Which city/state has the worst drivers?

Uh, because Belgium has a population density of 355 people/sq km and the U.S. has... 32?????

Have you ever been to Montana? Bordering Canada, it's one of our larger states--though not the largest--at 145,556 sq mi, you could fit 4.76 Belgiums JUST IN MONTANA ALONE. It would make very little economic sense to build any kind of comprehensive rail service in a place like that... and there are A LOT OF PLACES LIKE THAT in the U.S.

That said, I really enjoy riding trains in Europe. And I really enjoy the Subway in New York, The T in Boston, and The El in Chicago... all places where rail transit makes sense because you have a population density that supports it. In other parts of the U.S., rail transit is installed as a vanity project. Los Angeles is a great example: HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS spent tunneling through earthquake country for a system that very few people actually use. It's great if you need to get from Downtown LA to Pasadena... but other than that? Almost unusable... LA is HUGE! Vast expanses of land that just can't be covered by a train system in any way that makes economic sense. Second only to New York in population, but look at this: LA's density: 8,205/sq mi. New York? 27,532/sq mi!

 

I'd answer this, but it would mean opening up a political discussion which I'm simply not going to do. I'll PM you instead.

 

I have found towns and cities with high populations of women are usually the worst.






(oh no you di'ent)

 

Well, after reading this thread, I think I'll offer up my

Many cities have been listed here - Seattle, Portland, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Saint Louis, Boston, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, and Cincinnati. Mention has also been made of Los Angeles, and the states of Michigan and Wisconsin.

I'm a professional driver - it's what I do for a living. I've delivered to all of the lower 48, as well as Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec. And after two million safe accident-free miles, I can say without a doubt that all of these cities mentioned are bad, for the reasons that were listed.

But as bad as they are, they don't make me cringe when I have to go there. Any of these cities is bad during rush hour. Add in some inclement weather and an accident that causes lane closures or a dead stop, and they're downright miserable. Each one of these cities has their fair share of idiots that fail to use their turn signals, tailgate, and travel at speeds that are either too fast or too slow for conditions.

Many places suck the big one - Denver on a Monday night when it's snowing and the Bronco's have a home game on Monday Night Football. The I-15 from Las Vegas to San Bernardino on a Sunday when all the gamblers are heading home - pissed off because they lost. The entire I-95 corridor from Portland, Maine to Richmond, Virginia on a three-day holiday weekend. They all are bad, and there are many more like them.

Herkdriver and Talon were close - especially Herkdriver when he said "The entire State of Florida has some bad drivers also. A mix of the very young and the very old spells disaster." Talon mentioned Tampa as being bad also, and they're close, real close.

Trust me when I say that as a professional driver, the absolute worst city to drive in, the place that makes my stomach hurt when I find out I'm going there, the place that makes my blood pressure rise to 200/199 when I drive there is... Miami, Florida.

First off, Miami is flat - flat like a pool table. When the sun comes up, there are no hills you can get behind for a momentary respite from the blinding glare - nope, once the sun comes up, everything is brilliantly illuminated. In the afternoon it rains in Miami. Not enough to cool it down, just enough to make the already oppressive humidity rise to over 100%!

Then there are the drivers. There are four types of drivers in Miami --

• The old folks, the senior citizens, Grandma and Grandpa who should have had their licenses revoked 15 years ago because their reaction times are so abyssmally poor. They'll drive at least 10-15 mph below the posted speed limit, guaranteed! They'll begin signalling for a left turn at least two light years before they intend to make the turn, stop at a stop sign and wait a good 30-45 seconds just to be sure there is no other traffic, and generally operate their vehicles in such an over-cautious way that they become a hazard - a menace to navigation!

• The immigrants from South America and the Carribean. These are the ones who buy old American automobiles like a 1974 Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser, and mistakenly believe that they're roadworthy! Traffic is backed up for 4 miles on the Palmetto Expressway at 2pm on a Sunday afternoon - guaranteed there's a family of nine Jamaicans, Dominicans, or Guatamaleans standing around a broken-down Buick Electra 225.

