Driving In Boston

[Code Monkey | 2,159]

How do you guys even do it? I've lived and driven all over North America and I've never seen anything like what I've seen here this week.

An Uber picked me up from the airport, we turned out onto the street and immediately someone pulled out of the opposite lane, pulled into our lane and started driving towards us on the wrong side of the road. The Uber driver just moved over like this was a totally normal occurrence. Then he tells me he needs to try taking some different routes because the tunnel is closed so I asked him if the phone would tell him the best route and he says he knows better than the phone. We're stopped at a red light in the left lane and he decides he needs to turn right immediately. He forces his way into the middle lane while the light is green, people are honking because he's blocking 2 lanes now, and from the middle lane, he turns right and cuts into the right turning lane. He drives down to try and get into the closed tunnel, a cop stops him. He drives down the road, pulls a U-turn, tries to turn in again, cop stops him again. Finally he reluctantly goes the long way around, zipping by a long line-up of traffic on the right, then he jams on the brakes, pulls the wheel and cuts in front of the entire line of traffic to take a right turn. We got away from the airport, pulled up to a light and another car pulled up next to us. I looked over at the driver next to us and he was eating soup out of a bowl with a spoon.

I have never seen anything like this in my life. I thought drivers back home in western Canada were bad (they are) but they're angels compared to what I've seen this week. The first day I was here I took a walk around by the hotel and there's a mechanic garage on just about every street corner, now I see why. Insurance rates here must be sky high, how do you even do it? I've seen a few Porsches here, I can't imagine what those drivers must have to do to avoid accidents on the daily.

[PII | 2,043]

Driving in Boston in my experience =

Prepare to be rear-ended in a start-and-stop-move-six-inches-at-a-time traffic jam.

Maybe this will make you feel a little better...

 

"I looked over at the driver next to us and he was eating soup out of a bowl with a spoon."

I once saw something similar in the rear-view mirror here in the states.  A girl was eating what appeared to be lo-mein noodles out of a bowl while driving on the freeway...  I simply cannot imagine what would possess a person to choose something like that for a meal on the go...

Edited June 15 by PII

[Tulpa | 3,735]

Yeah, Boston is notorious for its insane traffic. I think the locals pride themselves on recreating Mad Max on a daily basis.

 

[Kguillemette | 1,634]

Park at Oak Grove Station and take the T. Driving around Boston is a fools errand imo.

[AirVillain | 535]

Yowza.... I thought Montreal was bad.

This sounds pretty bad.

[Link | 2,887]

That fackin' tunnel's always closed. Seriously, like cumulatively 6 months out of the year is what I heard. 

[Tulpa | 3,735]

1 hour ago, Link said:

That fackin' tunnel's always closed. Seriously, like cumulatively 6 months out of the year is what I heard. 

My cousin lives in Salem and she says just assume it's always closed. If it opens, it'll make the news.

[Tabonga | 2,533]

11 hours ago, Tulpa said:

Yeah, Boston is notorious for its insane traffic. I think the locals pride themselves on recreating Mad Max on a daily basis.

 

 

[Andy_Bogomil | 866]

2 hours ago, AirVillain said:

Yowza.... I thought Montreal was bad.

This sounds pretty bad.

Montreal is one of the best places I've ever driven to be honest and I find it funny that it always seem to get a bad rep. Lived there for 3 years and really got accustomed to and enjoyed the aggressive driving style. Didn't see many people run lights with the insta switch from red to green between different directions and there seemed to be regular enforcement. I saw some crazy stuff from time to time but the day to day driving seemed to be about as good as it gets. Toronto/southern Ontario was insufferable.. everyone camps the left lane on a three or four lane highway for absolutely no reason and there is a ton of truck traffic on the highways and a lot of people who really didn't seem to know the most basic rules of the road. The congestion is just unreal outside of TO (although there were some long wait in Mtl as well).

Driving through NY and Boston definitely seemed more of an every man for themself type of mentality. Aggressive driving with little cohesion. I also found Boston really confusing and tough to get around.

Driving on the east coast of Canada is also crap. People simply don't know how to drive here because there's only one city center then you're in the sticks within 20 minutes and people are way too friendly and accommodate and encourage bad driving. No one gets up to speed on the highways and people around town are generally clueless. 

I think the general consensus is that there are terrible drivers everywhere though

[Tulpa | 3,735]

2 hours ago, Tabonga said:

 

Yeah, like that, but the cars aren't as nice.

 

2 hours ago, Andy_Bogomil said:

Driving through NY and Boston definitely seemed more of an every man for themself type of mentality. Aggressive driving with little cohesion. I also found Boston really confusing and tough to get around.

 

I don't know what it is about the northeast, but yeah, it's war on the roads.

Don't get me wrong, Los Angeles has horrible, horrible traffic at rush hour, and you get the occasional road rager, but most people just sit there. And when it isn't rush hour, you can get around the city pretty well.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,971]

Easterners are just angry in general

[a3quit4s | 4,398]

1 hour ago, Reed Rothchild said:

Easterners are just angry in general

Laughs in New York City and gives you finger while honking like a maniac 

[Link | 2,887]

7 hours ago, Andy_Bogomil said:

 and I find it funny that it always seem to get a bad rep. ... a lot of people who really didn't seem to know the most basic rules of the road. The congestion is just unreal ...

