MassDOT Urges Drivers To Be 'Aggressively Nice' With Traffic Returning To Pre-Pandemic Levels

BOSTON (CBS) -- With traffic levels in Massachusetts back to pre-pandemic levels, the state's Department of Transportation released a PSA this week encouraging drivers to be "aggressively nice" on the road.

Along with the non-profit Fundación MAPFRE and the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, MassDOT created the video to poke fun at the stereotype of a Massachusetts driver while also encouraging road safety.

The ad is titled "Look Both Ways", and it is part of a campaign to limit the amount of road-related injuries and fatalities as restrictions are lifted across the state.

In the PSA, a man driving a car stops right in front of a woman rushing to cross a street in Boston. The following exchange ensues:

Woman: "I'm sorry!"

Man: "No, I'm sorry!"

Woman: "I shouldn't have crossed!"

Man: "I shouldn't have been going so fast!"

Woman: "Well, I should've looked both ways!"

Man: "I should have anticipated you not looking both ways! Have a nice day!"

Woman: "No, you have a nice day!"

According to a study by the Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy, the most common cause of unintentional injury death among children 1-14 years of age (49 percent) was transportation-related, as passengers in vehicles and as pedestrians.

Along with the PSA, Fundación MAPFRE is planning a "Look Both Ways" Road Tour, in which they will bring an interactive road safety program to high schools, colleges and public events across Massachusetts and Connecticut.

Details about Look Both Ways, along with road safety resources, can be found at lookbothwayssafety.org.