Cities Behaving Badly

In a survey by Travel and Leisure magazine that ranks cities in terms of rudeness, Washington, D.C. came in number 3. That's two spots ruder than it was last year. Boston and Los Angeles were slightly less rude — and New York (in the number one spot) and Miami slightly more so.

I don't know much about the methodology of the survey, whether it includes the suburbs of these metropolitan areas or just the cities themselves. But whatever the case, this got me thinking about the rudeness of cities versus suburbs. One seldom hears a suburb described as "rude," perhaps because there's not enough interaction to provoke contentious encounters. But there is one way we Northern Virginians excel in obnoxious behavior — and that's in our cars.

We cut, we swerve, we tailgate. We run yellow lights and red ones, too. We are so rushed to get where we're going that we act as if there are no human beings behind the wheels. My driving etiquette has deteriorated significantly since I've lived here. I don't need a magazine article to tell me that.


Photo: SoMd Expert