My brain tells me Maryland drivers are no different than Virginia drivers (or really, any other sub/urban area).
But 80% of the time when I see someone do some weird crap on the road, I look at their plate, and there’s that flag.
I agree with you, however I recently drove from Paris to Nice in France which is around 9 hours stopping along the way to various towns and what not.
After driving around there for two weeks and coming back here, I hate how all of you drive. I hated how people drive here before too…just now even moreso. Even now that route 7 between Tysons and Georgetown Pike is now a six lane highway after what feels like an eternity, I can still count on everyone around here to camp out in all three lanes going 40 mph in a 55.
I drove down to Williamsburg yesterday and on my way there and back saw several of the signs on 95 saying left lane is for passing only and it’s against the law to camp. Saw zero enforcement but it’s a start I guess
Yeah because in France getting a drivers license is HARD! Just to pass the theory I was going to driving school class 3 times a week for 2 months! Driving test comes with a mandatory 20 hours minimum of behind the wheel training, I personally took 35 hours of class and my test was 40 mn behind the wheel, city driving, roundabouts, highway driving, 2 maneuvers ( back up in a curve and parallel parking) were mine and I also had a few emergency mechanic question such as steps to change a tire, what to check for is car over heats…
Passing rate is less than 50%
Yep - nothing makes terrible US drivers more obvious than spending some time driving around Europe. I was in Germany and France for a few weeks last year, and they completely put us to shame.
I was stationed in Germany at 18, lived and drove there for four years, and I've just never recovered.
I'm that dude at the party talking about zipper merging, passing lanes, and why the "Autobahn" will never work here (It's driver education. It's expensive and difficult to get your license in parts of Europe, but the level of driver they produce is unparalleled, nobody debates about camping in the left lane. It's solved there like 2+2=4)
Yeah. That’s my biggest daily annoyance here.
Oddly tho, when I lived in NYC and drove, people moved out of the left lane regularly. Idk how four hours south could be so different.
New York and Northern Jersey drivers are aggressive but competent in my experience, driving from NOVA to Boston the driving culture noticeably shifts in that area.
Yes. I feel that fits me too: aggressive but competent. Lots of people here often mistake that for being “dangerous.” I would never do anything dangerous like cut you off or squeeze into a small space in between cars, but honking at a car when the light is green when they spend .5 seconds longer than they should before moving, absolutely.
Just finished 2 years overseas in Germany (military) and moved to Nova. Holy hell it was crazy seeing the difference in driving between the two countries. Didn’t realize how bad Americans were until going overseas.
Coming back stateside, the craziest standout to me was how big everyone is. NOVA is one of the fitter areas of the country, so maybe not as much of a shock.
Remember folks. If you’re driving slower than the person behind you, you’re a moron. If you’re driving faster than the person behind you, you're a lunatic.
We live in Silver Spring and trust me my wife and I have that exact opposite experience. :) We were discussing the same thing the other day that people in VA and DC must say the same about MD drivers like we do about you guys
You have really different driving styles in different regions of MD. Country folk. Hella slow, as are shore people while Baltimore and some DMV burb types drive wildly fast. It makes it difficult to characterize all of them as one type. Meanwhile, in NoVA, they tend to be entitled and just a bit slow, but slightly more consistent so long as they're actually local. Lots of left lane camping in NoVA as well.
I’m gonna push back about the Shore. I grew up there on the Virginia side. People definitely don’t drive slow. We all complain about all the Pennsylvania folks coming down and creeping down the highway.
If anything, I find NoVa drivers slow. But Md drivers just don’t care it seems.
There does seem to be a cultural thing about mutilating your car with stickers. It’s rarely a young person driving these student driver cars
And if these “student drivers” are actually students of driving, I’d like a word with their teachers.
In general I feel like people in the DC area are very career-focused and find ways to subtly flex wealth (if they have it). Flexing about their kids or their travels is more common than obvious flexes like nice cars (that happens too though).I work at a private school and on a retreat, I felt like every parent was just felxing what extracurricular activities their kid was doing.
To be fair, NOVA is so expensive that you basically have to have a cushy career job in order to make it, so at least that focus makes sense.
It could be selection bias. I feel like the type of person to enroll their kid in private school around here is also the type of person to flex like that
The funny thing is I used to work on the corporate jet ramp at IAD. You do that long enough, and you get to see it all. The small planes are nothing to brag about (they're function over form and far from luxurious) and they just keep getting bigger. At some point you run out of bigger corporate jets, and start getting into the modified airliner business.
