One thing you never lose as a northerner is your impatience and your aggressive driving prowess. I graduated the head of my class in city driving while in Boston. Trust me, it’s an art form. I have had a heck of a time translating this experience down here. The traffic is slower and the Boston mojo is just not here! It’s has me way off balance. I cannot get into the traffic flow here at all and I don’t think I ever will.
To my credit, I was able to stop yelling at Tallahassee drivers giving them “pointers” on the proper driving technique for certain situations via my drivers side window. I do have a little more patience while waiting for the car in front of me to make that slow turn to the left or right. You see, down here, turning right or left is a major maneuver , it’s like turning the Queen Mary,
well it seems like it takes that long..The turn blinker (signal) goes on 17 miles before the turn and at the point of the turn the vehicle practically stops and the driver takes his/her time turning …I really mean..takes their time..I wait for the driver ahead of me to turn all the while envisioning the turning of the ole luxury liner “port to stern, man the gibbles and full steam ahead turn on a tack of 23.56”
Dealing with rotaries up north is a dangerous proposition, they have HUGE rotaries, you know the kind that may have a statue of one of our founding fathers in the middle and at least 10-15 cars already circumnavigating it.
Trying to get into a rotary up north is akin to trying to hop on a fast moving train-timing is everything? 1,2,3.......GO !!! no wait!..1,2,3....
Down here the rotaries are tiny,
almost speed bump tiny, I don’t really get why they have them.You are out of the rotary before you even get in it. It’s like a hint of a rotary; they look like a small mound with plants in the middle of the road.like serving no real purpose but I guess they are visually pleasing?
Don’t be late for anything or you will be screaming at everybody on the way in. Take a traffic light in Boston, if you don’t anticipate the light going green by looking at the yellow light from the cross traffic and you don’t accelerate seconds before your light turns green-mayhem occurs, cars behind you honk, not one of those little horn taps..but a prolonged honk that has meaning. It truly is a drag racing setting:
Up North if you experience a yellow light, that means go faster..NOW
Down here, the light turns green and there is a process that needs to take place before the car ahead of you resumes. Foot off the brake, check your seat belt, slowly press the gas pedal and resume. If you are 7Th or 8Th in line you need to wait for this process to take place with all the cars in front of you. It’s a great opportunity to check for new messages on your blackberry.
You can see I still have northern driver’s angst. Driving down here has one big benefit though, life expectancy is higher for southern drivers and that’s a good thing.
