Yeah I guess in Boston I just wasn’t used to having people speed up to prevent me from changing lanes when I put my turn signal on. Kind of hard when you aren’t sure where you are going anyway to get blocked. Maybe they just feel privileged.
It’s just a habit with Mass drivers, especially Boston drivers. Sort of like driving on the soft shoulder on the highway. They feel that if they don’t drive that way they’ll never get anywhere.
That’s also a source of many road-rage incidents. Those too are common in Mass.
I’ll creep up a little bit when the light wont change sometimes the sensors and stop lines dont coincide and sometimes the sun seems to blind the camera(I like timed lights)
I’ve had those creepers too. Not long ago I had one that was entirely ahead of the white line and I thought he was going to try to creek all the way to the middle of the intersection. I’m not sure if it’s boredom, wanting to be first, or they are just in a rush.
As far as Mass drivers, I had no problem when I was there.
I was confused by an official road sign that said “Thickly Settled”. I thought about that sign all morning as I sat in a meeting. Finally at the meetings end I asked “does this mean that the shoulder is settled and stable enough to support my jack if I get a flat tire”.
Someone explained that it meant …“heavily populated…25mph”
Gosh in Wisconsin we just put 25 on the sign.
Yosemite
I just wanted to comment on the report that Boston area drivers tend to speed up to prevent someone from changing lanes. I had a job where I when from major city to major city in the Ohio/Michigan/Illinois area, and I noticed some differences in driving styles.
Like Boston, Chicago drivers tend to close up holes - BUT - if they signal, it means they are coming and you’d better make room.
In Ohio, the signal to change lanes is a request with a “Please” attached to it. Even if there is room, they may not take it. You have to give them a LOT of room.
In Detroit, people tended to have good lane discipline. They found a lane that was traveling the speed they wanted and they stayed there. Far left lanes tended to be populated with drivers doing 75 or 80, and if someone was driving the speed limit, they tended not to stay out of that lane.
And the single biggest difference I found was between the city and the country. Country drivers are overly slow and overly cautious, while city drivers are unnecessarily in a hurry and willing to take risks. I wonder if this type of difference exists in Massachusetts - Boston drivers being different than drivers out in the country.
Some are just “creepy” to begin with!
Around here they do have a STSOB attitude when you need in that lane
Thickly Settled
thick/THik/
adjective
- with opposite sides or surfaces that are a great or relatively great distance apart.
- made up of a large number of things or people close together.
- (of a liquid or a semiliquid substance) relatively firm in consistency; not flowing freely.
4. of low intelligence; stupid.
A Freudian slip??
“Thickly settled” signs are commonly used to put the driver on notice that the neighborhood is densely populated with families and to drive extra carefully and watch out for children.
When driving through residential areas, I’m always looking for children
Scary to think that some people have to be reminded
We have LOTS of creepers here in Florida. I don’t know why they stop 3 car lengths behind the car in front and slowly creep up while the light is red. I generally don’t mind but with manual transmission, I don’t follow and sometimes that angers the car behind me.
As long as they don’t pull a “Bruce Jenner”.
Wow, TSM, it takes cojones to make that joke! …Wait a minute…
It’s not just drivers.
Next time you are standing in line for anything…dmv, game tickets, bank, etc.
notice.
( more noticeable the more people there are in line )
The person at the counter is still there.
but given enough wait time …several people will waddle foreward a half step or so. The half step migrates backward into a whole step for those in the rear.
– this will never decrease the wait time ! —
yet people do it.
I have seen a fair share of offensive behavior, now something I do that could fall into the creep category is I count off the number of seconds before my light will turn green, I am always conscious of cross traffic before pulling into an intersection, green does not mean GO!, but at five seconds to go I let my foot off the brake, as I am usually behind the painted stripes I start slowly moving forward, I am at the stripes when the light turns green. and go from there, Not sorry if this offends anyone. The one that bothers me most is people at a drive through that have somehow screwed up their order and take like 5 minutes at the window. Toss up between order maker and order taker, though I tend to blame the order maker.
Some stop lights are activated by sensors in the ground. They’re probably hoping to cause the sensor to trip so they can get a green light
LOL, Mustangman, it took me a moment, but you made me laugh heartily! That one was memorable!
Keeping your place in line with a polite distance and not trying to get ahead of someone is a cultural thing. Not all cultures believe in waiting your turn or keeping two feet between you when talking so as not to spit on you.
speaking of spitting . . .
I constantly see guys roll down their windows and spit out the car
I laugh when I see someone get the loogie on his door instead of on the street
I think loogies are kind of gross. There’s a guy at work, he’s always leaving those loogies behind, literally everywhere he goes. And they take a long time to dry up, apparently. Everywhere I walk, I have to look down, to make sure I’m not stepping onto his loogies
Yuck