Massholes

Ok, so there is a very special term for Massachusetts drivers. People lovingly refer to them as “Massholes”. For the most part, I believe that this is an accurate depiction of what you experience when you drive in MA. For example, when my mom and I were driving across the country 3 years ago, not long after we crossed the Mass border from NY, we were cut off by some hot little convertible and were flicked off (surely because of my California plates). I was stunned- but that was only the beginning.

Since then, I have been honked at for stopping at a red light, for not going before the light turned green and for going the speed limit on an icy and curvy road. Even this morning, as I was making the turn out of my street to head out to work, this lady (who looked incredibly mean and vicious) in her black Nissan Altima came tearing into the street. The speed limit on West Boylston Street is 30 mph. She was probably going 50 and she didn’t slow down to make the turn. Fortunately, I saw her before she rammed into me and so I stopped. I gently tapped my horn to convey the message that she was driving recklessly (this may be why she looked mean and vicious).

All this being said, the major deficiency of most New Englanders (as I’ve witnessed this in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Connecticut) is not only their low quality drivers-ed but also their lack of understanding of on-ramps and off-ramps. It is not uncommon to be behind someone going about 30-40 mph on a freeway on-ramp (or as they say here “highway”). Then, they’re surprised when all of a sudden they are in the slow lane barely hitting 50 mph and suddenly scared that the person going 60 is about to ram into them. It’s absolutely insane and it drives me nuts!!! For any New Englander’s reading this, the purpose of the on-ramp is to ACCELERATE to highway speeds!! Conversely, when I am slowing down on an off-ramp I see people swerving behind me to see if they will be able to get around me later on. My experience here is that people like to go super fast until they have to stop very suddenly. Personally, I like to slow down on the off-ramps… that is indeed their purpose.

So, to all the Massholes out there, please, accelerate on the on-ramps and understand that some of us like to slow down when we are coming off of the highway.