As many of you know, I’ve just spent 10 months in Cambridge, Mass., generally considered part of the Boston metro area, since Harvard Square is closer to Boston’s Fenway Park than SouthPark is to downtown Charlotte. “Boston drivers” have a fearsome reputation nationwide for inappropriate, even insane behavior as well as ripe invective and insults.
I did some driving in Boston, and a lot of driving in Cambridge. My conclusion: Boston drivers are nicer than those in Charlotte. Now I’m back in the city where, if you need to change lanes, no one will let you in.
In Boston, those supposedly demented and reckless drivers routinely let other cars merge in front of them. In Charlotte they act as if you’re trying to steal their birthright.
Years ago we vacationed in Boston and New England in a rented car and, because my husband had injured his arm, I did all the driving for two weeks. Yes, those New England rotaries are hair-raising. Yes, the lanes are poorly marked, and people treat lane markings as mere suggestions, anyway. But when you need to change lanes they let you. I remember getting back to Charlotte, zipping down Providence Road, turning on my signal and starting to merge into another lane. The SUV on my left flank sped up to ensure that I couldn’t. So did the SUV behind it. I knew I was back home again.
For the past year every time I needed to turn left, the Cambridge traffic would stop to allow it. No surly looks. No speeding up out of spite. This morning I sat behind a garbage truck on Providence Road, near Christ Church, hoping to change lanes, left-turn blinker a-blinking, as the left-lane cars streamed past. And streamed. And streamed. One car hung back, looking as if it was letting me in. I began to edge over and the driver sped up, just to ensure that I didn’t get ahead of it. Welcome home.