My personal worst experience Tehran, if the friendly local cops hadn't given us beds for the night I may well have died from exhaustion just trying to cross the city.
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Worst city to drive in is....
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don't they do an annual report on this for the US anyways? i think its always L.A. being the worst. and i think Atlanta followed.
Chicago can be bad, but there are ways to avoid the worst of it usually.
Chicago can be bad, but there are ways to avoid the worst of it usually.
All i know about Miami's layout is from TV show CSI: Miami (i love the hot bright colors of the cinematography). I guess you get a warped view of the world watching TV, because driving options in Miami look like nothing but freeways or canals?!
Driving through Laramie, Wyoming was the worst for me. Of course there was a white out with about 3 feet of fine powder snow and the roads were impossible to see.
Driving through Laramie, Wyoming was the worst for me. Of course there was a white out with about 3 feet of fine powder snow and the roads were impossible to see.
So how could you even tell you drove through Laramie? It's a real "blink and you'll miss it" kinda town!
Well, from my personal experience, the place with the worst traffic has to be driving anywhere on the freeway in the Bay Area during rush hour
Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
I've never been but I've read that drivers passing around curves have a special kind of honk that says "Get out of my way or we're going to be in trouble!" If one is performing this maneuver and hears a similar honk coming from around the corner, the author's advice was to jump from the vehicle.
I've never been but I've read that drivers passing around curves have a special kind of honk that says "Get out of my way or we're going to be in trouble!" If one is performing this maneuver and hears a similar honk coming from around the corner, the author's advice was to jump from the vehicle.
It's the worst commute. The Census and another group both publish it. The most recent I could find was this with LA, SF, DC taking the top 3.
As for the worst city to drive in, I think each place has its own charm. I've found <fill in the blank>, India to be the worst, but Rome, London, DC, NYC, LA all to be bad. I'm sure there are others that I can't even remember.
The failings that people notice vary, but are usually 1) high volume, 2) failure to follow traffic laws/rules/courtesy, 3) drivers from many different areas. The more of the above a place has, the worse people find the drivers.
(I don't know what it is about Utah, but SLC is the only place that has drivers from a fourth category - lobotomized)
From personal experience.....Washington DC. That effing sucked. Not to mention I was driving an SUV (first time ever driving one, 'tis what we rented) and I'm used to my tiny little coupe which is a hell of a lot easier to maneuver than a giant SUV.
St. Louis is pretty bad, but I'm used to it. I was a passenger in the car while my dad was driving in New York City. Lets just say I'm glad I wasn't driving.
St. Louis is pretty bad, but I'm used to it. I was a passenger in the car while my dad was driving in New York City. Lets just say I'm glad I wasn't driving.
Malta! Any 'city' on the island. Roads are in a terrible state and until recently the driving license test was a joke. Roundabouts work on the principle of how big your vehicle is.
That said, I've heard that in Pakistan, in rural areas where there are no streetlights and road markings, people don't even bother putting on their lights at night, citing that any accident is pre-ordained, and if Allah wills it, you'll be in an accident.
That said, I've heard that in Pakistan, in rural areas where there are no streetlights and road markings, people don't even bother putting on their lights at night, citing that any accident is pre-ordained, and if Allah wills it, you'll be in an accident.
So how could you even tell you drove through Laramie? It's a real "blink and you'll miss it" kinda town!
To be honest we weren't even in the "city", we just drove past on I-80, but that strip of highway was the worst driving conditions I have ever been in. Of course, we could have stopped to get a hotel, but we wanted to push on to get home.
I noticed that as well when I lived in Utah. We chalked it up to Utah having the youngest population of any state in the US--figured that meant a lot of young inexperienced drivers behind the wheel.
Duff-Man says....worst I have seen was Moscow. If you don't drive dangerously agressive you'll never get anywhere, and being a pedestrian anywhere near a road is taking your life in your hands....oh yeah!
Thank you all for making my point! I have a very long answer and a short one. The short one is:
Cities were built/made for people not automobiles. If cities were made for cars, they would be easier to get around, but would suck for the pedestrian (plus just look plain ugly). IMO all you car loving people just need to suck it up and I'll laugh at you from the sidewalk
Cities were built/made for people not automobiles. If cities were made for cars, they would be easier to get around, but would suck for the pedestrian (plus just look plain ugly). IMO all you car loving people just need to suck it up and I'll laugh at you from the sidewalk
Naples, Italy. Or rather in the small, hillside villages in the slopes south of Naples. Narrow roads, lorries, Fiats, buses and scooters, all driving at full speed with little or no regard for anything resembling a traffic code... quite insane...
I'd normally toss my vote on the "Denver" pile (the SUV:dumba$$ ratio is truly astronomical)
However, I recently had to drive in Chicago. That one takes the cake.
It's similar to "the Denver experience" except that it seems like all the highways are toll roads. Oh, and we're not talking about friendly toll booths where you give someone a couple bucks and they hand you some change. No sir. We're talking about 80 cents, exact change only, or you can't get off the highway (which, itself, was more like a lunar parking lot).
There are billboards dotting the countryside, sporting 800-numbers for people who need "amnesty" from their traffic-fine nightmare. Yes, they actually use the word "amnesty", which I think that sums it up pretty good right there.
