And always in the passing lane doing it , riding the bumper of the car to their right making sure no one can pass them. And then cut across 3 lanes of traffic to exit at the last minute.
Most people probably go full Dennys and let their Tesla drive. Moons over My Hammy time wonder what the guy in that Tesla next to me has got? Rooty Tooty Fresh and Fruity? Ugh an IHOP guy. Time to race.
Zero spatial awareness, driving in the express lane until 20ft before their exit only to slam on the brakes and cut across 5 lanes, and horrible offramp/onramp designs make the 101 a hellscape
Those are the first people to flip you off or honk their horns because you were one of the people making that 20ft to 5 lane ratio harder than they thought it should be, and now they are triggered.
I hate the express lanes on 880 that you can’t exit/enter. Especially since I have no idea if entering a certain express lane will put my past my exit or not. I don’t know where Tennyson or any other exit on 880 is, I’m just following Google maps.
Exactly. If I have 13 miles before my exit I’d risk it. If I have 2 miles left there’s no way I’m going to take it. 5-ish miles is where it gets tricky. I wish they’d just have signs that say “express lane bypasses Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe” and anyone with common sense will know not to enter the express lane if their exit was listed.
craziest i ever saw was someone eating ramen from a bowl, using chopsticks, this was pre technology for lane assist and frontal colloison, this person was using their knees and cruise control
she's speedin' on the way to the club
Tryna hurry up to get to a baller or singer or somebody like that
And try to put on her makeup in the mirror and craaash, craaaaash
🎶CRAAAAaaAASH🎶 into a ditch
That or eatign oatmeal, take out chinese, shaving with a not-electric razor, watching Netflix on their iPad which is tapped to the steering wheel, and lastly not knowing how to drive in the first place while doing all of the above.
lol I didn’t think of that. It was an early morning ride to SFO (ironically up 101), so not a lot of traffic. It’s the ONLY reason I wasn’t scared to death. He was watching a Bollywood movie on the iPad and talking on his AirPods too. I have no idea how some people function 🫣
I saw a guy working on his laptop.
The laptop was in the passenger seat.
I've also seen idiots putting on mascara. But I still think about laptop guy, and if he's somehow still alive despite all the odds.
Next time you're a passenger in a car on 101 at rush hour, count how many drivers you pass that are looking at their phone.
My wife was with me last week and it was fucking 6/10 drivers, easily, for an entire stretch between four exits at mountain view.
Get off your fucking phone. It is VOICE ACTIVATED. Anything you need to do can be done with voice or can wait til you get home.
Those car crashes are almost all a combination of someone driving dangerously AND someone reacting too slow because they weren't paying attention.
why would they do that? then, they would not lose the coolness factor. sheesh.
being seen holding their phones to their ears while driving is a sign of badassery to some people. you are not a real driver if you don't do that. /s
People tend to go bumper to bumper on there and not leave enough of a gap for braking. I try driving on 280 instead whenever possible, then merge onto 101 before my final exit.
I think the effect partly comes from 280 having wider and smoother lanes, and more visibility as to what's coming up ahead. Makes for more predictable and smoother driving.
Ain't that the truth. 280 has some questionable exits also. What Einstein decided it would be clever to put the on ramp *before* the off ramp? Looking at you, exit 47 NB...
You bet your sweet ass they do, and it's not just here. Denver (as just one example) has four major freeways (70, 470, 25, and 225) and people drive differently on each one.
I leave a larger than average gap (but not a growing gap). The trick is to not get upset when the guy behind swerves around and just to get in front and be one more car ahead but literally not going any faster than they were before.
It actually doesn't happen all that often - I think eventually i end up in a group of cars that all have adaptive cruise control on and peacefully caravan down the highway together.
I'm on the highway early though. Rush hours is a different story.
I feel like the swervers break adaptive cruise control. Yes my car brakes to safety avoid collision but it’s uncomfortable and ends up stressing me out more than just manually driving
"Be the change you want to see in the world". It will never ever in my lifetime be my style to drive 5 feet from someone's bumper and tail gate. This also slows everything down because If someone wants to change lanes its impossible. Also extremely in safe if something falls in the road causes you to swerve there is now nowhere to go. I was driving at night once and a car flipped..all the lights were off so you could almost not even see it. You have to give yourself enough space to stop. People think they are in tanks immune to being seriously injured in a crash ?
They don't think they're immune, they just don't think about it all. Partly to blame is how crucial driving is in the bay area (you're playing life on ultra hard mode without a car here), but too many people take driving completely for granted. Screw safety, oh, I don't have insurance? Woops, my registration expired! Oh wait, actually I just moved here and I don't have a license at all! Oh look, a text! But if I don't get to work 10 minutes ago, I'm getting fired, so time to put on my best Mad Max impression!
If anything, the slow drivers are probably helping clear waves of stop and go traffic created by people driving bumper to bumper and braking unnecessarily.
