Yeesh!

[llcoolvad]

A new report of the most dangerous roads/intersections in Massachusetts, and hey, I drive numbers 1 and 41 and every single day, and numbers 6, 10, 11, 16, 22 (Medford), 24, and 36 many times per week. That's 9 out of the top 40!

Apparently Massachusettes has the lowest rate of car crash fatalities (p. 164) in the country -- probably because we're so damned busy sitting in traffic and filling out insurance forms for all of our damned fender benders we don't have TIME to die. I feel bad for Wyoming (32.38 fatalities per 100,000 people!).

So we crash a lot, but don't die. And yet Massachusetts has a rep for having terrible drivers. It's a red state conspiracy!

Comments

[rolandgsl.livejournal.com]

Have you driven in Wyoming? Everything is a 2-3 hour drive away. Long stretches of mind-numbingly boring flat on the eastern end, lots of winding scary treacherous bits in the Mts. (even in good weather--now add fog and snow 10-12 months of the year on top) and it's very easy to see. But as long as you avoid the tourist centers, traffic is rarely a concern, so people who not only like traffic but use the psyche of their fellow drivers as a weapon to be used against them are by definition triifying and terrible...

[llcoolvad.livejournal.com]

It never occurred to me that there ARE tourist centers in Wyoming! ;-)

[rolandgsl.livejournal.com]

Well, they're still rustic, which is part of the draw. One of the biggest is the caldera of a giant volcano which will probably take out half the continent when it goes, called Yellowstone. :P Lotsa pretty touristy things like hot bubbly mud fountains and weird drippy limestone formations, and bears that will walk up to the miles long line of cars waiting to get in, peel the weatherstipping off your side windows with a well practiced claw and pop the pane out just so they can steal your oreos. (Bears really like oreos. Never take any camping in the Rockys, ever.) Or as they say, "Do not attempt to hand feed the bears, you only have two." Makes a heck of racket when they open the 4-ton dumpster at 2AM by flipping it over (because the doors have bear-proof latches, ya see).

[llcoolvad.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah...Yellowstone! I forgot that was in Wyoming. If I ever knew. I don't leave the coast, y'see. {not so much by choice as by opportunity}

[livingdeb.livejournal.com]

My impression of Boston drivers (based on a couple of hours riding with my Dad when I was in high school) is that they refuse to make eye contact. Ideally they are looking at least 90 degrees away from all other drivers at all times. Therefore I have to conclude they might not be seeing me. Therefore I have to always give them the right of way, in self defense, which must be the whole plan all along!

Just an impression, though. (When I went to school in Boston I only took trains and subways.)

[p-j-cleary.livejournal.com]

Boston people don't make eye contact for any reason, in the car or outside of it. You might get roped into being nice, and we don't like that.

[livingdeb.livejournal.com]

I've heard that about the being nice thing, but I haven't experienced it. I remember asking for something from a clerk, and her response in a Boston accent remains with me today: "Shoo-ah!"

[llcoolvad.livejournal.com]

The key is that you pay attention only to what's directly in front of you. If everyone does that, everyone wins! It's out-of-staters that screw up the whole thing. :-)