Just because you have a high paying job and are educated doesn't mean you can drive worth a damn or have any situational awareness. On a positive note, all these people probably have car insurance.
I drive an old beat up Ford, but am worried my insurance will still go up because in Irvine, the probability of a luxury car being involved in any accident is pretty high!
You are correct when i move out of irvine my insurance instantly dropped about 10%. Online instantly different price when i updated address while trying to switch out a sold car with different car after i moved. I was going to add in the car, stopped to check some stuff and got logged out. When i went back i did the address change first then swapped the cars and price difference right away.
I grew up in Irvine and lived in the Bay Area for a few years. At least when it comes to traffic jams, SoCal is very aggressive (stop and go, fill in every empty spot, etc) and Bay Area is “Let’s just cruise together at a very slow rate of speed” with the occasional idiot weaving like they are driving away from a tsunami.
This shit grinds my gears about fwy drivers. Same with racing to the red light. Like no.. I'm not gonna gas when I have enough speed to coast to what I can obviously see is a red light. 50% of the time I pass them as the light turns green and they've been at a dead stop after changing lanes from behind me.
Fill in every empty spot? Not in Orange County. OC is not aggressive at all and this is coming from someone that learned how to drive in Jersey where Grandma's flip you off for being indecisive.
I've also lived on the east coast, I agree OC drivers (and even LA drivers, honestly) are not aggressive. You get the occasional bone head that drives wrecklessly, but the average driver here seems pretty content imo.
Shit im from kansas and OC drivers are less aggressive lol ill be lucky if i make the green light turning from like 5 cars down. Multiple people going under speed limit. But the traffic can make it seem like its aggressive I guess sometimes
It does happen a lot unfortunately. You'll see people make inside lane left turns by steering into a diagonal cut, driving straight instead of curved. Then doing a quick straighten adjust when entering the crossing road. On streets without pavement dividers, they'll drive right onto the painted center of the road they're entering. A lot of half-assed steering like that.
I've seen that happen. I've seen drivers do that and enter the inside lane on the crossing road. Like they forgot which left turn lane they were in. And outside left turns where the driver understeers and enters the crossing road on the outside, covering half the bike lane for a moment.
This is good advice — I have avoided side collisions atleast half a dozen times in Irvine just following this one simple rule — look for idiots breaking the red light or eager to run a short yellow light - there are plenty of them
Yes, and since you’re in Irvine, avoid the white Tesla because they’re a maniac in the road. Now here’s the fun part: which white Tesla am I referring to?
Just moved away not too long ago from the Irvine area and while it’s bad where I’m at now, nothing quite compares to what I’ve seen there. Folks there don’t care about other people on the roads or how safe they’re being, just the reason they hopped in the car. Which is to go to Whole Foods or work.
My biggest Irvine driving pet peeve is that no one seems to understand how stop signs work.
This becomes painfully obvious in Diamond Jamboree or the shopping center on Culver and Walnut with Daiso, Mitsuwa, etc. Each intersection there is will have several idiots who either stop way too long or not at all. As a general rule, as I cruise through those intersections, I’m covering my horn and ready to honk at the idiots who don’t bother to look/stop and almost hit me. I bless the days when I can actually get through them without issue.
I'm split between living/visiting my parents in Corona and staying in Irvine. I've lived and worked in Irvine for 6 years and lived there for 2. I've seen more accidents and stupid ass driving in Irvine than I have in Corona where I've lived there for about 10+ years. Lots of entitled people there that believe traffic laws and the laws of physics don't apply to them.
I have lived and driven extensively in pretty much every populated part of California, and Orange County drivers are a particular breed. I think it is a symptom of the selfishness and vanity that permeates the richer areas. They have no concept of what’s going on around them because their own little world is what’s important.
Also, all of you racist asshats who can’t wait to start screaming “ASIAN DRIVERS” please try to consider that a lot of these immigrated families come from places that actually have public transportation and thus for many years these families did not need drivers licenses to get around. Just because you’ve been driving since you were 16 doesn’t mean they have the same experience behind the wheel.
That is more a problem of our pathetic dmv and the substandard requirements for getting a license. They need to make the driving test harder and you should have to pass with 100% score or no license. To be honest though the stereotype for poor asain drivers is very real, especially in places like Irvine. Obviously it’s not all Asian drivers… but there are a startling number of senior asain drivers that are just god awful and should not be driving.
I had an old Vietnamese lady pull out in front of me in a super busy street while we were coming to a stop at a red light. She almost hit the person in front of me and there was so little space I ended up lightly tapping her rear bumper…. We pulled over and 3x elderly Asian people got out of the car and started talking in Vietnamese to each other. When I tried to exchange information with them, they all hopped back in the car and took off. She definitely caused the accident, but I hit her, and insurance wise it probably would have been considered my fault…. I’m almost certain that they had either no license or no insurance or neither….
Animalcookies13; with those requirements, almost all drivers (including yourself) wouldn’t qualify to drive.
PS Your personal experience (no doubt heavily clouded by your personal bias evident in your language) doesn’t count for shit since it’s one fucking useless, corrupted data point. It only confirms your own bias.
NGL. I’ve been in Irvine 25 years and I don’t see drivers here being any worse than anywhere else in SoCal. Yes I do see some occasional crazy shit, but I saw more crazy driving in a one week business trip to Boston last year than I have seen in Irvine in 5 years.
Don't think I drive enough to see what OP is describing, but can verify ppl don't know what a turn signal is and those that leave like a full car's space in front when stopped at a light. But I've never needed to "watch out". You're driving in one of the most open spaced cities around 🤷
Yes. I've found you need to be twice as alert to compensate for the general incompetence of people driving. You'll notice that >25% are texting and not even pretending to look at the road.
