Rollin on 22's

A couple lessons in driving from the locals:

The other week, I was driving my usual route to practice when I ran over some dude's load of plywood that was strewn all over the road. Apparently I neglected to notice that the truck in front of me that was re-routing itself into oncoming traffic was doing so to avoid another little truck's load that had been lost on the street...
A little antsy to get out of the car after driving for an hour (ONE way. I am logging some serious miles this year) I forged ahead and realized juuuust as I was my back tires cleared the wood, "Oh. THAT'S why that guy is carrying sheets of plywood to the side of the road...". I looked in my rearview mirror just in time to see the guy look back at me with a look of perplexed rage.

I have never driven those last 2 minutes to the gym so fast.

This would be nothing more than an embarrassing story to demonstrate I can be inadvertently be a jerk behind the wheel, except that later in the week I learned Hungarians have a cute habit of flashing their hazards one time if they cut you off or otherwise do something douchey. In a word, I think this is great. We have horns/special fingers to let people know they've wronged us, but how are we to make amends if we almost t-bone a city bus while pulling out of the grocery store parking lot (hypothetically speaking obviously)?
The beauty of this concept is one could just roll around, cutting people off at will and all is theoretically forgiven with the swift push of a button.
I should mention credible sources says this is common all over Europe... but I definitely never saw any form of magical light-flashing after getting cut off by more than one a Frenchman. So I say it's up for debate. Also, I realize the wave could sort of be put in this category, but in my books that's more of a thank you than a sorry so it's omitted.

Also a few weeks back, I was driving to church in Budapest. Once just inside the city I exited the freeway and noticed a guy standing outside his car which was pulled over on the side of the off-ramp. I figured hey, we can help a dude out and slow down to pull over. Right about as the guy is jogging up to the window I panicked and remembered I don't speak any Hungarian to even ask what's wrong (unfortunately apple, yes, no, and numbers 1 through 20 don't help in a situation like this so they don't count).
I was likely to only make the situation worse, or at the very least super awkward, buuuut it was too late to drive away. So I rolled down my window to humour the guy. Turns out buddy was looking for directions to another city.

I like to think this is the way all Hungarians behave when lost.
Rather than head to a gas station or non-existent 7-11, it's definitely a way better idea to just pull over and wait until the directions come to you.
The plan's only flaw is the possibility that idiot foreigners who speak no Hungarian will be the only people who pull over to help. Fortunately for me, dude was looking for a city that was printed on a sign about 200m down the road so by pointing this out, I ended up looking like the hero after all. Or at least like an individual with functioning eyes.

I plan on incorporating both driving techniques into my repertoire.