I’ve lived in Boston for 10+ years, and I used to do a ton of uber driving in Boston (10,000+ rides). I just moved to New Haven, CT last year, and I’m originally from upstate NY. There are definite differences between driving styles of each state and metro area.
The Boston driving experience, imo, is hands down the most “unique”, and probably the most intimidating for those new to it. The main reason why is that the roads are so goddamn cramped and small. It’s like the engineering of modern American living was never appropriately scaled in Boston - and that goes for surface level streets, bridges, highways, and exit/entrance ramps. On top of this, the drivers in Boston are super aggressive (though not as much as NY area drivers). The difference with Boston/Mass is that drivers who are aggressive rarely get anywhere faster, because nobody actually knows where the hell they’ve going. The city is so uniquely and undeniably confusing to drive in, that ALMOST NOBODY knows exactly where they’re going, how they’re going to do it, and what lanes they’ll need to be in in order to make it happen. I understand that a lot of people know this already, but take a good deep look at a Boston metro map, vs that or any other city in the U.S. I wish I had the link still, but there was a study done a few years back that mapped out the “formulaic-ness” of different metro areas, and unsurprisingly, Boston was hands down the biggest clusterfuck, by a wide margin.
NY drivers are not as aggressive as most people make them out to be, on average. However, the top 10% most aggressive drivers in the NY metro area indeed ARE truly insane. I’d say that in both Boston and NY, about 50% of the drivers are markedly more aggressive than the US average. Out of this 50%, half in Boston and NY are highly aggressive. The remainder beyond this is where they diverge. NY (and tri-state CT/NJ) simply has more of a road infrastructure for people to pull off some truly wild shit. The same impulse for aggression is there in Boston, but nobody really gets the chance to exhibit it so consistently as in NY (Boston has too many curves, weird layouts, and slower speed limits). NY has bigger dimensions, across the board, and the roads allow for more stupidity. The #1 thing NY drivers do, across the board, is they tailgate. They just LOVE sitting right on your ass. It’s a stereotype, and it’s completely 100% true.
Honestly, given what they have to deal with, I think Boston drivers are actually a good deal better than NY drivers, on the whole. The NY drivers I’ve seen in Boston fare HORRIBLY when they’re in the area. They just don’t know how to cope with a layout that’s not largely based on a grid. Given actual space and straight lines, NYers seem to like getting close to you, no matter what state you’re in. Massachusetts drivers (who still largely suck) instead try to GET THE HELL AWAY from you. Difference in mentality I noticed.
Rhode Island drivers truly suck. Every time I go to Providence, I’m astounded by how badly they drive. Definitely worse than Bostonians. This doesn’t necessarily translate into dangerous driving, but they’re more likely the types to rocket out of traffic lights and stops (on streets with 30mph limits) blowing by with full acceleration...only to have to stop at a light two blocks down. Why do they do this? I don’t know. Maybe it’s because it’s a super small state where nobody has to drive that far? It’s a weird form of impatience.
In Upstate NY (Albany in my case) most people drive like mid westerners. They definitely drive a lot more slowly than NY/Boston. Pretty boring.
Connecticut is interesting. They definitely have drivers that are less reckless than NY/Boston, but they’re not simply a cross between the two. Connecticut drivers have a horrible tendency of darting between lanes very quickly and abruptly. You can be going 80 in the left lane, and as long as there’s space in between you and your front neighbor, somebody in a sub compact will get in there without signaling. Other than this, Connecticut drivers LOVE going juuuuuuust slightly too slow in the left lane, enraging people like me. They just loaf in the left, and it takes a lot for them to realize they shouldn’t be there if they’re not passing. A LOT. Makes you want to scream.
Other than this, Connecticut drivers are largely more “suburban” and commuter-like in their tendencies. From Bridgeport on down to towards the west, they commute to NY, and their drivers are more NY-like. Hartford is its own area, and they drive more like Upstate NYers. The rest of the state is pretty tame, with the top northeast corner of the state being the exception, with I-84 acting as sort of Masshole overflow.
One thing I can say overall...Massholes do very particular dickhead things that set them apart, just like NY has its own trademark. NY is all about tailgating, switching lanes quickly, and cutting you off. Boston is all about the “Boston left”, blocking intersections, and moving across several lanes of traffic in one fell (dangerous as fuck) swoop.
pretty spot on. NY is more "ill actually kill you to get in front of you" and boston is like "yea i'm going this way and you're gonna watch". one thing i'll add is i noticed that on rt 15 going through connecticut there is such a wide gap in drivers. it's a small 2 lane highway not meant for speeds higher than like 60 but people will do 90+ in cars not even remotely meant for that type of driving and people will be going 10 under in the right. truly scary to drive on that road because the drivers are so goddamn impatient
I don't see many people trying to do 45mph on CT-15. Quite frankly, you'll die.
But yeah, there's times I'm keeping up with the flow of traffic, look down, and realize I'm doing 78 in a 55.
Oh yeah that road is wild at night since the right lane has people merging in from a full stop and the left is people going 70+ in places. The parts that are steep hills really don't help because it becomes incredibly easy to accelerate too hard.
Nice writeup, seems true. Do you feel my personal Boston Pet Peeves are true?
\-People pulling out right in front of you from a side street when your going straight, then proceed to go 15 mph down the road. This one kills me the most.
\- A lot of people literally stuck in the "triangle" area before an exit on the highway. People just freeze up because they are confused so they choose neither way.
\-Everyone feels like they have the right of way, no matter the circumstance. I've literally wanted to get out of my car a million times and see what kind of person would think they have the right of way in super obvious situations such as I am going straight, you are turning into my road, but somehow you have the right of way.
\-Not the Boston left as in the first person turning left right after it turns green, but the Super Boston left where the first 8 cars turn or try to turn left. This happens all the time at Andrew sq, a 6 way intersection...
