(Sign for the highway that runs along the province of Nova Scotia's south shore.)
I've been hanging out in a tiny town in Nova Scotia this winter (south of Halifax), and I have to say I've
never experienced such laid back drivers as the ones around here.
It seems like hardly anybody speeds -- on either the scenic routes that hug the coves and peninsulas along the coast, or the inland highways. Heck, half the time, it seems traffic is going a little bit
under the posted speed limit.
Yet
nobody tailgates. Seriously. And in 6 weeks of driving around here, I've only seen a couple of drivers go roaring past a line of traffic in the frequent passing zones.
Oh, and as a pedestrian in town, if you so much as
look like you want to cross the street, most drivers stop mid-block and wave you across. It's amazing.
I've always thought the sleepy eastern Ontario city I live in was a very ecodriving-friendly environment (both the routes, and the majority of the drivers), but the people around here make home look like the Indy 500 by comparison.
There is definitely a laid-back east coast vibe here, and I like it.
I was so perplexed and impressed by the apparent lack of haste that I started to suspect had that my (borrowed) car's speedometer was under-reporting real speed. Nope.
I actually checked it against GPS readings, and it's pretty much right on.
On the other hand, this is the dead of winter. In summer, the vibe is probably very different, with tourist drivers doubling or tripling local traffic volumes.
But I'm enjoying it while it lasts! I'll be headed back to Ontario soon enough.