Some summer moves revisited

| July 6, 2010

Visitors are frequent topics of conversation among Outer Banks locals, especially their driving. When we first moved here, I told the kids not to complain. They help with the bills.

Over the years I’ve come to realize that our guests are on vacation from driving, too. Many are from cities where aggressive driving is the norm, so it follows that while here, they prefer a more passive, absent-minded approach to motoring.

As we enter what is probably the busiest week of the year — the 4th of July — I thought it might be helpful to once again provide a glossary of some of the summer driving moves you might see.

They usually involve visitors, but don’t rule out locals.

Brake and break. Sudden braking in the far right lane and darting across traffic to the center left-turn lane after spotting a promising restaurant, gift shop or strip shopping center.

The cutback. Executing a brake and break, then opting against a left turn from the center lane and swerving back into the travel lane, usually without signaling.

Blue Angels. Six cars driving in formation in both travel lanes.

Center-lane straddle. Arrows indicate its purpose, but the center turning lane can be mystifying. This move entails making a partial commitment so that half the vehicle remains in the travel lane while attempting to make a left turn, usually without signaling.

Center-lane blockout. Not using the center lane at all and coming to a complete stop in the left travel lane and waiting to make a left turn.

Center-lane freestyle. Driving in the center lane with no intention of turning.

Left-lane parade marshal. A Saturday afternoon phenomenon, this is when a large, overloaded vehicle occupies the left lane from the Wright Memorial Bridge to Whalebone Junction, usually well below the speed limit.

Touch and go. Common in Kill Devil Hills’ french fry alley, this is marked by frequent tapping of brakes in anticipation of a sudden right turn, usually without signaling, or signaling only after the turn is almost completed.

Jockey’s Ridge gaper lock. Not limited to the tallest sand dune on the East Coast, this is when traffic slows significantly for drive-by photo ops.

Jockey’s Ridge shoulder straddle. Same as above, but requiring a full stop on the shoulder of the bypass with part of the vehicle still in the right travel lane.

Turn here! Dictated by a passenger startling the driver into making a sudden right turn into the parking lot of a gift shop, restaurant or strip shopping center, usually without signaling.

Trolling for food. A lunch- and dinner-time phenomenon marked by further reductions in speeds with frequent touch and goes, center-lane straddles, brake and breaks and turn heres!

There it is, not a complete list, but a helpful sampling, I hope. I have to confess to some of these moves myself while on vacation in unfamiliar places. And even here, I’m not as diligent with signaling as I should be.

So visitors, please be careful this week. Locals, be patient and keep an eye out for our guests. Remember, they’re on vacation — from driving, too.

This column first appeared in The Virginian-Pilot and The Outer Banks Voice in 2010.

Photo from the North Carolina Department of Transportation website.

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  • Mico says:

    Don’t forget all the ‘Frogger’ players on 12 from Whalebone south. DANGEROUS way to get 100 feet ahead!

    • on July 4, 2010 @ 8:46 pm

  • charlie says:

    Tooo funny Rob. I enjoy the “tunnel vision GPSers” who watch their GPS units and not the road. They also turn immediately when told to do so by their all knowing toy.

    • on July 5, 2010 @ 6:08 am

  • KHer says:

    Don’t forget the U turns from the right lane of 158 and those who can’t quite get all of their vehicle into the turn lane, causing sudden braking and back up on the left lane.

    And it’s not just drivers. How many times have you seen someone pushing a baby stroller standing in the turn lane trying to cross 158? Too many. And usually there’s a light with a cross walk within a block of them.

    • on July 5, 2010 @ 9:57 am

  • ekim says:

    Great story; very true. This story should be put on all rental refrigerators. Don’t forget the brake and point.

    • on July 5, 2010 @ 11:22 am

  • Tourist from NJ says:

    Let’s not forget the local yahoos in pick-up trucks who intentionally go under the speed limit on Rt 12 on Hatteras when they see a car with out-of -state plates, usually from northern states.

    • on July 5, 2010 @ 2:23 pm

  • Nags Head Local says:

    I love our tourists and I’m glad 99% of them are here, but this provided some much needed laughs after a very long weekend.

