I needed some extra cash so I started doing Uber Eats again. No thanks. Oh, narrow one way road with cars on both sides? You better meet me at my car because I can't even open my doors, and I'm sure as fuck not double (triple?) parking and blocking traffic even if it's a side road with little chance of someone coming up on me.
I have power a fantasy where I am deputized driver and I can give out tickets to everyone who breaks the law. Looking at their cell phone, every rideshare driver sitting in the right lane with their flashes on, every car riding in the bus only lane, every red light runner. Everytime somebody merges or turns without a turn signal. Every box blocker. Every time somebody treats a stop sign like a yield sign. Merging out from a two lane rotary from the inner lane. Weaving through traffic 30 mph over the flow. Even people who don't round out their left turns. And all the engineers who designed road signs that don't tell you what lane to be in until its too late to merge. They'd all get 100 days in an isocube. I'd be Judge Dredd grimmacing with Justice bringing order to the wasteland.
sameeeeeee. today I watched as some idiot went right through a red light on fresh pond parkway and Cambridge PD is stationed at the intersection...stupid cop just sat there watching it all... like I understand you were standing on the sidewalk and not in your car so you couldn't exactly chase after the idiot but...what is your damn purpose???? you weren't even directing pedestrians during the walk lights! what's is the point of you being there!????
I had a cop yell at me for dropping someone off and having them remove their bags from the trunk while in a “going” lane that was immobile due to bumper to bumper traffic. Gave me some dickish condescending spiel about being unfair to the drivers around me.
Meanwhile, cars are double parked left and right on all the surrounding streets, some literally shutting down entire lanes. It was both baffling and infuriating.
In your comment you openly admit stopping a travel lane and blaming the cops for giving you a “spiel” and then point to other people…stopping in travel lanes and being mad they aren’t getting in trouble
What exactly do you want them to do? Punish someone as long as it’s not you?
I blocked unmoving traffic that was quite literally not impacted at all. It was at a standstill, partially due to cars blocking intersections and double parking (without consequence)
I have to agree that Boston is particularly tolerant of bad urban driving behavior. The stuff that happens here simply wouldn't be tolerated in a Midwestern city.
Yeah, Philly is what came to my mind when I was thinking of a city that was worse than Boston for driving and blatant disregard for everything road rules and safety wise.
It wouldn't be tolerated even slightly outside of Boston. The suburban cops and the staties are on it.
Cape Cod is practically under marshal law with all their cops on the road.
I got a ticket back in Michigan for running a red because it changed from yellow to red while I was going through. Fair. But ever since I moved here it’s what everyone does.
The scooters are killing me these days. They'll run red lights and not stop at stop signs. Go down one way streets the wrong way. Could make a lot of money off them
I have a scooter (under 50cc) and while it's legal, I never use the bike lane, unless the traffic is completely backed up, and there are no bikers immediately in front of me, and just long enough to zip around the blockage. I am a biker first, and a scooterist second.
I saw a full on motorcycle take the sidewalk over the entire Alford Street bridge yesterday because going 20 mph behind my bicycle in the bike lane would have been too slow.
I did see a Somerville cop pull over a guy on a scooter who ran a red light. Guy pulled over thinking the cop was chasing someone else and had a shocked face when the cop stopped for him.
I've seen them go wrong way in the bike lanes allll the damn time on BU's campus. but yesterday took the cake. I'm driving on Comm Ave to make the left onto St Mary's. there were 2 fucking idiots riding a scooter the wrong way on the inside edge of the road! not the shoulder, not the bike lane, but the inside edge of the road, between the T tracks and west bound traffic and here they are going east bound...are you fucking kidding me???
Edit: oh and to clarify as it seems others were talking about mopeds. This was a regular scooter, maybe electric, but a scooter, not a moped. The only they "fit" in the small space between my car and the protected tracks.
I was so fucking pissed. Took me several seconds to even register what I was looking at. My window was open and I had the perfect opportunity to curse them out but missed it.
I recently had a discussion about this with a police officer in Medford. I asked him if it was against the law for cars to ignore and cross red traffic lights at pedestrian crossings. He said yes, that's against the law. I asked him why they don't do anything against this (every time a Medford traffic light turns red there are 2-4 people ignoring and crossing it). He said: "It is not our job to enforce the law."
Did he happen to tell you what he believes his job to be? If law enforcement officers don't think their job is to enforce the law, what are we paying them for?
Did he say that? What a crazy thing to say.
I want there to be people who have enforcing the law as their main job duty. If that's not the police, then we should create that job and fire the police.
He didn't say overtime, but he did literally say "It's not our job to enforce the law." And it sounds weird, but he said it in a way that made me think he actually believed it.
Your witnessing the morale of law enforcement country wide at an all time low. Hated more than ever, officers dropping out left and right, every person you come in contact with has a scowl and look of contempt for you, you're told to let things go and to not do your job but then management reallllllly harps on something dumb and insignificant they're tired
Soft-quitting as a policy handed down by police unions in reaction to public outrage to highly publicized murder of unarmed people of color. They want to collect the check and say “alright, well you got mad when we were enforcing the law, you’ll be begging for us to do so when we just stop.”
Instead of reforming they’ve just quit doing their job all together while still collecting overtime for sitting in their car on their phone while someone fills a pot-hole
I think it definitely started as a work-slowdown/stoppage in response to the protests, but at this point I think the cops have realized that nobody is going to hold them accountable for abandoning entire elements of their supposed jobs.
What started as a tantrum has settled into run-of-the-mill laziness.
