Citizens of the United States of America,
I have been driving in your great country for some time, and have a question. I understand that you have a culture which requires driving for almost every minor errand, and in having chosen that sort of culture, inevitably some highly aggressive, dangerous drivers slip through the cracks of your testing and licencing regime. These people seem to believe the rules of the road do not apply to them, that the safety of others is secondary to their reaching their destination 30 seconds faster, and also have a tendancy to own large SUVs despite almost always riding without any passengers on flat, well maintained roads. I've lost count of the number of times I have been cut off, sworn at, swerved past and almost run off the road by these angry, totally inconsiderate drivers, but I do understand that in this culture, it is probably necessary that some of these people be able to get around in an automobile, however distasteful and dangerous their behaviour is. Thankfully, these vehicles carry warning stickers.
The only defense that more reasonable drivers seem to have is that these vehicles are all clearly marked with a warning sticker. My confusion stems from both the fact the warning sticker does not seem to be mentioned in my drivers manual, and the choice of symbol itself:
The American Flag.
Honestly, I think it is a great idea to clearly mark which cars we should give a wide berth to, to give us an idea of who is dangerous and for us to adapt our driving to those risks, but labelling them with The American Flag? Who thought of that, and why haven't citizens complained about it? Of all the choices and symbols that could be used to mark the dangerous and aggressive, the choice of "Old Glory" seems to be a very strange one. Obviously there is a great deal of respect for the flag, or I can't imagine that an anti-flag burning amendment to your constitution would be on the cards, so using it as a symbol to mark those who are perhaps the least considerate and worst of you seems a very strange choice.
As I said, I think the warning about dangerous drivers is a good idea, but you might want to add it to your drivers manuals so that we don't need to figure it out on our own, and also, if such a mark remains necessary, perhaps you might consider a choice other than your country's flag?
Yours,
Confused Expat Briton