The headline reads “Boston pushing for 15-20 mph citywide speed limit after pedestrian deaths.” * I predict the new slower speed limit will trigger people.
Road Rage on Steroids
Have you ever driven through Boston? I have. Numerous times. Maybe my experiences with Boston’s drivers are anomalous, but they have added up to my impression that “This is one impatient and angry city.”
I remember hearing a trucker say over his CB that Boston traffic makes Pittsburgh a drive in the park. He made that comment as I was stuck in traffic in a university van with the school’s name on the side. He recognized the school’s proximity to “the Burgh,’ and made that comment when we asked over our CB radio for help getting into the traffic flow. I say “flow,” but “molasses” is more appropriate for Boston’s rush hour when during warm weather, honking is accompanied by one particular hand signal (or finger signal) and a generous effusion of wash-your mouth-out-with-soap epithets.
So different from Pittsburgh, where people generally give a left-hand wave or flash of headlights as a sign to another driver to take priority at a four-way stop. Basically, “You go first.”
In contrast, during Boston’s rush hour I’ve been passed by someone speeding by in the left emergency-vehicle berm next to the cement Jersey barrier. And Ive been held up in traffic when a big rig driver decided to abandon his tractor-trailer cattywampus in two middle lanes.
Can a City Be Angry?
A city is more than its buildings and roads. Its people have a regional dialect and attitude by which outsiders can characterize it.
Parked on a street at Harvard, my students and I looked at our Mao to plot the best way to our next destination. One of the older students walked toward pedestrian on then sidewalk to ask about directions, beginning with “Pardon me, could you direct us to….” Can indifference be thick enough to cut? But not just one passerby ignored him. Several did, until by chance a recent transfer from Pittsburgh walked by, sensed our problem, and offered help. When told how others ignored us, the ex-Pittsburgher said he’s gotten used to the Bostonian attitude and to the road rage. “That’s the way people are here.”
Anecdotes are never proof, but they accumulate to leave impressions that are hard to ignore. And my impression is that the effort to impose a slower city-wide speed limit will become a thorn on Boston’s drivers’ seats, exacerbating their impatience.
The Characterization of a City Begs a Question
Do Regions have personalities?
I have no doubt that Bostonians are neither less nor more patient and peaceful than citizens of other cities. But I wish my experiences with their drivers had been otherwise. I’ll keep in mind that I don’t have daily year-round experience in the city, but rather just about a dozen or so visits.
I believe that experience has taught each of us that “place” is more than geography, more than location. Of course, generalizations don’t allow outsiders to know the widely varying composition of personalities that inhabit a city. Anecdotal information has a narrow focus, so my experiences in Boston that led to my personal assessment—I’ve heard the same from others, by the way—might be wholly unwarranted.
And bad apples can spoil the basket filled with good apples. By chance, I might have seen only the angry side of Boston and heard from only those with similar experiences. My greater familiarity with “the Burgh” has provided me with many more anecdotes that average out to favorability. I see the angry Pittsburgh driver as an anomaly, whereas I assume the peaceful patient Bostonian driver is an exception.
What’s your assessment of your city? Are you an exception or a rule?
*https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/boston-pushing-for-15-20-mph-citywide-speed-limit-after-pedestrian-deaths/ar-BB1l4UOq
Road Rage on Steroids
Have you ever driven through Boston? I have. Numerous times. Maybe my experiences with Boston’s drivers are anomalous, but they have added up to my impression that “This is one impatient and angry city.”
I remember hearing a trucker say over his CB that Boston traffic makes Pittsburgh a drive in the park. He made that comment as I was stuck in traffic in a university van with the school’s name on the side. He recognized the school’s proximity to “the Burgh,’ and made that comment when we asked over our CB radio for help getting into the traffic flow. I say “flow,” but “molasses” is more appropriate for Boston’s rush hour when during warm weather, honking is accompanied by one particular hand signal (or finger signal) and a generous effusion of wash-your mouth-out-with-soap epithets.
So different from Pittsburgh, where people generally give a left-hand wave or flash of headlights as a sign to another driver to take priority at a four-way stop. Basically, “You go first.”
In contrast, during Boston’s rush hour I’ve been passed by someone speeding by in the left emergency-vehicle berm next to the cement Jersey barrier. And Ive been held up in traffic when a big rig driver decided to abandon his tractor-trailer cattywampus in two middle lanes.
Can a City Be Angry?
A city is more than its buildings and roads. Its people have a regional dialect and attitude by which outsiders can characterize it.
Parked on a street at Harvard, my students and I looked at our Mao to plot the best way to our next destination. One of the older students walked toward pedestrian on then sidewalk to ask about directions, beginning with “Pardon me, could you direct us to….” Can indifference be thick enough to cut? But not just one passerby ignored him. Several did, until by chance a recent transfer from Pittsburgh walked by, sensed our problem, and offered help. When told how others ignored us, the ex-Pittsburgher said he’s gotten used to the Bostonian attitude and to the road rage. “That’s the way people are here.”
Anecdotes are never proof, but they accumulate to leave impressions that are hard to ignore. And my impression is that the effort to impose a slower city-wide speed limit will become a thorn on Boston’s drivers’ seats, exacerbating their impatience.
The Characterization of a City Begs a Question
Do Regions have personalities?
I have no doubt that Bostonians are neither less nor more patient and peaceful than citizens of other cities. But I wish my experiences with their drivers had been otherwise. I’ll keep in mind that I don’t have daily year-round experience in the city, but rather just about a dozen or so visits.
I believe that experience has taught each of us that “place” is more than geography, more than location. Of course, generalizations don’t allow outsiders to know the widely varying composition of personalities that inhabit a city. Anecdotal information has a narrow focus, so my experiences in Boston that led to my personal assessment—I’ve heard the same from others, by the way—might be wholly unwarranted.
And bad apples can spoil the basket filled with good apples. By chance, I might have seen only the angry side of Boston and heard from only those with similar experiences. My greater familiarity with “the Burgh” has provided me with many more anecdotes that average out to favorability. I see the angry Pittsburgh driver as an anomaly, whereas I assume the peaceful patient Bostonian driver is an exception.
What’s your assessment of your city? Are you an exception or a rule?
*https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/boston-pushing-for-15-20-mph-citywide-speed-limit-after-pedestrian-deaths/ar-BB1l4UOq
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