Which city/state has the worst drivers?

I'll go first...

Seattle. The absolute WORST drivers in this country and possibly any other outside of India or China. Seattle drivers are clueless. They putter around like brain dead morons, clogging up surface roads by actually driving up to 10MPH BELOW the speed limit. WTF! And don't think "oh, must be because of the rain." No, my friends--we are talking on DRY PAVEMENT!!!!!

It is absolutely stultifying.

Here are some of the worst on-road behaviors:

1. You could start shooting at them and they won't get out of the left lane.
2. Merging onto the freeway from the onramp? Sure, 35 MPH is fast enough.
3. Coming up to a slight bend in the road? Better slam on those brakes! You might tip over!
4. Right turn on a red light? Nah, why bother. It will be green soon enough.
5. Pedestrian 300 yards ahead near the curb? Better slow down to 5 MPH just in case they might want to jaywalk.

The worst offenders: Toyota Prius and Subaru Forester--especially the dark green ones.

For a city with so many smart people (supposedly the most literate in the U.S.) Seattle sure has some stupid drivers. Imagine everyone driving in Seattle has a carton of eggs on their front seat and they are driving such that they don't break the eggs. Or imagine an entire city populated only by 82-year-old retired librarians who are hard-of-hearing and can't see very well--that's EVERYONE in Seattle--even the guy in the $100,000 BMW M6. Then you've got this small contingent of non-natives like me--we are considered an invasive species and they try to stifle us at every turn (literally).

Best drivers in the country? In my experience, the Southwest (Phoenix in particular, except in winter when the snowbirds are in town), and the Northeast/Rust Belt (Detroit--come on it's the Motor City after all)

What say you?

 

OK, OK! Portland is pretty bad too!

 

I haven't been to enough places to know where the worst drivers are, but I think my city has a few. Failure to indicate, random stopping in the middle of the road causing other cars to brake as well...road rage...

I think the worst driving is in those built up areas, where you are practically bumper to bumper.

 

Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota, HANDS DOWN. These idiots have a winter every single year and still don't know how to drive in winter. Couple that fact with the hideous road conditions and idiotic snow removal/de-icing policies they have and driving here is a disaster waiting to happen. Our first major snow storm created 300 car accidents, the snow storm that dropped the dome created 200 more, that's 500 accidents in two storms.

Next you have you a highway/interstate system that appears to be have designed by monkeys on LSD. Instead of common sense cloverleaf, where you exit first and enter after they have criss-cross entrance/exit ramps. Cutting people off is mandatory, because nobody has the common sense or civility to let people in or out. There are also numerous points in which 3 or more major highways/interstates branch at specific choke points, meaning if you enter at one point you may need to cut across five lanes of traffic to get to the branch you need.

There are simply so many stupid people on Minnesota roads its not even funny. The first true idiot I've seen was someone trying to change a tire in a criss-cross entrance/exit ramp. How absolutely stupid is that? All they had to do was drive the extra 400 feet off the ramp and change their tire on a city street. Instead the moron clogs up the entire area and nearly gets killed in the process. Not to mention on any given day you will find a car broke down within 100 feet of the entrance ramp. I've seen numerous drivers going 25-35 mph on the interstate, nearly causing accidents as people are forced to swerve around them.

Never in my life did I think I'd ever miss driving in L.A.

 

As a professional OTR trucker with 20+ years of experience and over 2 million safe miles, in my opinion the ABSOLUTE WORST city in the United States to drive in is...

I think I'll wait a bit and see who posts what before I weigh in.

In the famous words of the Terminator - "I'll be back."

 

As a former Golden Gopher, I'll give you some creedence--but come drive in Seattle... you'll be BEGGING to go back to Minnesota! I lived in LA for 12 years--after 11PM it's a great city to drive around in... heh.

 

Which city/state has the worst drivers?

It's a toss between Bombay, Manila and Denpasar, in my experience.

 

I nominate my hometown.
St. Louis drivers are horrible in the Winter. One snowflake and they
forget how to drive. My experiences with other cities, I would
say Atlanta drivers are bad, but that's mainly from the sheer volume
of vehicles on the road.

The entire State of Florida has some bad drivers also.
A mix of the very young and the very old spells disaster.

 

Based on my own experiences, Florida has the worst drivers in the USA. Last time I was in Tampa visiting my folks, the papers were filled with stories of old geezers killing people in car crashes...

 

LMAO. Put a little precipitation on the roads here in Virginia and you've got...

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZLYEbkykCI"]YouTube - Death Race 2000 (1975) trailer[/ame]

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Oh yeah, for sure. See the thing with Seattle is--no difference between the very young and the very old when it comes to driving!

 

Don't they practically put you in maximum security lockup for speeding in VA too?

 

I think it is Boston !!

 

Atlanta has the worst that I've seen. Chicago is a close second. Those bastards in Chicago will pull out right in front of you and not think twice about it.

 

I can only speak as to my personal experience, the worst of which was Boston.

The Ann Arbor, Michigan area is no picnic either. Don't even get me started on the hazards created by pedestrians in Ann Arbor. I'm of the opinion they should be dropped in Philadelphia for the day, where being a pedestrian is hazardous to your health.

 

I didn't have a problem on my motorbike in Bangkok, but in the sticks here, you never know what lifestock or agricultural vehicle will enter the road from left, right, ahead or above at any moment.
Other motorcyclists as the worst, they don't look when they turn into a main road, closely followed by tired bus drivers with a leaden foot on the accelerator.

 

Thankfully, not, but my speeding tickets have been right expensive...

 

You're right about Chicago. It might be the offensive driving capital of America.

 

No way! Boston drivers are great. I'm serious. Some may call it aggressive--I call it assertive, which is FAR preferable to the passive ninnies in Seattle.

 

At least in Chicago when they pull out in front of you they mash the throttle to get up to speed. In Seattle they will also pull right out in front of you--and then go 10MPH BELOW the speed limit which means 20MPH BELOW the speed I'm usually going.

 

Wow that's two votes for Boston--what about Boston that leads you to that conclusion?

I think Michigan drivers are generally among the best, by the way. They are generally mindful of traffic flow, let you in when appropriate but remain purposeful and assertive--I think that's the best way to go because it lends itself to predictability which I think lends itself to safety.

 

I heard that speed fines can reach $1000? Is this true?

 

Yes, but Chicago is predictable, you know everyone is an (*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*). In MN you simply don't know which moron you will run into, and you will run into one sort or another.

 

I've seen fines around $500 for speeding through a construction zone. The usual fine is $5.00 for each MPH over the speed limit, plus a $50-60 court fee.

 

Typical.

Almost every driver sees him or herself as a good driver.

Thing is you all make the "traffic" together.

You all succeed or fail together, in other words: cars suck.

Take the train, like they did 100 years ago.