This was originally posted at
http://msgboard.snopes.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?/ubb/get_topic/f/20/t/000696.html So I am posting Buzzkillers post and my response.
Originally posted by Buzzkiller:
The rules strip us of the ability to be considerate? Oh, please. You know what I think is considerate? Following the traffic signs and rules.
My #1 pet peeve about living in the southern US (and in general, I really do like it down here) is that laid-back Southerners tend to be so "polite," they rewrite traffic rules. On the four-lane main drag of my city's downtown area, friendly drivers sometimes come to a standstill and wave across pedestrians waiting to cross the street...which would be fine if they were the only two people for miles around. But what assurance does he have that the pedestrian won't be hit by drivers in the other three lanes, or that another motorist will won't rear-end the considerate driver who is inexplicably stopped in the middle of the block?
I'm also highly annoyed when a motorist who clearly arrived at the four-way stop ahead of me keeps waving me on. I don't like to barrel on ahead when it's not really my turn, but if I don't, people will be waiting behind us while this clown and I try to prove to each other how nice we are. "No, you go." "No, YOU go!" I can usually chuckle about these little Southern peculiarities, but for some reason, these excessively polite traffic-rule-breakers rouse my ire. Who are they to flout the law in the name of Niceness?
That's right. I'm a big, cranky Yankee.
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Oh, that is rich. I love it. My wife read the post and said, "You guys could be brothers." Four way stop signs in the US, not just in the south, have become an adventure.
Other pet peeves include people that hit their brakes and start their turn before they put on their blinker light. What is that about? Is that considerate?
People that don't stop before making a right turn on a red light. That is just scarey to me.
People that go past the stop sign, speedily, before stopping. Most drivers under 40 do this and if you are approaching an intersection, it is difficult to tell if they are going to stop.
People that don't merge into traffic on the expressway. They slowly enter the expressway, causing me to move over to the other lane, if that is possible, or brake, and then they speed up and pull away from me. MERGE knucklehead and we'll all get home safe.
And many others. Get rid of the signs? How ludicrous.
Mick