Drive safe: watch out for the lunatics!

I have been commuting to work for nearly six months now, and have seen enough to rant about Boston's drivers (at least those who drive around me as I stumble to work on the dreaded Mass Pike, I-90, every weekday).

There is at least one accident almost daily on the short 15-mile stretch of highway. One can only ascribe these routine collisions to careless and reckless driving way past the speed limit, too fast to be sustained by heavy weekday traffic levels. Besides the obvious risks of personal injury and vehicle damage, such driving is inconsiderate, to say the least. The smallest perturbations tend to throw I-90 into a downward spiral that can grind traffic to a standstill lasting hours. My 40-minute commute, for example, has often degenerated into a one to two hour drag.

One of my pet peeves (and I have many of these) is drivers who cannot stand seeing traffic move fractionally faster in another lane than theirs. They constantly weave left and right, as though they have a mandate to use all lanes equally. I see several such lunatics daily, cutting across lanes with impunity. They will often start crossing over to the next lane to take advantage of a 1-2 mph speed increase, only to find a slow-moving truck ahead in the target lane. Otherwise, the current lane might temporarily speed up a bit. The selfish driver then arrests her lane changing process mid-way (with two wheels in each lane) to return to the lane she just began evacuating. All of this, of course, will be executed without the use of turn indicators. Sometimes, these people will be half way to the next lane before their conscience directs them to blink their indicator for a fraction of a second, more like an afterthought!

I believe that such aggressive behavior is largely encouraged by the ridiculous blame system associated with fender-benders: the rear-ender is always at fault. Drivers therefore take their chances. They cut too close in front of others, knowing that the poor victim has all the incentive to watch out for this weirdo and slow down. Safe drivers are especially vulnerable, since the distance they maintain from the vehicle in front is enough invitation for aggressive types to cut in. Turn signals are used as rights of passage: "Hey! My indicator is on, so watch out!" In case of an accident, the cautious driver always loses. How convenient and safe!