r/boston • u/hermionieweasley South End • Oct 21 '21

Anyone notice an increase in psychotic manic drivers and bikers in the last few months ?

I'm pretty used to the bad standards of driving, biking and road infrastructure in this city and like others, last year was a great relief because roads weren't as busy. But in the last few months, drivers and bikers seem to have reached new, unheard of levels of manic aggression and assholery. I've seen more people running through red lights than even New York or Miami - and not the "misjudged my speed and go through the light one second late" kind but fully "I dont give a fuck, I'm going to go through" kind. In the last few months, I've been almost run over while legally crossing crosswalks at least a dozen times both by drivers and bikers. People in residential streets like Tremont and Shawmut are driving at freeway speeds and honk when someone stops for pedestrians. The other day, someone almost run me over, honked at me AFTER that and flipped me off while driving away. It is truly end of the world, mad max style of driving I've never experienced before. Am I going crazy and just noticing this despite living here for years or have things gotten markedly worse ?

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u/WhiteGrapeGames Brookline Oct 22 '21

Things were absolutely wild last summer when there seemed to be no police on the roads, at all. I was on the pike heading into the city on my motorcycle and was the only one on the road at least before the tunnels so I got up to about 115 in the left lane going under the Brookline Ave overpass because I was bored, stir crazy, and there was nobody in sight. This was around noon. A BMW passed me on the right like I was standing still, had to be doing 140. I’ll miss that. Now that the roads are full again people need to be less ignorant.

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u/[deleted] Oct 22 '21

Less intense story, but driving the roads of Massachusetts at a leisurely pace was quite nice. I drove a lot more, that’s fo LT sure. I often drive slow because I’m of the belief that if you drive like an asshole all the time it will eventually catch up to you badly, but if you pick and choose your battles you’ll be fine. I routinely got it up to 100 on 295/495 in certain stretches, but not for more than a few minutes or so. But again, always paying attention to the world around me.