Taylor's Takes: Drivers in Massachusetts are getting worse

Is it me or are Massachusetts drivers getting worse?

In the past few months, I’ve had more close calls than I can count on my way to and from work. And it seems to me that these near misses are becoming more and more frequent given the number of accidents I drive by.

I live in southeastern Massachusetts and drive to and from the Boston area every weekday by way of Route 24. Rt. 24 is consistently ranked one of the most dangerous highways in the Commonwealth. It’s not uncommon to see a fender-bender here and there throughout the week, or the occasional broken-down car.

Lately, I’d say I’m lucky to make my commute without seeing more than one accident in each direction. These aren’t minor scrape-ups, either. They are full-on high-speed collisions often resulting in injury and major back-ups.

Just yesterday I sat through three separate slowdowns due to accidents on Rt. 24, not to mention a road closure near my house due to yet another serious accident.

"Just yesterday I sat through three separate slowdowns due to accidents on Rt."

According to MassDOT statistics, mine eyes doth deceive me. While overall reported accidents increased from 2022-2024, they have been on the decline since then. In fact, according to my rudimentary calculation of averages, 2026 will see the least number of reported accidents within the 2022-2026 timeframe. However, we have not yet reached the higher accident season that comes with holiday parties and busy shopping plazas. So there’s time for my eyesight to be redeemed.

Several years ago, I would have blamed these accidents I pass by on distracted driving, mostly caused by people glancing at their phones. But with more integrated technology such as infotainment centers that connect your phone to your car, I don’t see nearly as many people texting and driving as I once did.

What I do see out in the mean streets is a complete and blatant disregard for the safety of a given driver and the safety of the drivers around them.

Twice this week I’ve had someone cut me off from the high-speed lane all the way to the off-ramp of a three-lane highway because they didn’t prepare to safely reach their exit sooner. And I was on the receiving end of both of their middle fingers.

In the past year, I’ve seen two instances of people completely missing their exits. One of them came to a full stop in the middle of a 65 mph speed limit highway in order to merge so they could take the exit. The driver in the other instance had the courtesy to utilize the breakdown lane to go in reverse to reach the off-ramp.

The speeding and the recklessness by other drivers have gotten completely out of hand, and it’s on full display every single day that I drive.

All of this leads me to believe that driving schools are not effective enough in how they teach. The weight of responsibility that comes with getting behind the wheel of a vehicle is lost on so many young drivers or new arrivals to our country. They need to be teaching that people are driving what amounts to a multi-ton bullet, and to use this large machinery in an unwieldy manner could result in serious injury or even death.

I know I sound like the stereotypical crotchety old man when I say they need to teach these young people how to drive better. But it's true.

So, while I know that Back to the Future Part II had promised us flying cars by the year 2015, and Elon Musk is working on making them commercially available, I’d like to request that we hold off on that vision. I believe that our two-dimensional driving skills are diminishing. We’re not prepared to drive with the added dimension that comes with flight.