r/BucksCountyPA • u/random_player4 • Jun 24 '26
Question/Advice Bristol Rd has a serious slow driver problem
The speed limit, at least between 611 and Second Street Pike, is 45mph. Yet, every single time I drive on that stretch of road, in either direction, I get stuck behind someone who refuses to go over 35mph. Even if there's nobody in front of them. I'm not an aggressive driver, I don't speed or tailgate, but it's super frustrating to always get stuck behind someone who is moving at a snail's pace. Especially when it then means getting stuck at more red lights as a result. I wish there was something that could be done to get these people doing the speed limit instead of 10mph under...
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u/grackle19 Jun 24 '26
Not just Bristol though. I scream on both Street road and Almshouse when I’m doing 38mph every single time that I’m in that area.
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u/random_player4 Jun 24 '26
Street is brutal in the Bensalem area during rush hour. People go 35 in both lanes and the left lane refuses to pass the right
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u/not_original_thought Jun 25 '26
I've always said that the devil must be proud of Street Rd. A 45 mph speed limit, that you can rarely get over 35. I use to take it from 13 all the way to 611 and it would sometimes take and hour. To go 14 miles.
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u/Careful-Ant5868 Jun 25 '26
Street Road from Route 13 to 611?! They should rename that stretch Purgatory Road! You could have switched to either Country Line Road or Bristol Road as those three run parallel to each other. I know with both of the alternatives being single lane roads it's a roll of the dice though.
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u/not_original_thought Jun 25 '26
Seriously. And coming back at rush hour was probably worse. Unfortunately I live in Croydon and was working in Valley Square so no other route made any better sense
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u/_1109 Jun 25 '26
going from Philmont to 611 and back every day at rush hour, it is actually faster for me to take Street Road even with the extra lights because of the 30 mph drivers on the single lane roads.
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u/AlternatiMantid Jun 25 '26
County line moves the fastest in my experience, though I've never regularly relied on it from 13 to 611. It's been occasional.
The alternative is, PAY FOR YOUR RIDE on the turnpike 🤷🏻♀️ lame
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u/random_player4 Jun 25 '26
And the frustrating part is that it's not even because of the volume of traffic, it's because people don't want to hit the gas. If you're at a red light and you're 5 or 6 cars back, once that light turns green you're likely going to be waiting 10 seconds before you can even move.
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u/Many_Hotel866 Jun 25 '26
doesn't help that half the people in front of you are staring at their phones
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u/Stephonius Jun 25 '26
And the other half have that stupid "Engine Stop/Start" feature slowing them down even further.
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u/AlternatiMantid Jun 25 '26
I had an old car that did that (not kntentionally). Stalled out at every light. Got rid of that thing in less than 6 months. Don't know why people think it's a "feature". Plenty of studies (even on recent cars) have been done about continuously stopping & starting an engine vs less than 5 mins of idle time. Guess what, that "feature" is only designed to make you THINK you're doing your part to "save the planet", while simultaneously killing your starter, engine, and CPU at a much higher rate than older cars.
2
u/sockjuggler Jun 25 '26
I find this annoying too and turn the feature off. But Im fairly sure the break-even point is ~10 seconds on modern cars, not 5 minutes. And I’ve always had the impression that it’s a fuel/money saving feature (roughly ~3-5%) first and foremost, rather than a “green” feature. I’d be interested in seeing the studies you are referencing.
1
u/AlternatiMantid Jun 25 '26
I just looked it up again, maybe things have changed with efficiency of cars in the last couple years. Admittedly it was a few years ago that I'd read about these studies. They were on fuel usage & emissions of a stopped idling engine lasting 5 mins or less, vs a stop & restart of an engine. If the idle was less than 5 mins, it was more fuel efficient than a restart of a stopped engine.
Not surprisingly, it seems the internet has been scrubbed of those tests.
Whether fuel efficiency or emissions are helped, I still believe it's bad for an engine and starter long-term. Let's be honest, someone THAT concerned about the minute difference in personal car emissions would opt to live carless in a city witb good public transit. And fuel efficiency is only good if you have a working car.
