Driven to distraction

I've been thinking of writing about how the minutiae of daily life in the US compares to the UK. One of the most obvious of those is driving, and so I've decided, following a fairly typical drive home, to summarise some thoughts about US drivers.

For the most part, they're ignorant.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying they're stupid. Far from it, but there are many people on the road who are simply unaware.

I think this stems in a large part from the convenience culture in the US. Why get out of a car when you can drive through at the bank, McDonalds, pharmacy etc. Why walk anywhere at all when everywhere has parking. Why stop at a red light when you can turn right if it's clear. Why spend extra time parking at your gynacologist when they have free valet!

Of course in-car convenience is not the only way the US makes things easier for people, but it's a large part of their 'convenience' culture - in fact trying to come up with some non-vehiclular ones on the spur of the moment is much harder! (In fact the only one that comes to mind is table service in bars, but that's because I'll shortly be having a beer).

If it sounds like I'm jealous that the UK doesn't have this level of convenience, it's because I am!

The biggest culprit (or boon, depending on your point of view) in US car convenience culture is of course the automatic transmission (and by proxy, the cruise control).

Automatic transmission, coupled with long straight American roads, takes much of the thinking out of driving. It becomes secondary to listening to the radio, eating a bagel, drinking coffee, or most likely talking on the phone (without a hands free kit!).

Using indicators becomes voluntary. Cars will cut across 2 lanes to take an exit that crept up on them, and will do so regardless of squeezing through the tiny space available between you and the car in front of you. In the UK, motorway exits are many miles apart, placed as they are at major towns or cities, with warning signs placed frequently up to 30 miles before the exit. In the US, exits themselves are so conveniently frequent that you rarely get more than half a mile worth of notice.

So, US drivers are ignorant because they've been spoilt. So have I, and I'll miss it.