FYI

[kirkcudbright]

Speaking as a driver, motorcyclist, bicyclist, equestrian, and pedestrian, I can definitively say that Massachusetts drivers (myself included) are assholes.

Comments

[miss-chance.livejournal.com]

With the advent of the new school year, I've started biking to work (three days so far, nothing to write home about, but anyway...). The commute is from Davis Square, through Porter, down Beacon, over to Mass Ave on Windsor, past the 'tute, over the Mass Ave. bridge, down to Boylston St., and around the block to my school's front door.

Well mygoodness! Not only are BosCamberVille drivers assholes, but so are the pedestrians! and the utility and DPW workers! and some of the other cyclists! yow, it's really something—I arrive at work feeling like a rock star just for surviving my commute.

Game Days are the best.

[quietann.livejournal.com]

Indeed. But part of the problem we have, at least compared to California (where I was driving recently), is that our roads are unpredictable and the lanes are narrow, so it's easier to fuck up and get all flustered, which then annoys everyone around you.

[c1.livejournal.com]

The thing I noticed on arriving home is the joggers here. And the cyclists. Someone in Texas advised me *not* to ride my bike in the Dallas area, and not because of the heat.
Despite the fact that the Dallas/Fort Worth area has wide, easy to navigate roads with great sightlines, the people there don't seem able to cope with having anything more than motor vehicles on the road.
So I don't think it's a problem unique to MA. In fact, I'd even go so far as to say that MA is a *fine* state to ride a bike, walk or run in, at least as compared to TX. In MA, those curvy roads slow people down a lot more than the arrow straight ones in TX, and the frequent presence of human powered travellers at least makes drivers expect them.
It's not perfect here, but at least it's a closer approximation.

[totient]

Massachusetts drivers are assholes.
Yes, but at least we're self-interested assholes, which makes us (a) vaguely predictable, and (b) generally not too much of an obstacle to folks behind us (though woe betide the driver who is anywhere else). New York drivers are assholes just for the sake of being assholes.

[miss-chance.livejournal.com]

We're self-interested assholes who are subject to the rule of law. It's all the Dip-Immunity in DC that makes those roads terrifying.