Every corner of the globe has weird little local driving quirks. But a quirk can be good, it can be bad, or it can be totally neutral — weird road signs or geography all qualify as quirks. Today, we’re here to talk about something far more glaring: Your local driving gripes. Yes, it’s time to rant and rave in the comments, because I want to hear all the follies and foibles of the drivers and driving in your area.
Do you live somewhere full of restrictive speed cameras? Are your local drivers confused about when to use their turn signals? Does your town not have the infrastructure to support thousands of parents every August for college dropoffs and every June when the kids go back home? Leave your local driving gripes down below, and we’ll collect our favorite screeds later on in the week. Bonus points for truly extraordinary word counts.
New York’s driving gripe is unexpected
I famously live in Brooklyn, and my gripe isn’t with New York City’s drivers. It’s not even with the traffic write large, but with a few specific people that make that traffic: Tourists. Just last night, as I was riding my motorcycle to the gym, I was stuck behind a Maine license plate that was clearly terrified to be driving in such a dense city as it got dark out — a terror that manifested in their absolute refusal to do more than 19 miles an hour. I’m never exactly planning to set any land speed records with a gym bag on my back, but really? 19 miles an hour?
That’s my gripe with New York driving: The people who have only come to visit, and who don’t yet understand how the flow of traffic works around here. Fresh transplants get a bit of the same gripe, but not for very long — New York driving is pretty easy and quick to learn, and most seem to pick it up well enough. What’s your gripe, though? Leave your answers in the comments below, and we’ll pick out our favorites later on.
