I’ve been driving these roads for decades, going the same way to work and then to the hardware store for just as long. You get a feel for the rhythm of a town when you spend so much time on its pavement. It used to be you just knew when it was your turn.

Now, though, it’s like a free-for-all out there. Especially at those new intersections, the ones shaped like circles. People just stop when they don’t have to, or they go when someone else clearly had the right of way. It’s a real mystery.

I was trying to get onto North 7th yesterday, coming from Main Street. A young fellow in a big white truck, the kind that sits up high, just stopped dead. There wasn’t another car for a quarter mile. He just sat there, waving me on like he was a parade marshal. I stopped too, because what else are you supposed to do? We sat there for a good long minute, just waving at each other.

It’s not just the circles either. It’s the four-way stops on the side streets. Everyone wants to be polite, which is nice, I suppose, but sometimes being polite means just taking your turn. The whole system breaks down otherwise.

My wife, Martha, says I should just go with the flow, but a flow needs direction. It just makes things slower for everyone. If we all just followed the rules, we’d get where we’re going a lot faster, and no one would feel so confused.

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.