I shortest metric in the known universe is the time between the light going green and the car behind you honking their horn.
New Planck time just dropped
the light was green for 0.3 seconds and prior to that, you rocketed up behind me and cut me off to take pole position at the red light, then spent a minute slowly creeping into the crosswalk
if you’re not ready to go on the fucking green, smarten the fuck up
I heard it once that drivers in Boston don’t use turn signals because it gives away your plan to the enemy.
I’ve had the opposite experience. Everyone used turn signals and drove aggressively. I got cut off a lot, but I always knew it was about to happen.
As a kid I was once driving back with my dad from a specialty lumber yard trip, where hed gone to pick up a ~1.5 ton, 40’ teak beam, with about 10’ hanging off the back, down low. Wed just gotten south of the city, and trafic was finally easing up, when he finally saw chance to get out of the middle lane, and went to take it.
So he threw on his right turn signal, and the guy in that lane immediately started accelerating to close the gap.
My dad just went for the switch anyway, Forcing the guy to drive off the road into the grass median ditch of lose his windshield to a massive piece of wood.All he said was “a turn signal is a signal of intent, not a request for permission.” And we kept driving.
USians clearly don’t know what the word “socialism” means.
Just add the word “relative” and it makes sense.
“relative”
Step-healthcare?
That’s in Alabama
Or “adjacent”
I watched a bro dozer coal roll a prius doing 60 in the left lane a few days ago. I get it. I still think rolling coal should be illegal, but I get it.
I went to a no kings protest today and some jackass stopped in front of the bulk of the protestor and rolled coal intentionally. I’ve never seen a cop go after someone so fast in my entire life. I’ve also never seen a cop actually support the no kings cause. I had a good conversation with the dude earlier in the protest and he is a brand new cop and seems to me like he won’t be a cop for long. Acab, because the ones who aren’t bastards or don’t turn into bastards don’t make it as cops for long.
Either that or he won’t be a good dude for very long
I hope he washes out as a cop because we need more good people in the world.
anybody who isn’t using the left lane to pass while we drive past three “KEEP RIGHT EXCEPT TO PASS” signs deserves to be shamed and fucked with
I’ve driven in a lot of places in North America. Massachusetts isn’t bad. New York is worse, so is New Jersey. Around that area, the worst is Philly.
Massachusetts is dense with the added bonus of comparatively old-world city designs. I’ve found NJ and NY drivers to be more vocal and annoyed, whereas Mass drivers will just risk wrecking you to prove a point because you’ve slightly inconvenienced them and made them a little more late
Edit: I also hate camping the passing lane, but the trait I seem not to share with the other Massholes is that I like to keep distance in front of my car regardless of how fast my car is able to go
Massachusetts is fucking empty. Boston is dense.
If you remove the population of all of greater Boston, a rather generous 5 million, then Massachusetts is still the 10th most densely populated state after having 5/7 of its population deleted but keeping the land area. It beats out California, and comes in behind Ohio.
That greater Boston metropolitan area figure may or may not also include population from neighboring Rhode Island and Vermont, not entirely sure on that
If you just take the population of Boston proper, 675k, out of the equation, then Massachusetts maintains its spot as 3rd most dense US state.
So conclusion: Massachusetts is dense af (relative to the US) even without Boston
I don’t know anyone who’s driven in Houston and not called it the worst. Some places it feels like the drivers don’t care if they live or die. Houston they’re trying to kill you and themselves
Idk how it compares to Houston, but I was teeeerrified to drive on the freeway for like 2 months when I first moved to Dallas. Also the sheer audacity of some of the traffic maneuvers was something to behold. For example, I would routinely see people turn left from the right-most lane, cutting across 3 or more lanes of traffic. I just cannot comprehend why you would choose to do that instead of just circling the block or turning into a business to turn around.
Bad drivers never miss their exit.
Having lived in both cities, they’re nothing compared to Midland/Odessa. Those mfs scared the shit out of me.
As someone from Houston, Dallas is the worst. Not just at driving; I didn’t even read your comment. Dallas is the worst.
They don’t have swangas in Dallas
…oklahoma with delusions of grandeur…
Oh yeah Houston is way worse. Google “car swangas” probably not what you think
No idea how those were ever legal
Houston is the absolute worst of anywhere I’ve been.
