A few years ago I was taking a driving course. Like most Americans, I got my driving license as a fresh faced 16 year old. But then I moved across the ocean and spent most of my adulthood in a country of manual cars and traffic signs with pictures and no words. And if I was going to live here permanently, I decided I needed to drive. Legally. And safely. Plus H had been bugging me for years to do my Czech driving license.
I enrolled in my course. My instructor was a police officer that called automatic cars "baby cars". I was entertained on each and every drive by his passenger seat philosophy. Being taught to drive as an adult is nerve-wrecking, at least it was for me. And I was so relieved to pass the exam on the first go and be able to put those 2 months behind me.
But I'm sitting here writing this because as I was driving home one night, I was keeping my eyes on the road and the other drivers and I had this idea that driving is a very national activity. It ties you into the fabric of a place. You feel the tempo of the national heart beat. Czech drivers are, fairly or unfairly, categorized as notoriously bad drivers. But as with all things Czech, I find an interesting dichotomy to Czech national driving.
On one side, I think Czechs are much more courteous drivers than their Ohio counterparts. When I'm back home in Ohio I'm amazed at how many people don't use blinkers, pass on the right side, slide through stop signs and don't make any signal of "Thanks" when you let me over. Czechs seem to have all these little politness-es down pat. And most Czechs hold fast to the zero tolerance rule of drunk driving.
On the other side, Czechs can be aggressive drivers. Give them just a little tiny provocation and they'll be drag-racing past you to prove their masculinity? bravado? coolness? Annoy them by having a license plate number from a different city or region and suddenly they will speed up and slow down to prevent the offending car from getting where it needs to go.
And all these cultural nuance I can observe as an Ohioan, behind the wheel of my Czech car.
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