Just finished Ann Arbor-94-96-401-403-QEW-405-190-290-90-ROC (going one way
or the other) for the 6th time this summer, heading back Sunday. Pretty
boring drive, allowing ample time to ponder a couple of empirical
generalizations.
First, Americans are really, really crappy
drivers. Invariably, if there is someone sitting in the passing lane at
three miles an hour above the speed limit in Canada, it is a car with US
plates of some sort. Of course this creates backups and provokes pass
ing
on the right, thereby endangering everyone. Difficult to tell whether
this is purposeful crappiness or just obliviousness. No behavioral
difference. In the US, on both the MI and NY legs, each driver
apparently thinks they have a natural right to stay in the passing lane.
Infuriating driving. Canadians exhibit the opposite pattern, doing
their best to get out of the way of faster traffic.
Second, US Customs officers are generally pompous asses. No gender
variation. They seem sincerely astonished when, having kept you waiting
for between forty and ninety minutes as you try to cross the border into
your own freakn' country, you are not just brimming with good cheer as
they interrogate you. And they seem absolutely startled when, in response
to their inevitable query - 'Is there something wrong sir?' - you point
out that having had to sit forever waiting for them to do their
purposeless searching and interrogating has added an hour or more to an
already long tedious trip. On the other hand, it is best not to engage
them in debate about how they are protecting your liberty and security
by stemming the hoard of invasive Molson-swilling, plaid-wearing,
hockey-loving Canadians. By contrast Canadians customs officers are only
intermittently arrogant and annoying. The lines entering Canada, where I
am not a citizen, are rarely very long.
Labels: Canada, driving, Travel
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