Driving in Detroit and Ann Arbor
The first time I visited the Detroit area, I was struck by the incredibly auto-oriented nature of the area - not surprising, perhaps, but when one is coasting down the freeway at speeds that would be hard to maintain in the crowded Northeast, noting that the slow lane is moving at an easy 70 mph, it’s hard to miss. Practically every vehicle on the road is American; there are scatterings of Jaguars (Ford executives?), shaggy Hondas, and Volkswagens (their HQ is in the area too), but they are a clear minority. The national market shares of 1978 are alive and well, to a good degree, in Detroit and associated cities.
The Detroit area is quite spread out, a model of suburban sprawl. You have to drive long distances to get to most places, and the country is pretty flat. The roads are generally quite straight and have high speed limits. Stop signs tend to be three-way or four-way, for reasons I will probably never understand, coming from a region where only one road ever gets a stop.
What makes all the high speeds possible is a focus on actually driving which is notably absent from many parts of the country, particularly my home states of New York and New Jersey. I haven’t noticed any truly inane drivers during my stay in Michigan - albeit just five days now, but it only takes one trip to the grocery in Bergen County to encounter several weaving, aggressive, and reckless cell-phone drivers. Even the relatively reckless drivers in the Detroit region (so far, exclusively commercial vans and full-size SUVs for some reason) seem to be more “with it” than those at home. I wonder if the high speeds force people to focus, or if the focus allows people to drive at high speeds. Either way, roads are often rated at higher speeds than they would be in New Jersey or New York, and they get away with it. People come to full stops at stops signs, instead of the Bergen County “I might slow down a little for the stop,” and close calls seem fewer and farther between.
Ann Arbor is an interesting contrast to nearby Detroit, largely, I suspect, because a number of people from out of the area end up there. You can easily find a Honda dealership, and the Toyota technical center is right in town, so there are more Toys, too. Ann Arbor is seen by some in Michigan as a place where the far-out left-wingers hide, and the foreign cars seem to play into the “America-hating liberal” stereotype so many seem to get, but frankly I’ve never found political views to correlate with domestic-vs-foreign purchases outside of Michigan. The foreign car invasion is more likely due to Ann Arbor’s unique (for the area) economy, depending, as it does, less on General Motors than on the University of Michigan; and even though auto parts and technologies are a big part of the area’s employment, the parts suppliers do business with more than just the Big Three (though to be fair, I suspect the great majority of Delphi’s parts go to GM and Chrysler). Still, the conflicting ethics of buying American and free trade without regard to consequence have not been resolved on a national cultural level. Many conservative and liberal Americans agree on the overriding value of free trade, period-end-of-story, without consideration of environmental impact, slavery, intellectual property rights (in the case of China, mainly), employee health and safety, civil rights, etc. Most people also agree that a free international market is the best way to “raise all boats” and that anything else is somehow wrong — I’m not saying that view is true, just that I believe it is implicitly believed by an overwhelming majority of Americans. I try to explain to people that when they buy American, they are saving their own jobs and working towards their own financial benefit, but they stare blindly at me as though I’m proposing a Communist state. We’ve been told by our leaders for decades that international free trade is the only good way to do anything, after all. (Let’s not even get into trying to convince people to use civil rights and environmental impact in their buying decisions. That’s just not happening. People won’t even use antibiotic-free milk…)
Anyway, coming back to the East coast was wrenching at best. In Ann Arbor I didn’t see anyone fail to stop at a stop sign, though admittedly coming off exit 177 people in the left lane made right turns on red; that’s just weird. On my first trip after coming back, no less than three people ignored the stop signs and pulled out in front, to maintain 15 mph below the speed limit in front of me. (People wonder where road rage comes from.) Then on my second trip a guy in a Lexus tried to pull out from a stopped lane of traffic right in front of me, with no warning, and with no distance… skidding to a halt just before I reached him (and this, in front of a cop!).
Frankly, I have to wonder what’s wrong with us out here. We need to take care of the loose nuts behind the wheel in a big way. It’s time to put down the phones and drive, and I wonder if only a car culture can make us do it. Or is it the famous midwestern politeness that makes Michigan easier? Wausau, Wisconsin is also far easier to drive around in, but they drive so slowly I feel that I missed out on the free ‘ludes.