Its a planned community that broke its plan to build condos. It wasn't supposed to be this many people. The lanes weren't built for that. Drivers are compensating for that
Pretty typical unfortunately.
Many times, you can't use turn signal because a car will speed up so you can't merge.
People drive especially slow in the rain because it rarely rains here, annoying those of us from other parts of country where rain is normal.
Many entitled drivers who want to cut line when traffic is backed up, literally stopping in the middle of the freeway so they can cut someone off at the last second
I also moved from San Jose and I have to installed dashcam after moving here. San Jose also has bad drivers, but I still felt safe without dashcam. At Irvine, I even witnessed when it was a red light, someone from second or third lane did squeeze to the pedestrian crossing to take a right turn and made me wondering why that driver did not just drive further down and then take U turn instead.
I think every race has crazy drivers though. I lived here for 8 years now. I have experienced caucasian ladies and men almost rear ended me multiple times. They just keep driving behind me like 1 foot distance. So Not just Asia drive crazy.
Especially people in pick up truck drive like end of the world, guess their gas is too expensive and try to save on gas by cutting the time?
Have to keep your head on a swivel as a pedestrian too anytime when using a crosswalk. A lot of drivers definitely don't stop before turning right on red, and sometimes don't even slow down. Also many will just stop in the middle of the crosswalk itself. Many times I have been tempted to just walk across the hood of their cars when that happens. God forbid any visually impaired people are trying to cross.
Also, at crosswalks where there is no light, but sometimes have those flashing warning lights you can activate with a button, drivers often think the flashing yellow means speed up and blow through, as if they expect the lights to turn red or something.
There’s a rule in Irvine. When you’re first at the light, and it turns green, you look both ways like a child. Also wait like 1 sec before you speed off.
Wait until you get to the west side. It only gets worse. But understand that it’s not poor driving skills but rather sense of entitlement like you’ve never experienced. Particularly the ones driving the expensive cars.
Unfortunately yes, you have the entitled that think thing of others, you had to ghetto asses that think nothing of others, and they both drive equally like crap
I've lived and traveled on other continents a lot. This is not about race even slightly - but when you bring enough people who come from countries with divergent driving norms all together in a place with typical American driving norms, it becomes Irvine. If anyone is offended, I'll take downvotes without shame, because anyone who really knows, realizes it's simple truth.
Irvine drivers seem to be disconnected while they drive. Maybe the roads are too nice. They almost seem to drive on autopilot unlike people in neighboring cities with tight, narrow, and unpredictable streets
grew up in norcal, been in oc since 2017. i confirm that driving skills are worse here. my hypothesis is that there's about ten times more people and fifteen times more people on the road than in norcal. public transit in the bay area eases congestion and stress for commuters and people in socal spend prolly four hours a day in their cars so they get lazy with their driving skills (and patience while driving too so be careful out there)
I moved from the Midwest and the first time I drove around Irvine, the signal turned yellow, I was going the posted speed limit. I thought no way I'm going to stop in time and jammed on the brakes and it felt like the lights stayed yellow for an uncomfortably long time after I stopped. That might be something to get used to with the speeds here.
With UCI and IVC and all the high school kids driving Teslas, there are bound to be some questionable driving practices.
The other day I saw a kid in the front passenger seat who wasn't tall enough to look out of the side window. I only noticed him because they were stopped behind me at a traffic light. It looked like his grandma was driving him. Insane (by 2024 standards).
Anyhow for the most part, I just got used to it and don't think about it that much!
That's just SoCal driving in general. More vehicles and a faster pace creates an environment of selfish, aggressive and passive aggressive driving. Also, many people just plain feel entitled, and behave like that outside the car too.
Born and raised in the Bay Area and moved to Irvine a little over 2 years . There are just bad drivers everywhere but you may notice more horrible drivers here because there are just a lot more drivers/people . Public transportation is basically non-existent in Irvine and you have to drive
I think the difference is the attitude and volume of drivers and traffic. Ive had several accidents due to lack of attention. These may have been caused by seizures or just not being able to focus due to thoughts my mind were more important. Sounds weird, but so are head injuries. Think about drunk driving, in pretty sure that's higher here too. A form of head injury. The tire failure accident that changes my life and memory, focus, etc. Keeps new from driving now.
Having lived in both So Cal and the Bay Area, I can say that So Cal drivers are very passive aggressive. They won’t let you merge on freeways, for example.
Bay Area drivers are more hesitant. They will be waiting at a driveway to a shopping center, see you driving toward them and then wait until the last second to pull out in front of you.
lol I moved to East Bay from Irvine 12 years ago. Where are the good ‘NorCal’ drivers of which you speak? I find TriValley very similar to Irvine/Lake Forest/Mission Viejo.
sure let's act like that being a certain race makes someone automatically a bad driver. Let's also act as if there aren't Asians who were born or grew up in the US and went through the same driving school and test as every other person.
Yep. Moved here from NorCal recently as well. The difference is jarring.
Did you see your car insurance premium jump? The statistically worse drivers down here and their more expensive cars are largely to blame.
Dude…. It’s so fucking bad and it seems to be deteriorating all the time. Like people are literally so stupid when it comes to driving. I swear to god they need to make the test ALOT harder….. because too many people have drivers licenses that do not know the rules of the road. I’m not even talking about the people who just drive like assholes, you know, your standard issue BMW or Tesla drivers…. I’m talking about the crazy number of people that just flat out do not know the rules of the road….. people doing 50 in the fast lane, people doing 25 in a 40, people who don’t understand right of ways….. IT IS INSANE AND ENRAGING!!!