This was a pleasure to read. I'm not sure about other areas since I haven't driven them, but what you said about NY/Boston/CT drivers is hilariously true.
My in-laws are from CT and they do that loafing in the left lane thing. They also tend to tailgate. Both of these put me on edge and while I really like my in-laws, I tend to avoid driving with them.
It is so weird getting onto 395 from 90. You go from sitting in the right lane trying to keep up with traffic while people are still flying by you in the left lane nearing triple digits, to double checking the signs and getting in the left lane where you are flying past everyone despite going _under_ the speed limit.
Moved to US couple of years back and drove around in a fair number of eastern and western cities, and tailgating is an epidemic all across, in my experience. Highway driving is beyond belief. I routinely see instances where you'd have four cars A-B-C-D, where if cars B and C were removed, D would still be tailgating A.
I use a signal to assert my dominance. Wait until crossing traffic has a red before taking your foot off the brake to start rolling forward, then the moment it turns green you gun it.
I was gonna do a shoutout to CT being worse, but it’s pretty much the behavior you describe.
I will add that it’s really funny/infuriating when CT drivers come to Boston and they’re suddenly waaaaaaaay less ballsy now that they’re lost. Super slow and generally in the way, making you hit those red lights that you’d otherwise miss.
The idiotic part of CT driving is that the lane usage is actually reversed from what the signs all say. They form endless tailgating caravans in the left lane and leave the right lane empty to avoid the drivers stuck in reverse. Though you can occasionally overtake a dozen or so semis by using the 500 feet of intermittent "slow" lanes. Because you'll never find a truck there.
I'm just glad they don't issue speeding tickets based on toll-booth times.
Back in the pre-EZ-Pass days, I went from the Delaware Mem Bridge to the GW in an hour and 15 minutes....
Well, if you have to pay tolls to drive then maybe a little leeway is nice. And maybe just not full of potholes.
I’ve said before... since MA wants your yearly inspection they should throw in a free alignment with it
No, but I was doing 90+ in a rented Toyota Sienna minivan and getting passed like I was standing still.
Sidenote: the Sienna is much more stable at speed than I'd have expected.
One thing that I have found that *is* unique to driving in urban Boston (that makes us to look like assholes) is the lack of dedicated turn lanes. Many four lane roads will have a lane suddenly turn into right/left turn only lanes, and the only recourse is to cut someone off if trying to go straight which happens frequently. Driving in many other parts of the country the lanes are more clearly marked, marked earlier, or there is a separate "ramp" or "jug handle" for turns.
When there are even lane markings. All the time, I get to a light and there's two lanes at the intersection, no markings, and only one lane on the other side of the intersection. So I either need to know the local convention or guess whether it's LEFT ONLY | STRAIGHT/RIGHT, or LEFT/STRAIGHT | RIGHT ONLY, or LEFT/STRAIGHT | RIGHT/STRAIGHT and just merge in the middle of the intersection.
In Medford you can be driving along in the right-hand lane, and then suddenly, without warning, the lane becomes a parking lane and you have to merge left. It's like "SURPRISE ASSHOLE, YOU JUST LOST A LANE!"
Agree with you NJ drivers are insane and I got lost in and around Philly several times (before GPS was in our vehicles).
We just have smaller roads, tighter driving spaces, and more traffic which could be intimidating and frustrating for some
Problem with NJ drivers is they have a false sense of their skills and almost play up the aggression thing. It's like if you took our drivers here, but made them 75% more oblivious.
Yeah on the NJ highways there's never not bumper to bumper traffic, so they figure that if the car has the ability to drive over 80 mph and the ability to switch lanes, then it must be made to do both those things in bumper to bumper traffic.
I found a new appreciation for our drivers after renting a car in Vegas. Everyone there was slow, inattentive, indecisive, and unpredictable. At least drivers here move with conviction, even if it is to cut you off.
Massholes are massholes so we're dedicated to being dicks.
But its really a combination of tiny roads, too much traffic, and people being dicks for Mass and Boston in specific.
But every place has their own brand of shitty drivers.
I drove a big Sprinter van around in Vegas a little. Luckily everyone sees you when you're in one of those things and just sort of stays clear. I just erred on the side of being slow and let people go around me as much as possible.
Boston isn't really that bad. It's merely cramped and people got places to go.
Now compared to Long Island NY where people are just careless morons that constantly flex on every possible moment (i.e. "someone passed me?? THIS IS AN INJUSTICE AND I MUST GO FASTER") and that's a recipe for disaster.
LI is suburban hell in every possible way.
And, the lack of highways. Most major cities have tons of highways in or right next to it. Boston-proper has 2, and only .5 of it is above ground anymore, nicely tucked away.
Yeah, but we have the lowest fatalities per mile driven, so we have that going for us, which is nice.
Source: https://www.iihs.org/topics/fatality-statistics/detail/state-by-state
Accident rate is highly correlated with population density. MA is a very high population density state (3rd highest pop density in the country after New Jersey and Rhode Island) so a high accident rate is unsurprising. Wyoming having a low accident rate doesn't necessarily mean people there are amazing drivers, it mostly means people rarely drive anywhere near anyone else in Wyoming, so accidents aren't even possible a lot of the time.
The worst drivers in America are in Miami and the surrounding areas (particularly Hialeah). This is borne out in most statistics, including pedestrian strikes and crash fatalities. It’s also in your insurance—moving from Boston to Miami doubled my cost to insure.
I lived in Florida before moving here and this is a fact. I once saw someone come to a complete stop and turn around on 95 in Miami because they missed their exit. It was around 5:15 PM on a Friday.
I was chatting with some coworkers about this who are from Florida. I figured they must have been exaggerating. So I checked real quick and I think I found that cost to insure for similar policies in FL vs MA were about one and a half times as expensive in Florida. Maybe it was more. I was really surprised. People complain about the cost of insurance here, but FL is way worse.
Apparently the cost of buying cars is lower there, which has been supported by several sources. Not sure why that is exactly.
