These posts are unpopular on this subreddit but I love them lol. I’ve been driving every day for the past 10 years and the drivers here still never fail to amaze me

It's a message to RI drives, but who would care! No one. I like the people of Rhode island and especially the older folks, you get a story every time you meet one! But really bad drivers.

I grew up on mineral spring, which was amazing for learning how to deal with the unpredictable asshat drivers, but terrible for trying to go anywhere. And nobody knows how to actually use the freeways around here.

Also, my car has a loudish exhaust, but I'm always conscious of where I am and what time it is when driving around. It's possible to drive loud cars without being obnoxious. It sucks because a few dicks with loud cars give us all a bad rep. I promise most of us are just good people with an expensive hobby

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And not knowing how to properly yield

For your own sake, its better to just let it go. Keep aware, head on a swivel, trust no one, and don't get mad if no one got hit. No blood, no foul. Otherwise you're just going to make yourself crazy getting worked up over this.

Oh I'm on alert full time not only to other drivers, but for potholes as well!

Stop in yield, yield in stop.

When you say people cut you off, what do you mean?

Throwing their car at me barely making it, and not hitting my fender or the car in front of them, so it's a driving thing not a barber cut.

Like merging in front of you when there isn’t really room to merge? Is this when you’re going 85 in the right lane or left lane or anywhere?

Exactly, and my car will freak out and hit the brakes by itself, this happens on the Eddie Dowling hwy, only!

Yesterday someone decided that the fact that I was going to stop at a stop sign was too much. Passed me, and then blew right through the stop to keep going. I imagine that they saved an entire 10 seconds.

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Best way I’ve heard RI drivers compared to other drivers like from MA is people from MA drive like they want to kill you, people from RI drive like they want to kill themselves

Same.

My most recent gripe is people who ride my ass for leaving safe breaking distance in relation to the cars in front of me, regardless of the fact that I’m maintaining the same speed as the cars ahead are traveling at. Bonus points if they decide to go around and get in front of me, only to join the cars up ahead who aren’t going any faster.

Also had a jackass driving 80+ mph around the Thurbers Ave curve who decided to go around me because he didn’t think my speeding at 70+ mph in the fast lane (while trying to be mindful of the approaching curve with a blind corner) was good enough. He almost caused an accident to weave through the other lanes of traffic and cut me off while I had just been maintaining my speed but had to break and maneuver to avoid him hitting me. I got upset and gave him the finger… the fucker decided to break check me. When I changed lanes to get away from him, he cut me off (nearly hitting another car again) to try to break check me, again, before returning to the high speed lane. Fucking psychopath. Dude didn’t even give me the opportunity to move over and I was actively passing cars; it wasn’t like I was driving slowly in the high speed lane.

I could see it happening there, since it’s only 2 lanes and people will intentionally not create space to merge

>why do people try to cut me off while I'm already going over the speed limit (85mph in the 65mph zone)

Because we want to go 90 mph? Duh.

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>then they will slow down when they get in front of me?

Oh, I'm sorry, have you never changed your mind before? 90 felt a little too fast.

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>turn signals?

WTF are those?

> when you are on the highway and it is empty like no traffic in miles, don't match the speed of the car next to you so no one can pass you

The chances of making a new friend while driving at the exact same speed as them on the highway aren't great, but they're greater than 0%. You plan lowers those odds. Sorry, I'm siding with my new friend and you're no longer invited to go skiing with us.

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> for the people with the loud exhaust, please stop driving your slow car in the city in the middle of the night some of us work for a living.

Sorry, can't hear you.

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>stop using the middle lane on mineral springs to cut through traffic.

Moses used the middle lane of traffic to cut through the Red Sea, which is rich with many minerals.

Does everyone in this state merge with highway speed traffic at 35mph and then keep going 35mph? This is why traffic sucks. Merge at speed you fools!

Ahahaha, best one was the Moses one, I was mad but now I'm happy, thank you.

Because people in general everywhere have defaulted to offensive/aggressive driving rather then defensive.

Why do people drive in the left lane on the highway doing 65-70, and refuse to move over into the right lane to let faster cars behind them pass? I wish people understood that the middle lane is for normal driving, left lane for passing, and right lane for taking an upcoming exit. If everyone abided by these simple things, their would be a lot less traffic and accidents.

I actually leave about 2-3 car lengths ahead of me, because I was brake checked before and I don't want it to happen again, but I do get what you mean there are some drivers that would intentionally accelerate when they see someone trying to merge.

My soul dies a lil every time I see someone who doesn't know how to use the middle lanes to get into traffic from the opposite side of the road on Mineral or Bald Hill

Damn, what an Ahole, I'm glad you're okay, some people have a miserable life and they don't care about their safety or the people around them.

The office or whoever responsible for that, should mark the roads like that, instead they renumbered the Highways exists!

Yup, sounds about right. And what’s scary is that this isn’t an uncommon thing anymore. I see this shit happen like 3 times every morning on my way to work on my 15 minute drive at 6am

i paused, read it back,, realized i hadn't gotten insane enough to make the point and I absolutely refuse to use that amateur hour slash s thing to indicate a joke.

