Thinking of moving to Miami? Read this... (Miami Beach, Westchase: real estate, credit card)

[Manolón]

Originally Posted by Bostonian08

And don't forget Paris!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9C6C...eature=related


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KD5Yn...eature=related


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3pDh...eature=related


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTtsmBYIShA&NR=1

Why anybody drives here I can't imagine - it can only be for sport. People ride their motorcycles on the sidewalk in PAR.

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Boston

I ride my scootter over the sidewalks and many times in the wrong direction, it's the only way to travel in any congested Historical Center. Sometimes I have to cut through groups of tourists and dumb pedestrians. Here the sidewalks are packed with scooters, bykes and skaters avoiding stopped cars and trucks in the streets. Trucks and vans that carry groceries and supplies collapse entire towns and cities during mornings, so you have to board the sidewalk and scare pedestrian so you can pass through.

When driving, many times you have to park illegally risking fines, or you have to use absurd explanations and excuses. I live in a town and I know all the "Municipal Police" ("Blues Brothers") so they look the other way, sometimes they hire a new one that disrupts the traffic and imposes fines to everybody for a short time, until local politicians "clip his ears".

Those roundabouts are dangerous, now they are everywhere but before they were only in France. I had an accident in a roundabout at the entry of Perpignan. France is perhaps the most dangerous place to drive after Italy. In Spain, the worse place is Madrid.

French drive real crazy, they are unpredictable.

[Manolón]

I believe you. You have to realize that Miami had a HUGE drug industry (I say industry, because it effectively was). If you haven't seen it already, watch Cocaine Cowboys, because it'll actually explain a lot, in terms of Miami's relatively recent dirty past. I can't even imagine to imagine how it was back then, but from tales I've heard from my wife's family, acquaintances and co-workers, most people either sold drugs or did drugs.

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I lived in Miami during that period, 1976-1983, and NO, "most" people did not sold drugs or did drugs. Miami, in fact, was a very quiet and boring place. Drugs were confined to a few families that killed each other on a regular basis, but those people had no relationship whatsoever with the daily lives of Miamians, not even in 1980 when we almost hit the 1000 homicides in a year.

As to "dirty" money, yes, many people got rich selling overpriced Real State or laundering money but "money does not smell".

[Manolón]

Originally Posted by Glasvegas

Bostonian,

Central Paris isn't a place you'd want to drive, but it's more a case of organized chaos than wanton recklessness. As for the rest of Paris, it's a relatively safe place to drive and the surrounding autoroutes and major trunk roads are relatively easy. French drivers in general are very skilled as the driving test is a lot tougher (as is the case in other European countries, except for Italy!). The most reckless drivers I saw in Paris were the motorcyclists.

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French drivers are absolutely crazy. The driving test is far tougher but there are FAR MORE car accidents per capita than in the US, including Miami. You can always spot a French driver in any highway, they always act as jackasses.

The driving test is tough in Southern Europe because there is a big Mafia involved and "Auto Schools" have a very powerful lobby, the same thing happens with the Pharma industry. Many people here travel to the US, take their driving test and obtain an American Driving licence that allows them to drive six months, cutting a lot of red tape and a LOT of money. We also have the ITV, "Car Inspection", a BIG MAFIA. They had the same thing in Florida but it was reppealed by voters in 1979 as I recall. We are not allowed to vote for such things here.

People here in Spain want the American system and parents want Driving Lessons in High School, but the "Auto School" lobby is far stronger than them.

Motorcyclists and car drivers are the same people, people that drive motorcycles and scooters also have cars. If you have a valid driver license you can drive a 125cc scooter.

[Jmlacysr]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMtZfW2z9dw

Top Florida Identity Theft Victim Locations
Victim City No. of Victims
Miami 2,238
Orlando 788
Tampa 573
Jacksonville 547

Crimes stats by neighborhoods with crime in Miami vs. the rest of Florida

Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed

Speaking of scooters...

