Are Massachusetts drivers finally . . . growing up?

Having just returned to Maine from the Bay State, where I was born and raised, I have an update for those of you who share my obsession with the notoriously dangerous highway antics of motorists in Massachusetts. (State motto: “Get off the friggin' road, a--hole.”)

The bad news is that speeding, tailgating, weaving from lane to lane and refusing to use turn signals remain popular in “the commonwealth.” (Not to mention ignoring yield signs.)

But there is good news as well. Based on entirely unscientific observations during my recent visit, most of the truly crazed drivers had out-of-state plates - New York, New Hampshire, Connecticut, etc. (But not Maine, of course.)

Here's one possible explanation. Maybe Bay State motorists are becoming more sensible, but because the state’s reputation as a haven for demented drivers is legendary, many nervous visitors remain convinced that they should throw caution to the wind while careening across the Bay State. You know, so they can save face with the locals. When in Rome . . . .

I know. You were born at night, but not last night. Chances are my cockeyed theory will collapse under the weight of new evidence during my next trip to Massachusetts. Bay State road hogs, having grown tired of their brief flirtation with civility, probably will be back to their old tricks by then. In which case, what now looks like the new normal may prove to have been nothing more than a fluke, an aberration, a short-lived experiment in on-the-road maturity. After all, they do have that state motto.