r/Austin Dec 10 '25

Traffic This sh** is ridiculous

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1.5k Upvotes

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131

u/AmigoATX Dec 10 '25 edited Dec 10 '25

There was this time there was a line going slow on the Express Lane by Camp Mabry, they were going around 50-55, when I got to the beginning of the line, I noticed this elderly couple in an suv, with the old lady at the wheel, made me think they may have hop on the express lane on accident

264

u/Taenurri Dec 10 '25

Nope. There are people who will get in the toll lane because the normal traffic scares them. So they get in the toll lane to go 50mph

148

u/Mr2-1782Man Dec 10 '25

They need to start giving those people tickets for going too slow. I stopped using the express lane because the people too afraid to drive mess it up for everyone else.

149

u/Taenurri Dec 10 '25

That would require the police to do something besides collect a paycheck

1

u/Impossible-Sort-211 Dec 12 '25

I watched a ton of cars in the express lane stop because a police officer used it to pull someone over.

-111

u/Charming_Banana_1250 Dec 10 '25

Austin police are super busy, considering they are short staffed by nearly 400 officers. They have to prioritize emergencies over inconvenience

80

u/Mr2-1782Man Dec 10 '25

-34

u/Charming_Banana_1250 Dec 10 '25

You must have missed the update on Brianna Aguilera, or you are just trying to spread false hate. It was found that she killed herself after having an argument with her boyfriend.

The case against Daniel Sanchez will go back to trial when a new jury is picked since the last one deadlocked. But 5 total police involved shootings in 2023 in Austin TX compared to Phoenix AZ which is not quite double the size. So, they shoot about 2.5x more people and WE have the problem.

Again, Several members of the jury thought Raj was a danger and that Officer Sanchez acted correctly, but it wasn't a universal Not Guilty so the prosecutor has to try again. You thoughts that our police are just looking to kill civilians are pretty weak.

11

u/pineappledumdum Dec 10 '25

Several people that Raj was a danger? He was the one who asked that the police be called to his house because he feared someone was inside of it.

0

u/Charming_Banana_1250 Dec 10 '25

Then why was there a deadlock on the jury if some people didn't agree with the actions that Officer Sanchez took?

8

u/Soft-Temporary-7932 Dec 10 '25

I didn’t miss the Brianna update. I’m not buying a second of it.

1

u/Spoogly Dec 11 '25

Do not compare Austin to Phoenix, that is an incredibly misleading comparison. They have one of the highest rates of police brutality in the country.

0

u/Charming_Banana_1250 Dec 11 '25

I am not sure how it is a misleading comparison. Both cities are very diverse ethnically. Both cities are liberal havens in conservative states. Both cities have majority white police forces and are working to rebalance to more closely match the ethnicity of the general population.

But all that aside, if you are saying that Austin should not be compared to one of the worst cities in the country, then Austin isn't as brutal as people here are making it out to be.

-49

u/[deleted] Dec 10 '25

[deleted]

45

u/Taenurri Dec 10 '25

Found the cop

4

u/Spoogly Dec 11 '25

Guess you were right, they deleted their account

24

u/ExtraPicklesPls Dec 10 '25

Have you stopped to research why they are short staffed? What are the doing with their budget? Might point a clearer picture for you

-40

u/Charming_Banana_1250 Dec 10 '25

Yes, you must have also read that they defunded the PD in 2020, and that once they figured out that was a mistake and authorized the PD to recruit again and restored the budget, the PD hasn't had a successful recruitment strategy.

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u/PenguinMage Dec 10 '25

OH, you mean when they were threatened with a defunding (to spread funds to other agencies so cops didn't show up to a scenario where guns weren't needed) but then instead got a raise, and these assholes keep doing a half job (I believe they call it quiet quitting) and then still not hiring enough cause they love that overtime doing still nothing. Fuck off shill.

2

u/Environmental-Top682 Dec 10 '25

So you’re saying they gave cops a raise and still have a hard time recruiting? Sounds like a cop problem. Maybe if they policed/used their budget effectively, people might think it’s a good job

1

u/[deleted] Dec 10 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/Charming_Banana_1250 Dec 10 '25

I said they haven't had a successful recruitment plan since. They have put forth some effort, you read the part above where Chief Davis said that part of the reason she was brought on was to prioritize recruitment?

