I’ve been driving these roads for decades, going the same way to the store, to the bank, even after I stopped working. And lately, it feels like everyone on the road is trying out for some kind of new sport, and I’m not sure I understand the rules.

Take the roundabouts. They put them in to make things flow better, they said. But now, it’s like a game of chicken every time you get near one. People stopping when they should go, people going when they should yield. It’s a puzzle, and half the drivers seem to have lost their pieces.

Just yesterday, trying to get across town, I saw a fellow in one of those big red trucks, you know the kind, practically hugging the center line in the roundabout. Going so slow, too. It’s almost like they’re enjoying making everyone else wait. We used to just have four-way stops, and everyone understood that.

Then there’s the turning signals. Are they just for decoration now? You pull up behind someone, trying to guess if they’re going left, right, or just going to sit there looking at their phone until the light changes. It adds a whole lot of extra thinking to what used to be a simple drive.

It used to be you could predict what another driver would do. There was a rhythm to it, a common sense. Now every trip out is an adventure, but not the fun kind. It’s more like trying to navigate a maze where the walls keep moving.

We all share these roads. And with more cars showing up every year, it just makes sense that we should all do our part to make it work. A little common courtesy goes a long way, especially when you’re just trying to get home.

Dale Crankshaft has been driving the same route to work since 2003 and considers any alteration a personal attack. He is retired but still drives the route.