> Friend from Boston says she absolutely hates Vermont drivers because the friendliness can actually create dangerous situations. I see it all the time now

It's not really a VT thing, it's a rural driver thing. The whole being super friendly while driving and making exceptions works fine when there's almost no traffic to deal with but it quickly becomes problematic as traffic density increases. It takes a little while for rural drivers to learn that ruthlessly enforcing traffic pattern rules is actually the most polite way to drive.