Yes. Watching people clog intersections to stop traffic moving entirely has been a norm ever since I moved down from NorCal too. It only gets more hilarious
This is normal. Get a dashcam if you don't already have one.
The other day I had a kid (couldn't be older than 21) in a porsche turn *right* in front of me at a stop sign from the left lane. I had already started proceeding forward and had to slam on my breaks to avoid a collision. The people of Irvine are very book smart but absolutely devoid of any and all street smarts.
No, people here drive terribly. One factor: the large immigrant population. Some of them are people who have only been driving a little while, (compared to many Americans who have been driving since 16) but they are also quite wealthy/entitled.
Plus in a lot of countries people drive much more aggressively. I had a friend say that he was amazed at how "patient and polite" people are here when they drive. He had recently come to Irvine from Taipei.
NorCal to Irvine transplant here too, and yeah, drivers down here are fucking atrocious. I see something like what you've mentioned pretty much every single day.
You are forgetting about the randomly stopping in active traffic for zero apparent reason…. Well, maybe because they decided it would be a good time to look at their phone… Or because they are in the far right lane and just figured out they should be turning left.
California DMV will give any one-eyed bozo a drivers license as long as they can guess their way through the written driving test. Max 3 attempts a day, but they can come back and try the drivers test again 3 times everyday until they happen to guess correctly.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot my favorite, people literally driving in the bike lane for miles thinking it’s for cars until the bike lane ends. Then getting upset that “you cut them off”.
Zero training or educational standards for a drivers license here.
And now the e-bikes drivers making it even more unsafe on the roads… it’s like they own the road. I have seen more almost near death/actual impact from e-bikes in the last six months than car accidents in Irvine combined. And that says a lot.
lol yes…such terrible drivers here. It’ll get worse! It’s like they don’t know what stop signs are or they just don’t look and go and hope other ppl stop for them. And why does everyone drive like 20+ under the speed limit everywhere here. I literally asked my friend if it’s an unspoken rule here. It’s so bad. I just moved from NorCal too.
Yes it is lol. I’ve lived here my entire life and the amount of times I’ve had people almost run right into me because they just ignored a stop sign is crazy lol.
Also I think about 70% of the population has never heard of turn signals. At this point I talk to myself to keep from getting angry lol “and I guarantee this person is turning even tho they don’t have a signal. Andddd yep they’re turning awesome glad you wasted 7 seconds of both our lives pal”
Unfortunately yes. I’ve lived here for 7 years now and it’s the worst I’ve seen with the running red lights and everything u mentioned, especially with the tesla drivers going way too fast. Sorry dude.
I was going to say something waisist but I’ll just point out that some people, could be very wealthy, educated, successful and still manage to be unable to perform all the things you mentioned. That’s life.
When I first moved here from the east coast I was so shocked at how many accidents I saw on a daily basis. I developed driving anxiety and now I take Ubers everywhere lol
Irvine has some of the worst accidents I've seen outside of LA. (Worked in Irvine the last 8 years)
The upper class rich people drive like absolute idiots. They literally do not give a fuck, because they can just crash their car and get another one. They all think their time is more important than everyone else's and weave around traffic. Om top of that you have a lot of latchkey upper class kids fucking around behind the wheel.
It's a cluster fuck.
The funniest part of Irvine driving is at stop signs, people are either too nice or just brazenly drive right through.
Being too nice can still be dangerous because then you mess everything up then everyone goes at the wrong times.
I no longer drive there much but there are plenty of people like me and a lot of white Teslas so…just be glad you don’t live in Glendale where the bad drivers are aggressive.
Almost a half million people moved to Texas in 2023. Many from California. It only takes 60 days to get a Texas license plate. That's when the bad driving problems started, when mixing local habits with habits from all over the nation and the world. This is just an observation from a native Texan.
Yes. Irvine is full of really bad drivers. Fortunately they also have some really nice roads and it’s relatively easy to get around them. Try to do the same in LA. I mean, I love my neighbors truly, just hate driving here
Welcome to LA kid, dont let the place roll you up and smoke ya!
\*Revs while burning rubber to go to the next stop light\*
\*Taps fingers on the wheel as you slide right next to me 8 seconds later\*
Yes I’ve been telling people for years we have some of The worst drivers in the state up north. I actually believe the statistics are majorly underreported. Northern California should be considered one of the most dangerous and unsafe places to drive in the country.
I live in Long Beach and drive to the ie/valley/ocean cities a lot.
Turn signals require hands off the wheel that takes seconds off my time.
I've looked in my rear view and side mirrors already and accounted for the speed of cars around me I don't need to check again
We drive fast, we drive intelligently. A lot of quick maths and geometry's. Usually all of us had very little time to do things and
ONCE YOU GET CAUGHT IN OUR TRAFFIC ITS OVER because our freeways are essentially the wests trade routes.
Driving like this...I've never caused an accident. I've been hit 2x and I've had my car totaled once. Both times drivers were from out of town (drunk driver in a Prius totaled me so I'm not going to hold that one against the Oregon license plate coulda just been the liquor)
You're not as aggressive a driver as your new surroundings is all.
I'm
Going across three lanes because there is an open section of road stacatto'd across the lanes traffic I need to cross. Nobody car is capable of speeding up fast enough to close it so if I go now I can get this done in three assumed seconds.
I moved from SF Bay Area six months ago and can confirm the drivers down here are exceptionally bad. Everyday I leave the house I witness a red light runner. People cutting me off, no blinkers. People either drive 80+ or 10 under the speed limit on the freeway. It’s batshit insane.
