Keller @ Large: Why Are Massachusetts Drivers So Bad?

BOSTON (CBS) - Sometimes when you do man-and-woman-in-the-street interviews for a news story, it's like pulling teeth with a slingshot. Either people don't have an opinion, or they just don't feel comfortable sharing it with you.

But Tuesday, I had no trouble getting strangers to sound off about a new study from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety documenting the amazingly-reckless behavior of Massachusetts drivers, and the utter hypocrisy of the do-as-I-say, not-as-I-do attitude many of us manifest.

Mike Flynn of North Andover put it beautifully when he talked about the ridiculous rush-rush attitude of so many around here, combined with the dangerous notion that your car is your living room: "Everybody leads busy lives, they think it's downtime behind the wheel, [but] it could be upside-down time instead."

But that risk doesn't seem to deter the reckless drivers among us from nearly leading the nation in stuff like speeding, running red lights, talking on the cellphone or texting while driving and driving while drowsy.

If it weren't for the truly awful drivers of Rhode Island, we'd be number one in many of those categories.

Other states also have heavy traffic, bad weather and poorly laid-out streets.

What exactly is our problem?

Mary Maguire of AAA offered this analysis: "We don't like nanny-state restrictions, we've seen that with the seat belt debate over the years, and we don't like to be told what to do in our cars."

Cue the fife and drums, the revolutionary spirit lives on!

Or, rather, doesn't live.

As Maguire puts it: "Is that text message more important than a life? Is running this red light more important than my life, my passenger's life, someone else's life? We really need to be asking these questions."

Listen to Jon's commentary:

You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.