I find driving is easier in RI when you just accept that you're never going to be the fastest and someone else is always gonna be dissatisfied with your driving.

If someone's camping in the left lane, why get all mad about it and ruin your day because they made a stupid decision? Just crank the tunes louder and carry on

Because Rhode Island is an awful, sub-human hell-scape of a place to live.

The renumbering was a federal initiative, get over it. The alternative would have been losing federal highway money and higher local taxes to make up for the federal money loss.

Welcome to Rhogue Island!

This. I hate when people expect you to suddenly be able to climb a giant hill from 35 to 65 in a matter of seconds because they decided using the ramp to get up to 65 isn’t worth doing.

What bugs me most is coming off exit ramps and the under construction areas. People suddenly drop their speeds to like 40. Like what the hell?!

I often have to take RT10 and the amount of people going like 50 is insane. Hit 70 or GTFO. Same thing on the 195W split too. They’ll be going 70 and suddenly brake to 50 for no damn good reason, when clearly you can still pass at 70.

People need to stop braking for no good reason. If you’re not comfortable taking a bend at 70, move over. Don’t block someone else from doing it.

Try driving around apponaug circle, 17 rotaries and nobody knows how to use them

I’m fortunate; my commute is Westerly - Cranston/Rte 37 and most 95 drivers on this route are well behaved.

If someone’s trying to pass you when you’re in the left-hand lane, you’re the one in the wrong. The rest of it I agree with.

I leave 2-3 cars ahead of me just to be safe.

My point is that you’re in raging them by not getting out of the passing lane

I always keep a safe driving distance regardless. If somebody wants to tailgate me, fine, but when they rear end me, it's their fault. It's my fault if them hitting me causes me to hit the car in front of me.

That's not the point trust me I'm not camping I keep a safe following distance between me and the car in front of me, yet the car behind me is riding my ass and pulling my hair, so when a Fast & furious wannabe sees that little space 2 to 3 cars length he/she will throw their car and nearly hit me or the barrier, keep in mind this happens only on the two lines Highways (Eddie Dowling).

Ah yeah that’s different, context made me think that you were just chilling there, not going with speed of traffic :)

You win the internet today.

Couldn't have said it better. Traffic pattern full and they think the entire world should move over and make way for them like that scene from Bruce Almighty. Its frickin Rhode Island, people! Wherever you're going, you'll be there in like 30 mins tops 😂 Calm down! And get off my ass.

I've been piling up clips from my dash cam to make a montage of RI driving. A masterpiece of shit.

I know BMW drivers have a bad reputation but I maintain, Nissan Altimas are the most frequent vehicle in my abysmal driver encounters which is made worse by the fact that they’re often not meticulously maintained.

Why?

Because we here in the US decided that we’re going to invest in only the most inefficient and dangerous way to get around that is subject to human emotion and flaws.

No trains and bikes, thats not in the best interest of the Oil lobbyists. Now shut up and get back in your car.

My favorite are all the people in their jeeps and trucks that have to slow down to 2 miles an hour anywhere it says "bump" in the road.

It especially sucks if you're driving a big truck that actually needs the entire ramp to get up to 65, and then you're stuck going 35 at the merge point because some clown in front didn't want to use the ramp

I dunno but a new report said RI is one of the safest states for driving, so congrats on your defensive driving.

isnt the left hand hwy-lane the pre-designated 40MPH lane ?

i usually roll on the right and hope for the best and leave space .. for "RI maneuvers"

😂 I saw that today, Massachusetts is the dangerous one!

True!

Not big in politics but I watch sports big fans of Alisha Lehmann’s.

Can't wait to see it!

It's a joke bro, there is the good and the bad in everything.

Lol don’t worry man, I got the joke. I just had to vent cause I got walked by 2 Altimas on 95 this morning

Damn, what car do you drive?

Neither a BMW or an Altima, I can assure you haha

Lol be safe.

And at the same time RI was voted #1 for the highest rate of identity theft!

Well no shit, I receive at least 20 scam calls a day.

Same here all from the little known never heard of towns and cities.

We moved to RI about a year and a half ago and were warned that the drivers here were really something special. I’ve lived in a few places, everyone says that kind of thing. Nope, they really are special here, I routinely witness something insane on the road whenever I go out.

My neighbor is the single reason I want all Harley owners to die. Likes to start it at 2am to move it 5 feet into the garage. LOVES to rev it up his driveway after midnight as well.

I do thank you u/jimmygreen717 for your courtesy...some of us appreciate it!

I hate the rotary in Chepachet. People stop going around it all the time to let people go!! Just drive around it already!!!

I hate roundabouts!

I drive Providence > Boston > Providence every day, mostly 95, 93 and Mass Pike. I can unequivocally say that MA drivers are 1000x more dangerous and aggro than the average RI driver. Yes RI drivers can be bad, but in my experience it’s mostly because they’re too defensive. MA drivers routinely cut you off without so much as a blinker or a wave. They are all meteors hurtling through space and time with zero fucks given, completely unconscious to the havoc they leave behind in their wake.