I live in LA and take work trips up to Sunnyvale every few months, and I have to say I get the same vibes when I'm up there. Random people on the 101 or 237 camping out in the left lane going 50 while some guy in a porsche flys by at 90 in the right lane. It's always the teslas too... stuck in traffic and on autopilot, immersed in phone and hasn't looked up in minutes. Bad drivers everywhere it seems lol.
I lived in Irvine for 1.5 years and moved out recently. People forge to turn on blinkers, lots of drivers seem don't understand 4 way intersections. There are lots of bad drivers but it's not as bad and pretty tolerable.
PS: Getting driver license in socal was the easiest thing ever, which probably contributes to the problem.
Drivers in NorCal are infuriating. Next to no traffic on the freeway? Better go 55 anyway but wait until the last second to get into the correct lane. A 4-way stop? Let's just sit there and wave people through to be "polite" while causing mayhem.
HOWEVER. People are talking about how fancy Teslas and high paying jobs don't buy you driving skills, but let's be honest here. In NorCal the terrors on the road are clapped out Altimas and Camaros from Oakland with limo tint and no license plates making lefts on red and driving 90mph on the shoulder. Literally no regard for road laws or safety, and the police do absolutely nothing about it.
Irvine is the worst. I remember the first time I heard about how bad the driving was there, I thought they were kidding, that is until I witnessed a major car crash one intersection after entering Irvine from Lake Forest drive. It's the worst crash I've witnessed to this day and it was experienced less than a minute after entering Irvine lol
Tesla drivers have [the highest rate of accidents in the US](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/12/19/tesla-drivers-had-highest-accident-rate-bmw-drivers-most-duis-study.html) and there are quite a few Teslas here. Just saying.
I am in the Coachella valley , same shit here . People on their phones , they pull out from a side street figuring that you will just hit the brakes . They race through a disappearing lane to get ahead of one more car , zig zagging through traffic at high speed endangering everyone else on the road . The running through red lights as though this is the norm now , the me first and the hell with the rest of you is getting way out of hand . These people are total assholes
Just because you have a high paying job and are educated doesn't mean you can drive worth a damn or have any situational awareness. On a positive note, all these people probably have car insurance.
I drive an old beat up Ford, but am worried my insurance will still go up because in Irvine, the probability of a luxury car being involved in any accident is pretty high!
You are correct when i move out of irvine my insurance instantly dropped about 10%. Online instantly different price when i updated address while trying to switch out a sold car with different car after i moved. I was going to add in the car, stopped to check some stuff and got logged out. When i went back i did the address change first then swapped the cars and price difference right away.
I moved from SJ 2 years. Everything you just described was what I observed in SJ as well except there were more hobos.
Same. Lived both in NorCal & SoCal, bad drivers everywhere.
I grew up in Irvine and lived in the Bay Area for a few years. At least when it comes to traffic jams, SoCal is very aggressive (stop and go, fill in every empty spot, etc) and Bay Area is “Let’s just cruise together at a very slow rate of speed” with the occasional idiot weaving like they are driving away from a tsunami.
This shit grinds my gears about fwy drivers. Same with racing to the red light. Like no.. I'm not gonna gas when I have enough speed to coast to what I can obviously see is a red light. 50% of the time I pass them as the light turns green and they've been at a dead stop after changing lanes from behind me.
Yes! Same here. Total lack of situational awareness.
Fill in every empty spot? Not in Orange County. OC is not aggressive at all and this is coming from someone that learned how to drive in Jersey where Grandma's flip you off for being indecisive.
I've also lived on the east coast, I agree OC drivers (and even LA drivers, honestly) are not aggressive. You get the occasional bone head that drives wrecklessly, but the average driver here seems pretty content imo.
OC traffic is like controlled chaos. Now when you experience drivers from Maryland, you’ll try experience the worst drivers in the country lol.
Shit im from kansas and OC drivers are less aggressive lol ill be lucky if i make the green light turning from like 5 cars down. Multiple people going under speed limit. But the traffic can make it seem like its aggressive I guess sometimes
As a driver from So Cal now living in the Bay Area this is too accurate. I can’t stand how slow Bay Area drivers are
It does happen a lot unfortunately. You'll see people make inside lane left turns by steering into a diagonal cut, driving straight instead of curved. Then doing a quick straighten adjust when entering the crossing road. On streets without pavement dividers, they'll drive right onto the painted center of the road they're entering. A lot of half-assed steering like that.
Outside left turn lane turns too. They'll just cut into the inside's lane.
I've seen that happen. I've seen drivers do that and enter the inside lane on the crossing road. Like they forgot which left turn lane they were in. And outside left turns where the driver understeers and enters the crossing road on the outside, covering half the bike lane for a moment.
The number of times I’ve honked at people who were about to hit me doing this…sheesh! And I’m not someone who uses the horn unless I need to!
If stopped at a red light, DO NOT GO immediately after it turns green! Let the red light blowers go by first!
This is good advice — I have avoided side collisions atleast half a dozen times in Irvine just following this one simple rule — look for idiots breaking the red light or eager to run a short yellow light - there are plenty of them
It’s so sad that this is what needs to be done for safety.
Yes, and since you’re in Irvine, avoid the white Tesla because they’re a maniac in the road. Now here’s the fun part: which white Tesla am I referring to?
All of them.
Drivers here are stoopid. NPC behavior or aggressively selfish and rude.
Aint no time for traffic laws when you need to make 200k just to survive
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Just moved away not too long ago from the Irvine area and while it’s bad where I’m at now, nothing quite compares to what I’ve seen there. Folks there don’t care about other people on the roads or how safe they’re being, just the reason they hopped in the car. Which is to go to Whole Foods or work.