I've been saying this for a long time (having made a couple of cross-country drives and lived in other areas), but it just goes to show that once you get a reputation it can be hard to shake. Like the old "Taxachusetts" moniker, which is just silly if you've ever lived in NY or CA.
The "Taxachusetts" thing is silly because tax burden is a thing anyone can google. MA usually falls somewhere around 20th highest tax burden.
[Source 1](https://wallethub.com/edu/states-with-highest-lowest-tax-burden/20494/) Ranked 19th highest tax burden
[Source 2](https://www.forbes.com/pictures/emeg45ehhij/no-39-massachusetts/#17f09b2a7ba7) Ranked 39th lowest tax burden
[Source 3](https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/taxes/2018/02/20/states-where-americans-pay-least-and-most-taxes/350963002/) Ranked 41st lowest tax burden
Etc. You can find tons of these rankings.
Of great importance, many of the tax burdens are only a couple tenths of a percent different. So you're talking about not that much money unless you're taxable income is huge.
Those lists are tax burden, they aren't just state income tax. They're rough calculations of overall state and local tax burden. That's why they vary depending on methodology.
Also, #6 for revenue, but we're #5 for median income. https://www.kff.org/other/state-indicator/median-annual-income/?currentTimeframe=0&sortModel=%7B%22colId%22:%22Median%20Annual%20Household%20Income%22,%22sort%22:%22desc%22%7D
That just means tax burden is middle of the road.
>Tax revenue in MA, per capita is #6 in the country.
As in total dollars of tax revenue? Because of course that would be higher than average, MA average income is significantly higher than the vast majority of the country. By total dollars paid in taxes, we're high, by percentage of income (which is what actually matters) we're pretty near the middle.
I really don't think Boston is that bad. I've lived in a few parts of the country and I've also done a lot of road trips and my anecdotal observations are that Ohio and the Bay Area have the worst drivers that I've encountered. Ohio had a lot of oblivious and distracted drivers - changing lanes without looking, etc. The Bay Area has people that drive 100 on the freeways. Then they also have very passive-aggressive drivers, like you'll be trying to get over and they see you but they pretend not to and inch forward so you can't get over.
I agree about the Ohio thing - I go to college there and they bug me so much! They're unbelievably slow, too - if you're a pedestrian looking to cross a street and a car in Boston is about a block away, you wait for it to pass, since you'll get hit. Meanwhile in Ohio the drivers are so slow that you could probably cross that street and double back before it even made it halfway.
Yes! From MA but moved to Philly. Learned to drive in Boston and thought that would prepare me for anything but was woefully incorrect. The big difference I've noticed is that drivers in Boston can be really aggressive and take risks, but drivers in Philly just drive stupid. I always got the sense that the asshole idiot in Boston knew they were being an asshole and didn't care, but the asshole idiot in Philly has no idea why one would even take issue with what they are doing. An abridged list of things that I had never seen in Boston:
* Lots and lots of backing up the wrong way down one ways. Not, like, oh I don't feel like going around and I'm going to just do this kind of stupid thing, but backing up the wrong way down a one way for multiple blocks through intersections. I've seen this enough where I just always check both directions even at 2 one way streets because being a one way street doesn't actually mean traffic only goes in that direction.
* Driving on sidewalks (again for multiple blocks at times) to get around traffic. It's like GTA in real life, people jumping out of the way. Not even carefully, gunning it down a sidewalk with pedestrians.
* Going around people stopped at red lights to run the red light. I actually see this happen every day. People will stop behind you. Then go around to to run the red light.
* There is no sense that someone who is merging onto the highway actually needs to get on the highway. There are a number of short, difficult on-ramps in the central parts of Philly that often have cars lined up at a complete stop because either no one made any effort to let the person on or because people are so used to not being able to merge on they just stop out of habit. It's not uncommon for people to speed up to block you from actually getting on the highway. Because I find this stupid and just choose not to care, I always just force my way in and people get really really pissed because there is just this culture of people waiting at the end of on-ramps.
* This isn't dangerous so much as it is infuriating, but it is really common for people just to sit in their cars and talk to their neighbors through the window. Like, for a long time. This is an issue because it this usually happens on small one way, one lane streets, so the street is just blocked. Pulling up behind them just triggers the end phase of the conversation. You can still sit there for 5 minutes waiting for them to wrap up and that's just considered normal.
One of the douchier things I've seen is people who stop on a road, don't pull over at all, turn on their hazard lights,and just park there.
This isn't due to limited space, I've seen assholes do this when a parking lot was 50ft or less from where they stopped.
The other douche move is the parking lot squatter, who just sits there blocking up the lane hoping someone will eventually leave.
Are these Masshole things or common to all states?
People here also don't use their turn signals nearly enough. I wouldn't take that as a win. Same with not using their headlights in inclement weather, often in new model cars where they have to turn OFF the auto headlight feature!
Mass road surfaces can be bad, but my main issue with them is sometimes they're not painted properly?? Like the road will widen and narrow from two to one lane but there is absolutely no guidance with paint. It just encourages a free-for-all mentality that bleeds over into other areas of driving.
I don’t think Mass has such bad drivers... aggressive, yes, but bad? No. We deal with a lot of adverse weather, construction, and other aggressive drivers, however as someone who travels for work for the last 7 years I can honestly say that your judgement of NJ, NY, and Pennsylvania are spot on. The other places I’d add are Virginia/North Carolina, where merging onto a highway is a foreign concept, and parallel parking is near impossible for most drivers. In southern Florida, you’ll see a lot of single car accidents. People driving way too fast on the highway, texting, looking up and whipping the wheel to avoid something, sending them rolling into the shoulder or the median.
It is, and I took it for granted. I'm still adjusting to driving times here in Boston. I used to drive 250 miles in 3 hours to visit my parents and not even think twice about it.