    • on July 5, 2010 @ 7:22 pm

  • carol says:

    you know, having lived here since 1981 i’ve come to expect this from the tourists, not saying i like it but i expect it. sad part is, 4 days a week i drive from kdh to manteo and back again for work. more and more locals are beginning to drive like the tourists!

    • on July 7, 2010 @ 11:31 pm

  • charlie says:

    And who can forget the fright caused by looking in your rear view mirror and seeing one of our own MAD MAX dump truck drivers barrelling down on you as you try to slow down for a red light.

    • on July 10, 2010 @ 5:45 am

  • New York visitor says:

    Loved this! As a yearly visitor, probably unfortunately pulled a few of these stunts myself! It gets easier year after year as you learn where things are.

    • on July 11, 2010 @ 12:42 pm

  • The dread sock puppet Brian says:

    The Center Merge Lane
    Guilty by the way.
    Traffic gets heavy and you can’t right, left, left, right it or there’s a break in the traffic coming from the left, the Center Merge Lane maneuver is just the ticket.
    Of course things get interesting when you meet someone using the Center Merge Lane from the opposite direction…

    • on July 12, 2010 @ 10:56 am

  • SR says:

    YOU GUYS HAVE GOT TO TAKE THIS ON THE SAND!

    1. Leaving your stuff overnight like the public beach is your yard. Then, what? It’s gone?? Vandalized? How could that happen.

    2. Feeding seagulls. No, they don’t leave. Yes, they do crap on you.

    3… Sending small kids straight into a pounding shorebreak. Yeah, they’ll love the ocean after that beating.

    4. Hey! There’s 10 guys surfing over there! I think I’ll swim right where the wave is curling so I can get a better view!

    5. I know you have dog laws, but my dog is different. Because I’m special. I’m in no way like all those other tourists, gimmee special treatment.

    6. The sand is my ashtray. I’m a bitter, world hating smoker who thinks he’s tough, (but anyone with any aerobic stamina could punch a hole through my chest no problem.)

    7….?

    • on July 27, 2010 @ 4:37 pm

  • VeryOBLocal says:

    Yes, we locals are grateful for tourist income but we take our lives in our hands everytime we go out to our jobs. Visitors are here for one week, we are here for the whole summer of bad driving behavior. Please, please be careful on OBX highways, everyone.
    We should rename the center turn lane the “Death Lane” since so many accidents happen there. Maybe that would help people consider what they do there. I personally start making only right turns in the peak of summer season. Left turns are out of the question — too dangerous.
    It seems like all these visitors do not have the same laws regarding ambulances that we do. When I hear a siren or see flashing lights I pull over. Meanwhile everyone gets mad at me for doing that and zooms past me while the ambulance is frantically trying to get past them. They finally pull over and when I pull back onto the highway, they cut in front of me to get back on the road. I just love that.
    I’m a local and I take the beach road all summer. It is much safer, you have only two lanes to deal with, not 5. And yes, please stop for the people standing in the crosswalk who want to leave or go to the beach.
    Great article, thanks for your thoughts on this, Rob.
    But you left out “Committee Shopping” at Food Lion where the McMansion people shop with representatives from each family and no one can decide which kind of ice cream or bread to buy so they have a committee meeting that takes up the whole aisle while they decide.

    • on July 2, 2012 @ 12:55 pm

  • obxdad says:

    How about the Colington Road Uh-oh?

    You know, when you are following a out of state car down Colington road, and see them realizing that they are lost, yet keep on going because there might be a store back here somewhere…

    • on July 2, 2012 @ 1:08 pm

  • Mmm says:

    On the “Colington Road Uh-Oh” (which is really funny).

    Nothing says “turn around” better than the sight of those trailers and the Blue Crab! Can you hear the Deliverance banjo?

    • on July 2, 2012 @ 3:20 pm

  • charlie says:

    How about another column on the silliest questions we get asked.
    I’m stopped at a light on the bypass, the visitor in the car next to me asks where the Wright Brothers Memorial is……..It’s the light at the Memorial…duh.

