The problem is America is too free with it's individual's rights. There is no courtesy, there is no reserved passing lane, people barely ever signal; these offences are all reserved for the biggest ******** in Europe while they're common place within the US. We don't have a culture of allowing a faster lane - it's always me, me, me, and MY rights. I'm allowed to be in the left most lane because I exist, even though I'm only going 45 on a 55mph motorway. If you tried that in Italy they'll run you out of the country (as my girlfriend found out). Other countries simply treat driving differently. We treat it as a right, everyone else treats it as a privilege (there are exceptions, I'm generalizing here). Everyone's comments about raising the speed limit seems far fetched because the average American simply cannot be trusted with the responsibility of higher speed. And it's not necessarily anyone's fault. It's just how our road going society evolved - we essentially invented the modern day automobile. We treated it as manifest destiny.
And this isn't just with driving. Everytime I'm in a different country there are always areas for passing. Everyone stands to one side on escalators so people in a hurry can run by. Embarrassingly, if not for the language spoken I can often mistake Americans for people from mainland China. Whenever I land back in states, I know it, because all sense of courtesy disappears. Our airports are ******* zoos. International traveler should be able to back me up on this because I don't think my experiences are isolated. If you compare LAX to Hethrow, Hong Kong, Incheon, or Munich they're all quiet and orderly and courteous in comparison to our gorillas at the TSA.
Please don't mistake my comments and observations for hating the US. I live here and I call this country my home. But there's a lot we can learn from other countries if only we'd try. But we won't because that's not what Americans do.
Ok, I apologize. /rant
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