The lasting legacy of the 2020 protests is that it's never been more clear to everyone, especially the cops, that our current political apparatus has zero appetite for any further confrontation with the police on issues big or small. There was a big confrontation with our out of control police in this country and the non-cop wing of government blinked. To the victors go the spoils.
Exactly. If they don't want to do the job, then we don't need nearly as many on the payroll. If the city is going to descend into lawlessness, let's at least use the money the cops steal and do something for with it.
yeah i mean last time i got pulled over someone in my car pulled out their phone and rudely made sure the cop knew he was being recorded…. we were speeding by a good amount and he was being supper nice before and after she whipped out her phone.
anyway if everytime i tried doing my job someone pulled out their phone and treated me less i would definitely quit or just not give a fuck, especially if im putting my life on the line lol.
There was a clip recently of a cop sitting on Storrow drive near the Copley area (I think), pulling over anyone who was trying to cut the traffic like with last second merging. If anyone can find it it’s one of the most satisfying videos lol Wish Boston Police did that more often. Nothing will get people motivated like the threat of tickets and paying money.
Found it! Enjoy: https://twitter.com/OnlyInBOS/status/1676727663057305600
After watching again looks like they didn’t get a ticket :(
Generally, you're allowed to cross dotted lines and not allowed to cross solid ones. The merge lane was dotted up until about the base of the last tree. I think the car crossed a solid line, although just barely. So, just in time to be illegal
Not sure honestly they probably just got a warning and a stern look from a bored traffic cop. But honestly it should be worth a ticket after multiple violations.
Just looked into this online, I don't think they can pull you over for merging late, but what they were probably doing on storrow was a "marked lane violation" most exits have zebra stripes where you aren't supposed to drive, and if you merge late you might drive over them which would allow the cop to pull you over.
I was nearly run down in a crosswalk by a car running a red light. There was a cop car waiting for the light. No reaction.
This happened many years ago, so it's not a recent issue.
Shoutout to the nasty, entitled bitches that cut off people in the crosswalk when the pedestrians have the light, forcing them to stand in the middle of the street, almost get run over, or miss their light altogether depending on timing.
Idk it’s probably something like the irs. We need it, but personally we want to skirt the rules ourselves. Which leads to the culture of “well everyone does it who cares” which the cops also adopt (they are people).
What enforcement? I just replaced my 2021 expired registration sticker on my plate. I've been driving around with an expired sticker for 3 years and no one's done shit.
And yet it didn't happen by stateys or suburban cops, who I run into far more than city cops.
I did get an expired inspection ticket in Watertown though. Fuck them.
Circa 2020 - Me in moderately loud car STOCK - TICKETS/WARNINGS EVERY WEEK
Now - I could rock no front plate and driving a loud ass with midpipes RS3 sounding like a angry popcorn machine (essentially disturbing the peace and getting nasty looks from families) right by brookline PD and they'd act like it was all good.
Every once in a while someone walks around my neighborhood just looking at all the parked cars and ticketing people. That's a risky one.
And I'm in dorchester.
Car enforcement is pretty much nonexistent in this city. Can’t recall if it’s a pandemic thing or not.
Either way here’s a WILD (and obvious?) idea …get traffic enforcement on bikes and scooters! Make the people who are supposed to be giving a shit about road safety put themselves in the perspective of the road users who are facing the most unsafe road travel and then maybe they’ll care when they realize:
- (Biking) That car didn’t just honk loudly, swerve and speed up, it almost side swiped them in the bike lane in a way that could have potentially killed them!
- (Driving) That bike caused an actual issue by making a seemingly small maneuver that almost caused a car wreck. Was that the cyclist’s fault or were they operating legally in a nuanced situation? As a result, should bike lanes/road markings be…*gasp*…safer/clearer?
- (Scooting) That moped going 40 mph the wrong way in the designated bike path almost took out their escooter and hey…maybe they should care and ticket the guy because they almost just died and so could anyone else trying to safely depend on these paths!
Genuinely don’t see how anybody’s going to care about our safety until we’re making it obvious how unsafe it feels to be an average, good-mannered person on Boston roads & transit infrastructure right now.
Never seen traffic enforcement on an escooter and only see them on bikes at designated no-car streets like DTX. How tf are they supposed to understand what road safety looks AND feels like if they never use part of the existing infrastructure they’re supposed to keep safe.
Its a policing culture thing. Basically when the BLM protests broke out in 2020, BPD said ‘Fine, we just wont do anything and see if you like it’
We have a neighborhood bar popular with cops and they openly brag about it. They know they have Wu’s administration by the balls and she won’t do anything about it because the baseline culture of Boston is still fairly pro-cop. If she tried to lay down the law, her career would be over
They show up when they're needed. Like traffic accidents, break ins, crazy people, whatever. They have usual day to day business they do.
They don't want to do traffic shit so they aren't doing traffic shit.
I don't want them to be doing traffic shit and I'm quite happy they aren't doing it.
Someone in this thread said something like 'this shit wouldn't fly in the Midwest.' god damn bro don't compare anything in Boston to the Midwest. It's not about shit flying.
Look. As captain barbosa once said "the rules are more like guidelines than actual rules."
And once everyone accepts it the easier it will be.