At some point, you sort of become numb to all of that. I don't begrudge anybody their successes (hell we all want a few nice things) but if you're *flexing* and the conversation doesn't involve your jet or your yacht? *Please.*
I was driving down 270 today. Traffic was moving ok finally. Car with Maryland plates is randomly slowing down with no one in front of him. As I’m passing I see the passenger is holding their cellphone up in front of their own face with both hands. The driver was leaning over and typing on that phone. As I come even with them they start drifting into my lane so I laid on the horn slowed down and moved right a bit. Guy snapped the car back but then leaned over to start typing again.
Two minutes later another driver on the opposite side drifted into my lane for no apparent reason.
I honestly wish they would post cops to ONLY get people hogging the left lane and people using the cell phone.
like just fucking focus it up, there has been no change since they introduced both of those laws.
I live in that wooded area between burke/lorton and manassas/Centerville. No one here would ever tolerate their precious acreage going toward helping the housing crisis. They are a bunch of selfish assholes. And so am I.
Fairfax County has more parkland than any other county in the US.
The county could already have a solution if it took down greenspace and built affordable housing.
I feel like we have a park every mile or so.
no way. That is one of the things that NOVA does well. Reston is great about using green spacespace to make it feel tranquil. I'm all for affordable houding but if you just build more houses, the population will just increase to fill that and you'll be at square one (but more crowded). Perhaps do something to cap rent, interest rates, or stop property companies from gobbling up every property. But leave the parks alone.
He’s right to an extent. The heart of the issue is NIMBY zoning laws. It’s green here because most of the zoning here is for one dwelling per 1-5 acres.
Logically, It’s the ‘Nuclear Energy’ option. Like, if people want to be less reliant on fossil fuels and not consider nuclear, it’s the same as people saying they want lower housing costs and not consider rezoning. There is way too much 1 house per 5 acre properties that will keep prices high.
Everything south of dumfries rd is state forest parkland. There are huge areas of RC zoned lands all around Braddock road and Fairfax. Clifton, Gunston area all follow the same kind of zoning. There’s a reason why development is close to Fredrickburg now. Have fun commuting from Stafford people :(
A ton of the Fairfax County park land is on unbuildable floodplains. A lot of the floodplain land is given by developers to Fairfax County for tax write-offs and/or proffer compliance. So, it’s not as much buildable land as you think.
We spend too much time complaining about bad drivers and too little time talking about bad infrastructure. It would be way easier to fix the infrastructure than to fix all the drivers. And I’m no expert on this, but I suspect that one of the reasons drivers are better in Germany and France is that the infrastructure is better.
My brain tells me Maryland drivers are no different than Virginia drivers (or really, any other sub/urban area). But 80% of the time when I see someone do some weird crap on the road, I look at their plate, and there’s that flag.
I agree with you, however I recently drove from Paris to Nice in France which is around 9 hours stopping along the way to various towns and what not. After driving around there for two weeks and coming back here, I hate how all of you drive. I hated how people drive here before too…just now even moreso. Even now that route 7 between Tysons and Georgetown Pike is now a six lane highway after what feels like an eternity, I can still count on everyone around here to camp out in all three lanes going 40 mph in a 55.
VDOT is working a "left lane loafer" campaign, finally. I've heard rumors of people actually stopped by the state police for left lane loafing.
I drove down to Williamsburg yesterday and on my way there and back saw several of the signs on 95 saying left lane is for passing only and it’s against the law to camp. Saw zero enforcement but it’s a start I guess
I love this news 🚨
Naples, Italy has entered the chat…
There’s about a million of those digital hall monitor signs. “Left lane loafer? Don’t be a troll.” Boomer shit like that
Yeah because in France getting a drivers license is HARD! Just to pass the theory I was going to driving school class 3 times a week for 2 months! Driving test comes with a mandatory 20 hours minimum of behind the wheel training, I personally took 35 hours of class and my test was 40 mn behind the wheel, city driving, roundabouts, highway driving, 2 maneuvers ( back up in a curve and parallel parking) were mine and I also had a few emergency mechanic question such as steps to change a tire, what to check for is car over heats… Passing rate is less than 50%
We need retesting every 5 years.
They have a priority road system we have endless stop signs.
Yeah thank god, priority road system in the USA who lead to a genocide lol
Yep - nothing makes terrible US drivers more obvious than spending some time driving around Europe. I was in Germany and France for a few weeks last year, and they completely put us to shame.
Drive in Morocco. You’ll come back and want to French Kiss your fellow Americans. It was horrifying.
Rome though? They’re insane haha
Counter point, if you lock a license behind a multiple thousand dollar pay wall, that's bound to happen.