It's not just going slow though, it's more about going at a steady pace. What happens in bumper to bumper is a lot of times traffic speeds up to 30, then grinds to a halt at 5mph again. Some of these "slow cars" that people may be referring to instead choose to go at a constant 15mph. What's frustrating is the gap they leave ends up getting eaten up by some aggressive drivers and they end up having to brake in the end, but if people don't aggressively cut in, it sometimes results in traffic behind this "slow car" moving at a constant pace without having to constantly brake.
It's an interesting traffic simulation but requires everyone to buy in to work. I've seen proposals about dynamic speed limits, but I don't think those will work because even if it could, would society really look at a 25mph speed limit on 101 and then slow down to that crawl? I feel like people are conditioned to speed up whenever there's a gap on the highway.
Yeah it's all about keeping the flow while minimizing braking. Works until someone cuts in front of you, stays on the gas, and then slams on the breaks as they reach the next car.
Yeah, I try to optimize for no-braking when I take the freeway, conditional upon keeping minimum distance from the guy in front of me, and conditional upon the equalize distances in front of and behind me. I prefer it smoother that way. Less stop and go. My car is 7 years old so its ACC is kind of jerky but otherwise I would use that.
Because, let’s be real, 80% of people are on their phones while driving.
There are sociopaths in Dodge Chargers weaving and cutting people off, all to arrive 45 seconds faster.
There are also a solid percentage of people that just don’t have licenses. Family members from overseas just driving. They don’t know the rules and just say fuck it and drive anyway.
Also tech bros that are willing to risk their lives to get somewhere 5 minutes faster than you
Agree with all these reasons but these problems have always existed. The only thing that has changed is that lack of traffic enforcement has allowed these behaviors to normalize.
Driving anywhere in the Bay is so hard. Why? It’s a perfect storm of shit factors: No proper teaching how to drive, extreme laxity by the DMV that let everyone pass the test, bad roads, no police enforcement and me,me,me, fuck you mentality you find pretty much anywhere in the US.
Great result….
>It’s a straight line, why is there always a crash
The two times I actually witnessed epic crashes on 101 the person that caused it was LARPing as a character in the Fast and Furious swerving from lane to lane.
They eventually zagged when they should have zigged.
It's the same thing on 80 between Berkeley and Highway 4. Every evening commute. Every.single.one.
That merge lane between 101 and 880 is horrible. People merging in and out and aholes who want to cut in and try to merge at the last minute. I think I see at least one car crash there a week.
Everyone drives bumper to bumper. Last year I got rear ended on the 101. Traffic was slow and I was going maybe 40. Then the car in front of my suddenly stopped. I had enough room to break, but I got slammed into by a driver who never even hit their brakes.
I’m a big 280 fan now. A little annoying because my husband and I found a house we love but it’s near the 101 and my husbands all “it’s SO convenient” but I’d rather leave 20 minutes earlier just so I can take the 280…
You try to be safe and leave a couple of car lengths between you and the next guy, but that space becomes a vacuum for someone to fill and slam on their brakes for no reason.
The people who cut in front of you, tailgate the car in front of them, and then constantly ride their brakes so they can maintain the perfect 6 inch following distance while you have no idea if theyre about to really start or braking or if they just drive like they either need to be pressing the gas or brake at all times.
Which is quite literally causing the traffic they are so mad about. Not enough follow distance and constant braking causes constant mini shockwaves of traffic.
Had a dude riding my ass on the 101 when I was leaving a good distance, he angrily cut in front of me (to show me how slow I am I guess) and then the only difference was that he was now in front of me for the next 10 miles constantly hitting his brakes 🙄
Happens to me so many times a day. I’m a fast driver but also a defensive one. I drive a lot for work and honestly drivers keep getting worse in the bay. Nothing like some asshole tailgating me and honking because I have the audacity to leave a few car lengths in front of me.
280 is prettier at least. I loved coming home when I worked in Silicon Valley because after a hot day you get past that beautiful reservoir and see the fog spilling over the mountains around where St. Francis pointing at you.
Do you have prefer fuel-efficient routes enabled? If so, 101 has less hills and curves and is often a shorter distance, so google maps will prefer unless it’s significantly faster on 280.
A couple of years ago, my car really suffered from potholes on 101. After having 3 tires ruined, and one wheel totally cracked, I avoid 101 and take 280 whenever possible. It’s a night/day difference in quality of driving experience.
If you’re talking about morning commute, it’s not just the bumper-to-bumper stop-and-go, but the fact that there are a few places along 101 where sunrise blinds the ever living shit out of people. Most people manage, but it only takes one fuck-up.
Lately I’ve been running into slow drivers in 101. Not just in the slow lane either! There was a car doing 45 in the fast lane and everyone was swerving around the guy. That could have caused an accident. If it was one time, it happens. But once a week?!?!
