On driving in the great, soon-to-be-frozen North

Minnesotans are terrible drivers. Part of the problem seems to be their interstate system, which was evidently designed around the existing Cities and can therefore be mostly forgiven for its windiness and the resulting 55 mph speed limits. What it cannot be forgiven for is the dynamic nature of those speed limits, which can change one lane at a time down to as low as 30 mph. It cannot be forgiven for its propensity to have entrances and exits on both sides of the interstate simultaneously. And it certainly cannot be forgiven for putting all of its entrances within 200 feet of the exits sharing the same lane, so that every quarter mile is a chaotic jumble of cars entering and exiting from both sides onto an interstate with an unknowable speed limit.

At least, I think this might be what makes Minnesotans insane. The fact is, Minnesotan drivers run red lights. I'm not talking about lazy, rolling-through-a-yellow type infractions. I'm talking about from-a-dead-stop, turning-left-on-red-across-three-lanes-of-oncoming-traffic type infractions. I'm talking about four cars successively turning left on a red light. I have heard it speculated that their propensity to run red lights stems from the need to conserve momentum when one drives on icy conditions for much of the year, but I don't buy it. It doesn't make sense.

I have seen more people run red lights in my short time living here than the rest of my life combined. I'm learning to trust less, which may save my life, but salt-rotted Minnesotan death traps seem often to be targeting me.