Life in the Ville by Jimmy Del Ponte

I realize that a lot of you read my stories because I often talk about the old days of Somerville. Remember the days when you could maneuver around the city without having to have a nervous breakdown?

I’ve lived in Somerville all my life except for a couple of years in other states. I lived and drove in Los Angeles and Florida. I lived briefly in St Croix, Virgin Islands and drove on the other side of the street. If I had to pick one word to describe drivers in Somerville, it would be angry. Not just the drivers are mad but joggers, cyclists and pedestrians are generally disgruntled. It seems like as soon as you walk out of your front door you are in the midst of a battle.

If you are driving you have to deal with the clown behind you that wants to drive faster than you so they tailgate. We all know that in Somerville, if someone drives too close to us we slowdown! They may even try to drive around and pass you. God bless! Then there are the pedestrians who will blindly walk in front of your car because they always have “the right of way.” It takes time to stop a moving car. Please give us a fair chance to stop!

The joggers will scare the hell out of you if you’re out leisurely walking on the sidewalk. They will sometimes even come so close that they actually brush you. And they get angry because you’re in their way. Did you ever approach the bike path and all of a sudden a jogger comes out of nowhere and darts in front of your car? Heart attack time.

Many drivers will not stop at a crosswalk if they don’t see anyone trying to cross. The law says you must stop if there is a pedestrian in the crosswalk. Many will spring out of nowhere and suddenly appear in a crosswalk without the driver having any warning whatsoever. Not fair, not safe.

I’ve seen the look of fear on the faces of our precious seniors as they (we) try to cross a street.

5 out of 10 drivers have perfected the dangerous and deadly art of driving while looking at their cell phones. A practice also used by walkers. Pedestrians need to look up from their cell phones when they’re walking.

Again, seniors and basically everyone else crossing the street are in grave danger. We can’t always get out of the way of preoccupied motorists. I also can’t understand how cyclists can wear earbuds and headphones and still expect to be safe. Cross them and you get a verbal tirade accompanied by a finger. It’s a war zone out there.

Driving in Somerville has become an obstacle course. There’s no such thing as simply driving cross town without encountering the mayhem of detours, backups and more detours. A solution? How about taking a deep breath and practicing a little patience. As they say, “You can’t beat city hall.”

It’s gotten to the point where I hate driving in Somerville. I feel like I’m going to get into a fight for just trying to get to Porter Square. Walk, you say? It’s more dangerous dealing with the inattentive cell phone glancers and mad cyclists.

So I’ve decided to stay home and watch Seinfeld, the Three Stooges and The Andy Griffith Show all day! Seriously, the GLX construction isn’t going away any time soon so it’s up to us to start paying attention and being a little more courteous and patient. Make that a LOT more courteous and a LOT more patient. And if someone has the decency to let you go in front of them in traffic, have the decency to thank them.

We’re all in this together. I try to practice what I preach, so I know it’s a lot to ask. Breathe … then breathe again … until the next bridge closes!