Thanks so much for today’s great piece about reckless driving in Plymouth. It’s a trend I’ve noticed across the region for several years now and I agree that it’s really concerning (as is the police department’s hands-off approach to it). I do want to disagree with one point you made about the possible causes – that local roads/highways have not been widened enough to accommodate current traffic loads. If you look into the concept of induced demand as it relates to traffic, you’ll see there’s quite a bit of research out there that suggests widening roads/adding lanes only makes traffic worse, not better. I do fully agree that the normalization of huge cars has contributed to people’s feelings of invincibility on the road, though. I also think there’s just a general post-pandemic sense of “everyone for themselves” in the air these days.
– Anna Chapin