It turns out lots of behaviors you learn and know in life are largely regional, and this becomes profoundly clear when leaving your hometown and settling elsewhere. In our case, it's obvious Minnesota and Maryland are very different places to live. I've toyed with a few 'culture shock' posts and the topic of driving amuses me, so we'll start there.
On the interstate and other highways in Minnesota, people drive fairly predictably and slowly. Maniacs that fly down the road and zip between cars are rare. Almost everyone else drives around the speed limit, maybe 5 mph over, with little lane changing at all. Because everyone drives near the same speed and doesn't change lanes, the only usual complaint is a slow driver in the left lane. As with everything else, Minnesotans want to be considerate of others and this results in annoying situations on the roads. Lane closures either designed or due to construction are a headache with Minnesotans hesitant to zipper merge (go all the way to the end), instead opting to cut in early and create inconsistent traffic flow. I've had drivers almost refuse to merge over, presumably because they don't want to get in my way. This passivity is also seen in how exiting drivers deal with a merging driver, because it's guaranteed they'll slow down and wait their turn.
Some aspects are now quaint and funny in retrospect. Bad traffic in Minnesota generally means 10-20 minutes extra time, though I-94 on warm summer weekends (toward the lakes) can be much worse. Here I'm not including weather related delays. Unlike other places in the country, Minnesotans will drive in any weather. I swear, sometimes the number of cars on the road increases during a snowstorm. We may not get anywhere fast but we will get around.
Locally, on side streets and in parking lots, 'Minnesota Nice' is even more apparent. At 4-ways it's common to see hand waving to let other cars go out of turn. Stopping at crosswalks is expected. Again, lots of waving and acknowledgement follows. There's scant use of car horns by anyone. The courteousness of Minnesotans shines through in how they drive.
This is not the case in Maryland.
Driving on the highways is a bit more, shall we say, chaotic. The speed of free-flowing traffic is considerably higher, like 75-80+ (my experience on I-70 and I-270 at least). Speed limits are largely unenforced by police and if state troopers do pull someone over it seems to be for something more serious. When seeing people sitting on the side of the road with 3-4 cop cars lined up, I assume it's a drug bust. Speed cameras get more use, typically near construction sites, where a parked vehicle conceals the spying eye. This is tricky to the uninitiated but doesn't take long to figure out. It's not just speeding though, as drivers also constantly swerve and change lanes for no apparent reason, blinkers be damned. The thing that always gets me is that no one will ever miss a turn. Nearly every time I go out someone will cut across several lanes at the last second to make an exit. An incomprehensible side effect is no one ever merges at speed, seemingly with the expectation other cars will go around. Anyone already on the highway then cruises up to get in front of a merging car in order to make an exit. This reversal in behavior still causes me repeated difficulty.
Traffic in the DMV (DC/Maryland/Virginia) is awful. Frederick itself isn't usually that bad, though two lane I-270 can be rough and 15 around rush hour isn't fun either. It's the traffic closer to DC (I-495) and in Northern Virginia (15 again, I-66) that's especially brutal. A concept difficult to understand is that distance won't necessarily correlate to time. Explained more simply, you might sit in places for stupidly long periods and make little progress. I'm in no way jealous that my wife needs to deal with this on a regular basis in NoVA. Part of this is limited road options due to natural geography and part is the natural (unplanned) growth of cities/roads in this older part of the country. That and a lot of population density.
The DMV is more or less terrified of precipitation. Granted, when it rains out here it rains extremely hard. Still, the reactions people have out on the road never cease to amaze. I don't understand why so many turn on their flashing hazard lights while still driving down the road. I would if they pulled over. Underpasses get crowded with cars taking shelter. We've even seen cars park under bridges in lanes of traffic and block everyone behind them.
Weird, to me, behavior continues onto side streets. No one stops at crosswalks unless they'd otherwise hit you. They will gape while driving by, as if you're doing something wrong in going for a walk. There's apparently an assumption that cars will run through stop signs, because no one ever goes before oncoming vehicles have completely stopped. In parking lots a real laziness is on full display. A ton of people only take the absolute closest spot. One time a car waited for me to walk to my car and leave in order to save walking the distance of two spaces. The most annoying thing is how many people park along the curb at commercial buildings with a lane out front, most frequently grocery stores but not limited there. Sometimes they leave someone in the car, sometimes they don't. This only results in an eye-roll typically, though on occasion these cars actually restrict traffic and I get pretty mad. Go park in the lot like a reasonable person!
The long and the short of it is this. People in Maryland are just a little more self-focused, if I can put it that way. They're certainly not very aware of what you're doing and don't care to be. However, it's not like people anywhere else in the mid-Atlantic or farther up the east coast (NY? Boston?) are any better.
As a result of all this, I've definitely changed since leaving Minnesota and kind of end up in between. I drive more confidently and aggressively and yet more on guard amid the madness. I also have to consider traffic more seriously. When it's raining or snowing I fully expect people to act panicky. I park near the back of lots and avoid the front of stores. When walking I intentionally let cars go by before crossing. In addition, when visiting I leave most Minnesota drivers in the dust and would probably rack up tickets if we ever move back.
Comments