According to hubby who is Canadian, it is the same when driving through the prairies in Canada. Long, straight, flat and boring.

It's interesting, I was expecting to find the terrain in Iowa boring too - everyone says it is - but I actually kinda liked it. Horizons as far as you can see and gently undulating land that makes me feel like I'm sailing out in the middle of an ocean.

I like big open spaces so it suited me just fine

City girl as heart. Give me the hustle, bustle and crowded living and walking conditions of a big city and I'm happy. When on vacation, my preference is towards water views, quiet and nature.

I took my MA driving "test" on Saturday.

My wife went first and I sat in the back with the sponsor. She was asked to do the hand signals, then drive to the end of the residential road we were on. At the end, she did a 3-point-turn then was told to pull over and that she had passed. We then switched seats, I drove to the other end of the road, did a 3-point-turn, parallel parked and then drove back and had also passed.

It is no exaggeration to say that from start to finish, we were both in the car a combined time of 6 minutes and only about half of that time the car was in motion.

DO NOT WORRY ABOUT IT!

The driving "test" is far easier over here - mine involved parking inside some cones in a car park and then driving for 500 yards on a road before returning.

I imagine the ease of driving creates the conditions for the accidents - far too easy to switch off and probably even snooze.

Much easier to pass your test here: you just need to swot up on everything beforehand:
watch youtube videos of an actual driving test from your location, download the handbook for theory test etc. You will most likely get asked the question about blood-alcohol limits so memorize that one. Drive to the speed limit rather than under it (as you would do in the UK).

I think the problem is it's too easy to drive here.
Automatics
Long straight roads
Piss poor standards for the driving test.
I've seen people eating cereal from a bowl with a spoon on my morning commute!

Bingo! .... And so have I.

I would add to your list that a significant number of drivers learned to drive in nasty old barges that wallowed around corners, therefore they have no idea that in a modern car you can whip around corners at a good clip with your foot on the gas, .... and feel safer than taking the same turn at half the speed with your foot on the brake. I keep telling my wife and daughter, or whoever else is a passenger that the road must be icy given how slow the car in front is taking the corner!

I saw an article a while back, when the "sudden acceleration" craze was in full swing (usually pensioners in old Buick or Caddies), and the author said he could end the pen entirely - just outlaw automatics, as there wasn't a single reported incident of sudden uncontrolled acceleration in a car with a manual transmission!

I've seen people taking a hit on a bong while driving on the highway on several occasions. Automatics mean that people are not really 'connected' to their car: you don't have to concentrate or actually really be present to get from A to B. Driving as close as possible to the person in front of you is the norm and if you leave a gap some idiot will swerve into the moment it is around 3 cms longer than his/her car.

This!

Why when I keep a sensible distance to the car in front does someone with a small manhood in a rather large truck jacked up on a lift kit, feel the need to swerve into that gap barely long enough for their truck?!

Without knowing exactly what circumstances you (both) are talking about, if the vehicle muscling-in is coming over from the right, it is often because the vehicle "behind the gap", presumably "you" in this case is travelling slower than vehicles to the right of "you", which generally speaking "you" shouldn't be (travelling slower).

It is not at all uncommon in my experience to find a line of vehicles in the left lane cruising along, with one, or more, lanes to the right almost empty. So yes, when I am rolling long in a lane to the right, at some point I will need to get over in to the left lane to pass a slower moving vehicle, before, after completing my passing manoeuver, moving back to the right ..... where all the other ****-wits in the left lane should be!

If you're talking about the same sort of idiots described above, who have stayed in the far left lane until it is too late to safely move to the left in time to exit the highway/ interstate, so they're muscling-in from the left, then I wholeheartedly agree with you!

I agree! I love the "big horizon" areas of the USA.... Maybe it's because I'm from the only real "flatlands" in the UK, the Cambs Fens.

Last time I lived in America many years ago, we were based in Texas which abounded in wide long vistas under the giant horizon. Just magnificent views, especially when storms were coming!!

However, this time around we're living in New England, the part with hills of all sizes, valleys everywhere you look, and winding country roads full of surprises....

In CA there is no such rule that slower traffic should keep right on the freeway (unless towing then you must stay in the two right lanes). In many cases you actually join the freeway from the left, coming into the traffic from the left, and sometimes exit ramps are on the left too.

The only reason I leave a gap is because it's the only safe and correct way to drive. The only reason people jump into said gap is because they are idiots who think that weaving across lanes will get them wherever they are going faster (it won't).

And continuing the theme, I just saw someone brushing his teeth at the wheel: handled the all way stop perfectly well without taking his hand/toothbrush away from his mouth.