When I first moved to this area more than 10 years ago, one of the initial nice surprises was the courtesy of drivers compared to the complete lack of same for most drivers in the large metropolitan area I once called home. In Houston, I couldn’t react to a red light turning green fast enough for most drivers and incessant horn honking was a symphony of my daily driving. Similarly, I was often the recipient of the one-finger salute for some real or imagined infraction, like trying to go the speed limit or yielding to ambulances or some such other thing I learned lo those many years ago in driver’s education.

Sadly, the local population explosion has brought with it a number of very rude drivers—presumably other metropolitan escapees who are in a very big hurry all the damn time. It’s frustrating for those of us who leave for our destinations with more than enough time get there, allowing for driving the speed limit and putting some space between us and the car ahead of us. Horn honking at stoplights is common in my life once again, especially when I have the temerity to slow down and stop when I notice the light has gone to yellow rather than stomping on the gas and breezing through the intersection like my car is on fire. It’s a mystery why more people aren’t killed.

Recently on a drive out to Seaside, the light at the first turn-off to CR 30A turned yellow when I was perhaps two car lengths from the intersection. I slowed down and stopped while two, count ‘em two, SUVs swerved into the other lane and ran the light. Had any one of the waiting drivers on 30A done a jackrabbit on their green light, there would have been an ugly accident. Where’s the fire? Studies have proven that driving fast doesn’t really get you to your destination any more quickly and on many area roads, we have some good stuff to gawk at, so why zip on by?

The other thing I’ve noticed a lot lately is most drivers have zero respect for ambulances and other emergency personnel with loud sirens. They drive blithely along either unhearing, unseeing, or most likely uncaring. It would be poetic for their houses to burn down or an ambulance not to reach the hospital in time.

My car is very quiet and very airtight. My previous car was so old and so not airtight, I got wet taking it through a car wash, so I had no trouble hearing ambulances with the windows rolled up. However, the new car is so silent, I’ve taken to always having a window cracked so I can hear sirens when the stereo is playing, which is virtually all the time. I do this so I can get out of the way, as I’m supposed to do.

When I first bought this car, I had two problems: The relative lightness and silence of the vehicle prohibited me from feeling the surge and power when accelerating an eight-cylinder steel tank and I would find myself going 50 miles per hour without any sensation of speed. The other problem was looking in my rear view mirror and seeing an ambulance looming behind me that I had not heard. While I had time to pull off to the right, it bothered me that I had not heard the siren with the windows up and the music on. Thus the lowered window at all times.

The other amusing local custom is the preponderance of high cost vehicles that you just know have every bell and whistle offered by car manufacturers. Apparently the bells and whistles take precedence over using the turn signal, because people simply do not bother with this courtesy either. Is it so tough to flip down a lever and let people know your intentions?

Of course when the winter visitors arrive, they not only use turn signals, but they also slow down almost to a stop to make a turn, which impedes traffic in another way. I guess there is not a simple solution, but to my way of thinking, the attitude or absence of driver competence is just another manifestation of the lack of civility in this country.

More from Leah