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While LA undoubtably has the worse traffic, it's easier to navigate and drive. You kind of just accept the fact you'll be sitting on the 405 or I10 for the next 3 hours.
Boston's chicken scratch of a street pattern means if you don't know your way around, and you happen to be downtown during rush hour.. you're essentially doomed.
I used to live in Granada Hills CA, but that was in 1969-1971.
When I took my wife and daughter to Maine I was wanting to run around in Boston for a bit on the way since I had relatives up there, we were not off the Mass Pike for very long before my wife pulled the car over and made me take over driving because people were so crazy. Wanted to go to Fenway and the Fleet Center (now the TD Garden)
It was move in day at BU so we got to experience “storrowing” and Allston Christmas, I also had to get my Bruins stuff at the pro shop and see North Station in the basement.
Ever tried driving in midtown manhattan during rush hour?
Yeah it's the 7th circle of hell, because you (and everyone else) entering or leaving are condemned to either the tunnels or the bridges.... Easily up there with LA 405 +15 mile backups or being stuck on the Beltway-I95 exchange in DC in terms of traffic PTSD
I don't find driving in LA very stressful. Sure, there's traffic at all hours, but as long as you give yourself enough time, there is no big stress. 95+% of drivers, for the most part, are reasonably nice. They pretty much always let you merge when a lane ends. When ever we have guests from the Midwest, they are always surprised by how much nicer the drivers are, with several commenting about how back in the Midwest, when you put your blinker on to change lanes the other cars will speed up so you can't come over. That was my experience whn I lived there as well.
The biggest stressor in LA is if you come with unrealistic traffic expectations, like thinking you'll be able to get to Santa Monica from downtown on the 10 in 15 mins at 11AM because it's 15 miles and "not rush hour." When it ends up taking 40-50 mins, that is stressful. If you plan on it taking that long, it's not a big deal.
As for Boston, I haven't driven there recently, but I remember my parents getting pretty turned around and traffic being very heavy.
I never thought "LA drivers" and "nice" would ever be in the same sentence. I thought they invented road rage and certain obnoxious habits like speeding up to not let people merge, cutting people off, brake checking, etc. This was 15+ years ago though, so maybe the culture has changed. Maybe just like with crime, all the bad drivers left LA (AND probably moved to Atlanta as well).
I prefer driving in LA. It's a lot like driving in a big city in Texas
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