When I worked in Houston in the late 70's to early 80's for a large US oil corp, (no names, no pack drill) I worked with a Texas guy Don Mirabo, he spoke with a broad Texan accent and worked in the company for many years, always wore his Stetson wherever he went. We sometimes went to the bar after work and he said, "I've seen and sampled your driving in London and Paris but don't drive around Houston like that", I thought about it and then said "why", he said, "when you drive in London you drive like the devil may care and the devil takes the hindmost, it's not how it's done in Texas", hmmm, right I said, "so what's different", he then said "if you drive like that at an intersection and jump your turn, on a good day you might get away with it, on a bad day some guy will get out of his pickup with a baseball bat and beat the cr*p out of you or on a really bad day blow your f----- head off with a .38", I laughed as though he was joshing, then I glanced around the other guys with us and they weren't laughing, one said quietly, "he's not f------ joking". I had noticed how well behaved drivers were downtown in Houston and just maybe he wasn't joking. I was a lot more careful after that when driving around. Whether this story was true or not it was a bit of a 'wake up' for those who are used to driving around in the UK, London and Paris. Was this all BS or true I wonder?

 

Bs we carry .45s.
Houston traffic has got to be the worst here.
But there are a lot of crazy stupid road rage shooting stories, in my neck too. ridiculous! Yes, we do have idiots.
And why do I imagine that guy looking just like jr Ewing

 

That story did male me think of "dallas".. lol. Good story though.

I've driven in very few other states.. and most aren't like jersey. Arizona is very laid back I thought. i did notice that when you head further into the new England area, they get out of your way if you are boasting jersey plates... lol. In Richmond virginia, stop lights are completely optional. And they have some of the longest straightest roads.

Never driven out of country though. I'm sure I would unintentionally **** someone off. It's inevitable.

 

Spot on Dusty, come to think about it now, he reminds me of Dallas and JR Ewing even down to the boots. Even on site he never wore a safety hat but still sported his Stetson and cowboy boots and always wore those with a suit as well. Houston traffic back then seemed 'tame' by comparison to London's and many seemed to have some etiquette or respect for other in cars, well of course, until you f------ up and then things, supposedly, got nasty.

Road rage generally seems a relatively new arrival since the 80's in the world of motoring and aggression. They even have it in France now where there's no other cars around and a traffic jam is 4 cars waiting 10 seconds at the crossroads. For a nation who are too lazy to use their direction indicators I find it remarkable they can be bothered to step out of their car to abuse another motorist, particularly as they are one of the worst motoring nations in europe.