Regional driving characteristics...
 

Do the drivers in your city have a general character that you notice is different in other places?

Where I'm from, D/FW, the drivers are very aggressive, very competitive. I've been in Houston for a week and I've confirmed what I had been told: that Houston drivers aren't agressive, they're simply oblivious. They aren't out-to-get-you, they simply aren't aware that any other drivers are on the road.

What are the drivers like where you're from, or where you've been?

Austin drivers are the worst rubberneckers on the entire planet. A single car, with no visible wreck damage and no one inside, stalled on the side of the road completely out of the roadway, will cause a traffic jam as if two lanes were blocked.

you can tell when you cross from chester county into delaware county up here. the a holes that live near bruce all drive like they have sharp objects lodged in their sphincters, and the further you go down rte 1, the nastier they are. there are signs in springfield that say 'beware of aggressive drivers'

no shit.

That's just to scare you hicks from Amishland.
You ain't seen nothin', till you drive around Boston on a weekday.

been there. done that.

i have mad respect for them too. those fuckers can merge, man.

Semi trailers, wombats, kangaroos, city drivers (tourists)

Once had a 'city driver' behind me, I slowed down a bit cause I could see a wombat on the side of the road. Well the city driver didn't like the fact that I slowed down and tore past me to make his point. Hit the wombat which took out all the undercarrige of his nice sparkly car .

Hee hee heehee ..................No, I didn't stop to help him, but I did wave.:D (should always be polite to the tourists.)

Everyone who ever learns to drive should have to go through Dayton's Malfunction Junction at least once. If that doesn't teach you a fine balance between assertive and defensive driving nothing will.

One of many such junctions in the US, but notable. (It's being redone; haven't been there in a while to see progress, but drove it every day for 3 years.)

Here they just point, aim and go. Park where it stops rolling.

Here in the highlands of Guatemala, old school buses jammed to capacity negotiate twisted mountainous roads at breakneck speed while regular motorists pass on blind curves. Six bucks gets you across the country and the rides are always interesting.

http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/1...ickbus2hs8.jpg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMLvjwdyHMs

I already posted this in another thread...but yes...this video illustrates the fine driving here! This is actually at a busy intersection downtown...lol! So NM!! So santa fe!

@ dbot2006, that bus looks brand new.

Yeah, that's about the nicest chicken bus you'll see anywhere.
I have traveled in a few that were retired from the Ontario School Board in the 70's, I swear there was no suspension whatsoever..every bump was direct and hard.

A schoolbus driver from Montana told me that when the brakes go out, they don't even replace them. They just engine-brake down the mountain.

I suspect that story is not entirely accurate. How would the bus stay in one spot for the kids to get on and off if it has no brakes? Does the driver turn the engine off and put it in gear?

The kids that live on the hill, walk to school, uphill both ways, in 14 feet of snow, barefoot.