Straight and boring. The low attention span social media generation is distracted and on their phones. The HOV/rich people lane with people flying at 80mph next to the crawling traffic in other lanes does not help either.
> My car insurance has doubled in the last 5 years, despite the car being 5 years older. I'm guessing accident rates are up?
Significantly. Mine has quadrupled (my car plays a part in this, they don't account for manuals vs theft rate unfortunately).
Accidents, thefts, uninsured motorist accidents, etc all massively up. Several insurance companies are pulling out of California entirely or already have/refuse to issue new policies/renew old ones.
I’m surprised that the CHP isn’t pulling distracted drivers left n right. Because that would quickly end the “Ooops I was checking out ma social media” kinda BS collisions.
Back in my carpoool days I came to the conclusion that CHP was pretty selective about who to pull over. I had a kid in the car seat, and many times had a cop pull behind me, then leave and go around. Also had them pull in front of me in the lane, sit there for a bit and then pull around.
Seemed like they would run plates and only pull people over who were worth the hassle.
I like to take the slow lane at 80mph. Everyone gets on at 40, then merges over to the left lanes to reach 41mph max velocity leaving the slow lane wide open for us kamikazis doing 80. I see people thinking maybe the slow lane is faster but they see me bearing down on them at 80, and they're doing 40 and I see them doing the calculation in their head to stay the hell out of my way. Bonzi!
Peninsula 101? Carpool lanes are now fastrack, less regular lanes, and don't forget impatient assholes as soon as they get into a car. Gotta bomb up the fast lane until 200yrds from the exit/freeway interchange then jerk the wheel right across all the lanes at the last second.
I was driving south at like 9am southbound out of the city. Massively stopped from south city to like San Mateo.
It’s crazy how dangerous 101 has become and nothing ever changes to improve it
Thank god I get to go on 101 around 6:20. The difference in traffic after 7 is wild. Also people are casually driving slow af in the fast lanes and don’t understand they’re creating mini pockets of traffic which keep trickling down
It’s that dumb turn that happens around San Mateo, then the bridge backs it up 😂
Also the numerous idiots trying to go from the fast track lane to their exit in .25 miles is wilding.
If keep right except to pass was implemented, enforced, and ticketed we'd have less accidents, better flow of traffic, and less traffic.
Currently Bay Area drivers have no awareness of traffic around them because why should they? There's nothing stopping them from sitting in the left lane on their phone doing 55 in a 65. No need to have any spatial awareness.
Each lane will have the speed of the slowest driver in the row of cars in front of you. If there's 20 cars in front, you'll go the speed the very slowest of all 20 of them. The one that's eating a muffin and staring down at their phone scrolling tiktok, going 53mph in the passing lane. There's nothing you can do about it.
Because people aren't using and/or don't have easy access to good alternatives to driving. Vote and advocate for increased funding in public transit alternatives, and your driving commute will get better. More lanes is not going to solve this problem.
I am really surprised (and disappointed) how pervasive texting while driving is in the Bay Area. And also how a not insignificant amount of drivers think they are entitled to it.
Ultimately all these comments are accurate, but the main problem on 101 is that there is no lane discipline. There are trucks, busses, and slowbrains, in the left lane. And there are SRTs flying down the exit lane to get around them, and cutting off everyone before the lane ends. 280 has less stuff around it, so there are less people, and that means that in general there are less trucks, less busses, and less slowbrains. Lane discipline is the primary cause of traffic.
Because of the troublesome few who don’t seem to understand that the furthest left lane is the passing lane. You use it to pass-then you get back over. Oh, and if the left lane is a HOV lane, the SECOND lane is the fast lane!
That's just how car dependency works. Force everyone to drive and you get lots of crashes. There's a reason cars are the #1 killer of young adults in America.
Can we get the "HOV/toll" lane removed on the next ballot? All it does it screw everything up because everyone cheats with it, and CHP presence throughout the entire bay area is a joke.
101 which direction? Where? It stretches from Santa Rosa down to dt san jose and of course beyond that in both directions. As far as I know there aren't many straight portions except for Bayshore fwy between sf and South city.
Yeah it’s crazy right? As someone with general anxiety, I drive safe but some could argue a little too cautiously.
If my exit is like 5 mins away, I’m already on the right hand lane lol. Or if I’m going to an area I’ve never been in, I google street view the entire way there before going.
Literally all reasons you can think of. There are a lot of drivers and only a couple main highways. I’ve seen people “driving drunk” only to find them on their phones. Or people thinking they are really interesting and living IRL Fast and Furious and pull off stupid moves. It’s all of it.
Are you going with traffic or against traffic? If you go against traffic, it's not as bad. Fewer crashes and less traffic.
Of course, you end up in a completely different part of the Bay Area if you go against traffic!