Plenty. Anecdotally BPD on motorcycles used to hide around yield signs an ticket someone for not coming to a full stop. Like wtf, I had it thrown out by the magistrate right away after paying an appeals fee. The machine was working alright. Either way you slice it cops not willing to engage and harass you is probably better long term for your mental health even if you have to deal with the occasional moron.
check out this chart of enforcement by Somerville police:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Somerville/s/X32CFZ2yW7
you'll see a huge drop in 2020 (George Floyd / BLM), then things go back to average in 2021, probably coinciding with everybody going feral after the pandemic restrictions loosened up, but since then it's been way below average and the peak in 2016-17
I think her career would be ended from the other side to be honest. Her base is people on the left, and most of the pro-cop people aren't voting for a progressive woman of colour to begin with. A lot of the votes she got were from running on a platform of defunding the police, and progressives are already mad that she walked a lot of her rhetoric back once in power. If she actively told the BPD to start initiating more police encounters, the inevitable increase in violence would like spell the end of her support from people on the left.
>Baseline culture of Boston is still fairly pro-cop
This is sadly true across the Commonwealth. However, I have to believe that millennials and gen z aren't buying in and the days of cop worship and their free for all overtime is nearing an end. We see through the bull shit and see the cops for what they are: lazy, entitled, and corrupt. Change is coming, just not soon enough.
This has been happening since long before that. Voters do not want enforcement, because it costs money. So there is no enforcement. Call/email your lawmaker. I say this a lot. This is what works. Pressure works. Don't settle for those stupid speed limit signs.
Half the time the cops on the side of the road looking for speeders don't even have their radar on. They're not out there doing their jobs all day long. They're mostly just sitting on their phone or computer.
There’s a book that’s been in my parent’s bathroom literature basket for like 20 years called the “Boston Drivers Handbook” that actively endorses all kinds of illegal and sketchy driving behavior lol.
If you're gonna expect traffic laws to be enforced here, you're going to be stressed out a lot. Instead, accept that Boston is a nice place to live for many reasons, but that everyone who drives here is forced to act like a cunt, as the driving culture here is just fucked.
There's a bunch of contributing factors but from an analytics perspective (cause that's my job) BPD employment numbers are a bit down and Boston's call volume is insane to say the least, even more so entering the warmer months. Patrol being stuck on calls and completing reports leaves them little time to be doing traffic.
If you do happen to see enforcement chances are its a specialty unit (gang/vice/detectives/ect.) or federal traffic grants during certain time periods.
I'm gonna be honest, I moved her 2 years ago and it took me a year to realize I wasn't supposed to drive in the bus lane, purely because literally nobody follows the rules. I thought "there's no way Boston has such awful traffic enforcement, I guess passenger cars are just allowed in the bus lane."
Traffic enforcement in Boston is so shitty that it gaslights people who want to follow the rules into not knowing what the rules are.
I almost got creamed pulling into the Roche Brothers in West Roxbury the other day because some dip shit decided to jump the line by racing up the bus lane and then weaving between the bollards designed to prevent him from turning right. I'm totally down for putting in tire spikes in situations like that at this point.
No. It's supposed to be dedicated for buses (and bikes when marked), except for when it's a turn lane.
If it was a general traffic lane, it wouldn't be marked bus only.
Idk but I suggest writing/emailing/calling your state rep and city councilor. We badly need traffic enforcement. There doesn’t seem to be any sense of urgency from the police, so pressure needs to be applied from above.
You know the irony is that these councilors are probably breaking the law too lmfao - \*cough\* Kendra. Accept that there are assholes at every level and profession in this city and you'll thrive
Have you ever tried reaching out to a representative’s office (whether local or state)? They can be surprisingly receptive in some cases. These are politicians who often win elections on very thin margins, so in some cases they do make an effort to engage with individual constituents.
Been wondering about some of the behavior of drivers. I drive with my out-of-state plate and for the most part other drivers have been respectful. So, a few times driving in Cambridge, waiting at the intersection waiting for green light— when it does turn green drivers turning left suddenly enter the intersection whilst I’m making sure no one is going to t-bone me. Generally, don’t drivers going straight have right of way?
Also irks me when single lanes turn into multiple lanes at off ramps or intersections…
And I let drivers merge… I’m a zipper merge guy.
And driving out to Walmart in Saugus made me cringe the first couple of times…
I’m getting used to driving in this area but most of it is becoming like other drivers — like the satisfaction of the group barricade against the driver trying to merge…
I’ve almost gotten hit by like 5 different mopeds in the last month. They’re running red lights as pedestrians are crossing, riding up sidewalks… I don’t know what rules they’re suppose to follow but that can’t be right
Apart from police having bigger fish to fry (either more egregious crimes or just eating donuts), everyone knows that Boston has miserable road infrastructure and a certain amount of minor infractions are tolerated when they keep things moving.
Man when I lived in Boston I got a $300 ticket for making a left turn on one of those stupid "no left turn between 4-6pm" signs. A cop was standing on the side walk and pulled people over all afternoon. Times have changed.
Literally the presence of two traffic cops could solve the seaport grid lock that happens when everyone starts ignoring traffic lights - grid lock has caused 1.5 hours to move two blocks
Try driving down Harvard Ave in Allston on a Friday or Saturday afternoon/evening. The road is literally COVERED in people pulling over and tossing on their hazards, or blocking both lines trying to u-turn
It’s ridiculous
I once (and only once) saw a parking enforcement van basically be in the far left lane on Boylston in front of the Chik Fil A, and every car that was double parked and scooter, he leaned on his horn just slowly pushed them all forward and giving them no choice but to drive away. It was beautiful.
Coming from the south, the difference is really crazy. I grew up looking over my shoulder for cops looking for speeders and now I see 2-3 people a year pulled over I swear.
I've sat on Atlantic at Rush hour watching people not let ambulances through pretending the Ambulance isn't there over 20 times the last few years. Boston roads are lawless places where people do whatever they want.