Rhode Island is pretty bad sometimes
I’ve always felt like the courtesy is to move over to right if someone coming behind you on left lane was going faster than you, then pop back into the left lane. Some disagree and feel like even if you’re going 1 km/h faster than the person on the right lane (or just 1 km/h over the limit) then it’s alright to be on the left/passing lane. I feel like that unnecessarily clogs up the left lane.
But that probably depends on how heavy the traffic is and whatnot.
That’s not courtesy, that’s law. Keep right except to pass.
Done passing? Get right.
Not passing fast enough? Gtfo.
It’s so situational, and aggressive/inconsiderate drivers never seen to think on the details of why people are driving a certain way.
I’ve only driven through Boston a few times, but I’ve noticed on the East Coast there are lots of old highways and freeways built before all of the lessons learned and modern practices, so you have things like alternating exits on the left and right of the freeways. So some people need to be in the left lane to exit, and others to the right.
I figure, if you are within 1-2 miles of your exit, go ahead and get in whatever lane you need even if you are going slower, because the alternative is an aggressive merge two minutes later. Likewise, if you are going 5-10 over in the far left and continuously passing relatively dense traffic in the middle lane, I don’t think you need to slow down, merge over, and then try and fight your way back just because one guy wants to do 10-20 over.
That said, of the middle lane is mostly open and you camp in the left lane going barely over the limit, that just creates a hazard as people pass to your right.
And this doesn’t even touch on HOV lanes in the far left. Like, of in driving with my family and want to be in the HOV, I’ll get people who want to go 20 over tailgating me acting like I should leave the HOV lane because it is the far left lane. So I dunno what the etiquette even is in some situations, but some aggressive drivers are just never happy if they can’t speed like the highway is their person race track.
You covered it well.
For the HOV situation, if you’re going at or above the speed limit during commute traffic, be grateful and setup a good following distance. You gotta drive a full hour to get a minute of time back at 75 vs 80mph, assuming you can even maintain that speed consistently over distance. The assholes who tailgate to get that extra 5 or 10 just simply lack perspective.
…if there’s room to move right, you shouldn’t’ve been in the left lane no matter what speed you were driving…
KEEP RIGHT EXCEPT TO PASS
nah, it’s stupid to move over for literally two seconds only to move back to the left lane
it happens frequently enough to me that I’m passing two cars at a differential of maybe 10km/h and somebody comes up behind me going faster. I’ll drop my speed and sidle into the right lane to let them pass and move right back over
I get what you’re saying. I agree. but there are situations where you can be actively passing but also have some space to let someone by. it’s not required because you’re passing, but it might be nice if it’s a long line of cars
It’s a bit ridiculous imo to start constantly bopping in and out to every available crack. And likely more dangerous too since you’re moving between the lanes.
If there’s plenty of room and you wouldn’t be passing the next car anytime soon, yes of course. If you’d be passing the next car soon anyway and there’s nobody going faster behind you (wanting to pass you), doesn’t seem necessary. It doesn’t really make sense from a safety or traffic fluency aspects to me.
Reminds me of a friend who moves over to the right most lane on a three lane road since that’s where you technically need to be, even though we both know it will soon become a turning lane, then a joining lane for people coming to the highway and then the lane is going to end. Boggles the mind
There are shitty drivers everywhere. You’re probably average, and the average driver in the U.S. is pretty good. We’re all guilty at least occasionally.
Give people a break, we all want to get home safely.
No we are not, we are collectively horrible drivers.
Your take of “give people a break, we all want to get home safely” and in contrast of a few comments up, “crossing three lanes to make a left turn”, are taking me for a ride.
I don’t think everyone wants to get home safely honestly. Some of us are having bad days, overtired, on drugs, raging, and who knows what, all while driving next to the mom with four kids in the backseat who hasn’t slept in a week.
This is a better-put way of expressing an opinion I’ve long held.
What’s this about Massachusetts providing healthcare for all their citizens? Is this true?
Yea, it’s basically Obamacare before Obamacare was a thing.
I tend to call it Romneycare.
Yeh it’s called MassHealth https://www.mass.gov/orgs/masshealth
News to me…I pay 20k/yr in premiums and my employer pays an additional 30k.
But Mass drivers do need to get out of the left lane.
We aren’t as bad as Rhode Island in this regard, but at least Rhode Island has a level 1 trauma center within 20 minutes of like 80% of its highways.
That’s fantastic but damn …are Rhode Islanders extra clumsy & prone to catastrophic bodily damage & constantly in need of hospitals?
