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Really? I didn't know Houston was that bad. For me, in the Dallas area, driving on Rt 75 (Central Expressway which goes from Dallas into Collin County) and I-635 is quite scary. I have seen numerous accidents on Rt 75 driving from Richardson to Allen. I was even a victim of road rage once. A couple of guys who looked Indian or Pakistani gave me the middle finger because they were unable to get in front of me when they were trying to merge on the highway. Also, a couple of weeks ago when I was on Rt 75 in the evening driving home after my gym workout I saw this car go super fast (like he was really racing, 100 mph or more) right in front of me while there were a lot of other cars on the highway. Then all of a sudden he lost control of the car and it swerved across all the lanes and then ended up on the service road. He was extremely lucky that he did not get into a serious accident.
Boston has to be number one based on its lack of a street grid alone. The aggressive driving also puts it over the top. NYC is a close second due to complete chaos and impatience.
DC would be third based on complex traffic circles and the always high volume of clueless out-of-towners.
Surprised Philadelphia isn't getting more roasted here what with its often insanely narrow and very often one-way streets, super aggressive driving, and very strict parking enforcement. At least it's on a pretty logical grid, however.
NYC: Rude, and forced to be that way because of several lanes merging into two to get in and out of Manhattan, not giving an inch. Traffic makes it bad, or at least did pre-pandemic.
Boston: Crazy streets that were cattle paths make for crazy drivers who are trying to escape insane traffic on main routes. Traffic and impatient rudeness, Storrow Drive especially bad.
Chicago: Parking lot on the Eisenhower Expressway, one of the most congested highways in the world, makes people switch lanes and ride the shoulder to exits. When the expressways are clear, mostly good drivers, with the occasional insane one weaving through traffic at high speeds because, I guess, they can.
Miami: Bad, bad drivers who sit on the horn the moment the light turns green. Older drivers who drive slowly, and recent immigrants who still drive like home.
Detroit: Nascar 500 on highways with speeds of 80 and 90 mph, and need to keep up so you won't get run over.
Cedar Rapids, Iowa: Been there 3 times, the worst drivers I have ever seen, no regard for lanes.
Los Angeles: High speeds during times on certain freeways (the 57 for one) and a parking lot with frustration on the others like the 405.
That's so true about Miami. A weird mix of people wanting to drive fast in their sports cars, mixed with retirees, and then stirred with third world driving habits. But to me Miami is not even the worst place to drive in Florida... that's Orlando. It basically has many of the issues Miami has but then you add in thousands of tourists who don't know where to go and you have a terrible mix.
But in Texas, the off-ramp will put you onto a service road. Where is the road that was listed on the exit sign? I don't know, somewhere up there. When you do find it, the lane to turn left is immediately next to the lane that would let you do a U-turn to get back onto the highway going the other way, and which lane is which is not well marked. (I discovered this the hard way.) And when you've done what you came to do and want to get back onto the interstate, where is the onramp? I don't know, somewhere up there.
Maybe if I had learned to drive in Texas, it would be second nature. But I didn't. I learned to drive in one of the other 49 states that has traditional diamond interchanges for most of the access/egress points to and from the interstate.
I'd guess more then 95% of the time, the street name on the exit sign is the 1st street at the light on ther service/frontage road. You can turn left or right, or go straight, or make a u-turn under the interstate and head the other direction. The u-turn lane is the very far left lane and will u-turn before you get to the light. Also, alot of the service roads have two left turn lanes at the light.
I too could see the TX access roads being cumbersome for people who didn't learn to drive in TX. It took me some time to get used to them and I hate pulling out of a business or property along side them as traffic is often doing 60 and 70 and you have to turn out from a dead stop, then merge into the left lane at full throttle while taking the onramp to the freeway within a few short seconds. That or if you're coming off the freeway and you want to make a right turn you're coming off at 60 MPH intermingling with traffic coming out of businesses and Plaza's doing 20 and 30.
Also TX work zones put you through the most unnecessarily tightest clearances I've seen in the country.
I too could see the TX access roads being cumbersome for people who didn't learn to drive in TX. It took me some time to get used to them and I hate pulling out of a business or property along side them as traffic is often doing 60 and 70 and you have to turn out from a dead stop, then merge into the left lane at full throttle while taking the onramp to the freeway within a few short seconds. That or if you're coming off the freeway and you want to make a right turn you're coming off at 60 MPH intermingling with traffic coming out of businesses and Plaza's doing 20 and 30.
Also TX work zones put you through the most unnecessarily tightest clearances I've seen in the country.
I got used to the frontage roads really quickly; somehow that logic just clicked for me.
Texas doesn’t have a monopoly on tight work zones, doe.
I'd guess more then 95% of the time, the street name on the exit sign is the 1st street at the light on ther service/frontage road. You can turn left or right, or go straight, or make a u-turn under the interstate and head the other direction. The u-turn lane is the very far left lane and will u-turn before you get to the light. Also, alot of the service roads have two left turn lanes at the light.
Some in OC will give you three and let me tell you it's nerve wracking.
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