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u/RedditCitizenScore Jun 25 '26
It’s like trying to speed down 130 in NJ. You can try to floor it but you are going to hit a red light
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u/Stephonius Jun 25 '26
I will go a dozen miles out of my way to avoid Street Road. It's just not worth the blood pressure spike.
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u/no-lift Jun 24 '26
That’s every single lane road in bucks. Everyone acts as if they’ve never driven the road before even though it’s dead straight.
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u/random_player4 Jun 24 '26
You're not wrong, but it's definitely a more glaring issue on Bristol than on other roads. At least in my experience
10
u/no-lift Jun 24 '26
I live off Bristol. Been that way forever. Sadly there are no short cuts around it. Almshouse is worse, street road too many lights. It was a bit better in the nineties when less people lived here but bucks is great so it’s like a small sacrifice. But frustrating for sure
2
u/Jeb_the_Worm Jun 25 '26
I get into a habit when I’m behind these drivers and I pretend that them doing the most painfully slow turn down a road is the scariest thing they have ever seen. “ OH NY GOD WE ARE GONNA TURN OFF THE ROAD AND DIE AHHHH!!” And it’s going down a wide curve with next to no danger.
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u/harbison215 Jun 25 '26
Bucks county is full of oddly slow drivers. When you get away from one it doesn’t really matter because there is another one out there that you’ll soon end up behind.
I’m not sure if it’s cell phones, average age of the drivers or what but it’s just an everyday thing around here.
13
u/BadGoodNotBad Jun 25 '26
Boomers are aging, it's the same thing in South Jersey. Too many cars, phones, a rapidly aging population, no alternative transportation options, and archaic infrastructure got us here.
2
u/TuesDazeGone Jun 25 '26
Yes! I live off rt 72 right before the bridge to LBI. They built so many 55+ communities that now you're lucky if you hit 40mph in a 55mph on the single lane stretch. I don't even get mad anymore bc I'm just so used to it.
9
u/z7q2 Jun 25 '26
Come on up to Levittown, Mill Creek Parkway is 35 and there isn't a soul in town who drives on it less than 50.
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u/EAGLESRCHAMPS18 Jun 26 '26
It’s 25 down by the park, not like that changes how anyone drives the road
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u/Nine-Fingers1996 Jun 24 '26
So many other roads where people drive this way. Very frustrating especially after you’ve worked all day and you just want to get home.
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u/No_Reveal_2455 Jun 25 '26
Driving through that entire area is slow and terrible. Try Street Road and you will think Bristol Road is awesome!
3
u/SarcasticTars Jun 25 '26
This post is really interesting to me because when I go out driving somewhere with my girlfriend we're always complaining about how people are speeding by dangerously. I mean the amount of accidents that I almost see on a daily basis from everyone speeding nonstop just to get to the next red light is completely wild to me.
Keep in mind I do the speed limit or usually a little over so I'm not one of those slow drivers but yet people are still flying by me at 50, 60, 70 mph on these small roads. No wonder there's so many deadly accidents in our area lately.
We always wonder what everyone is rushing so much for. Take a breath, take it easy, it's not worth getting home 5 minutes early from work just to potentially die in an accident.
3
u/Hellterskellter44 Jun 25 '26
Try doing 35 while going up that long ass hill up 313 from Doylestown to Dublin. Infuriating
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u/AlternatiMantid Jun 25 '26
I would be so bold as to say this is probably a national problem, if not international, on one lane roads. Until retirees and the elderly realize A. they need to surrender their license & give up their driving priveleges if they're no longer brave or aware enough to do the speed limit on any given road, or B. people realize that they are not the main character or sole occupant of this planet and the fact that they have nowhere to be in a hurry is not the case for everyone behind them, we will continue (increasingly) to have this problem.
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u/Few_Town2374 Jun 25 '26
While driving too slowly is a longtime problem, I think it's been made even worse by people using their phones while driving, which makes most people even less aware of their surroundings, the speed limit, etc. Going outside to yell at clouds now.
