Driving

Are you fast enough for Monroe Avenue? (by Flickr user RocPX license info) I'd like to create a page here about driving in Rochester. This could include many things, but I'd like it to have a humorous slant more than a functional slant. For example, it could include a list of quirks that people have noticed while driving in Rochester.

Some I've observed more here than in other places.

Quirks

• Drifting from lane to lane. Are these people intoxicated or asleep at the wheel? I see this a lot around here.
  

• Turning without using a signal¹. I see this constantly.
  

• I've noticed that a lot of people will get into a lane that will soon be blocked by a parked car. If you're in the lane next to them then they gun it and try to cut you off before getting stuck behind the parked car. This is not only dangerous, but insane, and yet I witness it almost daily when driving in the city.
  

• Please understand understand that driving a massive SUV with the ability to crush all cars on either side of you does not abdicate you from your personal and legal responsibility to signal while switching lanes. Thanks.
  

• In Rochester, a yellow light doesn't mean "caution", it means "go faster, now!". Also, the first few seconds of red are a special shade of yellow which can be seen only by those who have been driving in Rochester for a few years.
  

• The first road-coating snowfall introduces two new and equally dangerous drivers to the mix: the clueless half-speed driver who believes they are cautious and the oblivious "just-like-it's-dry" driver.
  

• Go ahead and honk! At intersections, the lack thereof, people you know - even people you don't know! It lets other drivers and pedestrians know that you're important.
  

• Speed limits are for wimps! Do 65 on the 55mph portion of 390 and 75 on the 65mph portion. Any cruising speed is apparently acceptable on 590, provided you never go below 65, even though the posted limit is 55.² Local roads should be taken at 40-45 (50, if you're really in a hurry) whenever possible.
  

• Be sure to leave your car running when you stop in at a convenience store in the winter. The engine (apparently) could freeze if left off for even 2 minutes in the frigid, frigid cold. And don't worry; as the 49th largest urban area in the United States, there couldn't possibly be any auto theft.
  

• Most stops signs are optional, especially ones in parking lots. The only reason there are so many is because they are cheaper than yield signs.
  

• Many people in Rochester are distracted while driving. Here is a list of things you should not do while driving a motor vehicle, especially at high speeds:
  

• Use a cell phone, especially if you tend to talk with your hands
  

• Read a book or magazine
  

• Beat your spouse
  

• Apply makeup
  

• Try to pick something up off the floor
  

• Drinking from 40-oz. bottles (they block your view)
  

• Certain sexual activities
  

• any more?

Also see: Ford St and South Plymouth Ave Traffic Roundabout