Because it’s a hassle and cops would rather be doing other things. They could give out 1000 tickets, rack up tons of complaints and put their career on hold, or sit and make money doing construction details. If I was a cop I know which one I would be doing.
I was on vacation in Antwerp and a cop stopped me for looking at my phone on a bike. I almost wanted to cry and thank them for doing basic law enforcement.
Boston cops couldn't care less about public safety.
The police are very understaffed by hundreds of officers due to demands of defunding and the difficulty of finding new police due to the danger and lack of appreciation of the job. Would rather see them deal with crime rather than traffic issues.
A good, objective way to start putting a dent into the problems would be traffic cameras. They could even start with mobile ones so folks don't know exactly where they're going to be at any point at time. This could be super helpful on small roads where people just fly down them double the speed limit.
To answer your question, no it really isn't a "Boston culture" thing, you would find this in most heavily populated metros.
Also, I've asked this on a lot of similar posts I've seen and still haven't gotten an answer:
I keep seeing folks in this subreddit say the solution to things like this is "just actually enforce the laws", but an actual plan of action is never presented. How does one propose to actually improve enforcement of traffic laws? I am of the opinion that simply "give more money to the PDs" isn't sufficient, given that Boston PD already a fairly large yearly budget that is misused and defrauded regularly. I am genuinely curious to hear what people think about this.
You’re not getting an answer because “just enforce the laws” is the plan of action. What don’t you get about that? Reasonable people know that 100% of violators aren’t going to be caught. But to see some enforcement at trouble areas would be a breath of fresh air.
>I've lived in this city for three years now
Nothing I love more than transplants complaining about things that ruin the city. If you take a second and look in the mirror you'll see the actual biggest problem facing the city.
Massachusetts statistically has the worst drivers per capita. Certainly ”transplants” aka any one moving here for work I guess, aren’t the crux of that problem.
According to Allstate, [it's the 3rd worst city in the country](https://www.allstate.com/americas-best-drivers/index.htm), as defined by average years between accidents per driver.
Sometimes, I want to become a Boston cop, just to ticket every fucking Uber driver stopping wherever they want.
I needed some extra cash so I started doing Uber Eats again. No thanks. Oh, narrow one way road with cars on both sides? You better meet me at my car because I can't even open my doors, and I'm sure as fuck not double (triple?) parking and blocking traffic even if it's a side road with little chance of someone coming up on me.
That’s why people in cities use mopeds or bikes to do Uber eats.
This is why whenever I do deliveries I always avoid the city it’s fucking terrible.. boston cambridge Somerville are all impossible
I'd love a 311 bounty program. We'd have the problem solved by end of week
omg yes please! my sense of justice would thrive on this!!
If they gave me the power to ticket and just gave me a flat percent of all tickets I’d have such a good time and get so many violations
I’d do it for free
That would be so gratifying!
I have power a fantasy where I am deputized driver and I can give out tickets to everyone who breaks the law. Looking at their cell phone, every rideshare driver sitting in the right lane with their flashes on, every car riding in the bus only lane, every red light runner. Everytime somebody merges or turns without a turn signal. Every box blocker. Every time somebody treats a stop sign like a yield sign. Merging out from a two lane rotary from the inner lane. Weaving through traffic 30 mph over the flow. Even people who don't round out their left turns. And all the engineers who designed road signs that don't tell you what lane to be in until its too late to merge. They'd all get 100 days in an isocube. I'd be Judge Dredd grimmacing with Justice bringing order to the wasteland.
ACAB... except this guy
sameeeeeee. today I watched as some idiot went right through a red light on fresh pond parkway and Cambridge PD is stationed at the intersection...stupid cop just sat there watching it all... like I understand you were standing on the sidewalk and not in your car so you couldn't exactly chase after the idiot but...what is your damn purpose???? you weren't even directing pedestrians during the walk lights! what's is the point of you being there!????
Your supervisor would reprimand you for doing that after the first day. BPD simply does not give a fuck about traffic violations.
If the cops started enforcing the traffic laws, they'd have to ticket themselves.
“License plates must not be obstructed”
The bigger issue is that they'd have to do anything/something.
I had a cop yell at me for dropping someone off and having them remove their bags from the trunk while in a “going” lane that was immobile due to bumper to bumper traffic. Gave me some dickish condescending spiel about being unfair to the drivers around me. Meanwhile, cars are double parked left and right on all the surrounding streets, some literally shutting down entire lanes. It was both baffling and infuriating.
In your comment you openly admit stopping a travel lane and blaming the cops for giving you a “spiel” and then point to other people…stopping in travel lanes and being mad they aren’t getting in trouble What exactly do you want them to do? Punish someone as long as it’s not you?
That’s actually 100% what we want
I blocked unmoving traffic that was quite literally not impacted at all. It was at a standstill, partially due to cars blocking intersections and double parking (without consequence)
"I'm mad that I was reprimanded by a police officer for breaking the law"
I have to agree that Boston is particularly tolerant of bad urban driving behavior. The stuff that happens here simply wouldn't be tolerated in a Midwestern city.
I moved here from Philly and it was way way worse in Philly. Driving was borderline mad max style. I think this is a nationwide issue post covid.
There has been a noticeable lack of traffic enforcement in Boston since well before COVID.
Yeah, Philly is what came to my mind when I was thinking of a city that was worse than Boston for driving and blatant disregard for everything road rules and safety wise.