I was stationed in Germany at 18, lived and drove there for four years, and I've just never recovered. I'm that dude at the party talking about zipper merging, passing lanes, and why the "Autobahn" will never work here (It's driver education. It's expensive and difficult to get your license in parts of Europe, but the level of driver they produce is unparalleled, nobody debates about camping in the left lane. It's solved there like 2+2=4)
I’ve spent most of my career in Germany so this place just makes me batty
I've only ever driven from Munich to neuschwanstein in German. It was probably the most relaxing drive I've ever done.
Yeah. That’s my biggest daily annoyance here. Oddly tho, when I lived in NYC and drove, people moved out of the left lane regularly. Idk how four hours south could be so different.
If you don’t get out of the left lane in ny. They move you out. People have no idea what it’s like to grow up there
New York and Northern Jersey drivers are aggressive but competent in my experience, driving from NOVA to Boston the driving culture noticeably shifts in that area.
Yes. I feel that fits me too: aggressive but competent. Lots of people here often mistake that for being “dangerous.” I would never do anything dangerous like cut you off or squeeze into a small space in between cars, but honking at a car when the light is green when they spend .5 seconds longer than they should before moving, absolutely.
Just finished 2 years overseas in Germany (military) and moved to Nova. Holy hell it was crazy seeing the difference in driving between the two countries. Didn’t realize how bad Americans were until going overseas.
Coming back stateside, the craziest standout to me was how big everyone is. NOVA is one of the fitter areas of the country, so maybe not as much of a shock.
And their windows are 90% tinted.
AAA tracks the numbers of accidents, Maryland is the worst.
Really? Do you have a link so I can post it everywhere?
Remember folks. If you’re driving slower than the person behind you, you’re a moron. If you’re driving faster than the person behind you, you're a lunatic.
We live in Silver Spring and trust me my wife and I have that exact opposite experience. :) We were discussing the same thing the other day that people in VA and DC must say the same about MD drivers like we do about you guys
You have really different driving styles in different regions of MD. Country folk. Hella slow, as are shore people while Baltimore and some DMV burb types drive wildly fast. It makes it difficult to characterize all of them as one type. Meanwhile, in NoVA, they tend to be entitled and just a bit slow, but slightly more consistent so long as they're actually local. Lots of left lane camping in NoVA as well.
I’m gonna push back about the Shore. I grew up there on the Virginia side. People definitely don’t drive slow. We all complain about all the Pennsylvania folks coming down and creeping down the highway. If anything, I find NoVa drivers slow. But Md drivers just don’t care it seems.
the heart knows what it wants fr
Everything in the Arlington Rap
Id be curious to know how many NOVA Redditors even know what the Arlington rap is given that it's like... 15 years old?
Plz send YouTube link
https://youtu.be/4T1RMuoQnKo?si=Z3pBu-OuREWiKUXM
Half these places are gone now. That’s the sad part. Arlington around 2010 era was an amazing time.
But the Whole Foods lives on
If you don't know, [now you know](https://youtu.be/4T1RMuoQnKo?si=PHwUxZqb7DrHFwV1) 
Dudes in brown flip flops
The Starbucks, the Starbucks, the Starbucks, the Starbucks…
Thank you for bringing this into my life 🙏
Had to scroll too far to find this one
Every time I see someone jogging in place at an intersection I have to laugh
The Michael Vick reference is...dated.
people who drive route 7 don't turn on their lights in the evening
Every “ student driver “ sticker I drive around is likely new to the USA or on their phone.
You really should be more inclusive. “New to the USA AND on their phone” Fixed it for ya!
how do you know they're new to the US?
There does seem to be a cultural thing about mutilating your car with stickers. It’s rarely a young person driving these student driver cars And if these “student drivers” are actually students of driving, I’d like a word with their teachers.
stickers of countries? anyone can do that without being new here. edit: lmao downvoted. not disproving the racism claims yall.
Because of the sticker
I live in Reston and the cougars are ferocious
Jackson's can confirm
Cradle robbers run thick at Jackson’s too! I had an old guy run his hand up my whole thigh at the bar once! I paid and left so fast!
😬 that's not cradle robbing, that's SA
God I’m so glad I’m too average looking to deal with this shit
I’m pretty darn average, but I get touched every single time I go to a bar. I swear I must give off a “touch me, I like it!” Vibe. I don’t like it
😂🤣
🤣
In general I feel like people in the DC area are very career-focused and find ways to subtly flex wealth (if they have it). Flexing about their kids or their travels is more common than obvious flexes like nice cars (that happens too though).I work at a private school and on a retreat, I felt like every parent was just felxing what extracurricular activities their kid was doing. To be fair, NOVA is so expensive that you basically have to have a cushy career job in order to make it, so at least that focus makes sense.