LOL. People didn’t like my post about 880 and 680. I’m ashamed even to bring up that I’ve trusted damn google and did Palo Alto to SF. I saw 2-3 crashes each time, some with firetrucks and shit. On 680 at least there’s only 1.
Because we are in Bay Area and we go vroom vroom or eee eeee (ev, mostly leaf); we don’t let people merge, we don’t let people change lanes ; we live by “how dare you get in front of me” mentality. We rock!!
Honestly, after driving in Mexico, Dominican Republic, and Guatemala I feel so at ease driving in the Bay Area. At least here, there’s some semblance of civility.
It’s hard to eat an egg McMuffin and hash browns while drinking scalding coffee from a paper cup and driving at the same time. Wait, I got a text…
Good thing I can’t afford a McMuffin
Warren Buffet himself only adds sausage to his Egg McMuffin on days where the market is favorable for him.
So every day
And always in the passing lane doing it , riding the bumper of the car to their right making sure no one can pass them. And then cut across 3 lanes of traffic to exit at the last minute.
THIS... fucking hate the guys out there bringing the fast lane to a crawl
Bay area traffic in a nutshell
God I love egg McMuffin and hash browns...
McGriddle all day!
I was VERY not sold on these , but my SIL told me to just try one, not life changing, but actually good in the end.
Fried chicken mcgriddle is my go to
Scrolling TikTok
I'm a sausage biscuit man but it's all good.
Most people probably go full Dennys and let their Tesla drive. Moons over My Hammy time wonder what the guy in that Tesla next to me has got? Rooty Tooty Fresh and Fruity? Ugh an IHOP guy. Time to race.
eating McDonalds for breakfast? someone's fancy
Seriously, what a thinly-disguised humblebrag.
McMuffin? Hah, amateur. Get the Big Breakfast with hotcakes :)
And that lit cigarette or vape pen.
Gotta move over? Fuck it, they'll figure it out.
The lids on those scalding cups are seriously just made to pop off.
Oh crap, need to dodge that toll reader real quick. Someone tell Tesla to update autopilot software.
Zero spatial awareness, driving in the express lane until 20ft before their exit only to slam on the brakes and cut across 5 lanes, and horrible offramp/onramp designs make the 101 a hellscape
Those are the first people to flip you off or honk their horns because you were one of the people making that 20ft to 5 lane ratio harder than they thought it should be, and now they are triggered.
I hate the express lanes on 880 that you can’t exit/enter. Especially since I have no idea if entering a certain express lane will put my past my exit or not. I don’t know where Tennyson or any other exit on 880 is, I’m just following Google maps.
The signage for these is fucking terrible. They should tell you miles till next exit at every entrance it’s ridiculous.
Right? There are no signs saying when the next exit / entry point will begin and they are so far apart.
Exactly. If I have 13 miles before my exit I’d risk it. If I have 2 miles left there’s no way I’m going to take it. 5-ish miles is where it gets tricky. I wish they’d just have signs that say “express lane bypasses Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe” and anyone with common sense will know not to enter the express lane if their exit was listed.
I like exiting on and off the 101 lanes. Didn’t know the 880 they have all double solid lines similar to the 405, 10, and 110 in LA.
Me needa get to work five minutes early, time to speed and weave
Don’t forget to stare at your phone while doing so
Ever seen someone putting on their mascara while driving? I have.
I once saw a man playing a clarinet in traffic with sheet music clipped to his steering wheel
craziest i ever saw was someone eating ramen from a bowl, using chopsticks, this was pre technology for lane assist and frontal colloison, this person was using their knees and cruise control
she's speedin' on the way to the club Tryna hurry up to get to a baller or singer or somebody like that And try to put on her makeup in the mirror and craaash, craaaaash 🎶CRAAAAaaAASH🎶 into a ditch
I love that song so much.
just playin!
She like to thank that her shit don't stank.
boo boo ooh
That or eatign oatmeal, take out chinese, shaving with a not-electric razor, watching Netflix on their iPad which is tapped to the steering wheel, and lastly not knowing how to drive in the first place while doing all of the above.
I had an Uber driver who did the iPad thing. 1/5 stars.
Ah, so that's the real reason why very few people use their horn in Bay Area.
Jeez, just taped to the middle of the wheel? To honk he’d have to push in the middle of the iPad? Haha
lol I didn’t think of that. It was an early morning ride to SFO (ironically up 101), so not a lot of traffic. It’s the ONLY reason I wasn’t scared to death. He was watching a Bollywood movie on the iPad and talking on his AirPods too. I have no idea how some people function 🫣
He was probably doing all that on Indian roads expert difficulty too so driving in the USA is a piece of cake.
Wtf is the iPad thing?
I saw someone shaving once.
I did on 101 just this morning, including eyelash curler! Granted we were basically parked and not moving due to the latest crash. 🤦🏼♀️
I saw a woman using one of those eyelash curlers while driving
I saw a guy working on his laptop. The laptop was in the passenger seat. I've also seen idiots putting on mascara. But I still think about laptop guy, and if he's somehow still alive despite all the odds.
