As mentioned elsewhere I have been in Houston for a few days.
I have never ever seen such well mannered drivers in my life. Sticking to the limit, giving way, making space for those joining the freeway.
EVEN THE CAB DRIVERS!
Southern manners or (as my American friend suggested) terror of the potential legal cost of an accident?
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I found that driving manners in the USA are much better than here. I think the reason is that in the US most people carry guns in their cars.
Can you imagine what would happen in a road rage incident over here if we had got guns in our cars.
There are plenty of times I could cheerfully shoot some idiots, especially the bloke on the M1 who swerved in front of me forcing an emergency swerve, and the lorry driver who tailgated me out of Derby, blowing his horn because I was obeying the 40 limit in a well camered road.
Yes the American people are more polite in general than we are, y'all have a very nice day, cos I'ma missing you already.
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The Highway Patrol is also somewhat more prominent than our (meagre) traffic cop squads...:-)
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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with on the spot fines for even minor infractions and trivialities, or a night in jail with a visit to the judge if the cop dont like you.
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....and avoid Boston on the night before Thanksgiving like the plague....
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It's the same in the Midwest. People let you in, stop for pedestrians, obey the speed limit, etc. There's no honking the horn or headlamp flashing. I think partly this is due to 'an armed society is a polite society' as another poster said, but the other reason is that driving is much less stressful. Even around Chicago there's not much congestion, you know you are going to get there at a certain time, roadworks are well managed, the roads themselves are wide and everything including the traffic lights seems to be geared to getting people to their destination with the minimum of fuss.
Contrast the situation in the UK, where drivers are like lab rats in a maze, and they keep adding more rats and reducing the size of the maze!
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should be rename the back room to the rat maze?
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In my experience, Americans are extremely polite in all situations. Minors often address male adults (including parents, sometimes) as "Sir". Could you ever imagine that happening now in the UK? I'm not sure how they address female adults.
--
L\'escargot by name, but not by nature.
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>I have never ever seen such well mannered drivers in my life.
Try driving westbound on I10 during evening rush hour!
In general though, folks in the southern US are much more laid-back than their UK counterparts. If you get cutup in traffic it's more likely to be due to a lack of attention rather than 'get out of my way' aggression.
Kevin...
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Spend a few days driving in Miami Florida and you will quickly change the title of your post to "Houston politeness". Your experiences are nothing like what I lived with for many years.
About the only exception to that rule would be that I often see cars travelling at higher rates of speed on UK motorways, but I wouldn't necessarily call that impolite or poor driving.
It really boils down to what part of the US you are visiting and comparing to the UK. Certain regions tend to be more polite and mindful of others, but visiting one of those regions can't be considered indicative of the Country or culture as a whole.
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About 5 years ago I drove in Florida (Orlando, to the space centre and south to the Everglades) and was amazed at the polite relaxed driving. However, what did freak me out was the motorways with exits on both sides! It was quite disconcerting to have to work out on which side to position the car in order to exit.
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Spend a few days driving in Miami Florida and you will quickly change the title of your post to "Houston politeness"....
I drive in the USA a lot and would second what Trancer says about Miami; certain cities in California are nearly as bad.
There is little doubt that driving is generally more relaxing in the USA than UK. However if you are in a lane of traffic that is moving faster, and leave a gap of more than a couple of car lengths between yourself and the car in front, you will be overtaken or undertaken and 'cut up'. I think that is why tailgating is endemic in parts of the States.
No matter what speed I do or what lane I am in, I seem to find a huge SUV, with someone talking on their mobile, a couple of feet from my rear bumper.
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Houston must be different to New York then. Goodness knows how many times you can hear a horn honked. Maybe it depends where in the USA you are driving. Must admit, driving from NYC to Niagra was a treat on the freeway because, as you say, the drivers appear to be more tolerant and polite. Mind you, where do they get the videos to show on "When nice drivers turn baaaaaad!" or "killer drivers kill" or whatever the progs are called.
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california should be a different country its so different to the rest of the usa
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