I downloaded and installed the Boston Traffic http://www.dafont.com/boston-traffic.font font on my macbook but it doesn't appear in microsoft word or textedit. I've relauched the programs and have restarted my computer but the font still doesn't appear. I've read through the FAQ and don't see anything I haven't already tried so if anyone has any advice it'd be greatly appreciated! Thank you.

How have you install it ?
Did you get a message during the installation ?
Have you ever install an other font from DaFont that work correctly with your software ?
Did you have tried to uninstall it, reload and reinstall ?

are you sure you unzipped the font in a separate folder or on your desktop before installing it ?
most of the problems come from people installing the font straight from the zip file, just opening the zip then the font, without really unzipping it first.

does the font appear in your font book ?

It does appear in my font book and I've validated it (although I'm not quite sure what that means, honestly). I thought my files usually unzip automatically, or I usually get some kind of message telling me to do so but didn't get anything this time. If I do need to unzip the file, I'm having trouble figuring out how to do it. I've deleted and reinstalled and it still isn't showing up anywhere other than font book. This is the first time I've downloaded a font, so I am new at this.

Thanks for the help! And my apologizes for not being so great with computers.

Read that : http://www.dafont.com/faq.php#mac
and implements it.

Thanks, but I've done that already. Already had stuffit expander as well.