unbent@ecsvax.UUCP (02/11/84)
Yes, I've driven in Berkeley. Got my only ticket for a moving
violation ("unsafe lane change") there about fifteen years
ago. (One of those judgment calls. The cop's judgment, of
course, prevailed.)
True, there are a lot of extra-national transients on the
German roads, but somehow the system works. I suspect that
the massive framework of German-trained drivers exerts a
normalizing influence. I noticed, for example, that Germans
vacationing in Italy tended to drive more and more like
Italians, i.e., like crazy people. On the other hand, the
Italian tourists on German Autobahns accommodated themselves
to the dominant prevailing conventions of conduct, as did the
French, English, and so on. When the *norm* is rational
driving, even visitors tend to drive more rationally. When
there is no norm, or the norm is wild, visitors tend to drive
wildly and unpredictably. (I, for example, feel much safer
driving in Chicago or New York or Boston than here in North
Carolina simply because those big-city drivers, although
aggressive, are *predictably* aggressive. You never know
*what* a North Carolina-trained driver is going to do.)
--Jay Rosenberg
(mcnc!ecsvax!unbent)