Bad US Drivers
Saturday, April 29th, 2006 -- J. DoeDriving in the US compared to driving in Italy is a pleasure. People basically follow the rules of the road according to the drivers manual that everybody studied.
In Italy those rules are tossed out the door once the driving test was passed and a drivers license is in their hands. The driving rule in Italy is You are king. Do whatever you want.
But all people in the US dont drive the same. New Jersey drivers have a reputation as being bad drivers, but New Mexico drivers are much, much worse.
Yesterday while driving very slow a roadrunner ran out in front of our car to cross the street. We slowed down to not hit it of course.
Wow ! I said.That was close. I almost killed him.
Then Buzzurro said: “He’s just like the typical New Mexican driver. Doing his own business and not even looking to see if it is safe first to do it”.
A good analogy. New Mexico drivers to the roadrunner, a strange bird (in our opinion) who prefers to run at fast speeds rather than fly.
New Mexico drivers also like to drive at very fast speeds. The speed limit on most highways is 75 miles per hour, but if you drive that speed you will get passed, and passed, and passed by the other motorists.
The roadrunner is a bird and does not come with directional signals. Cars sold in New Mexico however do, but nobody uses them.
And like our little adventure driving home points out, if a roadrunner is intent on crossing the road, he will, regardless if there is a car coming.
New Mexico drivers are the same way. Just try backing out of a parking space when a New Mexico driver is intent on driving in a straight line.
Or just try to make a right turn on a road with a red light. The New Mexican driver will never let you go in front of him. Once the intent of driving to a light only to stop is in place, nothing will change it.
The New Mexicans say “We are good drivers. Its all the Californians that move here that have bad driving habits”. But, well, I lived there. They may not be the greatest drivers either, but compared to New Mexican drivers they are all angels.
Besides, the roadrunner is New Mexico’s state bird.
Still, do you prefer the NM drivers or the Italian ones?
New Mexico drivers win hands down. People are bad drivers in NM according to what I’ve seen in the US, but driving in NM is still like a paradise compared to Italy. There they drive like maniacs.
I can’t imagine anything worse than california drivers. No wonder my insurance doubled when I moved here.
But … I’ve not driven in Italy, so .. You might have a point.
Was a clever-looking coyote chasing that roadrunner, by any chance?
Ma che piacere rileggervi vi pensavo spesso ma non ho più visto vostri articoli su Toqueville
The worst drivers in the U.S. are in Miami. I’ve lived in many parts of the country and they are the worst down there. Women I worked with refused to drive down there.
MN drivers are the worst on the entire p;lanet!!!!!! Thay either drive twenty miles under or 35 miles over the speed limit. A green light to them means stare at it for 5 seconds and then proceed ahead at 3 MPH when turning they stop in the middle and make a phone cal or light a cigarette. These morons have no concept of how to drive, and I fight this shit every day as I live in Albuquerque.
They are the worst drivers on the planet, in NM. No concept of speed limit, green light means go or any other concep related to smooth traffic flow. LA traffic and that of NYC have both been welcome changes to these morons!!!
David:
I disagree. The worst drivers on the planet are the Italians. You cannot imagine, it’s beyond imagination. You should appreciate the traffic of whatever large Italian town (Florence, Milan, Rome, Naples, you name it) for a few weeks, and then come back to ABQ and relax while driving on Coors Blvd.
Road rage, middle fingers, drivers that call you names, drivers that pass you from the left, from the right, from the top, from the bottom, from through, the violate every law, they would violate even law of physics if they could.
Believe me, ABQ is relaxing compared to Italy.
If you don’t believe me, you can check by yourself…