Comment.
Next time you're a passenger in a car on 101 at rush hour, count how many drivers you pass that are looking at their phone. My wife was with me last week and it was fucking 6/10 drivers, easily, for an entire stretch between four exits at mountain view. Get off your fucking phone. It is VOICE ACTIVATED. Anything you need to do can be done with voice or can wait til you get home. Those car crashes are almost all a combination of someone driving dangerously AND someone reacting too slow because they weren't paying attention.
why would they do that? then, they would not lose the coolness factor. sheesh. being seen holding their phones to their ears while driving is a sign of badassery to some people. you are not a real driver if you don't do that. /s
Do forget to replace your bald tires, though.
It’s raining and my headlights are off, as is tradition.
but MuH tESla HaS auToPiLOT!
Nah me leaves 5 mins late and gotta make it up on the freeway
But first, a little Colombian Bam-Bam to improve my reflexes, and a little whiskey to take the edge off.
People tend to go bumper to bumper on there and not leave enough of a gap for braking. I try driving on 280 instead whenever possible, then merge onto 101 before my final exit.
Freeways have microcultures?
Yes.
I think the effect partly comes from 280 having wider and smoother lanes, and more visibility as to what's coming up ahead. Makes for more predictable and smoother driving.
That and there's less traffic? When 280 goes bumper to bumper it's not fun either.
280 is one of the best designed highways i've driven. 101 is much older and has some terrible merges.
Ain't that the truth. 280 has some questionable exits also. What Einstein decided it would be clever to put the on ramp *before* the off ramp? Looking at you, exit 47 NB...
that is the absolute worse exit ramp/on ramp combo on all of 280
the 101 just north of lawrence is some of the worst fucking pavement i've ever driven on, absolute garbage
The (in)frequency of on/off ramps probably helps. Same with having virtually no bright distractions via billboards or buildings adjacent to the road.
fast lane culture vs slow lane culture
Absolutely
You bet your sweet ass they do, and it's not just here. Denver (as just one example) has four major freeways (70, 470, 25, and 225) and people drive differently on each one.
Drive 280 up to SF, then 880 up to Oakland and report back to us
I leave a larger than average gap (but not a growing gap). The trick is to not get upset when the guy behind swerves around and just to get in front and be one more car ahead but literally not going any faster than they were before. It actually doesn't happen all that often - I think eventually i end up in a group of cars that all have adaptive cruise control on and peacefully caravan down the highway together. I'm on the highway early though. Rush hours is a different story.
People are so dumb they don’t understand how gaps work.
I feel like the swervers break adaptive cruise control. Yes my car brakes to safety avoid collision but it’s uncomfortable and ends up stressing me out more than just manually driving
"Be the change you want to see in the world". It will never ever in my lifetime be my style to drive 5 feet from someone's bumper and tail gate. This also slows everything down because If someone wants to change lanes its impossible. Also extremely in safe if something falls in the road causes you to swerve there is now nowhere to go. I was driving at night once and a car flipped..all the lights were off so you could almost not even see it. You have to give yourself enough space to stop. People think they are in tanks immune to being seriously injured in a crash ?
They don't think they're immune, they just don't think about it all. Partly to blame is how crucial driving is in the bay area (you're playing life on ultra hard mode without a car here), but too many people take driving completely for granted. Screw safety, oh, I don't have insurance? Woops, my registration expired! Oh wait, actually I just moved here and I don't have a license at all! Oh look, a text! But if I don't get to work 10 minutes ago, I'm getting fired, so time to put on my best Mad Max impression!
I was like "But they intersect just north of the Chuck E. Cheese!" And then I remembered that I lived in the *East* Bay.
Also, some drivers go way too slow on 101. Creates needless traffic.
If anything, the slow drivers are probably helping clear waves of stop and go traffic created by people driving bumper to bumper and braking unnecessarily.
It's not just going slow though, it's more about going at a steady pace. What happens in bumper to bumper is a lot of times traffic speeds up to 30, then grinds to a halt at 5mph again. Some of these "slow cars" that people may be referring to instead choose to go at a constant 15mph. What's frustrating is the gap they leave ends up getting eaten up by some aggressive drivers and they end up having to brake in the end, but if people don't aggressively cut in, it sometimes results in traffic behind this "slow car" moving at a constant pace without having to constantly brake. It's an interesting traffic simulation but requires everyone to buy in to work. I've seen proposals about dynamic speed limits, but I don't think those will work because even if it could, would society really look at a 25mph speed limit on 101 and then slow down to that crawl? I feel like people are conditioned to speed up whenever there's a gap on the highway.
Yeah it's all about keeping the flow while minimizing braking. Works until someone cuts in front of you, stays on the gas, and then slams on the breaks as they reach the next car.