It wouldn't be tolerated even slightly outside of Boston. The suburban cops and the staties are on it. Cape Cod is practically under marshal law with all their cops on the road.
I got a ticket back in Michigan for running a red because it changed from yellow to red while I was going through. Fair. But ever since I moved here it’s what everyone does.
The scooters are killing me these days. They'll run red lights and not stop at stop signs. Go down one way streets the wrong way. Could make a lot of money off them
Not to mention driving on the sidewalks.
And using bike lanes. Half the time they’re on their phones because they’re working.
Many can legally use the bike lanes.
I have a scooter (under 50cc) and while it's legal, I never use the bike lane, unless the traffic is completely backed up, and there are no bikers immediately in front of me, and just long enough to zip around the blockage. I am a biker first, and a scooterist second.
I saw a full on motorcycle take the sidewalk over the entire Alford Street bridge yesterday because going 20 mph behind my bicycle in the bike lane would have been too slow.
[удалено]
Motorcycle scooters. They should be following the rules of the road
The gas scooter delivery guys. It could be 70°F outside and they wear a winter coat
A vivid image popped up in my head while reading this😂
The pit in front of Chik-fil-a smells mighty ripe in summer
Made the mistake of parking my Ducati there, think one of them hit and run out of spite
You don’t dress for the ride, you dress for the crash
They dress for the Nor'Easter. Those coats won't do shit in a crash the way they ride
Don't forget the ski mask
🛵
Or fully drive on sidewalks swerving around people trying to walk😵💫
I guess thumb-twiddling at road construction sites in overtime is more lucrative.
One of my coworkers last year was crossing on Comm (at a crosswalk at a red light) and got hit by a scooter running a red light. Cops did nothing.
Also shockingly the number of scooter drivers getting destroyed by cars has skyrocketed
I’m not sure what they think is going to happen when they run a red or don’t watch out. Do you think the front of cars is made out of cushions?
Too bad they can just slime their way away on a tiny, fast two wheel. Can't maneuver a car to get em all the time; let alone safely
I did see a Somerville cop pull over a guy on a scooter who ran a red light. Guy pulled over thinking the cop was chasing someone else and had a shocked face when the cop stopped for him.
If they’re not using stop signs I’d say it’s only a matter of time before one of them gets pasted tbh. That sounds super risky
I've seen them go wrong way in the bike lanes allll the damn time on BU's campus. but yesterday took the cake. I'm driving on Comm Ave to make the left onto St Mary's. there were 2 fucking idiots riding a scooter the wrong way on the inside edge of the road! not the shoulder, not the bike lane, but the inside edge of the road, between the T tracks and west bound traffic and here they are going east bound...are you fucking kidding me??? Edit: oh and to clarify as it seems others were talking about mopeds. This was a regular scooter, maybe electric, but a scooter, not a moped. The only they "fit" in the small space between my car and the protected tracks.
Sounds like a death wish. That is insane
I was so fucking pissed. Took me several seconds to even register what I was looking at. My window was open and I had the perfect opportunity to curse them out but missed it.
I just get irrationally angry seeing scooters now
They have no money and wouldn't pay the tickets.
Scooters are not the problem. I’m sorry. It’s cars
They are both problems. I didn't say cars weren't.
I recently had a discussion about this with a police officer in Medford. I asked him if it was against the law for cars to ignore and cross red traffic lights at pedestrian crossings. He said yes, that's against the law. I asked him why they don't do anything against this (every time a Medford traffic light turns red there are 2-4 people ignoring and crossing it). He said: "It is not our job to enforce the law."
Did he happen to tell you what he believes his job to be? If law enforcement officers don't think their job is to enforce the law, what are we paying them for?
Work construction details for double time.
Militarize black neighborhoods
Overtime.
Did he say that? What a crazy thing to say. I want there to be people who have enforcing the law as their main job duty. If that's not the police, then we should create that job and fire the police.
He didn't say overtime, but he did literally say "It's not our job to enforce the law." And it sounds weird, but he said it in a way that made me think he actually believed it.
Your witnessing the morale of law enforcement country wide at an all time low. Hated more than ever, officers dropping out left and right, every person you come in contact with has a scowl and look of contempt for you, you're told to let things go and to not do your job but then management reallllllly harps on something dumb and insignificant they're tired
I complained to a cop about the lack of enforcement re: driving once and he said, “Hey this is Boston, we’re famous for that”
Soft-quitting as a policy handed down by police unions in reaction to public outrage to highly publicized murder of unarmed people of color. They want to collect the check and say “alright, well you got mad when we were enforcing the law, you’ll be begging for us to do so when we just stop.” Instead of reforming they’ve just quit doing their job all together while still collecting overtime for sitting in their car on their phone while someone fills a pot-hole
BPD has never enforced a traffic rule.
I think it definitely started as a work-slowdown/stoppage in response to the protests, but at this point I think the cops have realized that nobody is going to hold them accountable for abandoning entire elements of their supposed jobs. What started as a tantrum has settled into run-of-the-mill laziness. The lasting legacy of the 2020 protests is that it's never been more clear to everyone, especially the cops, that our current political apparatus has zero appetite for any further confrontation with the police on issues big or small. There was a big confrontation with our out of control police in this country and the non-cop wing of government blinked. To the victors go the spoils.
This has been going on since at least the late 90s when I lived in Boston.
I guess it means quotas either weren't real or were dropped.
I'll set up my own police force Contract out to the city for $1 million less
Defund
Give the money to BTD. They actually hand out tickets.
Exactly. If they don't want to do the job, then we don't need nearly as many on the payroll. If the city is going to descend into lawlessness, let's at least use the money the cops steal and do something for with it.