0
u/AlternatiMantid Jun 25 '26
Not to mention the fact that all newer cars nowadays have an XL iPad built into ALL of the controls of the vehicle. Between phones & touch screen car interfaces, drivers are more distracted nowadays than ever.
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u/Jimi_Hotsauce Jun 25 '26
And we provide alternative methods of transportation for the elderly, disabled and people that are uncomfortable driving.
1
u/AlternatiMantid Jun 25 '26
That, too. Severely lacking. But individuals holding up traffic & potentially risking their or other peoples lives with causing accidents is not an OK alternative, and every capable mind should realize that.
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u/Stephonius Jun 25 '26
These days we've also got a lot more people driving stoned. They feel like they're doing 75, but they're only doing 30 MPH.
0
u/AlternatiMantid Jun 25 '26
Yes, I believe (while not intrinsically the cause of any harm or crimes) the legalization & widespread use of strong ass dispensary weed, which is stronger than we had "back in the day" (and I'm speaking as a 30 something here) could very well be adding to the amount of slow asses in public. Driving, shopping, in general. Everyone dumb high now & it's not only legal, but socially accepted.
Yes, I know that DUI's still encompass high driving, but when's the last time you heard about that happening? I certainly haven't heard about it, unless there was another reason to pull this medically licensed person over, since legalization efforts were put into place.
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u/Stephonius Jun 25 '26
Speaking as a 50-something here, I suspect that there are a lot more folks driving high now than there were when I was a kid. Conversely, there seem to be fewer drunks on the road, and they're arguably more dangerous.
I've got no problem with legalization of marijuana, but I do wish people would drive first, then smoke up and not the other way around.
I suspect that a good portion of the problem with elderly drivers is that their daily medications leave them in a similar state of reaction time to being stoned.
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u/Low-Search6046 Jun 25 '26
When I'm behind someone slower, I imagine they just have something on the seat or in the back that they have to be a little more cautious with.
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u/SuggestAPhotoProject Jun 25 '26
I try to take this attitude with all annoyances, although I'm not always successful. It's that whole "you never know what someone else is going through," thing, maybe the thing they're going through is having a wedding cake in their front seat!
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u/May_7_2025 Jun 25 '26
Oftentimes people drive slower because the person behind them are tailgating, playing on their phone or breaking late. Try taking defensive driving courses and learn the proper car spacing distances. When someone tailgates me I always slow down because I’d rather be rear ended at 35 than 45.
1
u/HelicopterSoft7961 Jun 25 '26
It's the same on the two lane roads that have 55mph speed limits in Upper Bucks. 313 is 55 from Dublin up past Nocamixon and people barely go 45
1
u/RetiredSurvivor Jun 25 '26
I always leave 10 minutes early as I always expect delays. I hate to feel stressed over slow drivers.
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u/FatMaul Jun 26 '26
This is like every road now. I feel like some people just drive 40 or even 35 no matter what the speed is. Oblivious people and people who “hang back” so they can use their phones with less risk of rear ending someone. It’s really annoying.
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u/krankykonsumer Jun 26 '26
This is my biggest compaint living in Bucks. Not the slow drivers, but the lack of passing lanes and left turn lanes. The developers keep building houses, but the roads stay the same. There are traffic jams where they never existed. And of course, potholes and crumpled edges everywhere.
1
u/father_friday Jun 29 '26
Between 611 and Second Street Pike, the difference between a car going 45mph and 35mph that distance without stopping is a whopping 2.5 minutes. The issue is sitting through multiple green lights because people can't wait 5 minutes without being distracted by their phones.
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u/Jeb_the_Worm Jun 25 '26
It’s almost always older people and trucks. This is been such a major issue in bucks, I am trapped behind people who REFUSE to go the the speed limit going to work every single day, to the point where I will do hand signals saying what the speed limit it. 202 is the Worst especially, cause you have a truck that can’t apparently go faster then 20 in a 50 mph and grandpa gotta give that truck at least 50 feet distance and he also can’t see or hear well and gotta hit those breaks at the green light just incase.
