Nobody pays attention in Austin, and that was BEFORE cell phones. They don't care if anyone else can make it through the light, I've seen plenty of people stare at a green light like it was some sign from God before finally applying the accelerator and dawdling through a short green while drivers behind them go nuts.
People complain about the lack of turn signals in Dallas but after spending most of my life in Austin and learning how to drive there, Dallas is practically communicative. I've never visited or lived in a place where turn signals were so completely optional as Austin.
I have literally seen someone in the left hand lane put on their left blinker and as I'm wondering what the hell they are doing they cut across all lanes of traffic to exit on the right.
If I thought it was just an odd observation turns out I wasn't just unlucky. I did my internship at the Austin Police Traffic Investigations Unit and buffoonery was the order of the day. Man, some of the calls we used to get to. The State gave them a license to operate a motor vehicle?
There are plenty of idiots in Dallas, but I actually like how they are aggressive on the road. Everyone is in a hurry (except for my suburb, which is apparently used by people too cheap to retire to Florida) but, unlike Houston, still have some regard for human life.
I don't miss traffic in Austin at all, even with all the new roads making it much easier to get around when I visit.
The only thing I missed from Austin traffic, and this may have changed, is that if you got on the road before 7am traffic was light as hell. Austin was not home to a lot of early risers. I remember the first time I hit the road in Dallas at 6:30am and was wondering why the hell was everyone on the road already!
