Driving in Texas in general, Dallas in-particular. by Jaster83
Driving in Texas, you need to know certain things so you don't get run over...Really it's mostly about mindset...
Whether in the country or in an urban center like Dallas, we have places to be and things to do, and we drive like it. We have by far (and I've lived and traveled lots of places in the states) the best highway and roadway system in the country, if you know how to navigate it.
The mind-set here is "don't get in people's way". It's rude. Rarely will you get cut off in Dallas traffic. People may pull in front of you with less than a car-length to spare, but generally you won't even have to touch your brakes because they'll be going faster than you.
In other places, or drivers from other places, drivers will get mad when they see someone speeding past them. They take it as a personal offense that someone has the gall to do 25 mph over the speed limit. Well, everyone down here is generally doing 10 or 15 over. (I have a LOT of speeding tickets in Kansas because I'm use to cops having something better to do than bother me.) We don't hold it against them if they blow by us, unless they actually force us to change our velocity to avoid an accident. More power to 'em if they don't get a ticket, and if they do, well, sucks to be them. It's *them* taking a chance, and unless it actually affects me, why should I care?
If a road has two lanes (one in each direction) and a full shoulder (you can put your car on it and not obstruct traffic), you are expected to pull off onto the shoulder when you're making a right hand turn off the road. This is VERY IMPORTANT because if someone is turning left onto the crossroad a lot of people will blow by them at 70+mph on the shoulder to the right. So if you are turning right from the main lane of travel, instead of the shoulder, you may kill someone because of your yankee driving habits. Use the shoulder, our taxes paid for it, it's there for a reason.
Be aware of what is behind you. Nothing is more frustrating than to be driving home from town and there be someone with an out-of-state license plate who has no where to be and is just putting along at 55 mph in a 70mph zone. (Other states the zone would be 55 mph, I know, I've lived there. Here the limit is 70, even if there's no division between the opposing directions of travel.)
Sometimes I'm just driving around enjoying the day (usually Sundays =P) and don't have anywhere to be, so I won't be doing 10 over the speed limit like usual. In these cases, if someone comes up behind me, I move over onto the shoulder to let them pass. Most people here will.
As long as you keep in mind how you're affecting people behind you, you'll be fine. When you're getting on the highway, accellerate so people in the right-hand lane don't have to slow down for you. That can cause a traffic jam that goes back for miles, even if you don't get your fool ass run over. If you're turning onto a country road that has a shoulder, if there's someone coming up behind you get on the shoulder so they can pass you.
If you're uncomfortable going the speed limit (some people are, it's cool, whatever) or other people are wanting to go faster than the speed limit, if you can, get out of their way. Pull over on the shoulder (while still maintaining your current speed) so people with places to be can get there sooner.
In Texas when you exit the Freeway (closed-access) you will exit onto a Frontage Road. (In urban areas this will almost always be a one-way street.) This frontage road will take you to the stoplight at the crossroads, and in urban areas lots of these stoplights have a dedicated U-Turn that will go underneath the highway and will put you on the other side of the highway, to access the stores and other things on the frontage road going the other direction. Everything is built-up around the spectacular highway system here. (Don't believe me about spectacular? One look at the now-completed 635/75 interchange will change your mind.) Almost everything can be accessed from the frontage roads, which means that once you get to a highway, any store is only 20 minutes away. (Barring it being rush-hour.)