Having lived in MA and now Houston, Texas, it is a toss-up as to which
is worse. In MA it is the Boston area (and wherever those folks drive
to, like downnacape). I learned to anticipate certain stupidities in a
given situation, because you just know someone is going to do it when
the situation arises. So you can try to avoid it, usually fairly
successfully, unless you want to participate, which is what I would do
occasionally in my old truck when someone made the left turn in front of
me immediately when the light turned green. It just felt good for a 20
yr old truck to whack a new car, rather gently though, then the cops
came and that driver got a ticket too, and insurance rates that went
through the roof, and the bill to fix their tinfoil fender and bumper.
I witnessed a fight one morning on the freeway, a woman cut off a guy to
merge into an exit, SHE got out to go yell at him for not letting her
cut him off, he popped her in the face knocking her to the pavement
(cars driving past), she got up and yelled at him again, he popped her
again, she got up, he smacked her the third time, she got the message
and back in her car, flipped him off, backed into his car, and then took
off through the breakdown lane, around the slow exiting traffic with him
in hot pursuit. 7:30AM. I think her makeup was a bit mussed.
In Houston, with our large selection of illegal guest "drivers" (no
licenses, no insurance, no skill or awareness of even the minimal
aspects of traffic or driving a vehicle), assertive oblivious women
yapping on cell phones in large and/or expensive vehicles, and ricers
and arrozers who view the freeway as a slalom course to be taken at
Tokyo drift speeds, the behavior is much more random, and hence much
more dangerous. Add 8 to 12 people (mostly small children) in a
clapped-out Explorer or minivan, no seatbelts (it's a "cultural" thing
so the apologists tell us), perhaps a little too much cerveza, and the
body count adds up real quick. My neighbor was a trauma surgeon at the
local hospital that catches the helo flights bringing in the road
carnage, etc. -- he could tell some amazing stories about the
consequences of the inventive stupidity of humankind, esp when alcohol
and cars were mixed... (Knives, machetes, heavy blunt objects, guns and
woman factors were a whole 'nuther category, esp on a Saturday or full
moon night). The demographics of his patients were also interesting
from a sociological standpoint.
Hard to say which is "worse." My insurance rates (or payments) here are
not significantly different from MA.
--R
andrew strasfogel wrote:
The MA states (MD and Mass.) have the worst drivers - no contest. Nobody
even comes close. Check out the insurance rates.
