Top 6 Things I Hate About Cincinnati (Norwood, Washington: transplants, spring break, houses)

[Traveler87]

LOL I find Michigan drivers to be terribly slow. There are many people from Detroit moving down here to Cleveland, so I have to put up with many Michigan drivers moving in while I am on my way to downtown, or even better yet when I go to Kent and I am on the Turnpike. They get in the fast lane, but do NOT go fast, so I am stuck behind to slow drivers and can't get past either. The whole point to the fast lane is to past the slower traffic.

Michigan roads are terrible. Michigan has a terrible infrastructure. When I leave Ohio (Toledo) and enter Detroit, the roads and freeways are all confusing and all are very old. Get out and fix it Michigan!

And New Jersey drivers are the worst, along with Mass drivers. Driving down I-95 south to see those horrid yellow license plates (New Jersey) passing you at a terrible speed makes you wonder if they have any laws in Jersey. And to add to that, was in Georgia driving at night, they have little slots in the trees along the freeway, saw a guy from Jersey going about 85, few miles down the road laughed as I saw him sitting on the side with the cop walking up to the car.

[Cincy-Rise]

Yes, you can actually tell where the Ohio/Michigan border is from the interstate. Crazy.

[Traveler87]

Originally Posted by Cincy-Rise

Yes, you can actually tell where the Ohio/Michigan border is from the interstate. Crazy.

LOL yep, welcome to Pot-hole heaven = Michigan.

[esya]

OhioGirl81--
this is getting eerie. 37 years after LEAVING Ohio, I still remember the polite drivers with fondness--the thing that triggers me most is "merging" out of a sports arena parking lot. Everyone used to take turns, not take advantage of the tiniest opportunity to be a road hog.
Second, I have been talking for years about patenting a taxi-cab type flasher that would enable drivers to "talk" to each other.
Is it the Ohio water? Genetics? What?

[Bigbluelandrover]

LOL!
I think your reasons are funny. We have been in the MD/DC/VA for over 6 months now and this area is TERRIBLE compared to Cincy. The expressways here are not clearly marked and by the time you see a sign you have passed your exit. There are NO exit/entrance ramps on the beltway the exit lane is the same as the lane for entering traffic--makes for near misses daily!. Potholes are EVERYWHERE!. They do NOT ever pave roads here. See those lamp posts on 275? there are no lights on the expressways here.
We have so many diplomats, foreign, weird drivers that people STOP on the expressway and will swerve to get off if they are about to pass an exit.

Last Tuesday drivers were stuck in VA on the expressway for 8 HRS! --why? the crews here do not drop salt-de icer until the bad weather starts. Cars were just parked for hours.


****Also in the City of Cinci if you clean a sidewalk and someone still manages to slip and fall they can sue you. If you leave the snow it is considered an act of God. That may be why people do not bother.

[Periwinkle04]

Wait - I have to comment on the road signage in Cincinnati. I've told my family I'm going to keep a camera in my car for six months and just take picture of all the "driving exceptions" signage. I've never seen anything like it ... anywhere.

There are just tons of funky driving exceptions in this entire area, all marked by one small sign that you're lucky to see in time. If we have more accidents here, it's probably because the city planners decades ago screwed up most of the streets. They also let people park in the right hand lane of several major thoroughfares, something you don't know until you almost hit the car parked there. Except, of course, from 6-9 p.m. on the third Tuesday if there's a full moon. You get the picture. It is hilarious but also fairly dangerous.

[wrightflyer]

Originally Posted by Periwinkle04

Wait - I have to comment on the road signage in Cincinnati. I've told my family I'm going to keep a camera in my car for six months and just take picture of all the "driving exceptions" signage. I've never seen anything like it ... anywhere.

There are just tons of funky driving exceptions in this entire area, all marked by one small sign that you're lucky to see in time. If we have more accidents here, it's probably because the city planners decades ago screwed up most of the streets. They also let people park in the right hand lane of several major thoroughfares, something you don't know until you almost hit the car parked there. Except, of course, from 6-9 p.m. on the third Tuesday if there's a full moon. You get the picture. It is hilarious but also fairly dangerous.

Yeah, I hate going to UC and having to dodge parked cars on MLK Blvd. Then we try to get back on I75 north from Hopple St/Central Parkway and there is literally no sign what so ever for the ramp. Thankfully I was somewhat familiar with the route so when we ended up on Ludlow going across I75 we knew something was wrong and turned around to go back. When we finally did find to entrance ramp, we found that someone had run over the sign and the city/state had failed to replace it yet. All of this while UC holds this big event. I feel sorry for the people that don't know there way around Cincinnati. I could see the frustration.

Don't get me started about DC/MD/NOVA! We went to see our old house in Dale City (OMG it was a mess! ) and were going up to Alexandria on I-95 in the express lane. Was that a disaster! We barely made the ramp back onto the local traffic and then had to weave across 4 or 5 lanes to make the LEFT exit ramp to the beltway. How we survived in the DC Metro I haven't a clue.

[jersey_too_expensive]

Originally Posted by Periwinkle04

They also let people park in the right hand lane of several major thoroughfares, something you don't know until you almost hit the car parked there. Except, of course, from 6-9 p.m. on the third Tuesday if there's a full moon. You get the picture. It is hilarious but also fairly dangerous.

That's dead-on. Montana, Harrison, Queen City Avenues on the west side all feature this lovely policy -- and it's an absolute nightmare. Add metro bus routes to those roads -- and, well -- what a mess. Luckily, with the help of strong community organizations like the Westwood Civic Association, we're working to "calm" some of these monsters -- like Montana Avenue -- which, instead of expanding (like the city wanted to do), we want to put on a "road diet". Adding extra lanes is often the beginning of the end -- it nearly always leads to increased traffic congestion ("build it and they will come" -- see Florida and NJ), not ease-of-flow and/or reduction in accidents.

Off this topic, but back to one of my original gripes: OMG -- can you guys PLEASE get out and shovel your d*mn sidewalks?! Good grief! You're blessed with plenty of sidewalk paths and yet only about 20% (I'm being generous) clear the walks in front of their homes when it snows. What is W-R-O-N-G with you people?

[Periwinkle04]

Originally Posted by wrightflyer

Yeah, I hate going to UC and having to dodge parked cars on MLK Blvd. Then we try to get back on I75 north from Hopple St/Central Parkway and there is literally no sign what so ever for the ramp. Thankfully I was somewhat familiar with the route so when we ended up on Ludlow going across I75 we knew something was wrong and turned around to go back. When we finally did find to entrance ramp, we found that someone had run over the sign and the city/state had failed to replace it yet. All of this while UC holds this big event. I feel sorry for the people that don't know there way around Cincinnati. I could see the frustration.

Don't get me started about DC/MD/NOVA! We went to see our old house in Dale City (OMG it was a mess! ) and were going up to Alexandria on I-95 in the express lane. Was that a disaster! We barely made the ramp back onto the local traffic and then had to weave across 4 or 5 lanes to make the LEFT exit ramp to the beltway. How we survived in the DC Metro I haven't a clue.

Just last week I almost missed that exact left onto I-75 from MLK/Hopple. I could have sworn there used to be a sign, and I almost went past it, but so many cars were turning and it looked correct, so I took the left with a prayer and it was I-75 north. You'd think the city would be getting that sign back up right away.

Cars are often parked on the right on Madison Road in Madisonville, right over a hill, and on Taft from I-71 almost at UC. The only saving grace when driving in Cincy is learning all the nuances. Novices, beware!

[patrickmich]

meaningless generalizations. To say one city's drivers are worse than others is a waste of time and effort. I feel sorry for you.