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Worst city to drive in is....

Abstract

Abstract

macrumors Penryn
Original poster
Dec 27, 2002
24,905
944
Location Location Location
....Brisbane, Australia.

- The city is made up entirely of one-way streets.
- There was a one-way street that I couldn't turn left or right on (why not let me turn right and drive along with traffic?), and yet I couldn't go straight because of construction. If I was on a normal street, I could make a U-turn and drive back towards where I came. Unfortunately, the road I was on was also a one-way street. I couldn't do anything, so I just sat there and cursed at my friends (who were also cursing), at the car, and at the entire world for being so stupid.

- Many of the streets are closed due to the high level of construction happening in the city centre, which was also the case 1.5 years ago. It shows that Brisbane is somewhat progressive and dynamic, but it's also annoying as hell.


I thought Toronto had a lot of one-way streets, but at least it's orderly, and half the streets aren't closed.

I don't think I can actually describe how ****ty it was to drive through Brisbane's city centre. :mad: You'll have to experience it yourself. :p
 
I haven't been there but I've heard that Lahore or Karachi can be pretty bad. Wonder what parking in downtown Baghdad is like these days...
 
dcv said:
I hear it's a real blast.
Click to expand...

*groan* :p

Driving difficulty seems so relative. Anyone who knows what central London is like at rush-hour will know what I mean.

Recently, I was up in Manchester and I had to get a cab back to the train-station to make my train and the hospital receptionist, the cab controller both told me to hurry because the 'traffic was a nightmare'...

So we get out there and it's like driving through London at 5am on a Sunday morning. :D
 
Hmm, if one-ways are a problem then surely Sydney would get the Australian vote. Anyways, worst I've driven in would be Calcutta or Taipei. Although Bangkok is pretty awful too.
 
Where I live, the infrastructure is pretty decent, and thankfully we don't have too many car bombs to deal with.

What makes this area the worst to drive in is ... THE PEOPLE!

This area is home to the worlds largest naval fleet and some fairly large tourist attractions (Jamestown/Williamsburg/Yorktown, plus Virginia Beach).

What this means is that 90% of the driving population is from somewhere else in the US, driving like they do "back home". So every geographically-based driving stereotype you've heard of? Yeah, it's on display 24/7 down here. :D
 
I can't speak for other countries but Boston was a pain. We were there during the Great Dig". It was an absolute nightmare that my wife and I still joke about.
 
I'm putting a vote for Denver. Drivers here are both mean *and* stupid. And since it's Colorado, we've got a high incedence of self-important yuppies in SUV's texting on cell phones. :mad:
 
Driving in Dublin is to put it mildly .... interesting and exciting .... :eek:
Traffic lights seemingly are for decoration purposes only !!!!

FJ
 
Bristol suffers from the councils constant "planning", but its no where near as bad as central London.
Paris gets my vote for worst place to be a pedestrian, driving seems to be not too bad, it's fast and flowing, but there don't seem to be any road rules :eek: just avoid the arch d'triomphe (sp?). Walking in Paris is scary though.
The absolute worst place I've seen for driving is New York City.
 
Thanatoast said:
I'm putting a vote for Denver. Drivers here are both mean *and* stupid. And since it's Colorado, we've got a high incedence of self-important yuppies in SUV's texting on cell phones. :mad:
Click to expand...

Sorry, but not even close, even granting the self-important yuppie part--which we have FAR too many of....

NYC is surprisingly manageable, so the worst I have direct experience of are Seoul and Mexico City, both of which make Los Angeles look like a wide open Montana highway...... :eek:
 
achie25 said:
I can't speak for other countries but Boston was a pain. We were there during the Great Dig". It was an absolute nightmare that my wife and I still joke about.
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It still is a pain in the arse. The Big Dig was a big dud. The street signs are even more of a joke.Not uncommon to see "No parking on this side" of the street signs on both sides :confused: Streets that don't even show up on Mapquest,lol.. Don't even think about driving in when the Sox are playing.. Ahh life in Boston :D
 
achie25 said:
I can't speak for other countries but Boston was a pain. We were there during the Great Dig". It was an absolute nightmare that my wife and I still joke about.
Click to expand...

Another vote for Boston and the never ending "Big Dig"...it was terrible for years. Going to the airport was a 3 hour ordeal. I actually did a happy dance the day they opened the airport tunnel. (I was the only one of my college friends with a car handy and would often pick up/drop off friends at the airport.)

Even without some of the worst of the big dig it's unpleasant to drive through Boston. I was terrified when I moved back to metro-nyc about driving through NYC...it's amazing how much easier it is than Boston.
 
Lower Manhattan after it starts to squash in towards the toe. You think you know what you're doing in midtown where you rented the car at the hotel, with things all gridded out nicely - streets run east and west, avenues north and south, what could be simpler, then you get down in the village and end up at the notorious intersection :confused: of West 10th Street and West Fourth Street: and you are like wtf? wtF?? A street intersecting a street??? Meanwhile the Broadway avenue has meandered far across town so your original understanding of your location as to east or west is now wrong. Towards the financial district, it only gets worse as they've dispensed with the notion of numbered streets in the far downtown. Down there it's all roads with scenic or colorful names of trees, rocks, dead Englishmen and bodies of water, so good luck with that ;)
 
Lagos and Bogota.

Bogota you can't traditionally stop on red lights at night in many districts (e.,g. to/from the airport) because of kidnapping / robbery concerns -- going through intersections is an experience. Yikes!

Lagos, the traffic is so bad that during rush hour to/from Victoria Island people drive at high speed up the wrong side of the freeway. Not an isolaated car you have to swerve around, mind you but an avalanche of vehicles driving at significant speed. It's a nightmare right out of Speed.
 
Probably not the worst to drive in, but my own personal "worst city to drive in" experience would have to be Miami.
 
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