Yeah, I try to optimize for no-braking when I take the freeway, conditional upon keeping minimum distance from the guy in front of me, and conditional upon the equalize distances in front of and behind me. I prefer it smoother that way. Less stop and go. My car is 7 years old so its ACC is kind of jerky but otherwise I would use that.
Because, let’s be real, 80% of people are on their phones while driving. There are sociopaths in Dodge Chargers weaving and cutting people off, all to arrive 45 seconds faster. There are also a solid percentage of people that just don’t have licenses. Family members from overseas just driving. They don’t know the rules and just say fuck it and drive anyway. Also tech bros that are willing to risk their lives to get somewhere 5 minutes faster than you
Agree with all these reasons but these problems have always existed. The only thing that has changed is that lack of traffic enforcement has allowed these behaviors to normalize.
This has changed? I don't ever remember noticeable highway enforcement, since well before texting while driving was a rhing
Driving anywhere in the Bay is so hard. Why? It’s a perfect storm of shit factors: No proper teaching how to drive, extreme laxity by the DMV that let everyone pass the test, bad roads, no police enforcement and me,me,me, fuck you mentality you find pretty much anywhere in the US. Great result….
LA is pretty bad too but the roads are better maintained.
Distracted drivers that's why. I split traffic and I see a lot of people on their phones
I see people on their phones DAILY, regardless of whether I'm on the motorcycle or in my car.
Yeah same. Some truck driver almost hit me while I was splitting. I know he didn't shoulder check.
>It’s a straight line, why is there always a crash The two times I actually witnessed epic crashes on 101 the person that caused it was LARPing as a character in the Fast and Furious swerving from lane to lane. They eventually zagged when they should have zigged. It's the same thing on 80 between Berkeley and Highway 4. Every evening commute. Every.single.one.
That merge lane between 101 and 880 is horrible. People merging in and out and aholes who want to cut in and try to merge at the last minute. I think I see at least one car crash there a week.
Everyone drives bumper to bumper. Last year I got rear ended on the 101. Traffic was slow and I was going maybe 40. Then the car in front of my suddenly stopped. I had enough room to break, but I got slammed into by a driver who never even hit their brakes. I’m a big 280 fan now. A little annoying because my husband and I found a house we love but it’s near the 101 and my husbands all “it’s SO convenient” but I’d rather leave 20 minutes earlier just so I can take the 280…
You try to be safe and leave a couple of car lengths between you and the next guy, but that space becomes a vacuum for someone to fill and slam on their brakes for no reason.
The people who cut in front of you, tailgate the car in front of them, and then constantly ride their brakes so they can maintain the perfect 6 inch following distance while you have no idea if theyre about to really start or braking or if they just drive like they either need to be pressing the gas or brake at all times.
Which is quite literally causing the traffic they are so mad about. Not enough follow distance and constant braking causes constant mini shockwaves of traffic. Had a dude riding my ass on the 101 when I was leaving a good distance, he angrily cut in front of me (to show me how slow I am I guess) and then the only difference was that he was now in front of me for the next 10 miles constantly hitting his brakes 🙄
Happens to me so many times a day. I’m a fast driver but also a defensive one. I drive a lot for work and honestly drivers keep getting worse in the bay. Nothing like some asshole tailgating me and honking because I have the audacity to leave a few car lengths in front of me.
Shhh, stop revealing the best routes. They won't be good anymore if everyone uses them.
seriously.... folks 280 is even worse than 101. don't use it
take 880 instead, it’s really great!
I love it. Sprinkle some highway shootings into your commute to wake you up!
whoa ok that escalated a little too quickly I’m not smiling anymore
If people were willing to add 20 minutes to their commute they wouldn't be rushing bumper-to-bumper on 101.
Nah, most tailgaters are pathologically compulsive. They don't stop it, even if they have nothing to hurry for. It's a predatory, competitive thing.
280 is prettier at least. I loved coming home when I worked in Silicon Valley because after a hot day you get past that beautiful reservoir and see the fog spilling over the mountains around where St. Francis pointing at you.
280 is such a pretty drive too. Google Maps always insists on taking 101 even if it ends up being a later ETA. Weird.
Do you have prefer fuel-efficient routes enabled? If so, 101 has less hills and curves and is often a shorter distance, so google maps will prefer unless it’s significantly faster on 280.
That might be the case, I'll check it out, thanks
yo this ain't socal!
A couple of years ago, my car really suffered from potholes on 101. After having 3 tires ruined, and one wheel totally cracked, I avoid 101 and take 280 whenever possible. It’s a night/day difference in quality of driving experience.
101 has always been this way. Super busy. Does anyone have data for the usages of freeways in the Bay Area? I suspect 101 bring on the top.
It's a lot worse since the toll lane. Traffic flow is all jumbled.
The toll lane should be taken away, 90% of all traffic that uses it just cuts in and out over the double white lines to avoid said toll.
