Chicago 2008- Observations on Chicago Drivers

Chicago drivers are amazing improvisers. We watched in awe of the bus/trolley/car drivers maneuvering in, around and through traffic. Near as I can tell there seem to be four pillars of Chicago driving:

1) Drive like it’s a rental and you don’t care about damage.

2) Brakes are for stopping, not slowing. Don’t tap your brakes, don’t worry about those smooth stops we non-Chicagoans learned in driver education. You know, the ones that won’t spill a drop of your coffee. Chicago style driving means abrupt, bone jarring stops. I picture former bus drivers sitting in retirement homes…. “I remember one day I had a double double -a thing of beauty. I hit the breaks just right dislocated two shoulders on one stop then popped them back in on the next stop.” While you are at it, in Chicago no one runs red lights because cross-traffic starts moving on the yellows, if you are not in the middle of the intersection by the time the light TURNS green, you are going to hear a lot of horns. This takes us to pillar 3.

3) Horns are for honking. Honk if someone doesn’t get moving soon enough, honk to let someone know you are make some absolutely ridiculous u-turn on a double-decker trolley, honk if you are letting someone in, honk if you won’t, honk at the bicyclist who pays no attention to pedestrians or autos, honk to apologize to the person you didn’t see. About the only honks you don’t hear are the long drawn out I want to irritate you to no end honks.

4) Trust that the only people on the road are both crazy enough and skilled enough to adjust to your emergency stops, sudden u-turns, occasional forays into occupied incoming traffic, sudden creative impulses that turn lanes previously used for left turns into lanes for right turns (yes turning right from the left lane). Chicago driving is all improvisation, completely different from the urban highway, pedal-to-the-metal, 80 mile-an-hour bumper-to-bumper hope no-one stops plan your exit ramp 10 miles ahead driving in other places.