More stressful city to drive in: LA or Boston?

[ccm123]

I lived in various parts of LA for greater than 20 years and visited Boston many times. I thought Boston drivers (I’ve heard the negative comments) were a bit crazy, but the drivers in LA do some of the dumbest things when stuck in traffic and get angry pretty quickly. I’d say LA is worse.

[Angelino19]

I didn't find driving in Boston stressful at all. While driving in LA can be very stressful, in particular the Westside.

[Angelino19]

Originally Posted by SEAandATL

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).

LA drivers still have a lot of attitude. Not all, but many. During the morning and evening rush hours, traffic crawls along at 10 to 25 mph on the freeways, hence no ones getting anywhere fast. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for driving on "Surface Streets." That's the term used by Angelino's when referring to city streets. IMO LA rush hour traffic on "Surface Streets" is much more stressful than freeway driving during rush hour.

[Trafalgar Law]

There are two things;

1. Most cars have GPS

OR

2. Most people have a smartphone, either Android or Apple, so they have a GPS in their pockets

So what's the problem then? How is it hard to navigate a city you're not familiar with when you're either listening to your device's directions or looking at it on a map? (or both) If you miss a turn, it just re-routes it until you get to the destination. All you have to do is be patient for another minute or two, that's literally it. I just visited Atlanta earlier this year, a city I'm unfamiliar with and a city that's not on a traditional grid network. I had zero issues at all due to technology. I've usually visited Boston by flying in but when I lived in Alexandria, VA there were two times that I drove to Boston. I did this in a time period when I was almost completely unfamiliar with the city's street network (still am mostly unfamiliar with it) and had zero issues getting around the city thanks to GPS navigation. Any turn or exit that I missed would be re-routed to an alternative route and would only add like a minute or two extra to the trip.

There are ways to get around unfamiliarity thanks to technology, if you're resourceful enough. I use the GPS/maps all the time, pretty much everyday whether I walk or drive or take the train. There is no way to fix traffic, congestion, or the time spent stuck in traffic though, which is why I'll be going with Los Angeles on this topic.

[Chinese French Italian]

Traffic in LA takes longer to get through. That alone makes LA more stressful. Boston can be bad but at least it's over much quicker.

[BostonBornMassMade]

Boston because of the weather

[lrfox]

I think this is LA and it's not even close. I realize that my perspective might be skewed as a Boston local who has familiarity with the roadways here, but I still think LA is by far the more stressful city to drive in. The sheer congestion alone in LA is infinitely worse than what we have in Boston. But LA is much more spread out which just adds to the stress. Especially if you need to cover any real distance across the city. Sure, Boston's central neighborhoods may be annoying with their irregular layout, but it's such a small, compact city that there's margin for error and delays. LA's stress comes not just from the frustration of congestion, but from the amount of pressure it puts on people to plan accordingly or risk thoroughly throwing off schedules. The ripple effects of added delays to already bad traffic can set you back 2 hours while trying to go 20 miles in LA. Even at its worst, Boston's not that bad.