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08/16/2006 Entry: "Maine Driving Notes"

Here are a couple of driving notes for you people not from Maine. Here's a quick rundown on a couple of things we do in this state.

1) Sometime, on our streets, you'll see little white lines, painted in a rectangular fashion. We call those parking spots. If you're on a street with little white painted rectangles, then by all means, put your vehicle inside the painted lines, turn your car off, and leave. A couple of small notes, though. The places with yellow rectangles, with diagonal lines painted through them, well, they're not for parking. In fact, up here we call them "No parking zones." Crazy huh? Also, parking in the street beside someone who's already parked in a parking spot is called "double parking." Yes, they do it in New York all the time. We don't do it up here. In fact, if a Mainer sees you doing it, you're likely to be labeled a "jerk."

2) When you're driving down the highway, and an emergency vehicle (we designate them up here with red and blue flashing lights on their roofs) approaches you from the opposite direction, we slow down and move over to the side. Yes, we know they have their own lane on the other side of street. Still, move over, slow down, and give 'em room. Oh, and if they approach you from behind, we pull over and stop! Crazy! And then, after they've gone by us, we all pull back on the road in the same order we pulled over in! It's not supposed to be an opportunity for you to pass a bunch of people pulled over on the side.