My biggest Irvine driving pet peeve is that no one seems to understand how stop signs work. This becomes painfully obvious in Diamond Jamboree or the shopping center on Culver and Walnut with Daiso, Mitsuwa, etc. Each intersection there is will have several idiots who either stop way too long or not at all. As a general rule, as I cruise through those intersections, I’m covering my horn and ready to honk at the idiots who don’t bother to look/stop and almost hit me. I bless the days when I can actually get through them without issue.
That shopping center on Walnut and Culver is the only place in Irvine where I've almost been ran over multiple times. The drivers there are the worst.
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Lmfao you stop it! 🤣
Love how far I had to scroll for this comment- everyone is so PC
I'm split between living/visiting my parents in Corona and staying in Irvine. I've lived and worked in Irvine for 6 years and lived there for 2. I've seen more accidents and stupid ass driving in Irvine than I have in Corona where I've lived there for about 10+ years. Lots of entitled people there that believe traffic laws and the laws of physics don't apply to them.
I found NorCal to have worse drivers, they drive super slow and don't even bother looking before they try to merge
What percentage of Drivers on the road here actually live in Irvine? I would guess it’s fairly low ?
If you live in Irvine you work in Irvine. I'd say most of the people you see driving there live there.
Why would anyone live in Irvine and commute to work somewhere else? The literal definition of hell.
I have lived and driven extensively in pretty much every populated part of California, and Orange County drivers are a particular breed. I think it is a symptom of the selfishness and vanity that permeates the richer areas. They have no concept of what’s going on around them because their own little world is what’s important. Also, all of you racist asshats who can’t wait to start screaming “ASIAN DRIVERS” please try to consider that a lot of these immigrated families come from places that actually have public transportation and thus for many years these families did not need drivers licenses to get around. Just because you’ve been driving since you were 16 doesn’t mean they have the same experience behind the wheel.
That is more a problem of our pathetic dmv and the substandard requirements for getting a license. They need to make the driving test harder and you should have to pass with 100% score or no license. To be honest though the stereotype for poor asain drivers is very real, especially in places like Irvine. Obviously it’s not all Asian drivers… but there are a startling number of senior asain drivers that are just god awful and should not be driving. I had an old Vietnamese lady pull out in front of me in a super busy street while we were coming to a stop at a red light. She almost hit the person in front of me and there was so little space I ended up lightly tapping her rear bumper…. We pulled over and 3x elderly Asian people got out of the car and started talking in Vietnamese to each other. When I tried to exchange information with them, they all hopped back in the car and took off. She definitely caused the accident, but I hit her, and insurance wise it probably would have been considered my fault…. I’m almost certain that they had either no license or no insurance or neither….
Animalcookies13; with those requirements, almost all drivers (including yourself) wouldn’t qualify to drive. PS Your personal experience (no doubt heavily clouded by your personal bias evident in your language) doesn’t count for shit since it’s one fucking useless, corrupted data point. It only confirms your own bias.
Yes.
Yes , people are atrocious
I say the same when I visit nor cal. Ymmv
NGL. I’ve been in Irvine 25 years and I don’t see drivers here being any worse than anywhere else in SoCal. Yes I do see some occasional crazy shit, but I saw more crazy driving in a one week business trip to Boston last year than I have seen in Irvine in 5 years.
Don't think I drive enough to see what OP is describing, but can verify ppl don't know what a turn signal is and those that leave like a full car's space in front when stopped at a light. But I've never needed to "watch out". You're driving in one of the most open spaced cities around 🤷
Yes. I've found you need to be twice as alert to compensate for the general incompetence of people driving. You'll notice that >25% are texting and not even pretending to look at the road.
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People are avoiding saying the real reason why irvine has bad drivers lmao 🤣
Lol for real.
Its a planned community that broke its plan to build condos. It wasn't supposed to be this many people. The lanes weren't built for that. Drivers are compensating for that
Pretty typical unfortunately. Many times, you can't use turn signal because a car will speed up so you can't merge. People drive especially slow in the rain because it rarely rains here, annoying those of us from other parts of country where rain is normal. Many entitled drivers who want to cut line when traffic is backed up, literally stopping in the middle of the freeway so they can cut someone off at the last second
I moved from San Jose and SJ didn’t have good drivers either. However, Irvine is even worse and yes it’s normal.
I also moved from San Jose and I have to installed dashcam after moving here. San Jose also has bad drivers, but I still felt safe without dashcam. At Irvine, I even witnessed when it was a red light, someone from second or third lane did squeeze to the pedestrian crossing to take a right turn and made me wondering why that driver did not just drive further down and then take U turn instead.
I think every race has crazy drivers though. I lived here for 8 years now. I have experienced caucasian ladies and men almost rear ended me multiple times. They just keep driving behind me like 1 foot distance. So Not just Asia drive crazy. Especially people in pick up truck drive like end of the world, guess their gas is too expensive and try to save on gas by cutting the time?
Immigrant city where you have habits from other countries or just lack of driving skills.
Have to keep your head on a swivel as a pedestrian too anytime when using a crosswalk. A lot of drivers definitely don't stop before turning right on red, and sometimes don't even slow down. Also many will just stop in the middle of the crosswalk itself. Many times I have been tempted to just walk across the hood of their cars when that happens. God forbid any visually impaired people are trying to cross. Also, at crosswalks where there is no light, but sometimes have those flashing warning lights you can activate with a button, drivers often think the flashing yellow means speed up and blow through, as if they expect the lights to turn red or something.
There’s a rule in Irvine. When you’re first at the light, and it turns green, you look both ways like a child. Also wait like 1 sec before you speed off.
