Highway Anarchy

After living and working in France, I was under the impression that America was delightfully free of bureaucracy. However, after just a few weeks of being a resident, working, tax paying American, I realise that it's plus ca change over here.


There difference is: Whereas Britain, France and the rest of Europe are bound up in centralised red tape, the United States has a federal government that preaches distance and non-interference to it's citizens. However the state and town governments have a different outlook on life entirely. They're the ones who stick the oar in.


It's something that's been said many many times, but I'd never quite understood it until now. America isn't a single nation. It's fifty individual countries with their own governments, laws, customs and people. Living in New York, I'd never quite understood that. It isn't until you cross the state line that the differences become apparent.


The reason for my rant is the Department of Motor Vehicles - or the Motor Vehicle Commission as they're called in New Jersey. Transferring my driving records from one state to the other seems like a simple, albeit inconvenient and expensive process. However I discovered today that the simple process of getting my records from one state to another (less than half an hour's drive away) had evidently proven too complicated for the DMV.


Despite having already walked into the MVC and insured and registered a car in New Jersey, I discovered today that I wasn't technically allowed to drive here. I have to pay yet more money to the state government to get approved.


They'd cheerfully accepted my money at the government offices without informing me of this. Thank God I found out like this - instead of after being pulled over for speeding or for a broken tail light. Without valid driving permission, I could have been arrested.


That potentially disasterous 'hiccup' illustrates my major frustration with 'streamlined' American government. The right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing. Federal laws conflict with State ones. State rules conflict with Town regulations. Sometimes, in the interest of progress, authorities pass rules without giving the consequences any prior thought.


A good example of this is again to be found on the roads. While taking my test for a New Jersey State Driver's Licence (which they would gaily grant me, despite apparently not being allowed to drive in the state) I had to study the NJ driving rules. And in the chapter marked traffic circles, I was interested to discover this insightful guide:


New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission, Driver Manual, Chapter 4, Page 38:


There are not [sic] set rules for driving into, around and out of a traffic circle in New Jersey.


That's the American attitude to roundabouts, I guess. Basically, they're building these bloody things without any idea how to use them. In England, half of the Highway Code is about them.


I'm not complaining. The lack of centralised bureaucracy is refreshing and I can see how (in theory) it's easier to get things done in America than in Europe. But I get the impression there's more haste and less speed - and with so many conflicting rules, it's very easy to get caught out by one of them.


That must be why lawyers are so important here.


I am sorting out my driving problem tomorrow, so the Lincoln can safely and legally hit the tarmac again. But I've learnt an important lesson in America. Caveat Emptor - the 'buyer beware' - is just as important a warning when handing over money to a government department in America as it is when dealing with private individuals.