Ever drive behind a Hyundai or a Toyota and see it do something unusual -- like stop in the middle of the road to let someone in or out? Go irritatingly below the speed limit? Pull out of a side street when you are only 25 feet away from it?

Driven by bewilderment, the curiosity factor is compelling: you need to know from which galaxy the driver originated.

Seven out of 10 times, it's an Asian driver looking straight ahead, totally focused ... and oblivious to what he or she had done.

You have just experienced a Chapel Hill phenomenon called "DWA," or Driving While Asian.

A national occurrence in larger cities, it is now here. But "Driving While (fill in the blank)" is not just an Asian thing. It transcends ethnicity and culture, for there are other variations: DWM -- Driving while Mexican; DWK -- Driving while Korean; even DWO -- Driving while Old, and my favorite DWS -- Driving while Stupid, which says it all.

Eddie Murphy used to say he is "predominantly black," qualifying him to critique African-American culture. Correspondingly, I can comfortably confirm that I am "predominantly Asian." Still, I feel your road pain.

I left UNC when my baccalaureate education came to its end in 1982, along with beach music and shagging. Fast forwarding 23 years, various aspects of the town have changed, particularly the exponential growth in the Asian population.

Returning, questions arose within: Where did they all come from? When did they all get here? What is it about Asian drivers?

The simple answer to question one is the New World Order. In the1989 movie "Field of Dreams," the main character hears the words, "Build it and they will come." The socially liberal elected officials have declared a similar premise of the United States foreign policy: "Open the borders and they will arrive."

Well, they've come ... got their licenses ... and now drive among us.

Asians crossed the Pacific from 1983 to the present, one airline at a time. In my college days, gasoline was 35 cents a gallon. More significantly, there were four Korean, undergraduate males. We hailed from Rocky Mount, Raleigh (yours truly), Chapel Hill and Morganton. Now, there are hundreds of Koreans students alone.

It is difficult to comprehend the Asian driving eccentricity ... unless you've lived and driven there. Then, the "why's" and the "what's" begin making unconventional sense, bringing sympathy.

Most FOBs ("Fresh off the Boat") -- primarily international graduate students and the new, legal immigrants -- lack driving experience before arriving. They did not drive in their homeland; it was too expensive and/or dangerous. Instead, many are learning now, on our roads, trying our patience.

Amplifying the quandary, their driving is dictated more by their cultural state of mind (i.e., not stopping at STOP signs, "No cars there") than the proven rules of the road. The automobile may be a Western invention but the drivers in question have an Eastern mentality.

Furthermore, the lack of automobile history implies equal lack of proper road infrastructure. Most "roads" are narrow: visualize paved alleys, barely wide enough for two vehicles. Such is used for walking, pushing carts, storing excess inventory by stores, children playing, parking and yes, driving. The motorists have no choice but to hold up traffic to let people on and off. Though here now, their ingrained customs are not easily changed.

Compound this with a sudden, exponential infusion of cars back home. Chapel Hill's rush hour (or New York's, or D.C.'s) has nothing over Seoul, or Shanghai. There, once the traffic light changes from red to green on a major thoroughfare, it is a non-stop wave of traffic. You force your way into the flow, or else. There, 25 feet of air space is significant, even when cars are coming at you at 35 mph. The same issue to changing lanes: if you signal your intention, you will not get in.

Though not applicable here, the convoluted driving methodology works for them where they're from.

Overcoming one's culture necessarily takes time; more so learning a new one.

The next time you're frustrated at someone DWA, ask yourself: "Could I do better if I was driving in their homeland instead?"

Criticizing is easy. Compassion? More challenging.