    • on July 2, 2012 @ 4:58 pm

  • Gail says:

    All these are too funny, but I think the one that made me laugh the hardest was MMM’s “Can you hear the deliverance banjo!” Living in the harbour you see this all the time, but since we are a tourist destination and our jobs basically depend on that, we just need to be patient and take a deep breath. Summer’s a short time and we’re all guilty at some point of doing something stupid on the road. Be safe EVERYone!

    • on July 3, 2012 @ 6:52 am

  • SekZ says:

    Years ago while working at the Stop ‘N’ Shop on the Beach road I was asked numerous times….. “Where is the Beach road and how do I get to the beach?” Seriously……

    • on July 3, 2012 @ 9:49 am

  • john rice says:

    Rob, really good, funny, yet unfortunately true, stuff! I have to say, there surely are a ton of NC plates doing a lot of these things.

    • on July 3, 2012 @ 3:02 pm

  • one more local says:

    Well, I for one take the Beach road, which by the way, should be re-named the BYPASS, because it really is since it does bypass the nearly one hundred and counting traffic lights (do we really need a light at the Wright memorial, or Baum St. or Neptune St.). I was sorry to see, though, in the infinate wisdom of NCDOT, we now have a ‘no passing zone’ on the beach road from Whalebone to Southern Shores. Now I must endure the 15mph “I don’t really know where the turn off is, but maybe I’ll recognize something soon’ driver.

    • on July 4, 2012 @ 9:14 am

  • justgettingsettledhere says:

    My hubbie informed me that center lane has been known for years as the “suicide lane”. Yup – have to agree!

    Then, we personally witnessed the first (?) “ByPass Donut” maneuver:

    Signal for and make an appropriate left hand turn from the suicide lane…

    pull into a side street and IMMEDIATELY pull back out in front of the two lanes of on-coming traffic – without LOOKING or STOPPING or SIGNALLING – traffic you undoubtedly noted before making the left hand turn.

    Beach Rd prevents High Blood Pressure and Heart Attacks.

    • on July 4, 2012 @ 2:53 pm

  • Sue says:

    Ummmm….I remember motorcycles from Jersey that just could not slow down, not even on curves, nor the villages. In a hurry to get somewhere, same as up north! No relaxation for these guys. They gotta go!

    • on July 4, 2012 @ 4:50 pm

  • obxdad says:

    Yeah, when people see the Blue Crab and trailers, they know they aren’t in Duck anymore! We need to hire a kid to sit on the bridge and play the banjo… ;)

    I had a (rich) client come visit me at my house in the Harbour, and he remarked about all the trailers on the way here… I told him “they keep the snobs out”.

    • on July 6, 2012 @ 8:07 am

  • Sarah says:

    Very obx local. Funny comment on committee shopping! It’s the truth!

    • on July 6, 2012 @ 6:07 pm

  • Beached Bum says:

    Unfortunately there are many locals that adopt these driving habits during the summer season

    • on July 7, 2012 @ 12:18 pm

  • Dianne says:

    My ALL time favorite question is “How far is it between the mile posts?”

    • on July 9, 2012 @ 7:10 am

  • Zeke says:

    Um, here’s a no-brainer: NCDOT put up some “Danger” warnings about that center lane. You guys just put up all these fancy-dancy giant LED signs, put up some dang messages boyz! How about putting up the stats on the number of accidents in that center lane? Duh…

    I sold my Harley 3 months after I moved here cuz I almost got nailed 5 times in that short period of time. Not worth it.

    • on July 10, 2012 @ 7:02 pm

  • Beached Bum says:

    and for goodness sakes if you do not want to drive 50 mph then take the beach road instead of the bypass

    • on July 11, 2012 @ 4:34 pm

  • longtimeresident says:

    turn signals – is this a forgotten art of driving even among us locals. If turn signals were used we would be much safer. If you do not know how to use your turn signals, ask someone to show you.

    Isn’t it the law to use your headlights when using window wipers in rain?

    And yes, driving the beach road back and forth to the office is much more relaxing but be careful of the beach crosswalks!

    • on July 13, 2012 @ 11:46 am

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