I given this a lot of thought. And, after this past weekend of driving again in NYC all weekend, Im convinced of a new truth: Nashville drivers are WORSE by in large than New York City drivers. How could I possibly come to this conclusion? Its a head scratcher for me too. Heres the way I see it. Sure, NYC drivers are rude and aggressive. They honk their horns and they cut you off. Cabbies are the most egregious of the offenders. But, one thing that NYC drivers have over BNA drivers is that they drive defensively more so than they drive offensively, and they are, for the most part, actively engaged and paying attention to the driving process because, as screwed up and dynamic as the roadways in NYC are, one must pay attention and be engaged in the process of driving. And, one can understand the plight of the NYC driver. If people dont go when the light turns green, it holds the whole process of driving up for everyone. I think this communal sense among NYC drivers is key. The horn honking and speedy pace seems to come more from a place of youre holding US (the driving community) up as opposed to youre holding ME (the out for number one driver). Now in Nashville, the pace is slower, and people CAN be more polite. However, if they CHOOSE to be more polite on the road is another matter. For every nice driver here in town, Im finding at least a one to one ratio of the terrible Nashville driver. The thing that makes this really annoying is that Nashville drivers have much better conditions in which to drive. Although the interstate system here with bottleneck type merges seems to be designed by a complete idiot, the roads by in large here are pristine. New Yorkers cant enjoy this ever because the citys infrastructure could never support larger roads. Just not enough room. Also, the Nashville driver is more offensive than defensive. We drive here in town distracted with phones and the like (NY has a hands free cell phone law) and we drive every bit as fast as the NY driver, but with much less care. And, if the unexpected happens to the BNA driver, the ability to cope with that is a trait we Nashville drivers do not share with their NYC counterparts. But, the worst part about Nashville drivers is our sense of entitlement to the road ahead of us. This is what to me is the biggest difference in the two, and its the cancer of BNA drivers. All sense of community seems to go out the window in BNA, and the unskilled drivers here, with multiple distractions and novice or beginning driving skills, blaze a trail of havoc down the road as if we are the only ones on the road we own. So, not only is roughly half the driving population seeming to be terrible at the act of driving, but our sense of entitlement is so off that we are completely offensive as we feel we are entitled to drive as terribly as we do. So, with this observation, Id say we as Nashvillians need to learn to drive, and also learn that the roads here are a communal shared space, not our own personal driveways. Sorry for the rant, but I was driven to express this thought.
Posted on: Tue, 23 Sep 2014 16:01:11 +0000
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