• The nouveau-riche. These are the people that have it made - perhaps they're rich, stinkin' rich, filthy rich, or just plain wealthy. Perhaps they play professional sports, or perhaps they're the reincarnation of Tony Montana - it doesn't matter. Was does matter is that they own really expensive cars that go really fast, and they drive them that way. Miami is the only city I've ever been in when it's routine to see a Lambourghini, Ferrari, Porsche, Bugatti, or Aston-Martin pass by on the I-95 doing every bit of 120mph, weaving in and out of traffic.

• Finally, the locals. The genuine, born-in, raised-in, never been nowhere but, south Florida white trash. Goober and Bubba comin' back in from the 'Glades with a live 15-foot alligator that they caught and put in the back of the pickup truck because they want to show it to Billy Bob. Meanwhile the gator is bound and determined to get free, and when he inevitably does, traffic gridlocks because nobody wants to try to move a gator off the highway.

In any other city in America, most of the drivers are "on the same page". They understand the local rules of the road, what is and isn't acceptable, and how the traffic flows in their particular city. Granted, there may be one or two idiots who cause traffic problems, but most of the drivers are working together.

Not Miami! I've seen people force their way into a line of vehicles waiting to get off the highway at an off-ramp, the other driver refusing to yield an inch, and the situation ends with both drivers getting out of their cars and having a fistfight in the middle of traffic!

Then, there's the language barrier. I've always thought that Spanish was Spanish - that it is a common language. Apparently though, the Spanish learned in Cuba is not the same Spanish learned in the Dominican Republic, which isn't the same Spanish spoken in Colombia, which isn't the same Spanish spoken in the Honduras, and so on. But when there's a minor accident, and two carloads of immigrants begin trying to talk to one another, it sounds like nothing so much as Ig-pay Atin-lay!

And not to mention the hatred! Hondurans hate Guatamaleans. Guatamaleans hate Panamaians. Panamaians hate Puerto Ricans. Puerto Ricans hate Cubans. And... they all hate Americans! Call it Latin machismo, call it class envy between the Carribeans, call it what you want. Just don't call 911.

Why? Because in the words of the rap group Public Enemy - 911 is a joke! If you are involved in an accident, make two phone calls - first, call 911 to report the accident and hope they'll send the FHP out sometime in the not-too-distant future to write the accident report. Then, call Domino's, Papa John's, whatever - because you're going to be there a while. A loooooooong while!

So for these reasons, and a whole lot more that I could post, please believe me when I say that of all the rotten, miserable, downright bad places to drive - Miami, Florida is the absolute worst of them all!

 

Thanks for sharing that, it was an interesting read. I've driven in most of the places talked about, but never in Miami. It's gotta be bad if it making a seasoned road warrior's stomach churn.

 

Driving in the US is like driving in heaven compared to Cairo Egypt, and Rome Italy, the Eastern coastal highway of Spain, or Malta !

80 year old Caireine ladies are scarier and faster and more daring than US truck drivers!

 

Great read.
2,000,000 miles is quite an achievement.
That's a lot of driving.

 

Dallas is definately fast driving, and lets be real, they are doing 80-85mph, and they are simply keeping up with traffic. I was in the middle lane on 35 heading south, a cop pulled up behind me and I'm thinking I'm screwed, until he pulled into the left lane and dusted right past me. Fast doesn't mean bad necessarily.

 

I agree with that, nothing is more annoying than a tailgater when there are open lanes.

 

What? The metro doesn't suit all of your commuting needs? Ok, we all know that public transportation in LA is a joke. Although it is good for getting in a few hours of supplemental sleep, yeah, its that slow that you can feely sleep if you are going beyond 10 miles.

 

You lack perspective on the sheer size of America. 42 of our states are larger than Belgium. Only seven of our states have equal or greater population density. Of those seven states, only New York is larger than Belgium. Rail is not the answer for the US.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_area
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_population_density
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgium

 

South Florida..........Too many Cubans, Columbians, Haitians, Guatamalans, Brazilians, Jamaicans. Mostly illegal.