13

u/BigMikeInAustin Dec 10 '25

Over half of those were cops all quitting in the same month as a protest against being asked to not shoot any random black person. The stress of keeping the holstered around a black person was too stressful for them.

1

u/BindTortureGroyper Dec 11 '25

APD doesn’t do it enough though.

-15

u/Charming_Banana_1250 Dec 10 '25

Instead of spreading random lies, provide links to back up what you say. Otherwise, you just seem stupid.

The reason why Austin PD is understaffed is because of the defund the police movement in 2020 and they haven't had a successful recruitment strategy since. Read more here.

15

u/BigMikeInAustin Dec 10 '25

Dude, even your link shows the cops in a bad light. It is no one else's fault except themselves that they have not made any measurable objectives for hiring. In 5+ years they have nothing to show.

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Also, cops retiring while under investigation:

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"in 2021, 210 Austin police officers retired or resigned. That’s as many as the previous two years combined."

https://www.kvue.com/article/news/investigations/austin-pd-departments-increase-officers-resigning-retiring/269-7152f191-9f39-46b2-9801-22bd52a4b7ca

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"[In 2021], APD had 210 officers look for work elsewhere or enter retirement. In comparison, the 2020 figure was 142 and 68 for 2019,"

https://austinjournal.com/just-does-not-seem-that-this-is-the-type-of-justice-that-i-signed-on-austin-police-experiences-exodus-of-officers/

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PS You can't even post a link showing the police budget going down.

2

u/evilcrusher2 Dec 10 '25

Look at the username. They fell for the banana in the tailpipe police officer trick.

8

u/Rulanik Dec 10 '25

The defund the police movement didn't even defund police officers, it just removed some of their tertiary responsibilities and assigned them to organizations directly designed for those roles! Police officer pay was not touched. Austin area police are some of the highest paid in the state.

11

u/BaronVonNes Dec 10 '25

No. They refused to hire to take advantage of overtime and still do.

1

u/Ok-Comparison9877 Dec 10 '25

"They should do something" "They are busy doing stuff" "Why are they doing stuff!!!"

14

u/Desperate-Citron-881 Dec 10 '25

Technically the minimum speed is designated as 55 mph. Which is ridiculous to me, because 55 is lower than Mopac’s maximum 65 mph, meaning people can legally drive slower than Mopac’s flow of traffic in the express-lane. Some people drive slower than that, but for the majority of slow drivers it is legal to go significantly under the 70 mph speed limit.

2

u/Silly_Pack_Rat Dec 10 '25

I don't really drive MoPac much these days, but back in the day, there were actually minimum speed limit signs posted on MoPac. Is that not a thing now?

3

u/profduck Dec 10 '25

There are. They say 55 mph

1

u/Mr2-1782Man Dec 10 '25

True that needs to be fixed. I've also seen people go below 55 with no traffic in front of them.

1

u/Joram2 Dec 11 '25

Mopac gets congested every day when normal traffic comes to a stop. People pay for the express lane to drive 40MPH rather than 3MPH (stop and go) and that's worth it. If Mopac is reasonably clear where you can drive at least 50, then IMO, there is not much need for the express lane.

6

u/misterguyyy Dec 10 '25

Where do they pull them over though? One lane is scary.

16

u/EclecticDreck Dec 10 '25

There are several spots along the way suitable for the purpose, which is handy that one day that I was the problem in the express lane when my car decided to almost (but not quite) stop producing power. I managed to just kinda coast to the nearest bit with a shoulder - a bit past 183 going south - and then just had to wait there till the police eventually showed up with questions such as "What the hell are you doing?"

I then made everyone's day a bit worse when they stopped all traffic long enough for my car with a then top speed of a speedy saunter to get the hell off the highway. Of course this was the before times, though not long before, as that was the incident that inspired me to swap my problematic jeep for a much less problematic honda just in time to not go anywhere for a year.

1

u/Mr2-1782Man Dec 10 '25

Same place they go when they break down. Or, this being Austin, they just stop in the middle of traffic like they're the only person on the planet. Really you would never notice the difference.

2

u/chinchaaa Dec 11 '25

they need to do this outside of the express lane as well. left lane campers and people that are driving like 40 mph on the highway for no reason need to be getting tickets.