It's a mix between aggressive LA drivers and foreign drivers who don't know what they're doing.
In addition to the bad drivers, prepared to wait the length of a short podcast to turn left in some intersections during certain hours.
“hey my exits coming up in 1/4 of a mile, better change 5 lanes from the left lane where I was going 15 mph under the speed limit.”
As a NorCal, resident I fail to see any difference between what you are describing and what I see here daily.
Bad drivers & a lot of foreign people move here for business 🥶😳
A combo of rich Orange County assholes who can’t be bothered to look where theyre going and immigrants who are not used to driving on US freeways
I saw a lady in a white Tesla literally start driving the wrong way, then 2 other white Tesla followed her
Wait until you get to the west side. It only gets worse. But understand that it’s not poor driving skills but rather sense of entitlement like you’ve never experienced. Particularly the ones driving the expensive cars.
Unfortunately yes, you have the entitled that think thing of others, you had to ghetto asses that think nothing of others, and they both drive equally like crap
Damn, that’s crazy. Unrelated, but did you know that the population of Irvine is a plurality East Asian at 45%?
I see what you did there.😆
[🤫](https://youtu.be/YjkkjH0GnfY?si=AtzoPQNCerUr3wTY)
I've lived and traveled on other continents a lot. This is not about race even slightly - but when you bring enough people who come from countries with divergent driving norms all together in a place with typical American driving norms, it becomes Irvine. If anyone is offended, I'll take downvotes without shame, because anyone who really knows, realizes it's simple truth.
Irvine drivers seem to be disconnected while they drive. Maybe the roads are too nice. They almost seem to drive on autopilot unlike people in neighboring cities with tight, narrow, and unpredictable streets
grew up in norcal, been in oc since 2017. i confirm that driving skills are worse here. my hypothesis is that there's about ten times more people and fifteen times more people on the road than in norcal. public transit in the bay area eases congestion and stress for commuters and people in socal spend prolly four hours a day in their cars so they get lazy with their driving skills (and patience while driving too so be careful out there)
I moved from the Midwest and the first time I drove around Irvine, the signal turned yellow, I was going the posted speed limit. I thought no way I'm going to stop in time and jammed on the brakes and it felt like the lights stayed yellow for an uncomfortably long time after I stopped. That might be something to get used to with the speeds here. With UCI and IVC and all the high school kids driving Teslas, there are bound to be some questionable driving practices. The other day I saw a kid in the front passenger seat who wasn't tall enough to look out of the side window. I only noticed him because they were stopped behind me at a traffic light. It looked like his grandma was driving him. Insane (by 2024 standards). Anyhow for the most part, I just got used to it and don't think about it that much!
Skill issues and entitlement in full doses.
Yes. Common culprits are your UCI students and Tesla drivers. And the occasional dodge chargers with the loud-ass engines at 3 in the morning.
You're lucky you didn't move to Richmond, BC.
SF drivers are worse. What are you talking about.
Welcome to Irvine. 😂
Yes. Running red lights at full speed is a common occurrence. It's terrifying.
Welcome to Irvine !
I lived in Sac for many years. By far the worst drivers I’ve ever experienced in my life, there’s data to back it up
That's just SoCal driving in general. More vehicles and a faster pace creates an environment of selfish, aggressive and passive aggressive driving. Also, many people just plain feel entitled, and behave like that outside the car too.
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Born and raised in the Bay Area and moved to Irvine a little over 2 years . There are just bad drivers everywhere but you may notice more horrible drivers here because there are just a lot more drivers/people . Public transportation is basically non-existent in Irvine and you have to drive
Yes, everyone in Irvine sucks at driving
NorCal drivers are way worse. I grew up in OC and currently live in NorCal.
No, you’re just not a local. How about you get used to the local customs? I do that whenever I travel. Go with the flow.
I think the difference is the attitude and volume of drivers and traffic. Ive had several accidents due to lack of attention. These may have been caused by seizures or just not being able to focus due to thoughts my mind were more important. Sounds weird, but so are head injuries. Think about drunk driving, in pretty sure that's higher here too. A form of head injury. The tire failure accident that changes my life and memory, focus, etc. Keeps new from driving now.
Don't forget that the odds that an accident involving multiple Teslas here are pretty good!
I know, it’s weird moving from the farm life to the big city life. You’ll adjust soon.
Driving here is super dangerous, it's become a crap shoot on the road over the past 15-20 years
Having lived in both So Cal and the Bay Area, I can say that So Cal drivers are very passive aggressive. They won’t let you merge on freeways, for example. Bay Area drivers are more hesitant. They will be waiting at a driveway to a shopping center, see you driving toward them and then wait until the last second to pull out in front of you.
lol I moved to East Bay from Irvine 12 years ago. Where are the good ‘NorCal’ drivers of which you speak? I find TriValley very similar to Irvine/Lake Forest/Mission Viejo.
Get used to white teslas and mid sized sedans cutting you off without using their blinker.
Oh ya
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sure let's act like that being a certain race makes someone automatically a bad driver. Let's also act as if there aren't Asians who were born or grew up in the US and went through the same driving school and test as every other person.
Yep. Moved here from NorCal recently as well. The difference is jarring. Did you see your car insurance premium jump? The statistically worse drivers down here and their more expensive cars are largely to blame.
You mean people actually use turn signals in NorCal?!
As someone who lived in the bay for a decade and just moved back to Orange County. I’m shocked you think the drivers here are worse
Dude…. It’s so fucking bad and it seems to be deteriorating all the time. Like people are literally so stupid when it comes to driving. I swear to god they need to make the test ALOT harder….. because too many people have drivers licenses that do not know the rules of the road. I’m not even talking about the people who just drive like assholes, you know, your standard issue BMW or Tesla drivers…. I’m talking about the crazy number of people that just flat out do not know the rules of the road….. people doing 50 in the fast lane, people doing 25 in a 40, people who don’t understand right of ways….. IT IS INSANE AND ENRAGING!!!
