I just recently moved to a new town in a new country. Yes, they all still drive on the right hand side of the road, and the steering wheels are where they should be. But the driving patterns are very different here from where I came from. I'm not a city girl, and the town I came from was small. We always had a freeway and before I left we even had a Costco and some of those round-abouts at intersections. By comparison this new town would be about the same size. Maybe a bit smaller. It also has a Costco, and even though it doesn't have a freeway with overpasses, it does have a highway running through town. In the beginning the driving here surprised me, and many times even scared me. Cars would simply consider stop signs as just a suggestion. As far as I could tell, there was this "as long as I'm first" attitude was the driving force of this self-absorbed driving behavior. Along with not stopping at stop signs, and at least two to three cars running red lights, I consequently adapted the local instinct of survival of the fittest. I won't even get into turning left at an intersection where the left hand turn light lasts only eight seconds, and six of those seconds are a wash because you have to wait for all of the cars running the red light before you have the two seconds left to safely allow two cars turn left. I don't like that kind of pressure or degree of risk when I drive.

I also observed maneuvers that I did not know until I moved here. Like, the middle two way turn lane can also be used as a passing lane. Also, if you have the audacity to stop and signal to make a left hand turn onto a side street, the cars behind you will then utilize the road shoulder as a passing lane. What really almost caused me to consider prescription drugs, was if I was driving down a road and there were no cars behind me and a car on a side street, that wanted to turn onto the road heading the same direction I was, would not wait the three seconds it would take until I passed so that they could freely enter the road from behind me...no, it is as if they would see me coming and say to themselves "wait for it, wait for it, now!" and then pull right out in front and go slow. I finally came to grips with this when I was reminded of a scripture in the Bible that says "the first shall be last and the last shall be first". Now I consider myself blessed on a daily basis when I drive in this town.

You would think that with all of this disregard for the rules of the road, the local police would be cracking down on running red lights, driving through stop signs, merging over three lanes in one unchecked movement, and using shoulders as passing lanes. Not so much. As far as I can tell, there are only two rules that merit any kind of consistent enforcement in this town. Those are, wear your seat belt, and drive dead slow in school zones. The police here fervantly set up radar screening in school zones, and check for seat belts throughout the area from morning till night. So, when I see a car running a light or making a left turn from a right hand lane, but they are wearing their seat belt; from what I have observed, there is no need for alarm, everything is just fine.

As if all of that mayhem on the road isn't frustrating enough, the behavior of motorists in parking lots has me to this day on the verge of actually acting out that seen from Fried Green Tomatoes, and just ramming the idiots. It again takes that attitude of "I'm first" by drivers taking no heed to cars backing out of parking stalls. One can be backing out and be three quarters of the way out, when another car, at risk of being hit, will simply dart around the backing car so that they won't actually have to stop for fellow driver. Even though I now expect this behavior, I still will shake my head in disbelief for such a lack of courtesy. But, I put the blame on video games. When you think of it, we are so conditioned that if you don't dodge anything that comes out at you, you will never make it to the next level. I think to reverse this behavior, video games should make it so that when something comes out at you, you actually get points for courtesy. If you insist on risking it and drive around anyway, you blow up.

But driving madness aside, living here I have found that the weather is very pleasant and they have good juice.