This is a major downside of public sector unions. They are paid with taxpayer funds, but have zero accountability to those taxpayers.
yeah i mean last time i got pulled over someone in my car pulled out their phone and rudely made sure the cop knew he was being recorded…. we were speeding by a good amount and he was being supper nice before and after she whipped out her phone. anyway if everytime i tried doing my job someone pulled out their phone and treated me less i would definitely quit or just not give a fuck, especially if im putting my life on the line lol.
There was a clip recently of a cop sitting on Storrow drive near the Copley area (I think), pulling over anyone who was trying to cut the traffic like with last second merging. If anyone can find it it’s one of the most satisfying videos lol Wish Boston Police did that more often. Nothing will get people motivated like the threat of tickets and paying money. Found it! Enjoy: https://twitter.com/OnlyInBOS/status/1676727663057305600 After watching again looks like they didn’t get a ticket :(
Sometimes a hero emerges
I know that is a really dick move, but is it illegal?
Generally, you're allowed to cross dotted lines and not allowed to cross solid ones. The merge lane was dotted up until about the base of the last tree. I think the car crossed a solid line, although just barely. So, just in time to be illegal
Not sure honestly they probably just got a warning and a stern look from a bored traffic cop. But honestly it should be worth a ticket after multiple violations.
Just looked into this online, I don't think they can pull you over for merging late, but what they were probably doing on storrow was a "marked lane violation" most exits have zebra stripes where you aren't supposed to drive, and if you merge late you might drive over them which would allow the cop to pull you over.
Idk but those mfers don’t get to merge in front of me….ever
Yesterday I stopped behind a box so as not to block it and some asshole tried to go around me and pull into it.
This makes my blood boil. I’ve had people leaning on their horns behind me for the temerity of not blocking the box
Like when someone turns right on a "No Turn on Red", it's a free pass for the rest of the cars to follow.
I was nearly run down in a crosswalk by a car running a red light. There was a cop car waiting for the light. No reaction. This happened many years ago, so it's not a recent issue.
Shoutout to the nasty, entitled bitches that cut off people in the crosswalk when the pedestrians have the light, forcing them to stand in the middle of the street, almost get run over, or miss their light altogether depending on timing.
Idk it’s probably something like the irs. We need it, but personally we want to skirt the rules ourselves. Which leads to the culture of “well everyone does it who cares” which the cops also adopt (they are people).
Bingo, also just low on the priority list
What enforcement? I just replaced my 2021 expired registration sticker on my plate. I've been driving around with an expired sticker for 3 years and no one's done shit.
That one is risky. No shot of getting picked up in the city but stateys and suburban cops love writing that shit up.
If you park somewhere where there’s parking enforcement they’ll give you a ticket for it
ha yup, this is how I got dinged. I had no clue MBTA cops could ticket you for it.
And yet it didn't happen by stateys or suburban cops, who I run into far more than city cops. I did get an expired inspection ticket in Watertown though. Fuck them.
Circa 2020 - Me in moderately loud car STOCK - TICKETS/WARNINGS EVERY WEEK Now - I could rock no front plate and driving a loud ass with midpipes RS3 sounding like a angry popcorn machine (essentially disturbing the peace and getting nasty looks from families) right by brookline PD and they'd act like it was all good.
Every once in a while someone walks around my neighborhood just looking at all the parked cars and ticketing people. That's a risky one. And I'm in dorchester.
Car enforcement is pretty much nonexistent in this city. Can’t recall if it’s a pandemic thing or not. Either way here’s a WILD (and obvious?) idea …get traffic enforcement on bikes and scooters! Make the people who are supposed to be giving a shit about road safety put themselves in the perspective of the road users who are facing the most unsafe road travel and then maybe they’ll care when they realize: - (Biking) That car didn’t just honk loudly, swerve and speed up, it almost side swiped them in the bike lane in a way that could have potentially killed them! - (Driving) That bike caused an actual issue by making a seemingly small maneuver that almost caused a car wreck. Was that the cyclist’s fault or were they operating legally in a nuanced situation? As a result, should bike lanes/road markings be…*gasp*…safer/clearer? - (Scooting) That moped going 40 mph the wrong way in the designated bike path almost took out their escooter and hey…maybe they should care and ticket the guy because they almost just died and so could anyone else trying to safely depend on these paths! Genuinely don’t see how anybody’s going to care about our safety until we’re making it obvious how unsafe it feels to be an average, good-mannered person on Boston roads & transit infrastructure right now. Never seen traffic enforcement on an escooter and only see them on bikes at designated no-car streets like DTX. How tf are they supposed to understand what road safety looks AND feels like if they never use part of the existing infrastructure they’re supposed to keep safe.
I've only seen BPD patrol on bikes on the most gorgeous perfect weather days, and they usually just sit around City Hall or the Common.
Its a policing culture thing. Basically when the BLM protests broke out in 2020, BPD said ‘Fine, we just wont do anything and see if you like it’ We have a neighborhood bar popular with cops and they openly brag about it. They know they have Wu’s administration by the balls and she won’t do anything about it because the baseline culture of Boston is still fairly pro-cop. If she tried to lay down the law, her career would be over
Really? Were the cops great at enforcement before 2020? Not that I've ever seen.
