Massachusetts turns

When I arrived in Amherst, I noticed a couple of unusual things about driving here. First, I was surprised to how courteous most of the drivers were in Amherst: when you needed to merge, they would make room for you with no problem. But this had a dark side. I noticed that it was de rigeur to let people turn left in front of you when a light turned green. And that many people just did it, whether you let them or not.

It happened to Lucy's brother David when he was helping her move out here. He was rendered speechless that someone would do that: "Wha!?! Hey... Hey! Did you see that? Did you see what that guy did?!?"

We call it a "Massachusetts turn". I never would have imagined doing something like that before I moved out here -- I think the traffic rules of right-of-way are pretty clear and this has nothing to do with them. But here it's just commonplace. Most people expect you to do it, so whenever a light changes, you have to try to read the other driver: Are they waiting for me? Should I wait for them?

The topper was when I was driving home last week. I was stopped at a light near my house going straight. When the light changed, a car made a Massachusetts turn in front of me and it was a driver education car. The student was driving and the instructor waved at me cheerfully as they turned left in front of me at the light. Truth really is stranger than fiction.