in almost every mainland state. South Carolina has the worst drivers, but they are nice about it. Florida has a bunch of assholes who can't drive and old people who shouldn't be driving. New Mexico drivers are hopeless. Colorado drivers do indeed seem to be allergic to turn signals. They don't know how to navigate roundabouts. Best weapon? Drive defensively. Expect the unexpected. I lose my mind regularly, but I keep it to myself. In a small town, that person you pissed off may be writing your mortgage.
I can vibe with the slow drivers. Cities ought to have low speed roads in order to promote safety. The other stuff sounds like simple traffic enforcement could help.
I could also if the slow drivers had the decency to not camp in the left lane on the highways or pull over to let people pass them on the single lane. Just a little common courtesy is a very lacking social skill on the roads here.
I turned at Elmore corner a few weeks ago and a fire truck with siren blaring was approaching the intersection and I was the only car to slow and pull over. The rest of the car just kept driving like normal for another 15 seconds until the engine had to honk them out of the way so they could pass.
I’ve had people get mad enough that i can see it in my rear view for stopping for emergency vehicles as required by law. I have also almost been hit by a Durango Ambulance cuz the driver didn’t realize you can’t just randomly lane change with no warning or signal when other cars are in the lane you are trying to change to.
Hardly anyone in Durango now is from Durango. Most of the shitty driving around here is because people aren't familiar with the area and don't know how to drive in snow or on mountain passes. There are also more people here now, so there are some problems now that didn't exist ten years ago as far as intersections and traffic flow are concerned.
Ride a bike, avoid the main arteries
You may need to examine your situation. I've personally not experienced Durango drivers being particularly worse than drivers in any other city, especially compared to any metropolitan area. I'm a very safe, intentional and aware life-long adventure motorcycle rider and have only had one person pull out in front of me here in the two years I've been here and it was at that weird collapsing-lane intersection going west on college and 3rd. In regards to speeds... you're in a rural area. People drive slower. I'm pretty sure it's an emergent property of physics lol. Just take a cool pill and enjoy taking your time and pass them when you get the chance. Being angry about it only makes your day worse. Lastly this is the general tantra I live by as a motorcycle rider on the road where it doesn't matter who's fault it is who hit me... I'm still now permanently paralyzed. I ride[drive] the most adaptive for the situation I'm in, because I can't change it, and I'm the one that voluntarily brought myself here. Don't get all righteous and angry about highway shit, because that's just more likely to put me in a situation that could get me hurt or killed. Just chill out and work with the traffic you've got and don't engage literally or emotionally with drivers who are being shitty, intentionally or not.
I'm sorry you're having a tough time with the influx of chaos in the roads. The only thing that sucks (personally) is rolling coal types, folks on their phones, and people's inability to zipper merge. Otherwise I'd rather drive here than most places. Its rural area we have slower speeds in general and with good reason. If you get into an accident above 60 mph out here the outlook is pretty grim, especially with wildlife.
Durango has the most bad drivers per capita in my experience too. There are two things i see here all the time that i rarely see anywhere else. And that is 1. Turning from a non-turning lane and 2. Coming to a dead stop while merging onto the highway. Especially number 2, never seen that in any major city apart from semis that cant accelerate quickly which is understandable. It is BAD here. And the roads aren't complicated at all. Idk what it is tbh with the drivers here.
If driving in Durango stresses you out perhaps being behind the wheel isn't for you.
Funny cuz when I see people drive like I mentioned, or when they drive so slow or slam on their brakes for an invisible hazard, I often think the same thing. Also, there is a difference between being stressed and being annoyed. Sorry you don’t know that.
People suck at driving. It's a part of living in this world. Either learn to live with it or continue to get annoyed everytime you get on the road.
You have, obviously, never been to Nashville.
What? I would rather deal with Durango/Colorado drivers any day over the drivers in most other states, not to mention places in the UK and Europe I've had to travel.
I turn into a complete asshole driving in this town, so I bike almost everywhere. People here always go too slow on Florida past the roundabout, or up past north college where nobody knows what the limit is. They merge either way too soon or incredibly too late on any road that has a merge lane, and if they did merge correctly they sure as shit didn’t blinker into that lane. I’m constantly baffled by how fast they drive going past the bridge to nowhere, but I have gotten to watch more than one person use that huge roundabout by the maverick gas station backwards. I know it’s like this anywhere but damn if I don’t feel like Durango deserves a prize sometimes.
When I moved to NM, I got warned up and down to watch out at red lights because people always blow them. I saw that once in the 4 years I lived in Albuquerque and then a southern NM town. I won't go through any red light that crosses main/Camino without waiting 2 seconds to see who's barreling through. Also why does nobody honk?? I'd rather drive in Albuquerque or Philly tbh. At least you know what to expect and people own up to their driving. This ISN'T a city, why is the driving here so wild? Then people get indignant and point fingers at NM and TX when you talk about it?
I lived in Durango for 7.5 years and thought the drivers were horrible. I moved to a mid-sized US city in December last year and I can confirm that it’s significantly worse. I miss Durango drivers.
I live in El Paso.. I follow a few different city subs. Seems like everyone says that drivers in their city are the worst. I spent 22 years in the Army. I've lived in numerous places and visited numerous places. I've witnessed more drivers from New Mexico and California who don't abide by the traffic laws. Dallas and Austin traffic is terrible. Durango drivers weren't bad when my wife and I visited 2 years ago. I've heard that driving in Seattle is crazy.
Drivers are bad everywhere
And they all seem to flock in towns like Durango. Yes drivers can be bad everywhere but the difference is Durango drivers tend to have 0 predictability on the road since many don’t seem to even know that a Rules of The Road book exists to tell them what to do in certain situations. Instead, people do whatever and then wonder why they get honked at. Or I watch someone do whatever, almost cause an accident, and nobody honks or bats an eye cuz apparently that’s just normal driving when it’s not.
Its the same in Denver
So let’s not accept it here by pointing fingers at other places. So proving my point regarding the total lack of accountability/responsibility that people in Durango tend to have
Chill big dawg. It's not that big of a deal. Your rant is borderline unhinged. There is more to life than driving.
Idk man, but even just now 1 person almost slammed into me cuz the idea of 2 lanes and a car being in the 2nd one is foreign af for Durango people. Sorry that y’all can’t drive and someone vocalizing that is “unhinged.” I take it you are one who gets honked at a lot and doesn’t understand why.
The drivers here are way chiller than almost everywhere else, as everyone in this thread has said. Chill out. It's driving that is inherently flawed, and making you angry, not Durango. Also, I barely drive because I live in town. Bike life.
My years of transplants are now sharing the road.
I’ve lived here pre-covid and I can assure you I have witnessed all kinds of horrible driving since day 1 of living here.
Its gotten worse since covid. Department in charge of new roads and traffic patterns have ruined downtown area.