Top 32 Oddly Acceptable Habits of Albanian Motorists

Over the past two years, I've had the opportunity to survey Albanian driving habits. Having not had an Albanian driving course it's hard to say what's legal versus what's considered acceptable. In order to illustrate what I'm talking about, I've listed the top 32 Oddly Acceptable Habits of Albanian Motorists or to put it another way, Top 32 Strange Things to do with Your Car in Albania and Still not get a Ticket:

1. Stop in the middle of the road to have a long conversation with someone
2. Stop in the middle of the road to have a long conversation with someone while dropping them off in the middle of the road
3. Park in the middle of the road
4. Believe the simple act of turning on their hazard lights gives them license to park/stop in the middle of the road
5. Fail to stop for traffic lights
6. Make left hand turns from the far right lane
7. Make right hand turns from the far left lane
8. Turn either direction from the middle lane
9. Never signal before making said turns across multiple lanes
10. Create gridlock...at every intersection
11. Jaywalk (when not driving)
12. Double park
13. Triple park
14. Double park when there are vacant parking spots two car lengths ahead or behind where they double parked
15. Halfway park in a parallel parking space
16. Cut in front of everyone waiting at a stop light (this is quite the sight when more than five people do it)
17. Disregard lines in the road
18. Drive over potholes as if their cars are made of rice paper
19. Avoid getting their cars serviced, or the emissions checked
20. Play Albanian undulating-voice and clarinet-meet-cheap-techno music louder than their car stereos can handle
21. Get their cars washed every time they get dirty (Albania is an exceptionally dusty place) even though their country is in a drought-turned-power crisis
22. Throw garbage out of their windows at intersections
23. Drive both directions down one-way roads
24. Pass on both sides when the 12 cars in front of them are politely waiting their turn to pass the slow cars ahead of you
25. Pass on the sidewalk
26. Create 6 lanes on a 3-lane road (no really)
27. Create 6 lanes going the same direction, on a 3-lane road, thereby blocking oncoming traffic from progressing
28. Merge into your lane while you are occupying the space they're attempting to merge into
29. Get mad at you when you honk at them for merging into the space you’re occupying
30. Drive however they please (this applies to everyone, but moreso to owners/drivers of 7-series BMWs, brand new Mercedes, and SUVs over $45,000)
31. Hold their children on their laps while driving
32. Drive around with no purpose or direction

In spite of the myriad ways driving laws are disregarded in Albania, it goes without saying how nice it is to be able to disregard the occasional traffic law or stop in the middle of the road to talk to someone.