Asked and answered.  

[fcgamer | 5,020]

That's what I love about Taiwan... horrible drivers. We up the stakes though as the basic insurance doesn't cover vehicular damage, and both parties are automatically considered at fault, period. Oh, and everyone is driving a Tesla, Mercedes, Porsche or BMW.

[Link | 2,887]

11 hours ago, Tulpa said:

My cousin lives in Salem and she says just assume it's always closed. If it opens, it'll make the news.

I was trying not to exaggerate, but apparently I erred on the side of caution. 

[DefaultGen | 5,727]

I don't know about Boston, but people around me complain "We HaVe ThE WoRsT dRiVeRs, It'S a MeLtiNg PoT oF StYLeS", but when you drive up to NYC (from anywhere south of NJ) it turns into real life Crazy Taxi by comparison. I don't know how any can drive in NY then turn around and pretend their city/state has the craziest drivers.

[LeatherRebel5150 | 1,103]

14 hours ago, Reed Rothchild said:

Easterners are just angry in general

When I was in college I was asked what living in NJ was like. I just said “pretty much this” and showed them this video

 

[Tulpa | 3,735]

11 hours ago, Link said:

I was trying not to exaggerate, but apparently I erred on the side of caution. 

It's probably not quite that bad in reality, but it is pretty much a common joke among Bostonians (Bostonites? Boston-dwellers? I dunno what the term is.)

It's like the 405 in LA, or the I-70 in Colorado during ski season.

[AirVillain | 535]

22 hours ago, Andy_Bogomil said:

Montreal is one of the best places I've ever driven to be honest 

 

Please.... Andy.... there's no need to try and act tough around here. This is the trust tree. You can be honest with yourself.

Haha... but really... I don't mind driving in Montreal if I am mentally prepared. I can get into the "mindset" and I am all good.

Plus, I do feel as though stopping at stop signs is a pain in the ass. After a few trips in/out of Montreal and I've become a BIG TIME fan of the rolling stop.

 

10 hours ago, DefaultGen said:

I don't know about Boston, but people around me complain "We HaVe ThE WoRsT dRiVeRs, It'S a MeLtiNg PoT oF StYLeS", but when you drive up to NYC (from anywhere south of NJ) it turns into real life Crazy Taxi by comparison. I don't know how any can drive in NY then turn around and pretend their city/state has the craziest drivers.

Now NYC is somewhere where I'd probably never even want to go, nevermind drive....

[Link | 2,887]

I've only driven once in NYC, and I enjoyed it. Maybe because I had 7 of us going to a concert. But if you know how to be assertive - I don't mean aggressive - you can glide a boat (or an '88 Lincoln Town Car) through that traffic like a dream.

[guitarzombie | 937]

Love driving thru the city, as long as there isn't a ton of traffic on the highways, but there usually is.

[SilverspoonGaming | 361]

Thanks for the heads up on Boston traffic!  Ill be there on vaca in mid July, then were driving up to Portland, Maine.

[Code Monkey | 2,159]

On 6/15/2024 at 10:33 AM, Andy_Bogomil said:

Montreal is one of the best places I've ever driven to be honest and I find it funny that it always seem to get a bad rep. Lived there for 3 years and really got accustomed to and enjoyed the aggressive driving style. Didn't see many people run lights with the insta switch from red to green between different directions and there seemed to be regular enforcement. I saw some crazy stuff from time to time but the day to day driving seemed to be about as good as it gets. Toronto/southern Ontario was insufferable.. everyone camps the left lane on a three or four lane highway for absolutely no reason and there is a ton of truck traffic on the highways and a lot of people who really didn't seem to know the most basic rules of the road. The congestion is just unreal outside of TO (although there were some long wait in Mtl as well).

Driving through NY and Boston definitely seemed more of an every man for themself type of mentality. Aggressive driving with little cohesion. I also found Boston really confusing and tough to get around.

Driving on the east coast of Canada is also crap. People simply don't know how to drive here because there's only one city center then you're in the sticks within 20 minutes and people are way too friendly and accommodate and encourage bad driving. No one gets up to speed on the highways and people around town are generally clueless. 

I think the general consensus is that there are terrible drivers everywhere though

I thought Montreal was a driving death trap the first time I went there but after a few minutes I realized it's organized chaos. It's like people are doing whatever the hell they want but instead, it's like they have their own style and it's all understood by everyone. I mean, it's all wrong and completely dangerous but somehow accident free.

I got back home to Canada yesterday and today I noticed someone stopped in front of a one-way street which I was exiting. Here's the conversation that followed:

Me - Is everything okay?

Other driver - Yes, I'm just waiting to go through.

Me - Oh.....you......you can't go through, it's one way.

Other driver - I can go wherever I want, I'm not from here.

I didn't even know what to say, I thought I left the Boston craziness behind but I guess I brought it home.

[The Count | 600]

Bad drivers everywhere, especially in larger cities. From the places I've driven, I think Chicago might have been the worst that I've experienced.

[a3quit4s | 4,398]

I think the general idea is large cities are not meant to be driven in, get as close as you can to available public transportation and leave your vehicle there!