OK, on my way back from the airport just now, not exactly on top of my game, I was in the wrong lane on 93 North, so I tried to edge into traffic. I DID NOT cut anyone off, just turned on my signal (a new behavior for some drivers in Boston), and pulled into the right most lane. A Prius driving taxi driver honked at me. I came to a dead stop and let him go ahead of me. The blue air in my car after that was pretty incredible. I won't mention all of the explicates, but I must admit some of them were pretty clever. "So you will get where you are going 2 nano seconds faster than me, happy now?" "Use your horn again, that person just cut you off." "How about a little courtesy, and do you even know what that is?" "You are ONE car ahead of me, how does that feel, more like a Stud?" "I made a dangerous assumption that Prius driver's are more courteous than the average bear." "Is your passenger from California and do they have any idea why you just honked at me?"
What I realized is that after that experience, if I had let myself, I would have tried to cut some people off. I would have driven more aggressively. I honestly think that we all drive aggressively for self preservation and for competition.
This all comes after a week in California where the following happened to me, I was in the right lane at a light and 1/2 a block later my lane was blocked by cones and flashing lights. When the light turned green, the person in the left lane waved me on and DID NOT MOVE until I pulled away from the light and got into that lane. This would never happen in Boston. I did get honked at once in California but I truely deserved that one.
Welcome me back to the Masshole drivers of Boston!
2 comments:
In India, one might suspect that all drivers are blind (a scary thought) because the car horn is used in place of a turn signal. Maybe (us) Mass-holes are headed in that direction?
When we moved from Cambridge to Lexington, I was stunned how polite and even generous suburban drivers often are...but only on surface roads. As soon as these nice people get on highways, the fangs come out.
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