Utah drivers are the worst. You don’t need to take my word for it. Forbes Magazine rates Utah drivers as having the most amount of road rage.
Last Saturday, around 9am, a guy was driving recklessly down the major high way about 1/4 from my house. Other drivers reported him making hand gestures at other drivers and being very aggressive. As he came to the light near my house, he ran the red light and hit a 16 year old who was making a left turn. The accident killed both drivers.
One of the cars also slid off the road and hit a power transformer and took power out for about 1500 people from about 9am until about 3:30pm.
Today, Saturday, around 9:30am the power went out again. Neighbors report a “major” injury accident up the street. I suspect, they took out a transformer or utility pole.
Having driven extensively in San Francisco, Los Angeles, NYC, Chicago, Toronto, Dallas and many other major cities, I have NEVER seen such dangerous drivers as I have since moving to Utah.
Let me give some examples I’ve seen:
I was making a left turn where the on coming traffic had a stop sign. There was NOBODY at the stop sign when I started my turn, but suddenly, I was facing a BMW speeding towards me. He ran the stop sign. Had I not been paying attention, it would have been a head-on collision.
Again, making a left turn and a lady came up to the stop sign, drove right through it because she was texting while driving.
This time it was a parked car on a busy street. A young mom hopped out of the driver’s door without looking and stepped right in to traffic. Again, had I not been paying attention, I would have hit her.
I was at Costco, I had started to pull out, saw a car coming, stopped, the car hit my car and continued driving. Fortunately, there was a lot of paint transfer on my bumper that easily rubbed off, but I suspect, they have a dent along the side of their car. And, I also suspect they were driving without a license or impaired and that’s why they didn’t stop.
Sitting in grid lock, a man pulled up behind me and started to honk his horn and gesture with his hand as if I could magically move forward (there was a line of cars 1/4 mile long in front of me.) He then passed me (illegally over a double yellow) only to arrive at a red light the exact same time I did. His rage got him nowhere. He sat there in the left turn lane at the same red light. When it turned green for me, his was still red.
Last night, it was dark, and I was driving in heavy traffic, when a guy on a Harley sped by me and between me and the car next to me. There wasn’t much room between the ends of his handlebars and our two cars. He was wearing no helmet, and proceeded to split lanes, weaving in and out of traffic as he saw convenient, and nearly getting hit two or three times.
I’m not sure what the solution is. It’s a state-wide problem.