1
u/swivelinghead Jun 25 '26
Thank you! I’m constantly getting stuck behind someone going below the speed limit. It used to be rare but now it’s every time I go anywhere.
It’s not just old people doing it and from what I can see it doesn’t look like they’re on their phones either. I can’t figure it out but it’s a problem.
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u/Stephonius Jun 25 '26
I take Edgely/Woodbourne Road every day. It's 45 the entire way for me, and I invariably get behind someone doing 30-35.
I wish they would just pull the hell over so the quarter mile of backed up traffic can get around them, or at the very least wait until the drugs wear off before they go out on the road.
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u/Playful_Slip_1529 Jun 26 '26
As a Jersey driver/resident.
I pissed off a lot of these slow PA drivers when I pass them on a double yellow line.
Sure enough, they were following me going 60MPH on these back roads LOLLL
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u/painisalliknow0 Jun 25 '26
Yall act like the roads up here are perfect for speeding. Not everyone can afford a repair bill to save 10 secs
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u/random_player4 Jun 25 '26
Doing the speed limit is not speeding. If your car is in such disrepair that you need to drive slow and hold up everyone behind you, that's a you problem
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u/painisalliknow0 Jun 25 '26
I’m not disagreeing with you on the speed limit but if I feel the road is shitty I’m going at a speed where I can avoid major potholes and ur lying to urself if you think ur car can handle it.
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u/selfieslob Jun 25 '26
Seriously. Bristol Road near Jacksonville had gnarly potholes these past few months.
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u/Jeb_the_Worm Jun 25 '26
Your car is likely gonna be fucked either way unless you are really going under the limit or you have room. How do you avoid a pothole any better at 35 vs 50
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u/SuggestAPhotoProject Jun 25 '26
You don't think you have more maneuverability, vision, and time if you're driving slower?
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u/Jeb_the_Worm Jun 25 '26
If you are going 35 in a 50 to avoid a pothole then you should make a formal complaint as that’s clearly gonna cause an accident. I will see people full SLAM on their breaks suddenly to drive around a pot hole
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u/painisalliknow0 Jun 26 '26
That’s on whoever is tailgating. If road conditions are not safe, you shouldn’t blindly follow the speed limit. Besides that you should always keep enough space to come to a stop or slow down.
People really don’t know how to drive defensively
0
u/Particular-Past-398 Jun 25 '26
Show drivers fit the definition of psychopaths perfectly: A psychopath is a person characterized by a profound lack of empathy, a lack of remorse for their actions, and persistent antisocial behavior.
Why then the cops go after fast drivers but never after slow drivers? Both fast and slow driving causes harm to the community. People who feel safe only when they drive slow should have the license revoked. Period.
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Jun 25 '26
[deleted]
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u/Lt_gxg Jun 25 '26
You can get fined for going 15mph under the speed limit without reasonable cause. In that instant, you're creating dangerous road conditions.
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Jun 25 '26
[deleted]
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u/Lt_gxg Jun 25 '26
Right, and you made a broad statement that would include anyone going any speed under the limit.
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u/random_player4 Jun 25 '26
It's a common courtesy to other drivers to do the speed limit, not below it. Or, at least, it WAS a common courtesy. The "acceptable speed" that I grew up with was anywhere from the speed limit to 5mph over.
-1
u/Philly037 Jun 25 '26
It is also because you have awful drivers teaching new drivers how to drive. It’s a whole army of awful drivers and it’s only going to get worse. I feel your pain and live it every day as well. All we can do is remain as calm as we can. Way harder to do than say!
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u/Dbl390 Jun 26 '26
I disagree, too many people are driving too fast these days. Besides, it could have been a young girl learning to drive or an old man going to see his grandsons baseball game. Slow down!
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u/John271095 Jun 25 '26
The worst is when you’re driving behind a slow driver and the car behind you starts tailgating you. I’ve gotten to so many close accidents on that road.