RickS
Dec 22, 2011, 3:29 PM
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In the many times we've visited Mexico, we have obviously seen cultural differences..... between the US and Mexico and between some areas in Mexico vs others. But there is one difference that I have never observed and it has to do with driving courtesy.
We've been in San Miguel de Allende for about 3 weeks now. We have our car but we also walk a considerable amount. San Miguel, as many who have been here know, has a traffic problem in centro. Narrow one-way streets, lots of taxis and buses and a lot of pedestrian traffic.
But after about a week I began to notice something that is, in my experience, very rare..... traffic courtesy! ALL drivers, including the taxi and bus drivers, were conceding right-of-way to both other drivers and pedestrian traffic. It became surreal! If one is walking and comes to a corner, the approaching driver with motion you across.... sometimes even in the middle of a block! Of course, no one is able to drive very fast due to traffic and narrow streets with blind corners, but..... A few days ago I was in a taxi and when we came to one of those unregulated intersections, another taxi driver slowed down (he wasn't going very fast to begin with) and let my taxi driver turn into the stream of traffic ahead of him!
Yesterday I mentioned this to a 30-something Senorita agent at a rental management company with whom I was dealing. She grew up in SMA and speaks perfect English. She said to me, "it is our culture here in SMA. We are courteous with traffic and pedestrians."
She has that right! Really refreshing too.... something that I am not used to seeing, whether it is SOB or NOB.
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