At least RI drivers occasionally use blinkers and allow you to merge.

I live in a residential neighborhood with a school and plenty of dogs, and I admittedly speed a bit down the main stretch. I'm tired of having people up my ass when I'm already going faster than i should, flashing lights, and honking their horns when I'm trying to look out for kids and dogs.

So I just drop down to the speed limit now (25 mph😘)

I do the same, especially around elementary schools, because there's always a kid running after a basketball, and this actually happened today, my heart dropped lower than my balls.

We almost had a pile up on the centerville to 95S. We were picking speed to merge because it was pretty busy and some dumb*** was full dead stop and signaling to merge at the end of the ramp.

Problem number one is it sounds like you moved to NP, frequent 146, are required to deal with mineral spring and all its lovely nuances. I would be grumpy too.

>Because people in general everywhere have defaulted to offensive/aggressive driving rather then defensive.

Seems like it's gotten to be wherever people are now 😣

I always wonder why they are speeding. Job? hot date? sketchy fireworks store? mother in law’s house? I doubt it!

What is the allure to driving a car with a loud exhaust in the suburbs? I always see guy’s doing the bwant bwants on Newport Ave. It’s both funny and a little sad. Nobody at Uncle Tony’s is impressed by the loud exhaust.

Racing to RIC to fight over the 1 parking spot before class…

A loud exhaust is a sign of a fast car. It's a side effect in a way. I bring my car to the track, and over the years of ownership, I've increased performance by changing parts, and one of those parts was the exhaust system. It's a piece of the whole picture and was necessary for me to upgrade the turbocharger.

However, you can also just change your exhaust, be loud, and have the "appearance" of being fast. If you don't do other modifications, it doesn't really equate to more performance, but depending on the car it might help a little bit. Some people just want to be loud for the attention.

So in conclusion, fast cars are loud, but not all loud cars are fast and some people like being looked at

Yeah, I live near Fatima hospital.

Pizza in the oven.

I'm buying a horse!

I second this, I myself have a twin turbo car, so an aftermarket exhaust is crucial for me, but at the same time I don't want my neighbors to hate me, thus I bought a valved system.

I think people get really bored with their everyday lives and look for “competition” on the road. Hungry for any type of win or way to cut corners so they can feel accomplished. They don’t rush because they’re later for something, they rush because they’re frustrated and think everyone is out to annoy them.

Nature vs Nurture.

I like your meteor analogy 🤌🏼🤌🏼

I disagree with "RI drivers allow you to merge" have you seen the exit and entrance to the 146 highway, on the 95, it's like they will lose one of their lives if they let someone merge.

40mph highway? It's 55mph but you really go by following the flow.

I'm not big on either and I had to look up who Alisha is. The exit renumbering has been complained about numerous times here.

In dumb explanation, RI did the renumbering so they could take money from the federal reserve, and not from Rhode island taxes? BTW how was Alisha?

For a bit of an explanation... https://www.wpri.com/dont-miss/ri-to-renumber-i-95-exits-heres-what-your-new-number-will-be/

While not in any of the articles I quickly looked up, there is financial ramifications to the state if they don't comply. I believe that the state gets some federal money for highway maintenance. I think they risk losing at least part of it if they don't comply.

I can see the appeal of Alisha. No clue how well she plays soccer...

She play soccer? LoL 😂 Thank you for the link I will check it out after my finals.

i think you just havent encountered one of the 40 MPH in the left people . dont worry, i have faith you will . in RI , seems like they are bound to be there .

usually the rest of the hwy gets pissed and all floors it in all other lanes when this happens .

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another one for providence - there are NO stop signs .

My father used to say "give me an army as aggressive as the Rhode Island driver and I could rule the world".

I don’t miss RIC parking

Haha, thanks.

I was more comparing RI with Ma, but you’re definitely right. Lots of room for improvement for RI drivers.

There are a lot more things that I forgot to mention. For instance, people accelerate on purpose, so you can't merge. Jeep Wrangler drivers aiming their aftermarket headlights incorrectly, lifted trucks without mudguards or mud flaps and damaged bumpers and windshields.

Wise man.

You’re definitely right but at the same time you also have to wonder: “if they hit me…” 1) and their car is drivable, will they pull over/stop? 2) Do they have car insurance? 3) Could I get hurt?

I’ve already been rear ended in a hit and run once (I was extremely lucky to only end up with some scratches on my bumper— it happened on an exit ramp). So I’m going to try to avoid the risk, especially in the high speed lane, if I can safely move over 1 lane and let the jackasses just go past me to go off and ride someone else’s bumper.

I was more comparing RI with MA, but you’re right, people don’t like merging around here:(. It’s like someone didn’t allow them to merge, so they’re paying it forward. It says a lot about the condition of people’s minds, very unhealthy to say the least.

really hate that im in this picture. please fix

It got a little better after covid, many classes resumed as hybrids when we realized some zoom lectures were efficient. A lot of people could stay home for part of their day.