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Subject: 
Re: subway info?
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.off-topic.fun
Date: 
Fri, 2 Mar 2001 20:25:15 GMT
Viewed: 
182 times
  
Eric Kingsley wrote:

In lugnet.off-topic.fun, Frank Filz writes:
Larry Pieniazek wrote:

In lugnet.trains, Eric Joslin writes:

That intersection isn't *that* bad.  You just have to learn how to drive in
Boston, that's all.  We're all really good drivers here- perhaps you're
just not up to scratch.

Having learned to drive in Lexington, I've got some good Boston driving
skills. I used to study "The Boston Driver's Handbook" for ideas :-)
(well, not really, but I did actually once perform one of the advanced
maneuvers - said maneuver being the "shielded left turn" where you turn
left at the same time as the car in front of you, using him as a shield
in case oncoming traffic doesn't slow down enough, and the advanced part
being not only do you use them as a shield, but you also gun the gas and
get ahead of them - I once got stuck behind an old lady who was taking
too long to make a left, when she finally started to move, I moved
faster :-)


You only did that once?  Wimp :-)

Oh, I've probably done it a few more times, but you have to realize that
the vast bulk of my driving experience these days is not in Boston...

Besides there is a reason we drive like we do here.  If you didn't drive that
way you would never get anywhere.  Many turns in the city are blind and in the
suburbs there is so much traffic that if you don't block a lane or 2 of traffic
when making left turns you can litterally sit for hours durring rush hour.

Actually there is a good statistic.  Massachusetts drivers rank #1 with the
fewest deaths per 100 miles driven of all the 50 states.  It seems
contradictory until you realize that 1. usually traffic is bad enough that you
can't go fast enough to hurt yourself if you are in an accident and 2. we have
more Hospitals per-capita than just about anywhere else in the world never mind
the U.S. so they can patch us up quick and get us back out on the roads.

I always point out to non-Boston drivers that Boston driving shouldn't
be characterized as aggressive, rather it should be characterized as
decisive. The trick is that once you start a move, if you do it
decisively and confidently, everyone else realizes that you ARE going,
and they stop. Dowm here, they get confused and either speed up, or when
you decide to let them on first (because it makes more sense for the guy
getting onto the highway to go ahead of the guy getting off, they slow
down, at which point I usually gun it if I have room and slip into the
nice gap they left in front of them).

--
Frank Filz

-----------------------------
Work: mailto:ffilz@us.ibm.com (business only please)
Home: mailto:ffilz@mindspring.com



Message has 1 Reply:
  Re: subway info?
 
(...) That's exactly the way I describe it, too. eric (24 years ago, 2-Mar-01, to lugnet.off-topic.fun)

Message is in Reply To:
  Re: subway info?
 
(...) You only did that once? Wimp :-) Besides there is a reason we drive like we do here. If you didn't drive that way you would never get anywhere. Many turns in the city are blind and in the suburbs there is so much traffic that if you don't (...) (24 years ago, 2-Mar-01, to lugnet.off-topic.fun)

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