I could not have imagined, before I moved to DC, that I would find driving through New York City traffic soothing. But this is exactly how I do feel, when I drive back to New York. New York City drivers are extremely aggressive and numerous, but they are rational and predictable. I never feel like I don’t know what a cab driver is about to do; of course, he’s about to try to cut me off at around 35 miles per hour. But he isn’t about to pull over into the left lane of a major thoroughfare at 35 miles per hour, slam on the brakes, and back up traffic for fifteen minutes while he waits for an opening in opposing traffic so that he can pull into the hotel driveway across the street. Because even a New York City cab driver can recognize that that would be insane.
