Car Nation?

What is an American without a car? A Mexican! Levity aside, if ever there was a nation that was run on wheels, it is America. And yet, this country wields some of the worst drivers I've ever shared a road with. Their abilities with a four wheeler sadly resemble my skills on a two wheeler, and believe me, that's not what you want to be gliding alongside on a freeway - wobbly wheels! I guess in a twisted way, while it's shocking, it's to be expected? For a people who share such an inextricably close bond with their car, in a country where without one you are akin to a prisoner (bar NYC), where gas is still cheaper than anywhere else, how is it that the vast majority (and here I do mean VAST in the volume not weight sense), are the most dreadful drivers on the planet with little or no skills at real driving? I'm not even being snide about a distinct lack of motor skills or hand eye co-ordination required to deal with a manual gear shift. Just on auto, driving and occasionally passing and well, going straight. How difficult can that be? Well, at least I know where the exasperating stereotype of the "bloody woman driver" comes from... it's the only time I've seen (and on more than one occasion) textbook blonde behaviour that involves peculiar parking and veering in a lane, thunking over every single cats eye.

So much for shock. Is it really surprising that they suck? Everyone has a car. You don't have to work for it, it is your birthright. The roads are wide, straight and very clearly marked, the cars along with their toanlly challenged, but cultured Satnav assistant practically drive themselves, so any moron can do it right? Well, any moron does. I have seen very few cars on the road that seemed to be manned by humans with a modicum of peripheral vision, acuity and the foresight to anticipate and maneuver adroitly. Yet, these very folk that drive like 4 year olds at the arcade cover thousands of miles, endlessly annoy Europeans when they do take to the roads across the pond with their stubborn clinging to the American way of driving - catch the middle lane and just stay on in, utterly oblivious to the European tradition of passing on the left and moving back to the right till you're ready to pass again.... Bloody Americans? Hey, they get more mileage than we do. It's not a passion or a convenience or even a luxury. It's just life. How many of us train for that????