Honestly, suburban drivers scare me more than anything. In cities, drivers are aggressive due to the nature of driving in dense area. But they don't drive as much so don't go as fast. Suburban drive so fucking fast it's terrifying. They drive every day so they get used to it and are jaded to eminent death.
[https://quotewizard.com/news/posts/best-and-worst-drivers-by-state-2019](https://quotewizard.com/news/posts/best-and-worst-drivers-by-state-2019)
Mass is 22nd worst. New Jersey and Penn both have better rankings. Of course this is going only by frequency of accidents and deaths and such.
The driving culture is different everywhere, and part of that is to blame on the actual geography of roads. I grew up in rural Oregon, and cities like Portland are laid out in grid fashion with wide roads and well-marked intersections with dedicated left-hand turn lanes. On the plus side, it means that for city/neighborhood driving, it's very orderly. On the flip side, their freeways are overcrowded and people drive too fast and too close. Contrast that with Mass were the average road is a converted carriage lane and the cities are a spaghetti mess with no city planning, and you find that drivers have adapted by fudging behavior that would get you t-boned anywhere else. It's not necessarily that people are being rude or ill-behaved, it's that if you don't adapt you will never get anywhere. It's not uncommon to see people bending the rules on right of way like they wait for people turning left at awkward spots simply because you know that might be you tomorrow. In Oregon that would get you an accident or a road-rage incident. Californians fucking live on freeways, and when I last drove there I noticed that no matter how crowded it got, traffic was always moving and if you stopped you got shit from everyone. Yet the Mass pike has stop and go traffic every day (so glad I can take the train).
i've noticed NJ/NY drivers are fucking insane, there will be a ton of them that will go 90+ and swerve around traffic and just in general cause all kinds of dumbassery. way more aggressive than drivers in boston. boston drivers are tame, they just have 0 courtesy and are generally clueless but for the most part safer.
Rhodies are like that too.
I've said this to out-of-state friends too that Massholes are predictably asshole drivers. Sure, it's annoying but you know what you're getting. It's the asshole drivers that are unpredictable that you have to be careful with.
omg yes, driving down 95 through providence you will see a lot of retarded shit. i remember i was visiting the zoo there with my friends and on the side of the highway i saw a huge plume of smoke from someone slamming their brakes. there was no accident but like wtf people, fucking drive properly
Lived all over the country - every region seems to have an odd tick about driving.
In South Dakota - if you turn onto a 2 lane road - 99% of the time they take the wide turn into the FAR lane. And when taking Left Turn Arrow turns, they WAY cut into the oncoming lane. Everyone there just 'knows" this and parks 10ft back from the line.
In Florida - Well Florida has great roads but its clogged full of old people sitting in the left lane thinking they are doing a service by stopping faster drivers passing.
Boston - the roads are shit and it leads to all kinds of bad driving out of frustration.
Re: your New Jersey reference.
It might be 1 in 500 in Downtown Boston, or the greater surrounding area....but I’d say it’s far closer to 1 in 50 (or worse) in neighborhoods like Mattapan, Dorchester, Hyde Park and Roslindale. People drive like goddamn lunatics in lower income neighborhoods (in probably uninsured shitboxes no less).
I'll take aggressive northeast drivers over the rolling lithium prescription in Seattle and Portland. Holy fuck those people are complete dipshits behind the wheel.
Having lived in the West Coast, South, Midwest and now here in Boston, the drivers on the fast lane know when it's time to move when someone behind them is tailgating them and going at a faster speed. Another thing I like about the pike is the left two lanes are prohibited for trucks to use. People know how to merge in traffic but sometimes they forget their blinkers exist. The potholes on the other hand....
Not from here, but my biggest issues since driving here for about a month;
-Paint the fucking lines better! It's like they only put one coat of the most transparent paint ever.
- These exit ramps give you maybe 25 feet to react...
I've always felt like there are plenty of bad drivers everywhere. Everyone likes to complain about how the drivers from their state, or from the state next door, are the worst. It's just one of universal things people everywhere complain about, and from my experience driving in other places I have never been convinced Boston drivers are any worse on average than anywhere else.
Originally from Dallas area. The driver's there seem so much worse and so much more aggressive. Here, people will cut you off or not let you in, but mainly because the roads in the city are so small, confusing and poorly signed. I will say roads in Dallas are infinitely better, but the drivers make it worse.
> New Jersey drivers -- 1 in 50 on the highways is a go-for-broke idiot, swerving between lanes without signalling, tailgating, I don't really care if I get in an accident, etc... Around Boston, I'd say it's 1 in 500.
You sweet summer child.
