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Keller: What New Englanders Fear The Most

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Jan 7, 2009 11:46 am US/Eastern

Keller: What New Englanders Fear The Most

Reporting
Jon Keller

BOSTON (WBZ) ―

Click to enlarge 1 of 1: Cars, trucks and buses jammed the westbound side of the Ted Williams tunnel after an accident.
WBZ

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What Do You Fear The Most?

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: ABC's of Boston

It seems everybody's got a phobia to add, and some of them come under the heading of "only in New England."

Here's the list of Top Fears in New England:

BLIZZARDS

Ever since the blizzard of 1978 led to brief shortages, fear of being stuck in a storm without milk has driven us to stock up when there's even a hint of snow in the forecast.

TRAFFIC, LOTS OF TRAFFIC

Many of our local phobia revolve around driving, understandably enough.

Ellen wrote on my blog: "I have a fear of driving around Lowell, not to mention Boston. Terrible road signs and dangerous intersections."

Kathy says: "My biggest Boston fear is getting stuck in one of the tunnels. Can you say 'claustrophobia'?"

Yes, Kathy, we can. Let me add the fear of what might happen in some of those tunnels, a scary leak, or a catastrophic ceiling collapse, phobias courtesy of the multi-billion-dollar Big Dig.

Other local fears linger on long after the reasons for them have diminished, if not quite disappeared.

There's the fear of being stuck forever in Cape-bound traffic at the Sagamore Rotary that's been gone for two years now, and we still get anxious as the bridge approaches.

RED SOX LOSSES

The Red Sox have won the American League pennant, and even though the curse is dead and buried, can you claim with a straight face that you don't get jumpy when the Red Sox drop a few late in the season? That might be the granddaddy of all New England phobias.

GOVERNMENT & TAXES

"What scares me the most," wrote one visitor to wbztv.com, "Is our huge government bureaucracy."

Now there's a phobia where we New Englanders have plenty of company.

Add your voice to the conversation about phobias on Keller's blog.