Submitted by Bornbhthegods t3_yd3o18 in springfieldMO
blitzalchemy t1_itqwqos wrote
Reply to comment by Saltpork545 in Moving to Springfield by Bornbhthegods
Not one per year, 2 in one year, 2 in another, 1 last one a year ago. None were my fault.
accident 1. was somebody cutting over and stomping on their brake to cut me off. I braked but their trailer hitch still wrapped my radiator around the engine. Totaled
accident 2. somebody going too fast on wet roads, i was stopped at a stop light. they lost control and skidded into my rear bumper. repaired this one easy enough.
accident 3 a truck lost its brakes on the off ramp at campbell and james river, i had a green light and started going. the only reason they didnt Tbone me is bwcause i was checking the weather or time on my phone when the light changed. They still ran a red light because they couldnt stop, but if i took off as soon as it turned green, i wouldve gotten tboned. Totalled this one too
accident 4 was the same as #2, idiots dont know how to drive in rain around her. didnt even bother repairing this one
accident 5 was somebody trying to merge into my lane without the room to do it. they took the front bumper off my car. Repair it, but sold it later
the only avoidable one by my own standard mightve been accident #1 but i didnt have time to react
some of the earlier ones might have been attributed to not being defensive enough, yet. But thats my point, you shouldnt have to be so overly defensive because of how dangerous the driver are here. You should be able to drive like normal and not have to constantly be a paranoid wreck while driving because of the psychotic idiots who shouldnt have a license. Springfield drivers are dangerous, neglectful, and stupid. They are by far the worst drivers i have ever experience AND THATS THE POINT OF WHAT THE ORIGINAL COMMENT SAID. You have to drive like people constantly blow red lights, which I see once a day. And act like everyone is out to kill you, because they are, maybe negligably, but they are.
Saltpork545 t1_itrpk3x wrote
> But thats my point, you shouldnt have to be so overly defensive because of how dangerous the driver are here.
And my point is that drivers are like that everywhere.
> drivers are dangerous, neglectful, and stupid
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eb7O1RSpYl8
This is one youtube channel that features people doing dumb stuff with cars. There's a new video every day. This is just one of these channels. You can find literally thousands of hours of bad drivers with little to no effort.
I promise you most if not all of these drivers have never lived in Springfield.
That's my point and why I called out the post. Springfieldians have this idea that they're the only place in the world to have bad drivers. They are not and they're not exceptionally bad. They're average.
Again, I am not magically lucky, neither is my brother in law who was a mobile x ray tech for a decade and drove all over SW MO or my sister who all live in Springfield. Between us we've had 2 actual accidents in 15 years that weren't a little bump in a right hand lane or something equally as minor. BIL had someone leave their turning lane and enter into his while in his mobile xray van about 3-4 years ago. They were on their phone. Shocking.
No, people don't drive correctly in bad weather. Rain, snow, ice, whatever. Slow down, take more time to start and stop. Again, not a Springfield thing.
blitzalchemy t1_itrx1h6 wrote
I recognize we arent the only people with bad drivers, but in my own anecdotal experience I have had more accidents and near misses in or around springfield than anywhere else in my life on a consistent basis. To me and many others who have travelled or lived elsewhere this is the experience we have had including people who have lived in some of these placest with notoriously bad drivers. Most people I know of, have spoken to, or have read about posting on this subreddit have all essentially agreed we have some of the worst drivers in the US. But everytime we address it on here, people come out of the woodwork to minimize us and say "its not THAT bad." We have bad drivers, we have exceptionally dumb, ignorant drivers. They exist everywhere but in our experience they are especially noticable here. Nobody who speaks to this topic denies that bad drivers exist elsewhere, we just are firm in our personal experiences from several walks of life that we have collectively had terrible experiences with drivers here.
Saltpork545 t1_its01tp wrote
> Most people I know of, have spoken to, or have read about posting on this subreddit have all essentially agreed we have some of the worst drivers in the US
As someone who has spent a lot of time in different states, no, we don't. That's my experience and the experience of most of the people I know in the area long term.
Everyone thinks they have the worst drivers. Everyone. From Atlanta to Portland Maine to small town Idaho.
It's selection bias almost exclusively. You see the bad drivers where you live and work and drive the most. You don't see the bad drivers day in and day out in towns you drive through or visit.
Data reveals something that doesn't match your description.
Missouri isn't even in the top 10 for fatal accidents or accident insurance costs, even adjusted per capita.
https://www.injuryclaimcoach.com/car-accidents-by-state.html
It is not magically worse here than anywhere else in the US. We do not have more bad drivers in our population than other states. None of this is exclusive to Springfield. Literally none of it and saying otherwise is silly. Yes, I minimize because you're not persecuted for living in a small city with small city drivers and traffic.
We do not have exceptionally anything drivers. We just have drivers.
blitzalchemy t1_its20db wrote
Fine lets just agree to disagree, you have your experience, i have mine. Ive spent 1/6th of my life here and every accident has been here. I havent had the necessity to be a hyper defensive driver until i came here, and the daily near misses do not support any of your points. Thats my experience, as well as many others in this sub, you have yours, but dont minimize it and use the boomer mentality of "ive had it worse"
Saltpork545 t1_its3567 wrote
We could also look at more data.
We are the 3rd largest city in the state. Our fatal accident rate is 1.8% of the fatal crashes that happened in MO for 2016-2018.
KC is #2, their rate is 8.88%.
St Louis is #1, their rate is 6.17%.
Columbia is the next smallest, they're rate is 1.08%.
It seems to me that Springfield is right where they should be. It would be different if we, say, also had 8% of the fatal car crashes. So, just judging by fatal car crashes in Missouri, KC is the most dangerous place to be.
This is obviously incomplete data and I'm not finding any good summarized reports of car accidents by county or city because I don't think that data is tracked unless someone is injured, but I could be wrong.
I'm a millennial and 'I've had it worse' isn't what I'm saying at all. I'm saying Springfield isn't exceptional on traffic and never has been. People just get this mindset of 'oh these terrible drivers here are the worst anywhere' and everywhere thinks that about where they live and it's simply false. It's a cognitive bias.
I've seen my share of bad drivers here too. Of course. They exist everywhere. That is my point and always has been my point. We are not any different than Charlottesville or Memphis or Des Moines or whatever other place you can think of. Giving OP some idea that traffic or drivers are magically worse here than where they're coming from is simply false.
blitzalchemy t1_its8ft8 wrote
Ive never once thought wherever I lived had the worse drivers, and again I point to the variety of places I have lived and experienced. Hell, at least people use their blinkers typically in St Louis. I have never thought we had the worst drivers until i moved and lived here for an extended period. Your data only accounts for incidents that happened, but nothing to say for the daily occurrences where the rest of us have to read the mind of the many idiot drivers so we arent involved in the wreck ourselves.
Simply put, at this point I truly do not care. There are many people who would agree that the drivers here are the worst theyve experienced, I would agree to that. However you are not doing yourself any favors here. And obviously not changing my nor anyone elses mind. As for the original point of the post and for the initial comment on here. I feel like we can all agree, treating the drivers here like they are dangerous idiots is for the better. The faster that new implants here learn to be hyper defensive, the better.
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