Some time ago the people who name cities these things named our city as one with the most courteous drivers.  Apparently the people who name cities these things did not drive on the same roads or at the same times that we are usually driving.  Those are the times that try men’s souls.  Women’s, too.

At a nearby shopping center with multiple entrances there is one entrance from a well-travelled two lane road.  When the shopping center was built that road was widened to four lanes but the additional lanes were stopped and the road returned to two lanes some 100 yards short of that entrance when approaching from the south.  The entrance is to the west which means a left turn from the south.  However, the traffic is such that is unsafe to make a left turn there so signs saying “No Left Turn” were erected.  They really do say that.  The signage has the arrow with the red circle and diagonal slash but beneath that pictogram are the actual words, “No Left Turn.”  Even so, people turn left there.  (They must have remembered Greeley’s advice, “Go west young man.  Go west.”)  But in a nod to courtesy, they signal their planned turn while waiting.  For much longer than what would have taken for the driver to have used the other entrance around the corner.  The one controlled by a traffic light.

Traffic lights present another challenge for those around drivers wanting to turn left.  Many intersections controlled by traffic lights do not have dedicated left turn commands or lead times to facilitate cross-traffic turns.  There is nothing illegal about making left turns at those intersections with the caveat being, as it is in all the states, territories, countries, and day care centers, those vehicles continuing straight through the intersection from the opposite direction will have the right of way.  Here’s where courtesy comes into play.  The driver wishing to turn left will creep into the intersection so he or she can see the progress of the signals from the cross traffic point of view.  Then when that light has spent a sufficient time on YELLOW, just before turning RED, the driver wishing to turn left, will.  It is a courteous maneuver because by turning before the cross traffic light was RED meant that the opposite light was not yet GREEN and the left turning driver did not delay the car from the opposite direction by bolting left just as its driver was going to drive straight through.  No comment regarding the two or three cars following with their own left turns.

These are just two examples of the extreme courtesy shown by and to local drivers.  We could also mention the constant lane changing on the highways around town, but almost always with the accompaniment of turn signals, thus making those NASCAR hopefuls courteous.  Usually the turn signal is the left one and that one stays on for several miles while the driver weaves left and right.  Then there is the passing on the shoulder of the exit ramp.  Here the driver switches to the right turn signal and increases his courtesy level.  By the time that car reaches the end of the ramp the driver has shifted two lanes left again and takes his or her lead monitoring the traffic light for the cross traffic yellow and the soon to be made left turn.  Yes, we could mention these.

So that must be how our city became one of the most courteous to drivers.  And shortly after (or perhaps before) the city motto was changed to, “Go Left Young Man. Go Left.”

Now that’s what we think. Really. How ‘bout you.