Not North Carolina. North Carolina requires a written test. Technically it's on a computer, but it's very similar to the written test I took when I first got my license at age sixteen. Fine. However, it's not as simple as showing up and taking the test. No. If you just show up, there's a good chance you'll sit at the DMV all day. I had to make an appointment. It took ten weeks to get an appointment and after all that, I didn't walk out with a license. Nope, I had to wait two weeks to get it in the mail.
This is only to get the license. I had to go to another place to register the car. I can't get into that today for fear of having a mental breakdown just thinking about it.
So I would guess that after all this just to get a license, people in Charlotte would actually be able to drive. WRONG.
There are several offenses that bother me, but the one I notice almost daily is the inability to recognize the right-of-way at a four-way stop, or just the failure to stop at stop signs at all.
I'll tell my story of going to the grocery store today as an example, but this happens almost every time I'm at a four way stop.
As I mentioned before, I live very close to a shopping center. There is a back road from my neighborhood into the shopping center that culminates in a four-way stop. If I turn right, I go to Walmart. If I turn left, I go to the grocery store. If I go straight, I head to the main road. It's not unusual to have traffic from all directions at this four way stop, and it's also not unusual to have pedestrians crossing at this intersection either. All in all, it's important to pay attention because I never know who is going to be coming from where.
Today, I needed to go to the grocery store so I headed off in my car through the cut through and up the back road into the shopping center. I came to the stop sign and was the only car at the intersection. Yay, I have the right of way! Oh wait, there's a guy on the sidewalk pushing five shopping carts from the grocery store strip across my path to the Walmart. I'll wait for him to cross. Waiting, waiting, waiting... you can hurry up buddy...
In the mean time, a car comes from my left and wants to turn toward the main road. I have grocery carts in front of me so I can't go and wave him through. Then a guy comes from the main road (directly across from me) and wants to turn toward the grocery store. The car that was on my left is mid-turn so I can't go, so this new car in front of me turns. That's fine, I can't go anywhere. But now it's my turn...
Then BMW comes along and I can tell he's not going to acknowledge my right of way at all. He's coming from the main road, turning toward the grocery store, and doesn't bother to stop at all. Instead, he follows the car in front of him as though he has a green light, rather than a stop sign, essentially cutting me off. I believe people do this maneuver because a) they believe they are in a much bigger hurry than everyone else, b) they believe they are better than everyone (see BMW), and c) they know nothing will happen. And this is where they are wrong.
Just because drivers fail to notice and/or acknowledge my right of way at a stop sign, this will not prevent me from a) honking my horn at them (not effective), b) waving my middle finger at them as I drive behind them (sometimes effective, sometimes elicits a middle finger in return), and c) confronting them in the parking lot of the grocery store (very effective).
So maybe some drivers in Charlotte think I'm crazy, but I bet they don't cut anyone off again for fear that the crazy lady will chase them down at Harris Teeter. And I will, so consider yourself warned.
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