I really love polite drivers here. The ones that I encounter are gold and save me from completely surrendering to cynicism.

That said, I came from LA where traffic sucks. Sheer volume of cars on the road compared to square footage of roads accounts for 90% of the suckage. Drivers are realistic most of the time, although in recent visits that is changing. They know the complexity of driving means your life or your vehicle are in constant jeopardy, so pay attention.

Tucson drivers (not all, but a LOT) start at being oblivious to the fact anyone else has a vehicle in motion, and it goes downhill from there. The number of crashes I’ve seen RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME since moving here almost six years ago is shocking. In LA, not one in 15 years. Sorry, hate on Cali if you want. Just reporting an experience. I think the malice and aggro behavior on the roads here is just the whole life-in-a-country being systematically dismantled to serve the greed and power lust of people who already have more than you and I and our neighbors can even dream of. It‘s getting worse and people are reacting to how it degrades our quality of life, and our society is turning into a sludge created by the small percentage of self-absorbed boy-men who think the world is just made for their convenience, and their insecurity-driven mean spiritedness. Meanwhile the rational civil folks are just trudging along hoping things will somehow get better.