From Progressive Insurance - Metro area with highest likelihood of having a motorcycle stolen, with rank of population. Table is rank, city, state, likelihood (100=average), population rank

1.Honolulu, Hawaii 428 53
2.Miami, Fla.359 22
3.San Diego, Calif.277 15

[Glasvegas]

Originally Posted by Manolón

-----

French drivers are absolutely crazy. The driving test is far tougher but there are FAR MORE car accidents per capita than in the US, including Miami.

The driving test is tough in Southern Europe because there is a big Mafia involved and "Auto Schools" have a very powerful lobby, the same thing happens with the Pharma industry. Many people here travel to the US, take their driving test and obtain an American Driving licence that allows them to drive six months, cutting a lot of red tape and a LOT of money. We also have the ITV, "Car Inspection", a BIG MAFIA. They had the same thing in Florida but it was reppealed by voters in 1979 as I recall. We are not allowed to vote for such things here.

People here in Spain want the American system and parents want Driving Lessons in High School, but the "Auto School" lobby is far stronger than them.

Motorcyclists and car drivers are the same people, people that drive motorcycles and scooters also have cars. If you have a valid driver license you can drive a 125cc scooter.

That's actually not true at all. The rate of traffic fatalities in France per capita is significantly lower than the US average:

http://www.photius.com/rankings/road...ings_2009.html

France is 158th, the USA is way up the table at 115th. Parisian drivers for the most part are not reckless. It's called organized chaos and many of them are very skilled. Pulling a Miami move in Paris or anywhere in France will land you in big trouble with the police.

[Manolón]

Just the other day there was a big debate on Spanish TV.

Why there were far less traffic fatalities in the US considering the fact that their Driving Test was FAR easier and cheaper?

Just look under "Wealthy Nations".

You must realise also that Europe includes countries such as Germany, England and Scandinavia were people drive very well, so percentages in France, Italy and Spain are far higher.

[Jmlacysr]

Florida had 119 bicyclists killed in 2007—the most in the country, according to recent data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

Second was California with 109 bicyclist fatalities in 2007, even though California has twice the population of Florida.

The total number of bicyclists killed in the country was 698 in 2007. Florida had 28 percent of all the bicyclist fatalities in the U.S. in '07.

Florida also had 6.52 bicyclists killed per million population—about three times the national average of 2.31 in 2007.

Second and third behind Florida in bicyclist fatality rates were Louisiana at 5.12 and South Carolina at 4.54 per million.

Texas, another warm weather state with more residents than Florida, had 48 bicyclist deaths in 2007—or a bicyclist fatality rate of 2.01, less than a third of Florida, according to the federal data.

Bicyclists accounted for 13 percent of all non-occupant traffic fatalities in 2007 and the 698 bicyclist deaths accounted for 2 percent of the 41,049 traffic fatalities nationwide during 2007.

[Manolón]

For the fourth year in a row, Florida has seen a decrease in traffic fatalities. The fatality rate decreased to 1.3 deaths per 100 million vehicles miles traveled (VMT) in 2009, from 1.5 deaths per 100 million VMT in 2008. This is the lowest the state has ever recorded since DHSMV began to calculate the rate which is over 40 years. As a note of comparison, the Mileage Death Rate was nearly double 20 years ago at 2.79.

[Glasvegas]

Originally Posted by Manolón

Just the other day there was a big debate on Spanish TV.

Why there were far less traffic fatalities in the US considering the fact that their Driving Test was FAR easier and cheaper?

Just look under "Wealthy Nations".

You must realise also that Europe includes countries such as Germany, England and Scandinavia were people drive very well, so percentages in France, Italy and Spain are far higher.

*smacks head*

We're not talking about Europe as a whole; just France, for which I posted statistics.

[Jmlacysr]

Fla. deadliest state for walkers, cyclists - USATODAY.com

MIAMI, Florida — Florida is the deadliest state in the U.S. for pedestrians — and bicyclists don't fare any better.


In 2008, the most recent year for which federal statistics are available, 11.1% of pedestrians and 17.4% of bicyclists killed in the U.S. died in the Sunshine State, which has 6% of the nation's population.


The top four of the 10 most dangerous metropolitan areas for walking are in Florida, according to a study last fall by two Washington, D.C.-based non-profit groups. The state has been in the top three in bicycle and pedestrian fatalities every year since 2001, federal data show.