Question: What are OKC drivers like compared to other cities?

[Plutonic Panda]

Ok, have to add a new one as I've seen this happen twice in two days now.

Impatient idiot not happy with the people going 75 in the left lane so they cross three lanes of traffic and use the on ramp accelleration lane to pass on the right and then cut back across three lanes to get back in the left.

It's behavior like this that makes me want to go all kinds of William Foster on people.... Bonus points if you get the William Foster reference without Googling it.

sorry man, I promise it won't happen again

[no1cub17]

sorry man, I promise it won't happen again

LOL might be me too. Going 75 on what though - if going 75 on 60 and some crazyperson does that then that's one thing. I find it hard to believe anyone in the state of Oklahoma was going 75 mph though. I don't think I've ever seen that before. You must've been in Chicago.

[Roger S]

LOL might be me too. Going 75 on what though - if going 75 on 60 and some crazyperson does that then that's one thing. I find it hard to believe anyone in the state of Oklahoma was going 75 mph though. I don't think I've ever seen that before. You must've been in Chicago.

Both times I saw it was on I-35 South around the 44th Street ramp.

[Roger S]

Do have to say I was impressed by a driver on the interstate last night.

They turned on their signal to move into the middle lane. Instead of speeding up like most Okies do when they see a signal come on. I maintaned my speed and allowed him space to make the lane change and after he made the change he flashed his tail lights a couple of times to let me know he appreciated it. Usually only see that from truckers.

[catch22]

That's an excellent observation your kids have made. One which I am very aware of.

While drivers in New York, Chicago, LA, etc. may be more rude -- they are, for the most part, extremely respectful of the pedestrian.

In Los Angeles, I was crossing a very wide street - almost a freeway - cars flying at 60 mph. Buses, large trucks, careening down the street. About 4pm in the afternoon, which is a very busy time for that street. There is a midblock crosswalk, that is striped, has a yellow sign, but no crossing signals. It's a free for all really. As soon as I was about 4-5 feet away from the curb, all traffic on the street came to a grinding halt, to allow me to cross. I did not have to stop to wait. The drivers on both sides of the street went out of their way to stop before I was even about to enter the crosswalk. It really opened my eyes on the different car cultures. LA gets a bad rap for being a huge sprawling city -- which it is, and like us, very dependent on the car. But the mentality is completely opposite. In Oklahoma, even at a striped crosswalk, you have to force drivers to stop for you, by entering the crosswalk before they start to slow down. You literally have to force them to stop. And it's scary. In other cities, drivers are always on the lookout for pedestrians, and will pretty much always yield.


Here's the street. Sepulveda Blvd.

[Plutonic Panda]

I believe they are legally required to yield/stop there, same as at our airport here in the passenger loading area.

[catch22]

I believe they are legally required to yield/stop there, same as at our airport here in the passenger loading area.

The crosswalk from the employee lot at our airport has stop signs, and a huge flashing yield sign. The number of times I have almost been run over while walking to/from work is astounding. Hardly anyone stops at the crosswalk. I have almost been hit more times than I can count. Our driving culture here does not honor the pedestrian, at all.

[Plutonic Panda]

The crosswalk from the employee lot at our airport has stop signs, and a huge flashing yield sign. The number of times I have almost been run over while walking to/from work is astounding. Hardly anyone stops at the crosswalk. I have almost been hit more times than I can count. Our driving culture here does not honor the pedestrian, at all.

Wow. Well, if you ever see me, I drop people off there all the time and I come to a complete stop for people, I have seen people blow through it though.

[catch22]

I'm going to make a video one of these days. I've been at the airport 80 hours a week for the past 3 months, so I don't really like spending any more time there off the clock. But maybe in the next few weeks I will park in the garage and shoot some video.

They finally put up a new LED flashing light. I was going to make a formal complaint to the city, with an attached video. It's a matter of time before someone dies at that crosswalk. Some people don't float through, they are going 20-30 mph.

[no1cub17]

I'm going to make a video one of these days. I've been at the airport 80 hours a week for the past 3 months, so I don't really like spending any more time there off the clock. But maybe in the next few weeks I will park in the garage and shoot some video.

They finally put up a new LED flashing light. I was going to make a formal complaint to the city, with an attached video. It's a matter of time before someone dies at that crosswalk. Some people don't float through, they are going 20-30 mph.

Damn - I fly fairly often and had no idea such a lot existed. Will look for it next time.

[catch22]

On the left are the two parking garages, the right is the employee lot. You can see the crosswalk that joins the two. I usually cross to the very center, then walk down the sidewalk to the arrivals area when going into work.

And a lot of people do not look, they just slow down to make it over the speed bumps, and once they are past the speed bumps, they gun it through the crosswalk. A lot of times, I try and make a point, by stepping out into the street to give them a "heart attack". When they realize it's possible they could have killed me, maybe next time they find themselves at a crosswalk they will stop.

[Urbanized]

Drove through there just today. Almost killed some idiot trying to cross there.

[catch22]

:d

[Plutonic Panda]

Some funny videos. Not all of them are bad, but a few clips are pretty funny.

[Plutonic Panda]

[Plutonic Panda]

[Plutonic Panda]

there are more under related videos and if you click on the user, they have some more as well.

