Rain, rain go away!

[Partial Stall]

Originally Posted by Sovran

I'm from Texas originally (first 23 years there), and I've definitely noticed a difference in the drivers here, though I agree that people are generally nice otherwise. I have a theory about it, though.

In Texas and many other states I've visited, the roads are well-marked. There's never any confusion about how many lanes there are on a road, which lane can go in which direction (left-only lane, etc), or what to do at a complicated intersection. My home town has a 5-point intersection that used to be a traffic circle (that's "rotary" in New Englandish) but has been converted to what we call the Death Star. Even so, all 20-30 lanes that feed into and out of it are clearly marked as to which one goes where. Overall, there are plenty of traffic lights, stop signs, yield signs, highway numbers, lane markers, and all the other stuff that makes a road easy to follow.

Here? Not so much. It amazes me how many weird (and not-weird) intersections aren't marked at all. Some roads don't have lane markers to indicate whether there should be 1, 2, or 3 lanes in each direction. Some don't even have center stripes, even though they're 4 lanes wide. I've found one-way streets with "one way" signs at only one end (how does that help?). Rotaries are designated as one-lane, two-lane, or infinitely-variable by nothing more than common consent and courage.

So how can anyone be a courteous driver when there's no common rule for what to do on the road? Everyone thinks they're doing the "right" thing, but when my right thing differs from your right thing, we're both going to call the other a Masshole. It's inescapable.

I think the real reason for it is the cost of highway maintenance in New England. Winter is tough on pavement, road paint, and street signs, and maybe MA residents aren't as willing to pay for highway repairs as some others. Either way, there's never enough money to keep the highways well-marked, and we're all Massholes as a result.

As always, YMMV, my $0.02, TIOLI, and so forth.

If you think it's bad in the boston area, cruise north about 3.5 - 4 hours on 95

[Partial Stall]

Originally Posted by Turbowned

I agree that if the roads were better-kept, we'd have less Masshole-ish driving from people. It does get pretty dicey. Can we stop paying for Deval's helicopter flights and put that money towards fixing our infrastructure? Please?

Here, here. The amount of money I pay in registration fees is obnoxious, and lets not even mention all the tax revenue the states make on gas sales.....

[Sovran]

Originally Posted by Partial Stall

If you think it's bad in the boston area, cruise north about 3.5 - 4 hours on 95

Sadly, I've done that, too.

[M-17]

@ Sovran - I couldn't help but laugh a bit cause this is so true (rant between MA and Texas). I really wish we did put more effort into road conditions here in Massachusetts. I mean there's a street that has been in production to be repaved, but for 2, 3 years or hell maybe even more than that and yet its still not done. Its all groove with an addition of pot holes now. SMDH

[(K)]

Though I agree that confusing roads/signs are one cause of an unpleasant commute, bad driving habits must make up a large majority of the formula. Everything from improper use or complete neglect of turn signals, frequent and aggressive lane changes, cruising in the exit/merge lane, etc. Roads can be fixed based on where you are, but bad driving habits transcends borders. When I was buying new glasses a few months back, I overheard some of the other customers trading stories about how they INTENTIONALLY cut others off for various reasons. One woman said she had to be in front of others, she "can't stand being the last car". Sad, but that's the society we live in.