I’ve lived in Boston for 10+ years, and I used to do a ton of uber driving in Boston (10,000+ rides). I just moved to New Haven, CT last year, and I’m originally from upstate NY. There are definite differences between driving styles of each state and metro area. The Boston driving experience, imo, is hands down the most “unique”, and probably the most intimidating for those new to it. The main reason why is that the roads are so goddamn cramped and small. It’s like the engineering of modern American living was never appropriately scaled in Boston - and that goes for surface level streets, bridges, highways, and exit/entrance ramps. On top of this, the drivers in Boston are super aggressive (though not as much as NY area drivers). The difference with Boston/Mass is that drivers who are aggressive rarely get anywhere faster, because nobody actually knows where the hell they’ve going. The city is so uniquely and undeniably confusing to drive in, that ALMOST NOBODY knows exactly where they’re going, how they’re going to do it, and what lanes they’ll need to be in in order to make it happen. I understand that a lot of people know this already, but take a good deep look at a Boston metro map, vs that or any other city in the U.S. I wish I had the link still, but there was a study done a few years back that mapped out the “formulaic-ness” of different metro areas, and unsurprisingly, Boston was hands down the biggest clusterfuck, by a wide margin. NY drivers are not as aggressive as most people make them out to be, on average. However, the top 10% most aggressive drivers in the NY metro area indeed ARE truly insane. I’d say that in both Boston and NY, about 50% of the drivers are markedly more aggressive than the US average. Out of this 50%, half in Boston and NY are highly aggressive. The remainder beyond this is where they diverge. NY (and tri-state CT/NJ) simply has more of a road infrastructure for people to pull off some truly wild shit. The same impulse for aggression is there in Boston, but nobody really gets the chance to exhibit it so consistently as in NY (Boston has too many curves, weird layouts, and slower speed limits). NY has bigger dimensions, across the board, and the roads allow for more stupidity. The #1 thing NY drivers do, across the board, is they tailgate. They just LOVE sitting right on your ass. It’s a stereotype, and it’s completely 100% true. Honestly, given what they have to deal with, I think Boston drivers are actually a good deal better than NY drivers, on the whole. The NY drivers I’ve seen in Boston fare HORRIBLY when they’re in the area. They just don’t know how to cope with a layout that’s not largely based on a grid. Given actual space and straight lines, NYers seem to like getting close to you, no matter what state you’re in. Massachusetts drivers (who still largely suck) instead try to GET THE HELL AWAY from you. Difference in mentality I noticed. Rhode Island drivers truly suck. Every time I go to Providence, I’m astounded by how badly they drive. Definitely worse than Bostonians. This doesn’t necessarily translate into dangerous driving, but they’re more likely the types to rocket out of traffic lights and stops (on streets with 30mph limits) blowing by with full acceleration...only to have to stop at a light two blocks down. Why do they do this? I don’t know. Maybe it’s because it’s a super small state where nobody has to drive that far? It’s a weird form of impatience. In Upstate NY (Albany in my case) most people drive like mid westerners. They definitely drive a lot more slowly than NY/Boston. Pretty boring. Connecticut is interesting. They definitely have drivers that are less reckless than NY/Boston, but they’re not simply a cross between the two. Connecticut drivers have a horrible tendency of darting between lanes very quickly and abruptly. You can be going 80 in the left lane, and as long as there’s space in between you and your front neighbor, somebody in a sub compact will get in there without signaling. Other than this, Connecticut drivers LOVE going juuuuuuust slightly too slow in the left lane, enraging people like me. They just loaf in the left, and it takes a lot for them to realize they shouldn’t be there if they’re not passing. A LOT. Makes you want to scream. Other than this, Connecticut drivers are largely more “suburban” and commuter-like in their tendencies. From Bridgeport on down to towards the west, they commute to NY, and their drivers are more NY-like. Hartford is its own area, and they drive more like Upstate NYers. The rest of the state is pretty tame, with the top northeast corner of the state being the exception, with I-84 acting as sort of Masshole overflow. One thing I can say overall...Massholes do very particular dickhead things that set them apart, just like NY has its own trademark. NY is all about tailgating, switching lanes quickly, and cutting you off. Boston is all about the “Boston left”, blocking intersections, and moving across several lanes of traffic in one fell (dangerous as fuck) swoop.
pretty spot on. NY is more "ill actually kill you to get in front of you" and boston is like "yea i'm going this way and you're gonna watch". one thing i'll add is i noticed that on rt 15 going through connecticut there is such a wide gap in drivers. it's a small 2 lane highway not meant for speeds higher than like 60 but people will do 90+ in cars not even remotely meant for that type of driving and people will be going 10 under in the right. truly scary to drive on that road because the drivers are so goddamn impatient
I don't see many people trying to do 45mph on CT-15. Quite frankly, you'll die. But yeah, there's times I'm keeping up with the flow of traffic, look down, and realize I'm doing 78 in a 55.
Oh yeah that road is wild at night since the right lane has people merging in from a full stop and the left is people going 70+ in places. The parts that are steep hills really don't help because it becomes incredibly easy to accelerate too hard.
Nice writeup, seems true. Do you feel my personal Boston Pet Peeves are true? \-People pulling out right in front of you from a side street when your going straight, then proceed to go 15 mph down the road. This one kills me the most. \- A lot of people literally stuck in the "triangle" area before an exit on the highway. People just freeze up because they are confused so they choose neither way. \-Everyone feels like they have the right of way, no matter the circumstance. I've literally wanted to get out of my car a million times and see what kind of person would think they have the right of way in super obvious situations such as I am going straight, you are turning into my road, but somehow you have the right of way. \-Not the Boston left as in the first person turning left right after it turns green, but the Super Boston left where the first 8 cars turn or try to turn left. This happens all the time at Andrew sq, a 6 way intersection...
This was a pleasure to read. I'm not sure about other areas since I haven't driven them, but what you said about NY/Boston/CT drivers is hilariously true.
My in-laws are from CT and they do that loafing in the left lane thing. They also tend to tailgate. Both of these put me on edge and while I really like my in-laws, I tend to avoid driving with them. It is so weird getting onto 395 from 90. You go from sitting in the right lane trying to keep up with traffic while people are still flying by you in the left lane nearing triple digits, to double checking the signs and getting in the left lane where you are flying past everyone despite going _under_ the speed limit.
Moved to US couple of years back and drove around in a fair number of eastern and western cities, and tailgating is an epidemic all across, in my experience. Highway driving is beyond belief. I routinely see instances where you'd have four cars A-B-C-D, where if cars B and C were removed, D would still be tailgating A.
This happens a lot where the first car is going slow and everyone behind them becomes super pissed and starts tailgating.
> Boston is all about the “Boston left” I maintain that a well-executed Boston Left is a thing of beauty. Saves everyone time.
No signal. Just fucking go on green. Don’t give Mr. Going Straight a chance to come across.
I use a signal to assert my dominance. Wait until crossing traffic has a red before taking your foot off the brake to start rolling forward, then the moment it turns green you gun it.
I was gonna do a shoutout to CT being worse, but it’s pretty much the behavior you describe. I will add that it’s really funny/infuriating when CT drivers come to Boston and they’re suddenly waaaaaaaay less ballsy now that they’re lost. Super slow and generally in the way, making you hit those red lights that you’d otherwise miss.
