Road warriors…not

Just happened on an article in Portland Business Journal; apparently Portland drivers are the most courteous in the US.

My mom’s not going to believe it, she hates driving in Portland, but having lived or spent time driving in the worst on the AutoVantage list–New York, Boston, Minneapolis, Miami, Atlanta, etc.–I can believe it.* Portland drivers slow down to admit you to busy lanes, let you off with a smile when you make a goof and just generally play nice on the road.

Not too long after I moved here (from Minneapolis), a guy in a truck cut me off. I did the typical eastern driver thing, I honked and gave him the bird. He slammed on his brakes right in front of me, jumped out of his car (I’m thinking, ‘Oh, Lord, please let there be enough of me left to identify’) and ran to my window, signaling me to roll it down. (What, do I look crazy?)

When I didn’t, he leaned into the window, grinned and shook his finger at me. “Shame, shame, SHAME on you!” he said. I rolled down the window and apologized, he said he was sorry for cutting me off, we shook hands and resumed driving.

That’s Portland.

——————-

*Yeah, Minneapolis. On one notable afternoon a giant truck ran over my Corolla, squished it like a bug (with me inside) on the Minneapolis freeway. Four other cars smacked it like a soccer ball, one after the other, sending it nearly a mile down the freeway from the initial point of impact. Not one of those drivers stopped. I was knocked unconscious and my first sight, on waking up in my totaled car, was of an enraged woman in a Mercedes, fur-clad, flipping me off. I was blocking her lane, you see.

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