LEARNING TO DRIVE #4: IN CONCLUSION
The DLA research staff, exhausted from translating and interpreting Chinese, Polish, and Japanese data, has begged to return its focus to driving research topics closer to home, namely Boston. I am happy to oblige since, as the staff always reminds me, there is no lack of baffling behavior that screams for analysis right here in our own back yard. Furthermore, it is winter and winter is generally accompanied by inclement weather, blessing the eager DLA staff with wonderful, seasonal examples of driving like ass.
But, before closing out our international entries, I want to share some additional data provided by Peter Hessler whose article in The New Yorker, spurred the DLA staff to launch the search for international and cultural factors in ass-like driving.
Thanks for the note, and for the link to your site, which I found hilarious. When I was very small my family lived in Beverly, MA, and the drivers in Boston left a deep impression on my father. He spoke of them often while I was growing up in Missouri.
In the Peace Corps I lived in Fuling, a small town on the Yangtze River. In that town virtually every cabbie had wired his horn so that it connected to a contact point located on the gearshift. A horn on the steering wheel was not responsive enough for their purposes. A friend of mine visited from New York and was overwhelmed by the way they honked. When he finally left, we took a cab down to the docks, and he counted how many times the driver honked during the 15-minute ride. It came to 566, no exaggeration. (I describe this in my first book, River Town on page 66.)
All the best –
Peter
Although virtue is rumored to be its own reward, I would encourage all readers to purchase this book, if only on the grounds that Mr. Hessler was kind enough to respond and because the DLA research staff seldom receives appreciative feedback from readers other than our mothers.
JWD
in driving instruction, drivers' license, driving in China, road test, Driving in Japan, Driving camp, Hessler, Poland, Driving in Poland
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