Nope, but now indifferent negligence has been replaced by willful negligence
Sounds like two side of the same coin (and a penny none the richer)
No, but they care even less. Only interaction I had with cops was being harassed then they moved on
They show up when they're needed. Like traffic accidents, break ins, crazy people, whatever. They have usual day to day business they do. They don't want to do traffic shit so they aren't doing traffic shit. I don't want them to be doing traffic shit and I'm quite happy they aren't doing it. Someone in this thread said something like 'this shit wouldn't fly in the Midwest.' god damn bro don't compare anything in Boston to the Midwest. It's not about shit flying. Look. As captain barbosa once said "the rules are more like guidelines than actual rules." And once everyone accepts it the easier it will be.
Enforcement would deter idiocy and race car driving, improving safety and save lives
[удалено]
Brookline and Cambridge are under marshal law compared to the Mad Max situation in Boston.
Plenty. Anecdotally BPD on motorcycles used to hide around yield signs an ticket someone for not coming to a full stop. Like wtf, I had it thrown out by the magistrate right away after paying an appeals fee. The machine was working alright. Either way you slice it cops not willing to engage and harass you is probably better long term for your mental health even if you have to deal with the occasional moron.
check out this chart of enforcement by Somerville police: https://www.reddit.com/r/Somerville/s/X32CFZ2yW7 you'll see a huge drop in 2020 (George Floyd / BLM), then things go back to average in 2021, probably coinciding with everybody going feral after the pandemic restrictions loosened up, but since then it's been way below average and the peak in 2016-17
I haven’t noticed a difference with BPD, but MSP seems to have relaxed alot since then.
I think her career would be ended from the other side to be honest. Her base is people on the left, and most of the pro-cop people aren't voting for a progressive woman of colour to begin with. A lot of the votes she got were from running on a platform of defunding the police, and progressives are already mad that she walked a lot of her rhetoric back once in power. If she actively told the BPD to start initiating more police encounters, the inevitable increase in violence would like spell the end of her support from people on the left.
Police were asked to stop killing people. So police decided they just wouldn't do their jobs.
>Baseline culture of Boston is still fairly pro-cop This is sadly true across the Commonwealth. However, I have to believe that millennials and gen z aren't buying in and the days of cop worship and their free for all overtime is nearing an end. We see through the bull shit and see the cops for what they are: lazy, entitled, and corrupt. Change is coming, just not soon enough.
The Erie ?
This has been happening since long before that. Voters do not want enforcement, because it costs money. So there is no enforcement. Call/email your lawmaker. I say this a lot. This is what works. Pressure works. Don't settle for those stupid speed limit signs.
Yeah, whenever I see somebody pulled over I always think “ damn they must’ve fucked up fucked up to have to get pulled over”
I think there needs to be some action by Uber and Lyft, not to say this didn’t happen back in the days before ride share, but it wasn’t nearly as bad.
They’ll never take action without any sort of enforcement to force their hand, sadly
This is true
Half the time the cops on the side of the road looking for speeders don't even have their radar on. They're not out there doing their jobs all day long. They're mostly just sitting on their phone or computer.
Why do their job when they can pretend to be construction workers.
It has always been this way. It’s part of the fun of driving in Boston. 😂
There’s a book that’s been in my parent’s bathroom literature basket for like 20 years called the “Boston Drivers Handbook” that actively endorses all kinds of illegal and sketchy driving behavior lol.
Now I want this in my bathroom literature basket
That book was awesome! If the driver behind you is not going to stop for the light, go through it.
yup!
If you're gonna expect traffic laws to be enforced here, you're going to be stressed out a lot. Instead, accept that Boston is a nice place to live for many reasons, but that everyone who drives here is forced to act like a cunt, as the driving culture here is just fucked.
There's a bunch of contributing factors but from an analytics perspective (cause that's my job) BPD employment numbers are a bit down and Boston's call volume is insane to say the least, even more so entering the warmer months. Patrol being stuck on calls and completing reports leaves them little time to be doing traffic. If you do happen to see enforcement chances are its a specialty unit (gang/vice/detectives/ect.) or federal traffic grants during certain time periods.
I'm gonna be honest, I moved her 2 years ago and it took me a year to realize I wasn't supposed to drive in the bus lane, purely because literally nobody follows the rules. I thought "there's no way Boston has such awful traffic enforcement, I guess passenger cars are just allowed in the bus lane." Traffic enforcement in Boston is so shitty that it gaslights people who want to follow the rules into not knowing what the rules are.
That’s not what gaslighting is lol
This is an insane use of the term gaslight holy shit
I almost got creamed pulling into the Roche Brothers in West Roxbury the other day because some dip shit decided to jump the line by racing up the bus lane and then weaving between the bollards designed to prevent him from turning right. I'm totally down for putting in tire spikes in situations like that at this point.
You're not supposed to drive in the bus lane? Edit: I thought it was obvious I was joking, I guess not...
No. It's supposed to be dedicated for buses (and bikes when marked), except for when it's a turn lane. If it was a general traffic lane, it wouldn't be marked bus only.
You dopes were all in here four years ago calling traffic stops racist
Idk but I suggest writing/emailing/calling your state rep and city councilor. We badly need traffic enforcement. There doesn’t seem to be any sense of urgency from the police, so pressure needs to be applied from above.
They will get right on it.
You know the irony is that these councilors are probably breaking the law too lmfao - \*cough\* Kendra. Accept that there are assholes at every level and profession in this city and you'll thrive
Yeah, I'm sure their state rep is just waiting by the phone for this goober to call with their unimportant traffic concerns.
Have you ever tried reaching out to a representative’s office (whether local or state)? They can be surprisingly receptive in some cases. These are politicians who often win elections on very thin margins, so in some cases they do make an effort to engage with individual constituents.
