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Even ZipCar drivers can be Massholes

The Boston Business Journal reports: ZipCar teams with driving school:

... "The safety of our members is critical to us," said Dan Curtin, general manager of ZipCar in Boston, in a statement. "Most of our members live and work in the Boston area and we are excited to work with In Control to educate them about safe, responsible driving whether they are in the city or venturing our of town." ...

DJDiva does not specify if the person in front of her who braked for a GREEN light in Somerville and THEN decided to turn was a ZipCar driver.

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Comments

A speed limit is a MAXIMUM speed, not a mininum speed.

While "brake for nothing all the time" drivers are annoying and dangerous, driving under the speed limit is perfectly legit. The person driving in front of you is not obligated to do otherwise, or to speed, for your convenience.

The problem and danger comes with driving erratically - like driving at variable speed with random braking followed by a left turn against high-speed traffic without looking.

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"Braking" not "breaking".

;~}

And the official speed limit is the maximum speed limit ONLY under maximal conditions. When the weather is bad (rain, fog, iciness, whatever), going the "speed limit" may constitute a moving violation (driving too fast for the conditions).

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Right..."My car breaks" is quite different from "my car brakes". One is bad; the other is good.

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The speed limit in Boston is 25-30mph, usually. That puts this person at 15-20MPH. At that speed, they are an impediment to traffic, and likely to be at least pulled over by the cops who are probably wonder what the hell is wrong with the person.

The whole point of cars is to go faster than one can travel on foot...

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They are not an impediment to traffic. Stopping in the middle of a travel lane and blocking traffic is impeding traffic. There's nothing legally preventing someone from driving 20MPH in a 25 zone, annoying as it may be. Also, slightly off topic but related, there's no requiremet to turn on red if it is allowed. The law states that the driver may turn on red when it is safe to do so. So many drivers need to begin to care less what most others in front of them are doing and focus on their own driving. When I began to not give a rat's ass if the person in front of me was slowing me down, I became a much more mellow person behind the wheel and a much safer driver. Saving a few seconds is not worth the stress or toll on my sanity.

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The easiest way to get the people behind you to mellow out if you are in a position where you can turn right on red, but don't want to, and don't want the people behind you to honk (assuming you aren't in a dedicated turning lane) is to just not turn your blinker on until the light turns green. As far as the people behind you are concerned you're going straight through the intersection.

What I tend to find is that people who drive very slow are old people, or people who are severely distracted(ie: checking their damn blackberrys while driving or talking on their cell phones trying to get directions to their destination)

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drive too slow and this is what the cops think.did you ever look down and realize you were only going 15mph? see ya at store 24.

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The whole point of cars is to go faster than one can travel on foot...

Ergo, there are numerous times and places where cars should be banned? Such as Harvard Square at Rush Hour? Just try traveling by car and do so faster than a pedestrian at 8am or 5:30pm. One reason I like to bike is that it is faster than driving

It is the height of self-absorption to believe you have the right to force other people break the law because their law-abiding behavior is just too inconvenient for you. Sounds like certain forms of terrorism or organized crime to me. (And yes, I know that wasn't what DJDiva said, but there are too many drivers out there who love to tailgate and lay on the horn when drivers ahead of them do the speed limit - or even 10mph above it - including a fully loaded tanker truck who wanted to go 40mph in a 20mph zone on High St. in Medford ...).

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I'm with DJDiva on this one - I'd be angry too!

Massachusetts has one of the best designed road systems in the country. Plus, our exemplary street signage is the envy of the nation. Hence, there's absolutely no reason drivers should get lost driving around Boston!

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The person was not in a zip car.

The roads were very dry and it was a bright sunny day. I can totally understand driving slower in inclement weather. I slow down too when it's snowing out. But when the roads are dry I don't expect a person to drive 15 or 20 in a 30 mph.

I didn't want this person to necessarily speed, but speeding up and braking (sorry for the previous typo) is annoying and dangerous - I can't tell what they are thinking if they aren't using their blinkers.

And signs are sparse in Boston - I could appreciate that if the person was braking at actual street, but she was also braking in places where there was no street to turn onto.

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Figured I'd kill two bad-driving birds with one stone and put up just one post instead of two.