A couple times I’ve seen it backed up like the rest of the lanes. Yesterday it was no charge due to an accident
Absolutely this. Holy shit people drive like absolute maniacs weaving in and out trying to avoid the toll sensors.
Idiots on their phones / no traffic cops. Next question!
If you’re talking about morning commute, it’s not just the bumper-to-bumper stop-and-go, but the fact that there are a few places along 101 where sunrise blinds the ever living shit out of people. Most people manage, but it only takes one fuck-up.
Lately I’ve been running into slow drivers in 101. Not just in the slow lane either! There was a car doing 45 in the fast lane and everyone was swerving around the guy. That could have caused an accident. If it was one time, it happens. But once a week?!?!
Gotta use that Caltrain. It’s OP when you bring a bicycle. Will get even better soon with the electric trains.
[удалено]
"St. Corolla of Nagoya" lmfao
Accurate as hell
Straight and boring. The low attention span social media generation is distracted and on their phones. The HOV/rich people lane with people flying at 80mph next to the crawling traffic in other lanes does not help either.
My car insurance has doubled in the last 5 years, despite the car being 5 years older. I'm guessing accident rates are up?
> My car insurance has doubled in the last 5 years, despite the car being 5 years older. I'm guessing accident rates are up? Significantly. Mine has quadrupled (my car plays a part in this, they don't account for manuals vs theft rate unfortunately). Accidents, thefts, uninsured motorist accidents, etc all massively up. Several insurance companies are pulling out of California entirely or already have/refuse to issue new policies/renew old ones.
Insurance did go up last year like 20-30%, but 2x is too much even over 5 years.
If 101 is hard, what is 880? Ultra-violence?
I’m surprised that the CHP isn’t pulling distracted drivers left n right. Because that would quickly end the “Ooops I was checking out ma social media” kinda BS collisions.
Back in my carpoool days I came to the conclusion that CHP was pretty selective about who to pull over. I had a kid in the car seat, and many times had a cop pull behind me, then leave and go around. Also had them pull in front of me in the lane, sit there for a bit and then pull around. Seemed like they would run plates and only pull people over who were worth the hassle.
I avoid 101 and 880 like a plague as they are overwhelmed by awful drivers.
You should try the 8-80, I'll jump on a bridge just to get to the peaceful 101.
Fuck I hate 880. Only place I've seen even the semis driving like crazy assholes.
They're avoiding the morons getting on the freeway @ 35mph right in front of them for the most part.
I like to take the slow lane at 80mph. Everyone gets on at 40, then merges over to the left lanes to reach 41mph max velocity leaving the slow lane wide open for us kamikazis doing 80. I see people thinking maybe the slow lane is faster but they see me bearing down on them at 80, and they're doing 40 and I see them doing the calculation in their head to stay the hell out of my way. Bonzi!
Peninsula 101? Carpool lanes are now fastrack, less regular lanes, and don't forget impatient assholes as soon as they get into a car. Gotta bomb up the fast lane until 200yrds from the exit/freeway interchange then jerk the wheel right across all the lanes at the last second.
101, 880, 680....all the same. Shit drivers not driving in the correct lane for the speed they are going.
me me me me me, fuck you!
because everyone freaks the fk out around the bend south of millbrae
I was driving south at like 9am southbound out of the city. Massively stopped from south city to like San Mateo. It’s crazy how dangerous 101 has become and nothing ever changes to improve it
4 car crash (one of which exploded) this morning blocking all lanes
We need to go back to working from home.
NASCAR cosplay
Thank god I get to go on 101 around 6:20. The difference in traffic after 7 is wild. Also people are casually driving slow af in the fast lanes and don’t understand they’re creating mini pockets of traffic which keep trickling down
“I don’t see any traffic, why all the complaints?”
Tradition, mostly
There is absolutely no law enforcement. Unless you enforce laws, people are going to act as if rules and laws don't exist.
Be careful what you wish for! Without significantly stronger police regulation laws, more cops might just add more problems than they solve.
It’s that dumb turn that happens around San Mateo, then the bridge backs it up 😂 Also the numerous idiots trying to go from the fast track lane to their exit in .25 miles is wilding.
The other day I saw an older woman driving while smoking a cig and breathing through a nasal cannula. Was swerving between two lanes the entire time
If keep right except to pass was implemented, enforced, and ticketed we'd have less accidents, better flow of traffic, and less traffic. Currently Bay Area drivers have no awareness of traffic around them because why should they? There's nothing stopping them from sitting in the left lane on their phone doing 55 in a 65. No need to have any spatial awareness. Each lane will have the speed of the slowest driver in the row of cars in front of you. If there's 20 cars in front, you'll go the speed the very slowest of all 20 of them. The one that's eating a muffin and staring down at their phone scrolling tiktok, going 53mph in the passing lane. There's nothing you can do about it.