Again, not all of those are bad and a bunch are just nit picky, but there are still some funny ones in there.

[TheTravellers]

The videos are probably pretty funny, but I'd rather not relive the crappy experience of driving in OKC in my own home, there are lots more enjoyable things to do there. :-D

[rezman]

The video displays one dangerous practice that doesn't get much attention, and that is the act of driving through the striped safety zones at intersections. It used to be that you would see this periodically, but has become something that I see every day. I have almost been hit several times when I was slowing down to enter a left turn lane, staying within the lines, when someone came shooting up through the safety zone on the left as I was appropriately moving into the turn lane. In all incidents, the offender had to slam on their brakes to avoid hitting me, and one time the person had to veer into the oncoming lane to avoid hitting me, thus creating a new hazard. In one of these times, I was on my motorcycle. The motorists that do this are crossing over a double yellow line, and many times they drive around stopped traffic in front of them, completely crossing the double yellow, just to get to the left turn lane.

[catch22]

The video displays one dangerous practice that doesn't get much attention, and that is the act of driving through the striped safety zones at intersections. It used to be that you would see this periodically, but has become something that I see every day. I have almost been hit several times when I was slowing down to enter a left turn lane, staying within the lines, when someone came shooting up through the safety zone on the left as I was appropriately moving into the turn lane. In all incidents, the offender had to slam on their brakes to avoid hitting me, and one time the person had to veer into the oncoming lane to avoid hitting me, thus creating a new hazard. In one of these times, I was on my motorcycle. The motorists that do this are crossing over a double yellow line, and many times they drive around stopped traffic in front of them, completely crossing the double yellow, just to get to the left turn lane.

I only get in the striped safety zone if the entire queue is filled. That way I do not block people who want to be in the lanes that go straight through the intersection. Especially if it's a center turn lane that turns into a left turn at an intersection, I will use that to continue the queue so traffic isn't blocked going into the straight lanes. The number of times I have not been able to make a green light because everyone who wanted to turn left kept the straight lanes blocked while there is a center turn lane to queue in is a number I cannot count.

[catch22]

Here's I-240 and penn, the right and left turn lanes fill up much faster than the two thru lanes. So if people would just use a continuation of the center turn lane to queue, could at least keep the left thru lane open. Sure it's not legal to queue in the striped area, but some common courtesy to other drivers would say to go ahead and use it, so other people who want to go straight can make it through the light. The 240 and Penn is ion a 2 minute cycle. Each direction gets 30 seconds of green light. If you are waiting to go straight, and everyone who wants to go left has the lane blocked, you won't make it through and it will be 2 more minutes before you can get a green.

[rezman]

Here's I-240 and penn, the right and left turn lanes fill up much faster than the two thru lanes. So if people would just use a continuation of the center turn lane to queue, could at least keep the left thru lane open. Sure it's not legal to queue in the striped area, but some common courtesy to other drivers would say to go ahead and use it, so other people who want to go straight can make it through the light. The 240 and Penn is ion a 2 minute cycle. Each direction gets 30 seconds of green light. If you are waiting to go straight, and everyone who wants to go left has the lane blocked, you won't make it through and it will be 2 more minutes before you can get a green.

I'm all for courtesey, but this particular move is dangerous. When someone is in the #1 lane to go straight, and decides to change lanes into the left turn lane, and someone comes blowing through the striped area, then that's a problem. That's what the safety zone is for. To prevent such an occurance. I see this illegal use of lanes take place daily. When I almost got hit,.. Twice at the same intersection on different days.... S bound Santa Fe onto NE 122nd, I was in the #1 lane, slowing down with my left turn signal on to move into the left turn lanes, of which there are two, the person coming up behind me at a higher rate of speed, tried passing me in the striped zone just as I was entering the marked left turn lanes. They then had to take evasive actions to avoid hitting me. This is an all too common practice. And it's absolute BullS**t when you're on a bike and some idiot does it. Watch the left turn lanes the next few times you're out driving. You'll see what I mean.

[catch22]

I'm not talking about while the light is green and traffic is flowing, I agree it's dangerous. I am talking about when the light has been red for a while, and traffic is beginning to significantly queue past the turn lane. If there is room, I will continue the queue in the center turn lane, leaving more queue space for people going straight.

[rezman]

I totally understand what your saying, but it doesn't matter what color the light is, it's still not a good idea.

But let me add this. Where these incidents happend to me, there is no center turn lane. So you may be correct in areas where there is a center turn lane and having it run right up to the left turn lane with no striped area dividing them.

[Plutonic Panda]

Here's I-240 and penn, the right and left turn lanes fill up much faster than the two thru lanes. So if people would just use a continuation of the center turn lane to queue, could at least keep the left thru lane open. Sure it's not legal to queue in the striped area, but some common courtesy to other drivers would say to go ahead and use it, so other people who want to go straight can make it through the light. The 240 and Penn is ion a 2 minute cycle. Each direction gets 30 seconds of green light. If you are waiting to go straight, and everyone who wants to go left has the lane blocked, you won't make it through and it will be 2 more minutes before you can get a green.

That whole corridor needs to be reworked. People have obviously heard me say what I think they need to widen it to, but they really need to add double turn left lanes. The one on Shields is the worst.