And maybe I'm not doing a good enough job of encouraging folks to visit the links I put up.

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no worries at all - it's cool with me :)

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I've never seen it myself. I might be persuaded that people who drive occasionally might be prone to getting lost or bad habits ... but Zip also screens your driving record and sets a minimum age.

I'd expect the typical zip car driver to be less likely to stop-start driving like Diva was describing and more comfortable pulling over to check the GPS or map in the big bad scary old city!

Besides, you drive a zip and you are marked with a brand and numbers.

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I use ZipCar and I can tell you that for myself and all of my friends who also ZipCar, we're more interested in getting everything done really fast to avoid needing extra time and charges.

It sounds more like DJDiva just got stuck behind someone who was looking for a street/address and needed to make sure they didn't pass it. For a "20 in a 30"? Give them a break. No need to road rage on this. People miss green lights all the time for so many other reasons...what DJDiva ended up doing by blowing through a yellow was more dangerous than their driving.

There are so many good reasons to explode on somebody on the road (like using a bus stop to pass you on the right at a red light or turning a left through your lane without checking the crosswalk so that now neither direction can move until the pedestrians clear out). No need to get mad just because someone isn't cruising down a city street.

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In fact, it's expected and normal behavior. Even going through the first 2 or 3 seconds of red light generally doesn't cause much trouble locally, from my observation. People are just used to it here.

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Or some idiot clips you.

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It matters not if the light was yellow when you entered the intersection. Under the law, if it turns red while you're in the intersection, you could be prosecuted. (I actually had to prosecute some of these while a 3rd year law student. And I "won" every time.)

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because it's normal for 4 or 5 cars that are waiting to turn left to proceed after the light turns red. If they didn't, nobody would ever be able to turn left in some places.

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The law is the same, Ron, but enforcement is clearly different.

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The lack of enforcement in this area is not the norm in other areas of the country. The only reason that we have driving laws anywhere near national standard is the threat of losing federal funding - hence the "three free" rule at stop signs and changes to rotary rules and "right turn permitted" signs vanishing about 25 years ago.

In other words, if you drive elsewhere, expect to get a ticket if you blow through a red light, daisy-chain a multi-way stop, take a "left of way" turn at the beginning or end of a light cycle, ignore speed zones, etc. Not only are there more people looking for those violations, they are more likely to care that you ignored the rules.

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The pedestrian crossing lights on the West Roxbury Parkway at the Putterham library in Brookline still go red and yellow. How quaint!

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It's been my experience in NY, MN, IA, CO, CA, OR, WA that people do get pulled over for not following traffic laws. It still amazes me the stuff I see people do in front of officers here and not get pulled over. Running lights, honking unnecessarily, blocking intersections, having noisy-ass mufflers or stereos, etc.

A few months ago I was stopped at a light in Kenmore Square, next to a car with a shaking stereo that was shaking MY car, and three cops were standing there helping pedestrians cross. No, they didn't walk over and ask them to turn it down or anything. (BTW, the mayor's office guy who comes to our neighborhood meetings says that the city noise ordinance absolutely applies to noise coming from cars, whether it's from the stereo or the muffler or the alarm or honking or anything else, but that the PD currently isn't enforcing it in the case of cars. They've proposed a law that specifically applies to pulling over cars with loud stereos, even though the law wouldn't be necessary if they'd just enforce the current one.)

Oh, BTW, I think that MA drivers tend to be more skillful than WA/OR drivers in general, like, in terms of being alert and maneuvering their vehicles. But MA drivers pretty much suck in terms of knowing and following traffic laws. You know, like the people who honk and scream and wave their hands at drivers who won't pull into a (blocked) intersection.

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I now have this job where I drive around the city much of the day, and almost every day I have someone pass me on a two-lane road with either a double solid yellow line or no line. Passing on the left and the right seem to be about equally frequent. I generally drive about the speed limit in residential areas and five over on arterials (and if I am looking for an address, I slow way down and pull over as far as I can so people can pass), but all the time I'll be driving down a street and have someone swerve out and blow past me going about twice the speed limit. At the risk of sounding like Miki here, where the fuck did people get the idea that doing that is safe or appropriate? Do you need to risk flattening a child in order to get somewhere a couple minutes faster?