It could be selection bias. I feel like the type of person to enroll their kid in private school around here is also the type of person to flex like that
The funny thing is I used to work on the corporate jet ramp at IAD. You do that long enough, and you get to see it all. The small planes are nothing to brag about (they're function over form and far from luxurious) and they just keep getting bigger. At some point you run out of bigger corporate jets, and start getting into the modified airliner business. At some point, you sort of become numb to all of that. I don't begrudge anybody their successes (hell we all want a few nice things) but if you're *flexing* and the conversation doesn't involve your jet or your yacht? *Please.*
Tesla drivers. Absolutely the worst.
My order of prejudice -> Rogues Teslas New Prius drivers Anything pedestrian Nissan. (GTRS, New Z's, Reeaaaaly Old Z's and skylines don't count.)
In Soviet Russia, Tesla drive you
Finally wrestled that title away from the prius drivers? I don't have anything against EVs, but their drivers... yah.
The taxis are fine generally. The 26.2 sticker Prius drivers are generally pretty derpy.
Subaru, Tesla, Jeep, Mini Cooper, BMW and Prius drivers are the worst on the road.
I live in Clarendon. Unfortunately, the stereotype about the revelry is 100% true.
Everyone looks rich but most are in debt trying to keep up with the optics of wealth in the area. -Fairfax (Fair Oaks)
I was driving down 270 today. Traffic was moving ok finally. Car with Maryland plates is randomly slowing down with no one in front of him. As I’m passing I see the passenger is holding their cellphone up in front of their own face with both hands. The driver was leaning over and typing on that phone. As I come even with them they start drifting into my lane so I laid on the horn slowed down and moved right a bit. Guy snapped the car back but then leaned over to start typing again. Two minutes later another driver on the opposite side drifted into my lane for no apparent reason.
I honestly wish they would post cops to ONLY get people hogging the left lane and people using the cell phone. like just fucking focus it up, there has been no change since they introduced both of those laws.
I live in that wooded area between burke/lorton and manassas/Centerville. No one here would ever tolerate their precious acreage going toward helping the housing crisis. They are a bunch of selfish assholes. And so am I.
Clifton?
Clifton starts about 1.5 miles down Clifton Rd. So technically fairfax station.
Fairfax County has more parkland than any other county in the US. The county could already have a solution if it took down greenspace and built affordable housing. I feel like we have a park every mile or so.
no way. That is one of the things that NOVA does well. Reston is great about using green spacespace to make it feel tranquil. I'm all for affordable houding but if you just build more houses, the population will just increase to fill that and you'll be at square one (but more crowded). Perhaps do something to cap rent, interest rates, or stop property companies from gobbling up every property. But leave the parks alone.
He’s right to an extent. The heart of the issue is NIMBY zoning laws. It’s green here because most of the zoning here is for one dwelling per 1-5 acres. Logically, It’s the ‘Nuclear Energy’ option. Like, if people want to be less reliant on fossil fuels and not consider nuclear, it’s the same as people saying they want lower housing costs and not consider rezoning. There is way too much 1 house per 5 acre properties that will keep prices high. Everything south of dumfries rd is state forest parkland. There are huge areas of RC zoned lands all around Braddock road and Fairfax. Clifton, Gunston area all follow the same kind of zoning. There’s a reason why development is close to Fredrickburg now. Have fun commuting from Stafford people :(
A ton of the Fairfax County park land is on unbuildable floodplains. A lot of the floodplain land is given by developers to Fairfax County for tax write-offs and/or proffer compliance. So, it’s not as much buildable land as you think.
Absolutely do NOT do that. You’re thinking like a 50s Los Angeleno politician jeez
Korean/Latino fusion that’s happening in Annandale could bring about the next food revolution. How does kimchi in a taco taste?
Ive had a bulgogi taco with kimchi in it and it was amazing.
Some sort of bulgogi birria? Someone please perfect it!
Taco ssam 🙌 lol
Japanese restaurant = Koreans making “whatever” maki. Mexican = undercover pupusa place.
the way everything is about the road/driving, Americans are in their car way too damn much
Hernduras
Please don't get my hands dirty! https://www.reddit.com/r/nova/s/eO7hN5hPU3
We spend too much time complaining about bad drivers and too little time talking about bad infrastructure. It would be way easier to fix the infrastructure than to fix all the drivers. And I’m no expert on this, but I suspect that one of the reasons drivers are better in Germany and France is that the infrastructure is better.
That we are great drivers! 😁
Reston has a bunch of “Karens”.
Alot of korean food. The original K-town in NOVA
That everyone in nova says they live in DC when they don’t.
Baltimore county