Tourists are assholes. No, it's true. Having recently been a tourist, I know. Driving laws are partly to blame.
For some reason, when men and women travel to countries under different driving laws (especially those dealing with the side of the road on which one is meant to drive), those men and women develop some sort of pride in their own driving laws. This is true even of me who had to take the driving test four times before I could even pass the damn thing. Here in the states, there's no pride in driving laws. But overseas, we'll draw on that so that when we do get into a little trouble on the road, we can laugh at the silly laws of some backwards country in comparison to our great law.
This issue also overflows into the "which side of the sidewalk do you pass on" issue. This is a big one in New York City -- where most people walk around -- on sidewalks. Those dumbasses milling around on the sidewalks looking up at skyscrapers are normally not looking where they're going. But even when they are, they'll still run right into you if you try to pass them to the right.
I also was one to do this in Ireland. I repeatedly tried to pass other pedestrians to the left or stay to the right in two -way traffic and, more than once, almost mowed down a couple of kids or a grandmother or someone unsuspecting that they would be meeting a damn tourist on the sidewalk that day.
This proves to be quite an important issue. For the sake of international relations, something needs to be done. At this rate, it almost doesn't matter if tourists, or illegal aliens even, can speak English. Really, who gives a damn about that if they can't even walk on a sidewalk correctly.
I believe it could be one of the main reasons that Europeans do not get along. We can't even agree on driving laws; how the hell can we ever completely agree on anything else. It's a sad state of affairs. Maybe we should revise the Statue of Liberty: "Give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses but only if they keep to the right on the stairs."
For some reason, when men and women travel to countries under different driving laws (especially those dealing with the side of the road on which one is meant to drive), those men and women develop some sort of pride in their own driving laws. This is true even of me who had to take the driving test four times before I could even pass the damn thing. Here in the states, there's no pride in driving laws. But overseas, we'll draw on that so that when we do get into a little trouble on the road, we can laugh at the silly laws of some backwards country in comparison to our great law.
This issue also overflows into the "which side of the sidewalk do you pass on" issue. This is a big one in New York City -- where most people walk around -- on sidewalks. Those dumbasses milling around on the sidewalks looking up at skyscrapers are normally not looking where they're going. But even when they are, they'll still run right into you if you try to pass them to the right.
I also was one to do this in Ireland. I repeatedly tried to pass other pedestrians to the left or stay to the right in two -way traffic and, more than once, almost mowed down a couple of kids or a grandmother or someone unsuspecting that they would be meeting a damn tourist on the sidewalk that day.
This proves to be quite an important issue. For the sake of international relations, something needs to be done. At this rate, it almost doesn't matter if tourists, or illegal aliens even, can speak English. Really, who gives a damn about that if they can't even walk on a sidewalk correctly.
I believe it could be one of the main reasons that Europeans do not get along. We can't even agree on driving laws; how the hell can we ever completely agree on anything else. It's a sad state of affairs. Maybe we should revise the Statue of Liberty: "Give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses but only if they keep to the right on the stairs."