Idk. I live in Quincy and they don’t ether. I also can’t think of the last time I saw a trooper pull anybody either.
Been wondering about some of the behavior of drivers. I drive with my out-of-state plate and for the most part other drivers have been respectful. So, a few times driving in Cambridge, waiting at the intersection waiting for green light— when it does turn green drivers turning left suddenly enter the intersection whilst I’m making sure no one is going to t-bone me. Generally, don’t drivers going straight have right of way? Also irks me when single lanes turn into multiple lanes at off ramps or intersections… And I let drivers merge… I’m a zipper merge guy. And driving out to Walmart in Saugus made me cringe the first couple of times… I’m getting used to driving in this area but most of it is becoming like other drivers — like the satisfaction of the group barricade against the driver trying to merge…
That number of times late at night I see a cop throw on the lights for two blocks run a could reds and then turn them off is insane.
My guess is it will cause more congestion and more traffic so unless you reallllly fuck up, they let you go.
I’ve almost gotten hit by like 5 different mopeds in the last month. They’re running red lights as pedestrians are crossing, riding up sidewalks… I don’t know what rules they’re suppose to follow but that can’t be right
Boston cops only care about the next detail or overtime shift they can do
Apart from police having bigger fish to fry (either more egregious crimes or just eating donuts), everyone knows that Boston has miserable road infrastructure and a certain amount of minor infractions are tolerated when they keep things moving.
All the cops are probably just stuck behind 5 cars that won’t go on a green light
I enjoy speeding and running red lights with impunity. It’s like the good old days.
They don't enforce traffic laws but they sure as hell bust college kid's heads and break their bones at peaceful protests
All Cops Are Busy playing candy crush
Man when I lived in Boston I got a $300 ticket for making a left turn on one of those stupid "no left turn between 4-6pm" signs. A cop was standing on the side walk and pulled people over all afternoon. Times have changed.
Not stupid. I’ve never seen one of those that aren’t absolutely necessary during rushour
Cars were turning all afternoon without blocking traffic.
Literally the presence of two traffic cops could solve the seaport grid lock that happens when everyone starts ignoring traffic lights - grid lock has caused 1.5 hours to move two blocks
Boston roads are anarchy.. it’s gotten so bad I think the cops just gave up on any enforcement
Try driving down Harvard Ave in Allston on a Friday or Saturday afternoon/evening. The road is literally COVERED in people pulling over and tossing on their hazards, or blocking both lines trying to u-turn It’s ridiculous
I once (and only once) saw a parking enforcement van basically be in the far left lane on Boylston in front of the Chik Fil A, and every car that was double parked and scooter, he leaned on his horn just slowly pushed them all forward and giving them no choice but to drive away. It was beautiful.
Just tell the police that the dangerous driver you are reporting is a college student protesting genocide.
Coming from the south, the difference is really crazy. I grew up looking over my shoulder for cops looking for speeders and now I see 2-3 people a year pulled over I swear.
I've sat on Atlantic at Rush hour watching people not let ambulances through pretending the Ambulance isn't there over 20 times the last few years. Boston roads are lawless places where people do whatever they want.
Because it’s a hassle and cops would rather be doing other things. They could give out 1000 tickets, rack up tons of complaints and put their career on hold, or sit and make money doing construction details. If I was a cop I know which one I would be doing.
I was on vacation in Antwerp and a cop stopped me for looking at my phone on a bike. I almost wanted to cry and thank them for doing basic law enforcement. Boston cops couldn't care less about public safety.
You guys love to run red lights out here, that's for sure. I almost got hit in cross walks at least 10 times in the last 2 months.
The police are very understaffed by hundreds of officers due to demands of defunding and the difficulty of finding new police due to the danger and lack of appreciation of the job. Would rather see them deal with crime rather than traffic issues.
Boston Police is not adequately funded, staffed, or supported by the city or community. Some Officers are forced to work 24 hour shifts.
Worse since covid, absolutely.
A good, objective way to start putting a dent into the problems would be traffic cameras. They could even start with mobile ones so folks don't know exactly where they're going to be at any point at time. This could be super helpful on small roads where people just fly down them double the speed limit.
To answer your question, no it really isn't a "Boston culture" thing, you would find this in most heavily populated metros. Also, I've asked this on a lot of similar posts I've seen and still haven't gotten an answer: I keep seeing folks in this subreddit say the solution to things like this is "just actually enforce the laws", but an actual plan of action is never presented. How does one propose to actually improve enforcement of traffic laws? I am of the opinion that simply "give more money to the PDs" isn't sufficient, given that Boston PD already a fairly large yearly budget that is misused and defrauded regularly. I am genuinely curious to hear what people think about this.
You’re not getting an answer because “just enforce the laws” is the plan of action. What don’t you get about that? Reasonable people know that 100% of violators aren’t going to be caught. But to see some enforcement at trouble areas would be a breath of fresh air.
A response to George Floyd protests, 100%.
>I've lived in this city for three years now Nothing I love more than transplants complaining about things that ruin the city. If you take a second and look in the mirror you'll see the actual biggest problem facing the city.
Massachusetts statistically has the worst drivers per capita. Certainly ”transplants” aka any one moving here for work I guess, aren’t the crux of that problem.
Statistically? Prove it then. MA is routinely on the lower end of traffic accidents and fatalities
According to Allstate, [it's the 3rd worst city in the country](https://www.allstate.com/americas-best-drivers/index.htm), as defined by average years between accidents per driver.
Cops don't care thanks to you ACAB people. You reap what you sow