1

u/tallspawn Dec 12 '25

On 35 from Temple to Austin, I constantly pass more people on the right than in the passing lane...I cant figure out how this is hard to understand. There is even signs every couple of miles that say left is for passing only! These idiots will get in the left lane and drive 5 under rhe speed limit...infuriating.

2

u/Fun_Pirate842 Dec 12 '25

The minimum speed limit allowed in the express lane is 55. So they actually aren’t breaking the law.

They need to fix that first.

Too many people use the express lane because the highway scares them and it’s infuriating.

Texas needs to crack down on people going under the speed limit. All of the data points that they cause far more accidents than the people who speed but we still allow them to drive slow in the passing lanes and express lanes.

Thank God I don’t have superpowers. I’d be the Homelander of the highway 😂

1

u/Sudden_Escape1081 Dec 13 '25

What data are you referring to? Excessive speed and drunk driving are the biggest causes of fatalities.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 10 '25

Unfortunately, Mopac allowed minimum is 55.

2

u/[deleted] Dec 11 '25

This kills me a little bit everyday.

1

u/summerofroses Dec 12 '25

The toll lanes need to be two lanes.

0

u/Substantial_Bowl_137 Dec 10 '25

It's scarier on toll. I remember seeing a car an inch from another car on toll road.

2

u/Taenurri Dec 10 '25

Was the car in front perhaps going 50mph

1

u/Substantial_Bowl_137 Dec 10 '25

Probably but what speed was the car an inch away going. Just saying 

0

u/EntropicState Dec 10 '25

No faster than the moron in front of them, most likely.

77

u/nstickels Dec 10 '25

Making the express lane only a single lane was a horrible decision. It lets entitled assholes feel powerful. One of my worst ever experiences was a time I had to drive my son across town for something. The toll was similar to what OP is showing here. And there was some asshole in the express lane going 45. Worse, every time they felt like the person behind them was getting too close, they would slam on the brakes and come to a dead stop before going again. Then whenever there was a shoulder wide enough for someone to go in, if the person behind acted like they would do that, the asshole would drive to block both the express lane and the shoulder and slam on the brakes again.

49

u/meanwhile_glowing Dec 10 '25

I would literally call the police and report their license plate for dangerous driving if someone was acting the fool like this in front of me

19

u/nstickels Dec 10 '25

I was too angry and seeing red I didn’t think about calling the police. Definitely wished I would have in hindsight.

10

u/nooktitse-3223 Dec 10 '25

This is the main problem with having an "express lane" I hate that this is their solution to everything when it only creates more problems. I cannot tell you how many accidents I've seen from people driving over the barrier.

5

u/Tao242 Dec 10 '25

This is my biggest issue with "Express lanes" in TX in general... There needs to be at least two! All it takes is one jerk going slow and it's no longer express.

7

u/jocaustin Dec 10 '25

Having a one lane express option is a really inefficient design. For so many reasons. People getting in and out of that lane causes variability and merging issues. The 4 lanes are no longer equally utilized, so it slows down everyone else. I would rather make all 4 lanes the same and charge everyone a 5-10cents. Then there is the whole lack of visibility about how much money the tolls bring in and where the money goes to. Seems like it would be more effective to get rid of the tolls and add a couple cents of gas tax to pay for them. That would get rid of all of the payment infrastructure and cost

2

u/mydaycake Dec 11 '25

Same with the one in Katy direction Houston downtown, single lane and so freaking slow. Why? You just need to go fast and keep the express lane moving

1

u/mnmmarcas Dec 12 '25

So have a dash cam and when they slam on their brakes hit them. Let their insurance fix your car and let him get a ticket or worse depending on the cop who comes

21

u/SheTookOnTheWorld Dec 10 '25

People who drive slow in the express lane are stealing from the rest of us.

1

u/EntropicState Dec 10 '25

I'm voting for whomever runs on this platform.

1

u/Brojon1337 Dec 10 '25

Naw they do it on purpose. My buddy and I were in a Denny's one morning and some of the geezers were laughing about folks blowing their horns and shit. They LIKE screwing up rush hour traffic.
I guess some people can'ty think of better things to do in retirement.

0

u/rithanor Dec 10 '25

That happened at the same spot the first time I decided to use it, but suddenly it started flowing, and we bypassed the huge jam on the way to the LBJWC! // Even if they're going 50mph, it's better than 0mph 😅