I have to say that you got lucky in your short visit to Ann Arbor (in particular).
Of all places in Michigan, they have the most horrific drivers on the roads. I have lost count the number of times where drivers have ran ran red lights, dodging between through way traffic or blowing through stop signs at two way stops.
I do agree, in general, Detroit isn’t that bad to drive through, but it is dependent upon the time of day for the most part.
Much of what you describe as problems with your home drivers, is par for the course in places like Ann Arbor, Flint and to a slightly lesser extent Detroit.
Chrysler uses Delphi parts? what? i thought they used Expensive crappy ones. Not Cheap Crappy ones.
Is that who makes the Mygig?
hope not.
it’s kinda like that here in Northern Indiana, speeds of 70+mph on state and us highways. yep.
stb.
How topical.
http://wcbstv.com/video/?id=105256@wcbs.dayport.com
Link is to a video of a dentist who really needed to get into his driveway. A car was blocking him, so among other things he attempted to get into the guys car and shoved his sister to the ground. Luckily for society, a news photographer (and police) were nearby and Mr. Dentist missed the rest of his appointments.
I try to just let things go, because on one level it’s just not worth it to get all riled up…and on a baser level you never know who might be armed.
I will however admit to feeling a special kind of rage toward the Blazer driver who waited…and waited…to merge into my lane until I was RIGHT THERE. No trees, no obstructions. Being from Jersey, I fully expected this and so was already prepared to hit the brakes. That’s not what set me off though. What set me off was the bumper sticker. The sticker read: Please drive safely. My family’s in this car!
I can safely say that you can, in fact, punch the horn pad of a PT Cruiser quite hard and not break anything.
The absolute best driving advice my Dad ever gave me was ‘drive like everyone around you is an idiot and is going to do something incredibly stupid.’ I use it every day.
But did you make it into the 313? South of 8 mile.
Driving along the Ho Chi Min Trail (Davidson) from JTE (Jeep Truck Eng) to the Emerald City (Highland Park) was always an adventure. Even more so in a Cummins Diesel.
Driving in the western and central parts of Michigan, where flash-to-pass is in high use and people generally “know how to drive”, is a pleasure. Once I get near the Detroit metro area, folks seem bound and determined to keep me from my destination purely by virtue of my out of state license plate. I had someone rail me into the median shoulder when I attempted to merge into a single lane due to construction - apparently I was to wait until everyone else with an MI plate got in line first.
Try driving in Chicagoland. We combine the high-speed antics of Detroit with the law-ignoring antics of NY/NJ. The best of both worlds. ;)
Free Ludes!? Wausau!? No Dave, it’s a concept here in “Fly over country” that you Coasties don’t get. It’s called “Not in a Hurry”
How do you explain the “raceway” speeds and atmosphere of Detroit and Chicagoland? Too close to the Great Lakes?
You’re comparing apples to oranges. Wausau is strictly small town compared to Detroit and Chicago.
Yes, but they’re still in flyover country, as you put it, aren’t they? Or are we now going to say that “coasties” are “those who live in the Northeast, West Coast, and any major city in between”?
LOL….
I had to reread this one Dave. Excellent reporting, as always. FYI, the “right turn on red” grew out of the 1970’s first gas crisis. It was a way of saving fuel (you would not have to sit and idle while waiting for the light to change. There is also left on red situations also.) that is forgotten today-especially in Portland, OR…home of the overbearing and self centered bicyclist.
Best as always,
Bob
Thanks. I remember the right on red - and in my home-town back then, they simply put up No Turn on Red signs at EVERY SINGLE INTERSECTION as a bone-headed show of independence.
As for bicyclists, I understand your frustration, but consider that were it not for overbearing and self-centered cyclists, you would have an equal number of overbearing and self-centered drivers! I was happily amazed at the number of bicyclists in Seattle and Portland and Vancouver, though not with their attitude (I remember a bus jerking to a panic stop as a cyclist breezed right in front - not unlike Route 80 Honda and (especially) Volkswagen drivers and their tendency to swerve in front of long-haul freight carriers, and then slam on their brakes to hear the wheels hop.)