Bad driving habits
 

I don't think people who drive in Florida have any clue what that handle on the left side of the steering column is used for. IT'S CALLED A TURN SIGNAL. WOW, THAT WAS DIFFICULT. IT TAKES A LOT OF STRENGTH TO FLICK IT UP OR DOWN.

I disagree somewhat. People here seem to use their turn signals and then never turn them off. I don't trust anyone's turn signals. They lure you into complacency.

The other reason for not using turn signals is they might be from Michigan.:evil6:

I lived in Michigan 40 years ago. I don’t remember anyone using turn signals either, but I guess they did. It was a long time ago. [emoji6]





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We lived in west Michigan for 25 years before moving here. I thought maybe Detroit took the turn signals out of the cars staying in MI. I'm only partially joking.:laugh:

car crashes
 

As a young mechanical engineer working for General Motors I designed a turn signal that only worked if it was used. Too bad the ‘73 recession put me out of a job, or did it ?


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You are right about not trusting the turn signals. The eventual left turn signal is pretty common in most states. What I find is everyone thinks the other car should be driving they way do, and I’d you aren’t you are doing is wrong.

Yesterday I had a woman in a blue Lincoln run a stop sign directly in front of me, I locked the brakes and barely missed hitting her. She never slowed down, never looked, just went straight through talking with her passenger and was completely obvious to my screeching tires.

You must remember in the Villages stop signs are optional, people driving blue Lincolns, white Buicks, and silver Cadillacs have the right of way and you must stop for them and yield the right of way. Turn signals are not used and turning right from the left lane, turning left from the right lane and stopping in the middle of a round about is perfectly permissible here. I also recently had a man stop in the middle of the round about in front of me, I gave him some audible encouragement to move on. At this time he opened his door and got out and walked back to me and ask me to get out of my car as he was going to punch me for blowing my horn. He said he was lost and did not know which outlet to take. I did not get out of course i told him to take the first exit and get out of the round about. It is a miracle we were not hit and of course he was driving a white Buick.

The answer is you need to be a defensive driver here as a lot of the drivers here do not pay attention to what they are doing.

If this weren't so true, it would be a good laugh.

Thank GOODNESS you didn't say a woman with blue hair. I haven't had my coffee yet.

I kinda like you, kid.

Yesterday there was a woman pulled out on CR 101 in the middle of the road waiting to get across to the Southern Trace Shopping Center. I did not stop to let her cross as there was traffic right behind me but as I was passing her she threw both her arms up and gave me a dirty look. Like I was supposed to stop for this woman when I have the right of way and am in a flow of traffic.

Not one of the cars described by 427Dave though. Think it was a red SUV of some kind.

Dave wasn't being literal. Dave was being funny. It was a sort of joke, son.

That was obvious.

Some of the driving in the Villages is not a joke. And this happens all year round but is better than in many communities I have driven in over the years. I would drive by an accident with fatalities about once a month when travelling on US 19 in St. Petersburg/Clearwater/Tarpon Springs.

Got so bad I would just take the residential routes to avoid being on US 19 as much as possible. 'Death Valley' drivers say stretch of U.S. 19 is extremely dangerous - abcactionnews.com WFTS-TV

Fortunately we do not have such meat grinding highways in this area of Florida.

While on the road that passes the new neighborhood Walmart waiting on the light at 466A to continue straight to Colony shopping plaza, a service van in the left turn lane on my left decides he needs to go right on 466A. As the light turned green, he sped in front of me to make his right turn to 466A east from the left lane. It’s always interesting to watch people find creative ways to maneuver in the Villages.

19a and Belcher are great by-passes

In November I brought my parents down to TV in the hopes of convincing them to move from the harsh Northeast winters to our lovely community. They were in the car with me on our first day here and I was making a left turn into the parking area near the Barnes and Nobles bookstore at Lake Sumter Landing. I signaled and noticed an elderly lady with a cane walking across the street I was ready to turn onto. I waited for her to slowly cross and a golf cart that was behind me passed me on the right and yelled "A**hole" into our open windows. My parents said, "What kind of people live here?" Nice first impression!!!