<p>“When I go to Calif., I’m struck by the decorum of drivers there. They drive at or near the speed limit; they yield to pedestrians in crosswalks; they stop for red lights, and they don’t block the box. These are behaviors I don’t see in the East.”</p>
<p>I lived in CA for 10 years and we used to joke that at rush hour it was bumper-to-bumper 80 mpr. It was that or crawling along, depending on whether a traffic jam or not. The worst traffic I personally ever encountered was in Boston. It was a free for all. Worse than NY or Washington DC. Just glad I was not behind the wheel.</p>
<p>I used to live and drive in Boston. It was as if all the rules of the road were just rules of thumb: in general, stay on or near the right side of a double yellow line…unless you don’t wasn’t to. And every intersection or rotary was like the wild west: you could have the right-of-way if you were man enough to take it.</p>
<p>I used to live near Boston too, and that’s why I was terrified at the thought of having to drive there for our recent college visits! But my fears were not confirmed in any way by the drivers in MA. I was on the Mass pike in the middle of the night and in the suburbs during the day - so maybe that explains the stress-free experience. But it was all perfectly civilized!</p>
<p>Driving in Boston is like driving in Italy. :D</p>
<p>Sikorsky, it is not “the East.” Here in Maine, which is definitely “the East,” drivers are far more courteous than they are in the NYC or Boston areas, for example. I’ve been shocked by the wild lane-changing on CA freeways.</p>
<p>It is my observation that the higher the proportion of drivers from 3rd world countries and the more BMWs, the wilder it is. :)</p>
<p>Gee, I don’t think Boston is that bad. I guess it’s mostly about familiarity - if you know the road, it’s easier to navigate. LA is very easy, Chicago is fine - not crazy about NYC. The scariest driving I know is in Sicily on the road up to Taormina. There is a stop sign just before the top of the switchback road. Stopped there, the car is nearly vertical. Throw in a standard transmission and it’s sheer terror.</p>
<p>Boston seems to be about 80% landfills that were all done at different times so there is little overall pattern or order. Try, just try, to get off Storrow Drive and not get sucked onto the Tobin bridge! It’s been years for me but I still remember the cold sweat.</p>
<p>No where is as bad as Italy. Everyone thinks they’re an Andretti. The Tangenziale in Naples worse than anything I’ve seen in NY, DC, Jersey or Boston.</p>
<p>Now I think I understand why they advised to stay in lane as long as possible in Pennsylvania. We had the most pleasant traffic jam last night. They blocked two lanes on a three lane freeway. People stayed in their lane until forced to merge. When they merged, they took turns, zipper style, barely slowing down. Orderly. No one tried to change lanes early to cut in. It took about 10 minutes to get through a mile long jam. Absolutely no aggravation.</p>
<p>Another Pennsylvanian that is used to the zipper merge. I have to do this weekly on a road I take to church and it does work easily. I’ll have to say that this works much more smoothly on roads where it’s labeled as such and not with roads closer to the cities. From what I’ve seen, city drivers in every state are more aggressive. There is a particular merge near I-95 that always seems like it has accident potential due to lack of signage and aggressive drivers.</p>
<p>There is a difference when both lanes are full, traveling at the same speed and then they zip merge versus one lane totally full and the other lane not so much and the speedy cars PASSING several cars in the fuller lane. That’s what no one likes.</p>
<p>katiep has hit that nail on the head.
As some have said earlier, for the “zipper merge” to work, both lanes must be going the same speed, and both lanes must have some civility. Without both factors it does not work. Passing on the right(when one needs to merge left) to the front and then wanting in, is not a zipper merge.</p>
<p>drivers who speed up an empty lane, knowing they will have to merge? Drivers that think their getting there fast is somehow more important than every other driver getting where he wants go?
Yes, they should be penalized.</p>