Day vs. night driving

People have a lot of stereotypes about how people in different states drive.  For example, I think that people in Georgia drive insanely fast, while people in North Carolina tend to be more careful.  But what I think I've realized is that, except in extraordinary circumstances (e.g. near Atlanta), most people are approximately equally stupid if you compare them at the same time of day.  It's not location that determines stupidity, it's the amount of traffic, which is usually determined by the time of day.

When I leave for Atlanta from Durham on Thursday around rush hour, I encounter the greatest volume of jaw-dropping headaching stupidity I ever encounter when driving.  Because people in Durham typically speed much less than their counterparts in Atlanta, everybody thinks it's all right to get in the far left lane only going five over, even when there are four lanes.  Because of that, the few people who want to go more quickly have decided that it's a great idea to just weave in and out of the lanes, even sometimes into the far right lane, to get past all the traffic at any cost.  But what they never seem to realize is that it's not just the stupid people in this pack of drivers that are blocking the far left lane--it's the stupid people in the next group, and the next, and the next, and the groups run fairly close to each other until the end of rush hour.  Typically what I do in this situation is take some deep breaths, resign myself to 75, and slowly pass the trapped lane weavers while laughing.  Oh ho ho, those lane weavers, when will they ever learn?!

At night, however, everything is bright and happy.  Sure, at 7pm or 8pm, there are still some idiots on the road, but by 10pm, the sample of people on the road is much lower so you get fewer morons.  And the morons that do exist are easy to get around, since there is basically no one on the road.  What I love most is when there's a driver going the limit in the far left lane out of 4 lanes at 12 midnight.  Is it that much of a burden to change lanes?  Does your vehicle have a steering wheel?  Have you ever driven a car before?  Just seems silly to me is all.  But sometimes they do that in the daytime with traffic, which is absolutely monstrous.
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To the lady in the van in the far left lane who kept getting passed:  You look really stressed out.  You're going to get a backache if you maintain that posture for the next however long until you stop driving.  Your life would probably be a lot less stressful if you would get over a couple lanes to the right lane, and then people wouldn't be passing you on the right at an overwhelming pace.
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To the silver Altima with the SC plates:  I think you are the driving buddy I have gotten most attached to.  I calculated from the mile markers that we probably hung out for a good 120 miles.  You drive pretty much exactly like me, even going a little slower in lit areas.  I liked you a lot.  Sorry we kept passing each other--if we weren't so absent-minded / if we either of us used our speedometer that might not have happened so much.
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