World's Worst City to Drive In

[jaytr]

Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) is by far the worst I've been to--I've visited about half of the cities on the list. Saigon's traffic laws (including traffic lights) seem to be optional--it's total mayhem, everyone drives-by-horn, and the biggest vehicle gets the right of way.

Within the U.S., I grew up in L.A., and it's traffic is nowhere near as bad as NYC's, where I live now. People commute much further in L.A., which is partly why their commute times are long. Most who vote for L.A. as the worst have never been to South Asia or Southeast Asia.

[Jdawg8181]

rome, new york city, and tel-aviv

yikes

probably los angeles too, although I have never been

[middle-of-nowhere]

To anyone who voted for NYC... you guys obviously have never been to Bangkok or Manila! It is an absolute cakewalk. In fact, I actually find driving in Boston a little harder than in NYC because of the confusing road network.... in NYC, most of it makes sense.

[Jdawg8181]

Originally Posted by middle-of-nowhere

To anyone who voted for NYC... you guys obviously have never been to Bangkok or Manila! It is an absolute cakewalk. In fact, I actually find driving in Boston a little harder than in NYC because of the confusing road network.... in NYC, most of it makes sense.

yeah but NYers are RUDE, lol

[Cliffie]

I have to vote for the contiguous cities of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, Michigan. It combines the worst features of all the other bad-driving cities I've ever been to (congestion, speeders, foreign drivers not used to being on that side of the road, bikes vs. vans Circus-Maximus style) with a nightmare jumble of dead-end, one-way, and dead-end-one-way streets, drunken frat boys driving on the sidewalks AND vast, lowing herds of students crossing the streets without any regard for what the traffic lights say.

AND there's no place to park, meaning that cars are parked every whichaway on all those one-way dead-end streets. Oh, yeah, it's a joy.

[marieb]

Has to be Cairo for me.

I didn't actually drive - I was driven around. Traffic lights are optional, hardly anyone stops at red, indicating, stopping for pedestrians etc are optional too. The carts with donkeys/horses/cows pulling them. People with their whole families on bikes (and livestock).

People getting (jumping) off buses into the middle of a 3 lane highway (that was one of the most frightening things I saw), but the bus wasn't stopping, it just slowed down - and the traffic takes no prisoners. I once took a taxi where the instrument panel was tied on by string, it would have been on the driver's knees otherwise.

I have driven in most of Europe, and parts of the US, Florida, Pennsylvania, Nevada and California - including San Francisco and Los Angeles. I live in the UK, and in the US and Europe most people do seem to follow a set of rules for driving - well except maybe Paris and Rome. The US is easy to drive in, there can be a lot of traffic and being able to overtake in any lane on a highway is odd, but most people have fairly safe cars and have passed some sort of a driving test. No where have I felt frightened for my life before - except Cairo. And that's not because I could be robbed or shot either.

I would never drive in Cairo myself.

[middle-of-nowhere]

Originally Posted by Jdawg8181

yeah but NYers are RUDE, lol

I find that Boston drivers are just as rude as NYC drivers. What makes it easier to drive in NYC though is that the layout makes sense... when it doesn't in Boston!

[mwruckman]

Originally Posted by Jdawg8181

rome, new york city, and tel-aviv

yikes

probably los angeles too, although I have never been

I'm glad some one mentioned Tel-Aviv. You haven't lived until you rode with an Israeli. These guys must have learned how to drive in the IDF during live fire training.

[Dusty Rhodes]

Lagos would have to be my vote, it sometimes takes days to move the dead bodies off of the street, being a pedestrian is a matter of life and death, literally and ..... some of the pot holes could swallow a car whole and when it comes to right-of-way....possession is nine tenths of the law.