Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site kobold.UUCP
Path: utzoo!linus!security!genrad!grkermit!masscomp!kobold!tjt
From: tjt@kobold.UUCP (T.J.Teixeira)
Newsgroups: net.flame
Subject: Re: Driving in Boston
Message-ID: <180@kobold.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 20-Oct-83 08:30:09 EDT
Article-I.D.: kobold.180
Posted: Thu Oct 20 08:30:09 1983
Date-Received: Fri, 21-Oct-83 09:25:04 EDT
References: <1643@gatech.UUCP>
Organization: Masscomp, Littleton, MA
Lines: 56

Remember the saying:

	If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns!

The corollary for Boston drivers is:

	If Boston drivers are lunatics, only lunatics will
	drive cars in Boston!

As a result, as you get closer to the city of Boston, the worse the
drivers are.  The traffic jam you saw on I-93 was *not* incredible by
local standards -- probably just normal rush hour.  It is true that
I-93 just north of the city is probably the second worst main road.
Be thankful that you weren't trying to drive along the Southeast
Expressway!

In answer to specific questions:

    Just how many boxtops does it take to get a license in MA anyhow?

It's been awhile since I got mine, but they used to require a written
test (you had to correctly answer something like 18 out of 20 questions
on traffic regulations) and a driving test as well as a quicky eye-test.
About two years ago, there was a proposal to drop the written test (can
anyone confirm this?), and the driving test was often "just drive
around the block".  Massachusetts drivers generally do learn to drive
in the school of hard knocks (just look at the fenders!).

    And does anyone ever get stopped for violating traffic laws?

As you suspect, almost never!  However, at least once I was treated to
the absolute luxury of being cut off by a cab driver making an illegal
left turn only to be stopped (the cab driver that is) by an MDC cop
immediately afterwards.

    What are MA insurance rates like?

Well, depending on where you live, it ranges from not too bad to
outrageous.  The insurance companies also go by the prime rule: the
closer you are to Boston, the more you'll pay!  I live about 30 miles
west of Boston (the near edge of the boonies) and pay ~$500/year to
insure a '78 pickup truck.  About $300 of that goes for much higher
liability limits and collision coverage.  I suspect (but no longer
know) that if you live in Boston or any of the immediately surrounding
cities (Cambridge, Somerville, Brookline, ...) you may have to pay two
or three times that amount.

P.S. Boston doesn't really have a monopoly on the awful drivers (or at
least the awful traffic intersections).  Near where I live there are
quite a few cars sporting the bumper sticker:

		This car survived Chelmsford Center
-- 

	Tom Teixeira,  Massachusetts Computer Corporation.  Littleton MA
	...!{harpo,decvax,ucbcad,tektronix}!masscomp!tjt   (617) 486-9581