As a young child, I read Wild in the Streets: The Boston Driver’s Handbook. This might as well be the bible of Boston driving, teaching everything from basic tailgating and cutoffs to advanced techniques such as the Guerilla Blocking Tactic and casually bouncing off other cars to help you slide around corners on snow covered roads. It seems that Boston drivers continue to embrace their reputation for aggression, placing dead last—for the third year in a row—on the Allstate America’s Best Drivers Report.
According to the survey, Boston drivers are 80 percent more likely to file an insurance claim than the national average. While the average driver nationwide goes 10 years between accident claims, Boston drivers only manage 3.6 years between fender benders. Boston.com reports that this is 12 percent worse than last year, and 22 percent worse than in 2015. The suburbs fare a bit better, at 6.7 years between claims, but still rank at the bottom of the list. No wonder my rates are so high.
What makes Boston drivers so bad? As a born and bred “Masshole,” I’m really not sure. Yet I can say that every day I witness drivers cutting people off, running red lights, and blocking intersections. Many people can’t even manage to stay in their own lane, a fundamental driving skill. Driver training has changed a bit since I got my license (mumble mumble) years ago, but unfortunately, it does not appear to be putting more competent drivers on the road.
Though Boston is the worst, other parts of Massachusetts won’t be outdone. The city of Worcester ranks at number 198 on the list, while Springfield comes in at 196. Ironically, Cape Coral, Florida, the winter home of the Boston Red Sox and many Massachusetts ex-pats, manages to take fifth place on the list. Maybe there’s something about the water in the Quabbin Reservoir that makes us bad drivers.