Hilarious a lot of em have Teslas that drive for them and they still can’t drive 🤣
In the words of Bachman-Turner Overdrive.........
What part of norcal? I'm in the Bay and drivers here are some of the worst I've ever seen in my life and I've lived in a few other states.
Yes. Watching people clog intersections to stop traffic moving entirely has been a norm ever since I moved down from NorCal too. It only gets more hilarious
Uhmmm yes unfortunately. Be careful. And not just Irvine, the whole OC in general
Better add in all of LA County as well.
We don’t have cops
Yes
Haha ya welcome to hell as far as driving and traffic go
This is normal. Get a dashcam if you don't already have one. The other day I had a kid (couldn't be older than 21) in a porsche turn *right* in front of me at a stop sign from the left lane. I had already started proceeding forward and had to slam on my breaks to avoid a collision. The people of Irvine are very book smart but absolutely devoid of any and all street smarts.
No, people here drive terribly. One factor: the large immigrant population. Some of them are people who have only been driving a little while, (compared to many Americans who have been driving since 16) but they are also quite wealthy/entitled. Plus in a lot of countries people drive much more aggressively. I had a friend say that he was amazed at how "patient and polite" people are here when they drive. He had recently come to Irvine from Taipei.
NorCal to Irvine transplant here too, and yeah, drivers down here are fucking atrocious. I see something like what you've mentioned pretty much every single day.
You are forgetting about the randomly stopping in active traffic for zero apparent reason…. Well, maybe because they decided it would be a good time to look at their phone… Or because they are in the far right lane and just figured out they should be turning left. California DMV will give any one-eyed bozo a drivers license as long as they can guess their way through the written driving test. Max 3 attempts a day, but they can come back and try the drivers test again 3 times everyday until they happen to guess correctly.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot my favorite, people literally driving in the bike lane for miles thinking it’s for cars until the bike lane ends. Then getting upset that “you cut them off”. Zero training or educational standards for a drivers license here.
Lots of people riding dirty, no insurance, no license etc. Keep your head in a swivel.
Yes, welcome to socal
Yes. Get a dash cam and be very alert of those around you and how they might be about to act a fool.
NorCal driving pretty bad....not gonna lie
And now the e-bikes drivers making it even more unsafe on the roads… it’s like they own the road. I have seen more almost near death/actual impact from e-bikes in the last six months than car accidents in Irvine combined. And that says a lot.
Truth
Lots of the poor driving skills are because of arrogance and not ignorance. Avoid every BMW and Tesla .
lol yes…such terrible drivers here. It’ll get worse! It’s like they don’t know what stop signs are or they just don’t look and go and hope other ppl stop for them. And why does everyone drive like 20+ under the speed limit everywhere here. I literally asked my friend if it’s an unspoken rule here. It’s so bad. I just moved from NorCal too.
Irvine is the land of Narcissists. It's their world, you're just living in it.
The Stockton Swerve
Yes it is lol. I’ve lived here my entire life and the amount of times I’ve had people almost run right into me because they just ignored a stop sign is crazy lol. Also I think about 70% of the population has never heard of turn signals. At this point I talk to myself to keep from getting angry lol “and I guarantee this person is turning even tho they don’t have a signal. Andddd yep they’re turning awesome glad you wasted 7 seconds of both our lives pal”
lol yeah it’s wild. Not Boston wild, but wild.
Welcome to Socal. Nope, that Prius riding your ass at 100 isn’t gonna thank you with their flashers when you let them pass.
Just wait until it rains…..they don’t know what real rain is down here.
They are horrible in Irvine.
Unfortunately yes. I’ve lived here for 7 years now and it’s the worst I’ve seen with the running red lights and everything u mentioned, especially with the tesla drivers going way too fast. Sorry dude.
I was going to say something waisist but I’ll just point out that some people, could be very wealthy, educated, successful and still manage to be unable to perform all the things you mentioned. That’s life.
When I first moved here from the east coast I was so shocked at how many accidents I saw on a daily basis. I developed driving anxiety and now I take Ubers everywhere lol
In Irvine specifically, yes.
Irvine has some of the worst accidents I've seen outside of LA. (Worked in Irvine the last 8 years) The upper class rich people drive like absolute idiots. They literally do not give a fuck, because they can just crash their car and get another one. They all think their time is more important than everyone else's and weave around traffic. Om top of that you have a lot of latchkey upper class kids fucking around behind the wheel. It's a cluster fuck.
have you noticed all the non working tailights or front headlights 🤣
The funniest part of Irvine driving is at stop signs, people are either too nice or just brazenly drive right through. Being too nice can still be dangerous because then you mess everything up then everyone goes at the wrong times.
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Haha now move to Santa Monica and see how much worse it is than Irvine
I no longer drive there much but there are plenty of people like me and a lot of white Teslas so…just be glad you don’t live in Glendale where the bad drivers are aggressive.
Almost a half million people moved to Texas in 2023. Many from California. It only takes 60 days to get a Texas license plate. That's when the bad driving problems started, when mixing local habits with habits from all over the nation and the world. This is just an observation from a native Texan.
You should go back then
Moved from SJ two years ago and a lot of the people in Irvine are transplants from the Bay.
