Not to threadjack, but I was noticing something the other day. I'm originally from Pensacola, and I learned to drive there. While living in P'cola, when an emergency vehicle was approaching from behind, everyone pulled OFF the road and stopped. If it was a road with no median, BOTH LANES pulled over and stopped. After the emergency vehicle passed, people got back on the road in exactly the same order they got off in and continued about their merry way.

In New Orleans, you're lucky if people clear a way in just one lane for the emergency vehicle to pass. The don't even stop moving. God forbid you pull off the side of the road. It may be 10 minutes before someone lets you back on again.

It seems to me that if everyone assumed the ambulance was going to fetch their mother or that the fire engine was going to put out their house, that may influence them to behave differently. Apparently that has never entered the minds of New Orlenians.

I guess my question is, what is the behavior like where you live? Perhaps I can figure out if it's a regional thing, or an urban vs smaller town thing.

As a side note, the same is true of a funeral procession. In FL, both sides of the road pulled out of the way and stopped for the 20 seconds it took for the processional to pass, just out of respect for the family of the deceased. Here, they just flow with traffic along with everyone else, unless they hire a police escort, which kindof enforces the matter.