Questions about Boston and Road Rage (Everett, Florida: how much, live, moving)

[HowGoesIt]

Originally Posted by hymalaia

lol. the Boston left. A true classic! In all fairness there is generally too much congestion to NOT make that turn as soon as the light turns green. If you don't turn then, you may never get to!

A Boston left? .. not quite a classic. Pittsburgh coined the term many, many moons ago.

Pittsburgh Left - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[xS☺B☺s]

Originally Posted by HowGoesIt

A Boston left? .. not quite a classic. Pittsburgh coined the term many, many moons ago.

Pittsburgh Left - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I've seen that anticipating the light stunt in Montreal. That would be suicidal in Boston. You have to be prepared to allow at least four cars to blow the red light after it changes before you move.

A Boston Left IMO would be two cars on the same side of the street at a stop light on Comm Ave. Both are first cars respective lanes. The light turns red. The car in the right hand lane blows a u-turn cutting off the the car in the left hand lane. I'll bet you don't even believe that, do you.

http://www.mediafire.com/imgbnc.php/e9a201f45b7ee9e764f5ccc2e87309974g.jpg (broken link)

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by Billski

Now, I get to the NYC-NJ area quite a bit because of family connections. The difference between metro Boston and metro NY is that in NY there ARE people who will ram you, get out of their cars and smash your windshield, will pull guns. That doesn't happen in Boston.

Huh??

I've lived near NYC my entire life and have yet to see or hear of the things you're saying. I think you're confusing NYC with L.A. or Miami as NYC has among the lowest road rage in the nation.

[hymalaia]

Originally Posted by HowGoesIt

A Boston left? .. not quite a classic. Pittsburgh coined the term many, many moons ago.

Pittsburgh Left - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

well it goes on in all congested northeast cities. I wasn't aware that Pitt had monopolized the term. One key difference however is that this article talks about how some drivers with the ROW will pause and sometimes even wave the left turning driver through. Wait for this to happen in Boston and you're stuck. Drivers are pretty fast accelerating off of a green light, but if you make the left turn real quick, you can still get through 99 times out of 100. But there is no time for hesitation. You cannot wait for a "wave" (lol).

The other thing to consider is that people in Boston are not polite and tend to get annoyed when this maneuver is pulled in front of him (as another poster illustrated he did). They might accelerate even more fast to prevent it, so it becomes like a game of chicken. The left turner has an advantage however, as he is more likely to be stuck at the intersection for a while, so he is more willing to risk his neck if he isn't going to be let through. Thus he usually wins and pisses off the ROW driver, who soon forgets and drives on his merry way. There is a brief moment of tension, but in the end all are satisfied.

[clevedark]

This is my first post here. Hello! A wonderful topic to which I've given much thought.

For me, it all comes down to the blood-boiling power of the crazy U-turn. If I start doing them in the middle of a busy road in front of oncoming traffic, does that mean I won't become engorged with rage the next time a giant SUV spazzes out and does a crazy u-turn three feet in front of me?

Why the crazy U-turn? Why?

[clevedark]

It looks like I killed the thread!

[cashgiftingcabbie]

I lived in Boston for over 20 years. I actually drove a taxicab there. Whenever I visit other parts of the country I'm struck by how polite and conservative the motorists are.....at times I think something must be wrong.....where are the agressive drivers?

[Chianti]

I hated living in Boston, but the drivers weren't that bad, and certainly NO WHERE NEAR AS BAD as the drivers in Miami.

Driving on the highways in/near Miami is friggin dangerous. At least 20% of the drivers are illegals without a license or insurance who literally DO NOT KNOW how to drive. Its like playing Russian roulette on the highway. Lots of maniacs out there.

[clevedark]

I agree. I lived in Miami in the 80s and had a gun pointed at me at a stop light. I'd regularly see abandoned cars in the middle of busy intersections of three lane roads, abandoned cars in the left land of same road (rt. 1, was it, going from Key Biscayne to Kendall), and if you ever believed what a blinker implied a car would do next you would be dead very quickly.

I should stop complaining.

[europa7]

Originally Posted by goyguy

<<
I'm surprised a test of the horn isn't part of vehicle inspections here. >>

I have lived in Massachusetts for all of my 39 years and have driven here (and elsewhere; I agree about "M******e" drivers. For example, on the Merritt Parkway in SW Connecticut, where most people drive 60-65 mph (myself included), if a driver is bombing down the left lane at 75+ mph, that driver is most likely from MA or, to a lesser degree, RI or NH) for 22 years.

Testing the horn is, indeed, part of the annual Massachusetts Vehicle Inspection. From my own experience, the inspector (at a gas station garage, etc) will usually toot the horn as (s)he is pulling the car into the garage. My hunch is that serves two purposes. Actually testing the horn and warning people who may walk into the garage from the shop area that a car is pulling in.