Just back from Italy, where drivers of buses, cars, trucks, and a zillion scooters and motorcycles COLLABORATE to share tiny streets in cities and the crazy curves on mountains.
It is a thing of beauty, a symphony. Where there are no crosswalks or signals, which is almost everywhere in the cities, pedestrians simply step boldly into the traffic and all the vehicles stop to let those on foot cross. Drivers expect to have at least a few inches of distance between vehicles and can all parallel park in impossibly small spots.
Here in the USA, we want to be first and hog space and make everybody else drive like we want them to and be out of patience with anybody not following the rules and how dare they pause in my way and stay the hell several feet from my car. and I am first to admit I am describing myself before I saw a different culture and philosophy of how to drive.
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