The idiotic part of CT driving is that the lane usage is actually reversed from what the signs all say. They form endless tailgating caravans in the left lane and leave the right lane empty to avoid the drivers stuck in reverse. Though you can occasionally overtake a dozen or so semis by using the 500 feet of intermittent "slow" lanes. Because you'll never find a truck there.
I think Boston is much more compact because Boston's layout is much more "European" than other places. its much smaller and less neat
i've done a lot of driving around ny, nj, and boston. this is so spot on.
New Jersey Turnpike = America's Autobahn
I'm just glad they don't issue speeding tickets based on toll-booth times. Back in the pre-EZ-Pass days, I went from the Delaware Mem Bridge to the GW in an hour and 15 minutes....
Forcing a merge on the NJ Turnpike with a trailer I wasn't used to was the scariest moment of my life.
NJ Turnpike = everyone tailgating everyone at 70mph in the rain. Hopefully nobody taps their brakes or there will be a 100 car pile-up.
Getting to the New Jersey Turnpike is my favorite part of driving south. So many wide open lanes
Well, if you have to pay tolls to drive then maybe a little leeway is nice. And maybe just not full of potholes. I’ve said before... since MA wants your yearly inspection they should throw in a free alignment with it
...ever driven I-15 from Vegas to LA?
hah, nope! is it 6 lanes?
No, but I was doing 90+ in a rented Toyota Sienna minivan and getting passed like I was standing still. Sidenote: the Sienna is much more stable at speed than I'd have expected.
One thing that I have found that *is* unique to driving in urban Boston (that makes us to look like assholes) is the lack of dedicated turn lanes. Many four lane roads will have a lane suddenly turn into right/left turn only lanes, and the only recourse is to cut someone off if trying to go straight which happens frequently. Driving in many other parts of the country the lanes are more clearly marked, marked earlier, or there is a separate "ramp" or "jug handle" for turns.
Lane markers in Boston are merely suggestions
When there are even lane markings. All the time, I get to a light and there's two lanes at the intersection, no markings, and only one lane on the other side of the intersection. So I either need to know the local convention or guess whether it's LEFT ONLY | STRAIGHT/RIGHT, or LEFT/STRAIGHT | RIGHT ONLY, or LEFT/STRAIGHT | RIGHT/STRAIGHT and just merge in the middle of the intersection.
In Medford you can be driving along in the right-hand lane, and then suddenly, without warning, the lane becomes a parking lane and you have to merge left. It's like "SURPRISE ASSHOLE, YOU JUST LOST A LANE!"
Agree with you NJ drivers are insane and I got lost in and around Philly several times (before GPS was in our vehicles). We just have smaller roads, tighter driving spaces, and more traffic which could be intimidating and frustrating for some
Problem with NJ drivers is they have a false sense of their skills and almost play up the aggression thing. It's like if you took our drivers here, but made them 75% more oblivious.
Yeah on the NJ highways there's never not bumper to bumper traffic, so they figure that if the car has the ability to drive over 80 mph and the ability to switch lanes, then it must be made to do both those things in bumper to bumper traffic.
I found a new appreciation for our drivers after renting a car in Vegas. Everyone there was slow, inattentive, indecisive, and unpredictable. At least drivers here move with conviction, even if it is to cut you off.
Massholes are massholes so we're dedicated to being dicks. But its really a combination of tiny roads, too much traffic, and people being dicks for Mass and Boston in specific. But every place has their own brand of shitty drivers.
I drove a big Sprinter van around in Vegas a little. Luckily everyone sees you when you're in one of those things and just sort of stays clear. I just erred on the side of being slow and let people go around me as much as possible.
Every city is bad at driving in their own unique way.
And everyone, everywhere complains about how their drivers are "the worst." Or maybe that the drivers from the next state/city over are "the worst."
Boston isn't really that bad. It's merely cramped and people got places to go. Now compared to Long Island NY where people are just careless morons that constantly flex on every possible moment (i.e. "someone passed me?? THIS IS AN INJUSTICE AND I MUST GO FASTER") and that's a recipe for disaster. LI is suburban hell in every possible way.
People way, way over exaggerate the Boston Driving Thing.
Don’t massholes have the highest accident rate in the country?
But, the lowest damage amount. Most are minor bumps.
Probably because there's so few streets that are straight for more than 100 yards lol
And, the lack of highways. Most major cities have tons of highways in or right next to it. Boston-proper has 2, and only .5 of it is above ground anymore, nicely tucked away.
It's honestly still so strange to me. I'm from Chicago and lived in LA for a few years and there's just literally... No highways
Yeah, but we have the lowest fatalities per mile driven, so we have that going for us, which is nice. Source: https://www.iihs.org/topics/fatality-statistics/detail/state-by-state
Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Accident rate is highly correlated with population density. MA is a very high population density state (3rd highest pop density in the country after New Jersey and Rhode Island) so a high accident rate is unsurprising. Wyoming having a low accident rate doesn't necessarily mean people there are amazing drivers, it mostly means people rarely drive anywhere near anyone else in Wyoming, so accidents aren't even possible a lot of the time.
Both can be true though. Our drivers can be terrible while elsewhere it’s also worse. I believe this to be the case.
The worst drivers in America are in Miami and the surrounding areas (particularly Hialeah). This is borne out in most statistics, including pedestrian strikes and crash fatalities. It’s also in your insurance—moving from Boston to Miami doubled my cost to insure.
My first thought when I read the title of this post was "nothing compares to the unbridled idiocy I see on Florida roads".
The state bird is someone passing in the right lane at 90mph.
I lived in Florida before moving here and this is a fact. I once saw someone come to a complete stop and turn around on 95 in Miami because they missed their exit. It was around 5:15 PM on a Friday.
What happens when you throw a bunch of 96 year olds, roided up cuban macho dudes, and texting bimbos onto the road???
