I’m fortunate. I have been in all 50 states, and aside from Seattle and Denver, I’ve driven in all the major and many of the smaller cities in the United States. Not to focus on the negative, but the worst drivers in my encounters have been found in Omaha, Nebraska. Driving that city is maddening, because it’s like the folks there have been given a bunch of freeways and don’t know what to do with them.
Denver, Colorado comes in a close second.
Denver has a myriad of freeways throughout the metro area. One of the big trends in the area is toll based Express Lanes. Instead of HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle) lanes found in most major cities, the Denver area charges a toll to use these “express lane”, which is just a striped off lane from the rest of the freeway. The tolls change based on popularity.
This is not what makes driving Denver freeways maddening.
The growing trend of “camping in the passing lane” is gaining steam in the area. Drivers will hang out in the second to left lane (because they don’t want to pay the toll) and then shoot across the remaining lanes to get to their exit at the last minute. Or motorists will bang on their brakes for no reason. There’s no one in front of them. There are no exits coming up, but for some bizarre reason, Denver area drivers like to randomly bang on their brakes.
The Colorado Department of Transportation, like many other states in the United States, believes that only Interstate numbered freeways should have numbered interchanges. If you’re on a freeway that’s carrying a U.S. Route Number, there’s a good chance you’re not going to know how far it is until your exit if you’re not using GPS because the interchanges are not numbered to the mileposts. It’s only when you’re a mile or less from the interchange that you realize you need to start moving to the right. That’s when you discover that folks will continue to bang on their brakes in random fashion.
Another thing I noticed is that folks either strictly adhere to the speed limit (which changes quite a bit) or they are wildly ignored. The ones adhering to the speed limit tend to stick to the passing lane as an act of defiance to the rest of the world, deluded into thinking they’re doing some sort of public service by crunching up traffic behind them, all the while bang on their brakes at random intervals.
And don’t get me started on whatever they’re trying to do with this Peña Blvd. taking you to Denver International Airport. But as a quick aside, I will never understand why airport authorities like to design the road signs on their property to look as completely different from standard road signs as possible. I want to get to Terminal West, not enjoy the creative design of some bored designer throwing road sign symbols around in Microsoft Paint.
Yes, Denver, you are not the worst drivers I have encountered. That title solidly belongs to Omaha, Nebraska. But wow, do you come in a close second.
Take your foot off the brake and drive on.