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Why do I think that masholish driving is a waste of energy, if not life?

Because, as a commuter cyclist, I see how futile it is to race between red lights, that's why! I lose count on a daily basis of how many times a car will race around me, only to get caught in a backup at the next stop, and then race around me again and get stuck again. This typically happens two or three times in a row before I bury that particular Masshole in traffic for good. I also notice some vehicles racing between stops with a big roaring flourish, as if rapidly flexing your right foot was some monumental accomplishment, only to beat them by several blocks by taking a low-speed side-street combo.

ESCAPE IS FUTILE.

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I took driver's ed in Washington State, but I know for a fact that the law there is that when making a left turn on solid green, you pull out 1/3ish of the way, and then you're allowed to go when the cars stop coming at you if you're already out in the intersection. So as Ron said, if it's a busy intersection, 1 or 2 cars will be able to go on each yellow/red. I'm not sure what the law is here.

Which makes me wonder, as I often do, why there isn't some sort of handout on state-specific laws when you transfer a license. I know there's the whole driver's guide, but there's a lot of laws it doesn't cover, and also a lot of things that are suggestions rather than laws.

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Eeka, you and I had to show some basic knowledge when we learned to drive. People who learned to drive in WA and OR frequently top the lists when it comes to knowing the rules. The insurance industry puts out the data every year from nationwide testing. MA is usually one of the bottom three, with the majority of drivers posting near-failing scores on the rules tests.

Why? MassRMV still gives a test on paper that doesn't vary, and only contains 10 questions (20 now?). Hardly a comprehensive assessment of knowledge. Then there is the "officer makes it up off the top of his or her head" driving exam. Again, lacks comprehensive assessment of skills and knowledge.

So, you want a handout when you transfer licenses? Ha! Of all the laws on the books, chances are you already know more than the typical Masshole already does - unless you are coming from Rhode Island or Washington DC.

2005 Test Results

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But you're not supposed to enter an intersection unless you can clear it before the light turns red. I think that a lot of traffic problems (IE: gridlock, drivers ignoring the stop line and blocking crosswalks (maybe my biggest pet peeve), etc) could be solved if the lights in this country were placed on the close side of the intersection, as I have observed in Germany, Belgium, France and as my Kiwi roommate tells me, is done in New Zealand, where the lights are usually placed at or just beyond the stop line.

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If you're, say, going straight through the intersection, but you can't get across all the way because of traffic, then you're not allowed to enter at all. You're supposed to sit at the light, even though it's green, then wait until you see that there's room to go across. I *have* looked up this law, and it does apply in all 50 states, but no one in this state seems to fucking know this. They all honk like crazy if you sit at a green light because you're avoiding blocking an intersection.

I like NYC's crosshatching for this purpose. Also, the "don't block the box" signs. I hate it when people block the box. ;-)

Well, I suppose it depends whose box, and whether I'm interested.

OK I'LL BE GOING NOW

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I frequently see cars blocking train crossings, and have had cars leeeeeaaaannnn on the horn because I refuse to put my car across the tracks. This is one reason that a right turn lane was blocked off at West Medford - too many cases of massholes who could not restrain themselves from gridlocking the train. I think the garbage truck that came very close to being plowed into the Dunks was the last straw. The train can't always stop like a car can, but the masshole hurry can't think about that bit. That would violate the central philosophy of It's Always About Me.

You aren't supposed to block side streets, either.

Eeka isn't the only one in this state who knows this - I'm frequently honked at and cursed because I won't go unless I can clear!

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Yeah, the blocking of side streets. Gah. They're intersections too, people!

I often come out of a little side street coming down from my neighborhood (King Street coming down onto Malcolm X Blvd, for the interested), get down to the end of the street, and find the street blocked by a bus letting people off. About half of the buses pull far enough forward at the bus stop there so that the street isn't blocked, but others don't. When buses are letting people off with their ass end across the street I'm trying to get out of, yes, I'll tap the horn. Then the drivers give me the "buses don't have to obey traffic laws" look. I've called the MBTA customer service people about this a few times, and the MBTA people are actually aware that this is a law, and aware that buses have to obey traffic laws. Doesn't seem to have changed anything though.