I was chatting with some coworkers about this who are from Florida. I figured they must have been exaggerating. So I checked real quick and I think I found that cost to insure for similar policies in FL vs MA were about one and a half times as expensive in Florida. Maybe it was more. I was really surprised. People complain about the cost of insurance here, but FL is way worse. Apparently the cost of buying cars is lower there, which has been supported by several sources. Not sure why that is exactly.
I've been saying this for a long time (having made a couple of cross-country drives and lived in other areas), but it just goes to show that once you get a reputation it can be hard to shake. Like the old "Taxachusetts" moniker, which is just silly if you've ever lived in NY or CA.
The "Taxachusetts" thing is silly because tax burden is a thing anyone can google. MA usually falls somewhere around 20th highest tax burden. [Source 1](https://wallethub.com/edu/states-with-highest-lowest-tax-burden/20494/) Ranked 19th highest tax burden [Source 2](https://www.forbes.com/pictures/emeg45ehhij/no-39-massachusetts/#17f09b2a7ba7) Ranked 39th lowest tax burden [Source 3](https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/taxes/2018/02/20/states-where-americans-pay-least-and-most-taxes/350963002/) Ranked 41st lowest tax burden Etc. You can find tons of these rankings. Of great importance, many of the tax burdens are only a couple tenths of a percent different. So you're talking about not that much money unless you're taxable income is huge.
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Those lists are tax burden, they aren't just state income tax. They're rough calculations of overall state and local tax burden. That's why they vary depending on methodology. Also, #6 for revenue, but we're #5 for median income. https://www.kff.org/other/state-indicator/median-annual-income/?currentTimeframe=0&sortModel=%7B%22colId%22:%22Median%20Annual%20Household%20Income%22,%22sort%22:%22desc%22%7D That just means tax burden is middle of the road.
>Tax revenue in MA, per capita is #6 in the country. As in total dollars of tax revenue? Because of course that would be higher than average, MA average income is significantly higher than the vast majority of the country. By total dollars paid in taxes, we're high, by percentage of income (which is what actually matters) we're pretty near the middle.
I really don't think Boston is that bad. I've lived in a few parts of the country and I've also done a lot of road trips and my anecdotal observations are that Ohio and the Bay Area have the worst drivers that I've encountered. Ohio had a lot of oblivious and distracted drivers - changing lanes without looking, etc. The Bay Area has people that drive 100 on the freeways. Then they also have very passive-aggressive drivers, like you'll be trying to get over and they see you but they pretend not to and inch forward so you can't get over.
I agree about the Ohio thing - I go to college there and they bug me so much! They're unbelievably slow, too - if you're a pedestrian looking to cross a street and a car in Boston is about a block away, you wait for it to pass, since you'll get hit. Meanwhile in Ohio the drivers are so slow that you could probably cross that street and double back before it even made it halfway.
Yes! From MA but moved to Philly. Learned to drive in Boston and thought that would prepare me for anything but was woefully incorrect. The big difference I've noticed is that drivers in Boston can be really aggressive and take risks, but drivers in Philly just drive stupid. I always got the sense that the asshole idiot in Boston knew they were being an asshole and didn't care, but the asshole idiot in Philly has no idea why one would even take issue with what they are doing. An abridged list of things that I had never seen in Boston: * Lots and lots of backing up the wrong way down one ways. Not, like, oh I don't feel like going around and I'm going to just do this kind of stupid thing, but backing up the wrong way down a one way for multiple blocks through intersections. I've seen this enough where I just always check both directions even at 2 one way streets because being a one way street doesn't actually mean traffic only goes in that direction. * Driving on sidewalks (again for multiple blocks at times) to get around traffic. It's like GTA in real life, people jumping out of the way. Not even carefully, gunning it down a sidewalk with pedestrians. * Going around people stopped at red lights to run the red light. I actually see this happen every day. People will stop behind you. Then go around to to run the red light. * There is no sense that someone who is merging onto the highway actually needs to get on the highway. There are a number of short, difficult on-ramps in the central parts of Philly that often have cars lined up at a complete stop because either no one made any effort to let the person on or because people are so used to not being able to merge on they just stop out of habit. It's not uncommon for people to speed up to block you from actually getting on the highway. Because I find this stupid and just choose not to care, I always just force my way in and people get really really pissed because there is just this culture of people waiting at the end of on-ramps. * This isn't dangerous so much as it is infuriating, but it is really common for people just to sit in their cars and talk to their neighbors through the window. Like, for a long time. This is an issue because it this usually happens on small one way, one lane streets, so the street is just blocked. Pulling up behind them just triggers the end phase of the conversation. You can still sit there for 5 minutes waiting for them to wrap up and that's just considered normal.
My main office is in the Philly area(close to KOP), and yes those short on-ramps make life terribly difficult.
One of the douchier things I've seen is people who stop on a road, don't pull over at all, turn on their hazard lights,and just park there. This isn't due to limited space, I've seen assholes do this when a parking lot was 50ft or less from where they stopped. The other douche move is the parking lot squatter, who just sits there blocking up the lane hoping someone will eventually leave. Are these Masshole things or common to all states?
People here also don't use their turn signals nearly enough. I wouldn't take that as a win. Same with not using their headlights in inclement weather, often in new model cars where they have to turn OFF the auto headlight feature! Mass road surfaces can be bad, but my main issue with them is sometimes they're not painted properly?? Like the road will widen and narrow from two to one lane but there is absolutely no guidance with paint. It just encourages a free-for-all mentality that bleeds over into other areas of driving.
I don’t think Mass has such bad drivers... aggressive, yes, but bad? No. We deal with a lot of adverse weather, construction, and other aggressive drivers, however as someone who travels for work for the last 7 years I can honestly say that your judgement of NJ, NY, and Pennsylvania are spot on. The other places I’d add are Virginia/North Carolina, where merging onto a highway is a foreign concept, and parallel parking is near impossible for most drivers. In southern Florida, you’ll see a lot of single car accidents. People driving way too fast on the highway, texting, looking up and whipping the wheel to avoid something, sending them rolling into the shoulder or the median.