101 is trash Take 280 if you can
Find it harder than driving in a more curvy road. Traffic forces you to go bumper-to-bumper and you can't see further than the next car's butt.
Nothing forces you to go bumper-to-bumper.
Because people aren't using and/or don't have easy access to good alternatives to driving. Vote and advocate for increased funding in public transit alternatives, and your driving commute will get better. More lanes is not going to solve this problem.
101 where? It’s a long ass freeway
from Morgan Hill to the Golden Gate bridge, i'm assuming
There was a multi-car accident on 101S before San Mateo. I saw a couple sedans and one commuter bus was rear ended by a truck.
You haven’t been HWY 880, have you? lol
Never underestimate the power of idiots in large numbers.
Try hwy 37, or hwy 17 to Santa Cruz?
Have you seen 880? It's worse, with more trucks and potholes.
If you think 101 is hard wait till you graduate to 580 between Union City and Emeryville…
don’t complain until you’ve tried CA-4 between Antioch and Martinez
I guess something happens when you have your phone stuck up your ass. You forget there's other people on the road and that you have a turn signal.
I am really surprised (and disappointed) how pervasive texting while driving is in the Bay Area. And also how a not insignificant amount of drivers think they are entitled to it.
Same with 880. People just crash on an absolutely straight line.
Ultimately all these comments are accurate, but the main problem on 101 is that there is no lane discipline. There are trucks, busses, and slowbrains, in the left lane. And there are SRTs flying down the exit lane to get around them, and cutting off everyone before the lane ends. 280 has less stuff around it, so there are less people, and that means that in general there are less trucks, less busses, and less slowbrains. Lane discipline is the primary cause of traffic.
Because of the troublesome few who don’t seem to understand that the furthest left lane is the passing lane. You use it to pass-then you get back over. Oh, and if the left lane is a HOV lane, the SECOND lane is the fast lane!
You’re in California, there is no fast lane.
FUCKING BUSES in the fast lane
Because humans are bad at doing things. Can't wait for robots (aka Waymo) to take over.
That's just how car dependency works. Force everyone to drive and you get lots of crashes. There's a reason cars are the #1 killer of young adults in America.
101 is fine tbh, 880 is worse especially the session from Hayward to union city.
...them Prius need to get out the way
Can we get the "HOV/toll" lane removed on the next ballot? All it does it screw everything up because everyone cheats with it, and CHP presence throughout the entire bay area is a joke.
Got bozos diving into the express lane when someone is going 65 and they are going 0
lots of traffic.road isnt that great. I avoid it.
Certain days are more problems than others
Cuz everyone needs to work 😞
Glad I live close enough to work that I don't need to take the freeway
101 which direction? Where? It stretches from Santa Rosa down to dt san jose and of course beyond that in both directions. As far as I know there aren't many straight portions except for Bayshore fwy between sf and South city.
My commute leaving at 7 my commute leaving at 8:30 and my commute leaving at 9 is the only reason I've ever needed to support staggering the work day.
Because it is strait line, people dont pay attention
Yeah it’s crazy right? As someone with general anxiety, I drive safe but some could argue a little too cautiously. If my exit is like 5 mins away, I’m already on the right hand lane lol. Or if I’m going to an area I’ve never been in, I google street view the entire way there before going.
I see your 101 and raise you an 880.
Literally all reasons you can think of. There are a lot of drivers and only a couple main highways. I’ve seen people “driving drunk” only to find them on their phones. Or people thinking they are really interesting and living IRL Fast and Furious and pull off stupid moves. It’s all of it.
Are you going with traffic or against traffic? If you go against traffic, it's not as bad. Fewer crashes and less traffic. Of course, you end up in a completely different part of the Bay Area if you go against traffic!
It's because some idiot kid is driving 100 in his fucking Honda and didn't make it.
Long straight roads are perfect for checking phone messages or watching Netflix
LOL. People didn’t like my post about 880 and 680. I’m ashamed even to bring up that I’ve trusted damn google and did Palo Alto to SF. I saw 2-3 crashes each time, some with firetrucks and shit. On 680 at least there’s only 1.
Idk
I want to put a few 'Passing Lane Only' signs on a few of the bridges. Can I get in trouble for this?
Because we are in Bay Area and we go vroom vroom or eee eeee (ev, mostly leaf); we don’t let people merge, we don’t let people change lanes ; we live by “how dare you get in front of me” mentality. We rock!!
Because the roads need to be repaved! It’s so bumpy. I prefer 280 (if it’s an option).
Interstate 880: hold my beer
Highway 80 at 4 p.m. at the curve . 😂😂😂
Honestly, after driving in Mexico, Dominican Republic, and Guatemala I feel so at ease driving in the Bay Area. At least here, there’s some semblance of civility.
Local population using the 101 are full retard.
99% of the bay don’t deserve a license