Drive gently. That was the message I saw on one of those mobile signs on the side of the road this evening on my way home from the train station. Actually, the sign's been there for a couple of months, but I kept forgetting to mention it.

WTF? What does that mean? Only hit the other driver at 35 mph or less? Only barge your way out of a strip mall parking lot into oncoming traffic at 5 mph or less? Wave on drivers who don't have the right of way until you get an angry line of 20 drivers behind you leaning on their horns? This ain't Hawaii, folks. It's NJ, home of aggressive people who fished their driver's licenses out of boxes of Cracker Jacks.

Ever wonder why a number of insurance companies pulled their auto insurance business out of NJ several years ago? You don't even have to drive on a highway. Just drive a few local roads and watch all the horse's patooties run stop signs and red lights. And it's just as bad during the day as it is during rush hour. I've seen a few really bad looking wrecks on streets that have 25 mph speed limits, and a guy got killed by the train station a month or two ago crossing the street in the crosswalk when some driver hit him.

The irony reminds me of all the signs I see as I leave Houston's Intercontinental airport reminding me to "drive friendly." In the land of shotguns and pickups where traffic regularly is bumper to bumper going 70 mph? If you drive too friendly, you may never make it out of the airport at all!