However, I recently had to drive in Chicago. That one takes the cake.
It's similar to "the Denver experience" except that it seems like all the highways are toll roads. Oh, and we're not talking about friendly toll booths where you give someone a couple bucks and they hand you some change. No sir. We're talking about 80 cents, exact change only, or you can't get off the highway (which, itself, was more like a lunar parking lot).
There are billboards dotting the countryside, sporting 800-numbers for people who need "amnesty" from their traffic-fine nightmare. Yes, they actually use the word "amnesty", which I think that sums it up pretty good right there.
I would say New York is pretty bad.
Well NYC itself isn't always that bad. Its usually getting there that is difficult.
Boston is nice for driving in that it has no logical grid system that i can see.
I would probably the worst city I've ever driven is Worcester MA. My GPS and I were both confused as to where the hell we were. It kept telling me to turn onto one way streets. The highways were so complex there too. Without my GPS I probably would have never made it home. Hartford is pretty bad too in the sense that you stop you're even more likely to get shot.
Well NYC itself isn't always that bad. Its usually getting there that is difficult.
Boston is nice for driving in that it has no logical grid system that i can see.
I would probably the worst city I've ever driven is Worcester MA. My GPS and I were both confused as to where the hell we were. It kept telling me to turn onto one way streets. The highways were so complex there too. Without my GPS I probably would have never made it home. Hartford is pretty bad too in the sense that you stop you're even more likely to get shot
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You've got it all wrong! Miami is a GREAT place to drive. Allow me to convince you:
We don't need to use turn signals here. It's a waste of wrist action, and besides, how is one supposed to juggle their cell phone and the turn signal lever at the same time?
Headlights? **** 'em. Who needs 'em? When driving in a blinding rainstorm, I like to guess where the other cars are on the road. Makes things interesting. It's fun to play Guess If That Vague Shadow In the Thick Cloud of Tire Spray and Rain Right In Front of You Is Another Car or Just a Trick of the Soft Morning Light. Great game.
Passing lanes...we don't have those. Feel free to not let anyone pass if you're not in the mood. That's what the other lanes are for anyway.
We're supportive of one another. If you are at a jammed intersection, the driver behind you will kindly encourage you to gridlock the intersection by way of a friendly toot on the horn. Don't worry about the cross traffic: they'll be happy to wait while you temporarily block their path.
Sometimes when I'm waiting to turn onto a busy avenue from a side-street (in heavy rain, no less), the driver behind me will let me know via his or her horn that it's OK to make the turn, even though they can't even see the oncoming traffic that would surely t-bone and kill me. I'm just glad they're looking out for me anyway; they're just trying to help, and I appreciate the support.
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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......
I worked on a project with some people from Seoul. When they came to Los Angeles for meetings, they would always tell us how wonderful the LA freeways are......easy to deal with, courteous drivers, convenient, well organized and a real pleasure to drive on.........when we went to their offices in Seoul for meetings, we found out just how right they were about our freeways being heaven compared to theirs
so I'll add a vote for Seoul
and also a vote for central Madrid during evening rush hour........what a frustrating mess
as an LA driver I chuckle at you, we make fun of your lot, the nieve people in the rest of the world that drove here for a week, and thought that there was traffic.
I would rather drive in LA than almost anyother city, because of the genious layouts of the streets, there are next to half a million (I think thats the right number) to get anyplace that is within 5 miles of you, nobody that lives in CA takes more than 30 min to get clear across the city, from the Downtown YMCA, to the Warner Center fitness club.
I love our bad rep, but it is the most untrue thing in the world, almost like that duck quacking things
My experiences in LA and Orange County weren't so bad except for the Hollywood freeway. Certainly, it wasn't much different from NYC or Atlanta.
Out of the whole U.S.A., I think the worst has been Houston and Tampa and Orlando were close but they were far ahead of any other cities, because of the crazy drivers.
Then again, any city in any Spanish-speaking country is likely to be worse. I think they paint the lines on the streets just for the tourists, as the natives in Mexico don't seem to notice the lines at all. I was told by people from Puerto Rico that people rarely stop for stop lights, they just honk the horn as they slow down and drive through the intersection.
those naming US cities as the worst... haven't driven in many other countries.
the most trying driving experience for me was parts of romania. parts of turkey were pretty hairy, too.
worst i've seen was hanoi, but i was "merely" on a scooter.
i've driven in many of the aforementioned cities: chicago (daily), SF, nyc, LA, london, paris, et. al., they're nothing like hanoi. i reckon there's probably a lot worse, i just haven't seen 'em yet.
the most trying driving experience for me was parts of romania. parts of turkey were pretty hairy, too.
worst i've seen was hanoi, but i was "merely" on a scooter.
i've driven in many of the aforementioned cities: chicago (daily), SF, nyc, LA, london, paris, et. al., they're nothing like hanoi. i reckon there's probably a lot worse, i just haven't seen 'em yet.
Amsterdam. Traffic coming from all sides, no proper street markings and traffic lights that jump to green all at once, making them pretty much useless. I avoid Amsterdam by personal transport as much as I can.
