I think I’m going to beat the drum on this “Bad Boston Drivers” thing for a while.

I know there’s a certain perverse pride that we have for being bad drivers. But there’s so much wrong with it; it breeds animosity, perpetuates rudeness, increases road rage, causes collisions, and intensifies congestion. The fact that we drive badly means we arrive at our destination later and in a worse mood.

I really feel like there needs to be a concerted effort to try to improve the way we drive in the Boston area.

I spoke for a while yesterday with Mac Daniel, Starts and Stops columnist for the Boston Globe. He’s been watching and writing about our travels and travails for several years now, and he’s still not sure why we drive like we do. “I’ve never been able to put my finger on it. I know there are a lot of aggressive drivers around here. I don’t know what makes them that way.”

But what can be done to improve how we drive? Mac thinks that “more police presence would have a calming effect.” Which I absolutely agree with, if people were more concerned about the possibility of getting a ticket when they didn’t signal, made an illegal turn, or tailgated, then it’s reasonable to assume that they wouldn’t do it.

Mac also added “I think refresher (drivers’ ed.) courses would have a positive effect.” This seems to be a refrain I get from a lot of people I talk to. Student drivers are taught how to drive when they are 16, 17, and 18 years old. They learn enough to get them to pass a drivers test. And then they learn the real “rules of the road” by fighting with the rest of us on the streets.

Of course, the chance that the legislature would require drivers to go back to school would be small. I remember seeing in old movies and TV shows that people would be sent to “Traffic School” if they were guilty of a traffic violation. Whatever happened to that?

Bring back “Traffic School”.