Lubbock Drivers Just Need Patience, Practice, And Really Good Insurance

I recently returned from driving on "The busiest highway in America".

The Monster

The freeways in Los Angeles are something. At some points the 405 freeway goes to seven lanes in each direction. For some people that amount of traffic is just mind-bending. It is especially frustrating when you have seven lanes and all seven have come to a stop. Still, while driving on those highways for four days I saw less incidents than I see on a regular day in Lubbock.

Our Home Court

The problem with our driving, is our practice field. We're used to three lanes. We have the speed up, the keep going, and the really fast. That's what the three lanes are in theory and it's fairly easy to understand. We also have it easy and rarely even experience a slowdown, so it's usually clear sailing, expect when it's not, then people just lose their dang minds.

Practice Makes Perfect

The 405 freeway mentioned about does about 400,000 cars a day between San Fernando and Long Beach. It's about 72 miles of potential problems, but because people are ready for it, the problems tend to be few. People using this freeway everyday are used to it and adapt to it's rhythms quickly. Here in Lubbock we have many people who've grown up with our freeways, but it's impossible to get into that rhythm because we have so many people from small (and other) towns that just don't adapt.

Stay Cautious

So what's the point of this? I really doubt that anything will improve around here as long as folks from one-stoplight towns are part of the mix. However, if you are a good driver and have no problem on the highways here, you shouldn't have any problems on even the biggest highways outside of town.