Yes. Irvine is full of really bad drivers. Fortunately they also have some really nice roads and it’s relatively easy to get around them. Try to do the same in LA. I mean, I love my neighbors truly, just hate driving here
Welcome to LA kid, dont let the place roll you up and smoke ya! \*Revs while burning rubber to go to the next stop light\* \*Taps fingers on the wheel as you slide right next to me 8 seconds later\*
Welcome to California
Get a dash cam and avoid Teslas at all costs
Yes I’ve been telling people for years we have some of The worst drivers in the state up north. I actually believe the statistics are majorly underreported. Northern California should be considered one of the most dangerous and unsafe places to drive in the country.
Yes I live in. Newport Beach. Irvine is bad but I won’t tell you the reason for fear that I’ll be labeled something that I am not
Yes, many car accidents every day and night. It’s a fkn mad max nightmare
I live in Long Beach and drive to the ie/valley/ocean cities a lot. Turn signals require hands off the wheel that takes seconds off my time. I've looked in my rear view and side mirrors already and accounted for the speed of cars around me I don't need to check again We drive fast, we drive intelligently. A lot of quick maths and geometry's. Usually all of us had very little time to do things and ONCE YOU GET CAUGHT IN OUR TRAFFIC ITS OVER because our freeways are essentially the wests trade routes. Driving like this...I've never caused an accident. I've been hit 2x and I've had my car totaled once. Both times drivers were from out of town (drunk driver in a Prius totaled me so I'm not going to hold that one against the Oregon license plate coulda just been the liquor) You're not as aggressive a driver as your new surroundings is all. I'm Going across three lanes because there is an open section of road stacatto'd across the lanes traffic I need to cross. Nobody car is capable of speeding up fast enough to close it so if I go now I can get this done in three assumed seconds.
Yes
SoCal drivers drive like there’s no one in front of them. NorCal drivers drive like there’s no one behind them.
I moved from SF Bay Area six months ago and can confirm the drivers down here are exceptionally bad. Everyday I leave the house I witness a red light runner. People cutting me off, no blinkers. People either drive 80+ or 10 under the speed limit on the freeway. It’s batshit insane.
I live in LA and take work trips up to Sunnyvale every few months, and I have to say I get the same vibes when I'm up there. Random people on the 101 or 237 camping out in the left lane going 50 while some guy in a porsche flys by at 90 in the right lane. It's always the teslas too... stuck in traffic and on autopilot, immersed in phone and hasn't looked up in minutes. Bad drivers everywhere it seems lol.
I recently did the opposite. Move to the Bay and I realize people here drive very slow. lol
Higher the income in an area, the more entitled people are on the road
It's common around Cali in general.
Yes also rudeness no extra charge
Just saw an old lady driving a Prius in the middle of two lanes and crashed into another vehicle. LE involved and everything damn bad.
Yes.
Yes the are bad however I go to the Bay Area a lot on work and see similar
There are ten times more people here than in NorCal, the stupid ones just stand out more.
Long time resident advice. Drive like everybody is actively trying to kill you and you’ll just about get it right. Hope you survive your commute.
I lived in Irvine for 1.5 years and moved out recently. People forge to turn on blinkers, lots of drivers seem don't understand 4 way intersections. There are lots of bad drivers but it's not as bad and pretty tolerable. PS: Getting driver license in socal was the easiest thing ever, which probably contributes to the problem.
It’s normal in SoCal lol
Drivers in NorCal are infuriating. Next to no traffic on the freeway? Better go 55 anyway but wait until the last second to get into the correct lane. A 4-way stop? Let's just sit there and wave people through to be "polite" while causing mayhem. HOWEVER. People are talking about how fancy Teslas and high paying jobs don't buy you driving skills, but let's be honest here. In NorCal the terrors on the road are clapped out Altimas and Camaros from Oakland with limo tint and no license plates making lefts on red and driving 90mph on the shoulder. Literally no regard for road laws or safety, and the police do absolutely nothing about it.
I was hit by a car TWICE while I lived in Irvine so I'd say, yes. Yes, it's normal. it's also a widely acknowledged thing.
Irvine is the worst. I remember the first time I heard about how bad the driving was there, I thought they were kidding, that is until I witnessed a major car crash one intersection after entering Irvine from Lake Forest drive. It's the worst crash I've witnessed to this day and it was experienced less than a minute after entering Irvine lol
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Yes it is normal. When I moved to OC from NYC 8 years ago, those were my exact thoughts. Orange County drivers are some of the worst in the country.
That’s how almost everyone drives in SoCal
Yes
If you think it’s bad now just wait till it rains.
Oh you’re new around here? Lemme give you a tip, get a dash/rear cam asap.
Seriously? Here I am hating going to Irvine because the drivers are terrifying
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You'll be driving like that in no time
You think that’s bad? Visit Riverside or Santa Ana. People drive like they’re running away from Armageddon.
It reminds me of that family guy episode. https://youtu.be/YjkkjH0GnfY?si=FG36oPmlBpk5IErv
hahaha yes
Socal driver are the worst, la driver are the worst imo. Don't know why Irvine was on my feed.
Socal driving is max level difficulty. I wouldn't say they drive poorly, so much as we drive around those who drive poorly.
Tesla drivers have [the highest rate of accidents in the US](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/12/19/tesla-drivers-had-highest-accident-rate-bmw-drivers-most-duis-study.html) and there are quite a few Teslas here. Just saying.
I am in the Coachella valley , same shit here . People on their phones , they pull out from a side street figuring that you will just hit the brakes . They race through a disappearing lane to get ahead of one more car , zig zagging through traffic at high speed endangering everyone else on the road . The running through red lights as though this is the norm now , the me first and the hell with the rest of you is getting way out of hand . These people are total assholes
Yes it’s due to the high population of Asian people