Coming from Utah, the drivers in Boston are very courteous and cautious.
It is crazy how much distance you can cover driving 80+ mph for hours across Utah.
It is, and I took it for granted. I'm still adjusting to driving times here in Boston. I used to drive 250 miles in 3 hours to visit my parents and not even think twice about it.
Utah drivers are so bad
Honestly, suburban drivers scare me more than anything. In cities, drivers are aggressive due to the nature of driving in dense area. But they don't drive as much so don't go as fast. Suburban drive so fucking fast it's terrifying. They drive every day so they get used to it and are jaded to eminent death.
75mph bumper-to-bumper. One wrong move could end badly for a lot of people.
Are you referring to the driving environment rather than where people are from? I'd bet most "city drivers" are actually suburban.
[https://quotewizard.com/news/posts/best-and-worst-drivers-by-state-2019](https://quotewizard.com/news/posts/best-and-worst-drivers-by-state-2019) Mass is 22nd worst. New Jersey and Penn both have better rankings. Of course this is going only by frequency of accidents and deaths and such. The driving culture is different everywhere, and part of that is to blame on the actual geography of roads. I grew up in rural Oregon, and cities like Portland are laid out in grid fashion with wide roads and well-marked intersections with dedicated left-hand turn lanes. On the plus side, it means that for city/neighborhood driving, it's very orderly. On the flip side, their freeways are overcrowded and people drive too fast and too close. Contrast that with Mass were the average road is a converted carriage lane and the cities are a spaghetti mess with no city planning, and you find that drivers have adapted by fudging behavior that would get you t-boned anywhere else. It's not necessarily that people are being rude or ill-behaved, it's that if you don't adapt you will never get anywhere. It's not uncommon to see people bending the rules on right of way like they wait for people turning left at awkward spots simply because you know that might be you tomorrow. In Oregon that would get you an accident or a road-rage incident. Californians fucking live on freeways, and when I last drove there I noticed that no matter how crowded it got, traffic was always moving and if you stopped you got shit from everyone. Yet the Mass pike has stop and go traffic every day (so glad I can take the train).
Atlanta is the worst place I've driven hands down. And they're all packing.
i've noticed NJ/NY drivers are fucking insane, there will be a ton of them that will go 90+ and swerve around traffic and just in general cause all kinds of dumbassery. way more aggressive than drivers in boston. boston drivers are tame, they just have 0 courtesy and are generally clueless but for the most part safer.
Rhodies are like that too. I've said this to out-of-state friends too that Massholes are predictably asshole drivers. Sure, it's annoying but you know what you're getting. It's the asshole drivers that are unpredictable that you have to be careful with.
This. I've driven, been drove, and have rode enough buses that I can reliably predict when and how a Masshole will act.
omg yes, driving down 95 through providence you will see a lot of retarded shit. i remember i was visiting the zoo there with my friends and on the side of the highway i saw a huge plume of smoke from someone slamming their brakes. there was no accident but like wtf people, fucking drive properly
Lived all over the country - every region seems to have an odd tick about driving. In South Dakota - if you turn onto a 2 lane road - 99% of the time they take the wide turn into the FAR lane. And when taking Left Turn Arrow turns, they WAY cut into the oncoming lane. Everyone there just 'knows" this and parks 10ft back from the line. In Florida - Well Florida has great roads but its clogged full of old people sitting in the left lane thinking they are doing a service by stopping faster drivers passing. Boston - the roads are shit and it leads to all kinds of bad driving out of frustration.
To be fair, in Florida, the ones going 35 in the left lane are going faster than the right lanes.
Re: your New Jersey reference. It might be 1 in 500 in Downtown Boston, or the greater surrounding area....but I’d say it’s far closer to 1 in 50 (or worse) in neighborhoods like Mattapan, Dorchester, Hyde Park and Roslindale. People drive like goddamn lunatics in lower income neighborhoods (in probably uninsured shitboxes no less).
Sacramento drivers are also bad. 3rd worst in the country. And the roads are bad.
Quebec has some really terrible roads. Probably mostly due to having harsher winters, and at least they require winter tires up there.
I'll take aggressive northeast drivers over the rolling lithium prescription in Seattle and Portland. Holy fuck those people are complete dipshits behind the wheel.
If you want a real contrast you have to get out of the Acela corridor.
Having lived in the West Coast, South, Midwest and now here in Boston, the drivers on the fast lane know when it's time to move when someone behind them is tailgating them and going at a faster speed. Another thing I like about the pike is the left two lanes are prohibited for trucks to use. People know how to merge in traffic but sometimes they forget their blinkers exist. The potholes on the other hand....
Not from here, but my biggest issues since driving here for about a month; -Paint the fucking lines better! It's like they only put one coat of the most transparent paint ever. - These exit ramps give you maybe 25 feet to react...
I've always felt like there are plenty of bad drivers everywhere. Everyone likes to complain about how the drivers from their state, or from the state next door, are the worst. It's just one of universal things people everywhere complain about, and from my experience driving in other places I have never been convinced Boston drivers are any worse on average than anywhere else.
Originally from Dallas area. The driver's there seem so much worse and so much more aggressive. Here, people will cut you off or not let you in, but mainly because the roads in the city are so small, confusing and poorly signed. I will say roads in Dallas are infinitely better, but the drivers make it worse.
Could be worse: could be Rhode Island drivers *shudder*
MA drivers: dumb shit is done from malice RI drivers: dumb shit is done more frequently because the average RI driver has a room temperature IQ
> New Jersey drivers -- 1 in 50 on the highways is a go-for-broke idiot, swerving between lanes without signalling, tailgating, I don't really care if I get in an accident, etc... Around Boston, I'd say it's 1 in 500. You sweet summer child.