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Driver's Manual

Chapter 4 states: "Steady Yellow - A steady yellow light means the traffic signal is changing from green to red. You must stop if it is safe to do so. If you are already stopped at an intersection or a stop line, you may not proceed." (their emphasis)

Anyone already in the intersection when it turns yellow must clear the intersection. Therefore, left-turning vehicles should see the opposing traffic stopping for the imminent red light and proceed to clear the intersection. Of course, this is only when people stop for the yellow light...if they go anyways, then left turners from the opposite direction are stranded as it goes red. Some locations on the Green B line suffer from this and it can easily become a really bad situation quickly, especially if the T is also then present.

Interestingly, "yellow signals" aren't covered explicitly in the MGLs (it is a warning that you will be in violation of the red light which is covered)...and yet, creating gridlock (entering an intersection on a green light if you knowingly will not be able to exit it) is explicitly discussed.

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Such rules make it absolutely impossible to legally make a left turn onto the VFW Parkway southbound, as we found out when we got a surcharge after my wife got plowed into there.

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Chapter 4 of the driver's manual:

"A steady yellow light means the traffic signal is changing from green to red. You must stop if it is safe to do so. If you are already stopped at an intersection or a stop line, you may not proceed."

However, if it's not safe to do so- you might be speeding :-)

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In my 10 years of living in and around Boston, I've come to realize that the rules of the road I learned in Driver's Ed when I was 15 are completely wrong. Boston has taught me:

Stoplights:
Green == Speed right on through
Yellow == Step on the gas and gun it!
Red == We suggest you stop, but go right on through if you feel like it

A few other tidbits:
- When turning left at a stoplight, just dash out in front of all the incoming traffic - they'll stop for ya
- When you're pulling from a side street onto a main road, just dart out into the road and block all the lanes until all the traffic has stopped - that'll give you the right-of-way!

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While I agree about the yellow - I don't promote running red lights. I was behind a guy today that blew through a red light that was red even as he approached the light. I was shocked and pissed - he was near a school and went through at - at least 40 mph - that was just stupid.

I don't think people should drive reckless, but come on - go the speed limit (in good weather), and don't stop at green lights (unless something or someone is blocking the intersection).

One of the most annoying things in MA are rotaries - it seems most people cannot navigate these. The state seriously should send out the rules to all residents on how to navigate the rotary properly.

I drive through 4 rotaries on my way to work, and 4 coming home. So I have the unfortunate luck of watching people screw up navigating these every day. There are yield signs showing people that they should yield when attempting to enter the rotary. Yet I see people fly into the rotary without braking - cutting off and almost hitting the people already in the rotary. If the people in the rotary beep - these jerks flip them off! They had the yield! Or worse, the people in the rotary stop to let other people in screwing up the traffic within the rotary. If properly navigated rotaries can work really well, but somehow it just never happens.

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Sounds like you need to move to West Roxbury so you can drive all the rotaries on the West Roxbury Parkway. I go through all four of them on the way to work and, in general, people are actually pretty good - they know when to yield, etc. The one exception is the one at LaGrange Street, where you occasionally get people who are clearly not from the area who get all confused and stop, then zoom, then stop again and it drive you nuts.

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isn't bad actually! I have been in the ones in West Roxbury and it moves pretty smoothly (near Center Street and the VFW parkway).

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3 going to work.
4 going home.

.5 = the rotary I have to drive through only on my route home.

"Yet I see people fly into the rotary without braking - cutting off and almost hitting the people already in the rotary."
There's a real problem in the Arborway rotary, by Franklin Park. Lots of people racing to make that light onto Morton St.

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"people who drive occasionally might be prone to..."
1. Driving really slow
2. Forgetting how to use turn signals
3. Having parking (especially parallel parking) issues

Not every ZipCar driver has these issues. But i can't count the amount of times I silently curse teh car in front/behind/beside me for doing something silly and then I see the ZipCar logo.

And then I think that they probably don't drive much and try to cut them some slack.

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I can't comment on lots of sites (until evenings) because of some funky new re-direction that Blogger does -- that my (at-work) proxy servers can't cope with.

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...might have been looking for a particular street address -- so many businesses and homes in Boston have no visible street numbers....

;~{

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to be able to park anywhere near that street address? In Boston?

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...maybe.

;~}

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