Mixed together all these Jerks on the same highways and roads.......One reason why I left.

Most arrogant, annoying, dangerous, non-caring worst drivers in the world.

NO EXCUSE.

OH, I forgot......Throw in the countless amount of American Blacks driving with suspended licenses.

 

Another strange thing is your Malls sitting in the middle of nowhere. What is that about? And you don't walk anywhere. People here walk everywhere.

You can cross Scotland in 2 hours. Seriously, I live on the west coast here



and can drive to Edinburgh probably in less than 2 hours depending on the time of day. To drive down to the south coast of England would take you a day, but you could do it. London is nearer, 7 hours.

The farther south you go the more cars there are and the more aggressive drivers become. London is a nightmare and right up to Manchester. After Manchester, you start to relax. Closer you get to Scotland, the easier it is.

 

Have you thought of inserting...the words "Big fat racist" in your sig line, sir? What do you think of Europeans, just out of interest?

 

That's not strictly true - we actually have "mall walkers" - people who come to the mall early to get their exercise by walking the length of the mall, rather than shopping. No idea why they're built in the middle of nowhere. Probably something to do with zoning laws. No one wants a mall in their back yard, but they want it within convenient driving distance.

Anecdote: I live near a small city that is named after its mall. The mall was there first, and they built the city around it.

My partner and I try to take regular walks around the neighborhood, at least when the weather is decent. There are a number of people who also have dogs that they walk around the neighborhood.

When I lived in Ann Arbor, I actually walked several city blocks to work. I also like when the spring weather arrives, because people who drive all winter start walking instead, which makes it easier for me to find a place to park now that I have to commute.

So the idea that Americans don't walk anywhere is a bit of a myth. I think it's true that people often drive when they could be walking, though. Of course, there's also a difference between being in a small town vs. living in a city or metropolitan area. I live in a township on the edge of a small city. That means I basically have to drive almost everywhere I go because of the distance. The only thing within walking distance is a funeral home and a school. The rest is all suburban residential area. This is very different from the village my grandparents lived in, where we walked everywhere. When I was a toddler, my parents lived on the edge of town, so my older siblings walked a great deal. Then my parents moved further out of town, so driving became a necessity.

 

Let's see how much get censored out.

(*)(*)(*)(*)ing Illinois Bastard.

 

Most days I feel like I am surrounded by morons. Due to the large military population we have drivers here from all over the US, and as we know people drive differently in different areas. Here we have all these morons with different driving habits. Turn on your blinker to change lanes, and you just issued a challenge to the driver in the lane you want to get in to, so they speed up and then keep pace beside you. If we get a couple of drops of rain, there are accidents everywhere. Drive 60 in the left lane and stay there. If there is a four lane highway dropping down to two lanes, instead of getting over early to prevent a bottleneck these morons stay in the lane that is ending until the last second causing huge backups daily. A flake of snow falls and you better call the national guard with these morons here with all the wrecks we have. Now take all this stupidity and add three tunnels and several drawbridges to the interstate system and it guarantees you a two hour ride home every day all while enjoying the company of the morons surrounding you.

 

They take a 4-lane road and cram in 3 buses, 3 taxis, 2 cars, and a push cart & a green light = a Grand Pre start.

 

Just imagine the traffic there.

 

You win the internet for today! Bravo!

That was pretty funny though.

 

the only ones that can drive worth half a crap are doing it on the wrong side of the road.

 

Trains are my favorite mode of travel as a passenger.

It is too bad that America's infrastructure isn't suitable for the networks
of rails comparable to Europe's. It's cost related I'm sure. Other than the
Eastern seaboard, most of America is isolated from inter-State train travel.

We either drive or fly between cities.

Trains are also one of the most fuel efficient modes of travel...

The future is trains I think, yet many urban mass-transit systems seem to be in financial
trouble... many of us are reluctant to give up our cars and trucks.

 

no thanks.

 

Boston, they are the worst drivers in the world.

 

Europeans......If I had a few extra bucks in my pocket.

I'd hire a few to work around my ranch.

And, I heard northern Skandinavian Women are a fine Bed Wench.