Does your city have the worst drivers?
 

I might as well also talk about Atlanta's wonderful drivers. Here, you are considered a slow driver if you "only" go ten miles over the speed limit in the left lane, and people will viciously tailgate you until you hit the 15 over mark. Also, turn signals are a rarity around here, and it is unheard of to signal just to change lanes. More and more people are also randomly stopping in the middle of the road to make a turn without a signal. A lot of the police officers here don't signal either, though!
Aside from the Indy 500 drivers, there are also the idiots that go under the speed limit in the fast lane, who have not the least idea that they are creating a dangerous situation for the drivers that do want to go a little bit faster (and I'm not talking about the Indy 500 drivers either).
What about other areas of the country?

boston, and PROUD of it! :-)

Yeah, but do you have the soccor moms talking on cell phones while driving Lincoln Navigators (or attempting to) and screaming at the 3 kids in the back and weaving all over the road?

They are just SO much fun!

I would suggest you take a high perfomance drivers' training course.
You'll have an entirely different perspective, and in many states, you'll get an insurance discount.
M

Milwaukee has a lot of angry drivers, who tailgate, cut people off. The other night, we were nearly run off the freeway while driving at least 70 mph by someone in a black Mercedes convertible doing at least 100 mph. All he did was roar up behind each car and flash his headlights. Thank goodness we could get out of the way or we'd be dead. This isn't an isolated instance.
Milwaukee drivers also like to camp out in the left lane (passing lane) and play traffic police, forcing everyone else to pass them on the right. No wonder people are angry. The third offense is inattention,with all the 20 somethings talking on cell phones when they should be paying attention to the road conditions.

Traffic is bad everywhere, although we didn't run into any on the freeway around Boston last October. We were expecting horrors and found the whole description overblown. The south side of Chicago on 94 is the worst for freeway traffic that I've seen, taking several hours to move several miles. There is a problem there due to chronic road construction and lack of ramp meters.

I have to say the best drivers I've seen in the world are a toss up between California drivers, who are very experienced and professional and typically obey the rules of the road and don't mess around--vs--the drivers on the autobahns in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. Those drivers are also very professional, drive very well and very fast and obey the rules of the road. It makes a big difference if drivers are experienced, obey the rules of the road (not necessarily the speed limits), buckle up, keep their cars in good repair and stay off the cell phones!

I'm sorry to inform you that this question should only be allowed to be answered by people living in Florida. No other state has the right to even consider claiming the worst drivers! Trust me on this one.

Florida is a lot of fun due to the preponderance of elderly drivers who no longer belong behind the wheel.

The high college-student (including a lot of foreigners) population in our small town makes for interesting driving--especially when mixed with the high number of bicycle riders who are oblivious to what's going on around them.

On the other hand, I remember Boston...

Shorebrau, I assume you're from Wisconsin. As a Chicagoan (sorry, FIB or Flatlander to you), it's funny to see your comment about being considered a slow driver if you're "only" going 10 mph over in the left lane. In Chicagoland, if someone is holding up traffic in the left lane, chances are it's someone from Wisconsin. And whenver I drive beyond the cheddar curtain, you bet I slow down a good 15 mph because your state police are parked upside down and sideways and every which way under bridges to zap those of us with IL plates. ; )

Chebird-- I think you got me mixed up with Shorebrau. I was the one who said that Atlanta drivers will tailgate you for going "only" ten over in the left lane.

I agree that Florida - and specifically Orlando - has the worst.

Drivers in NYC may be eccentric, widely ignore all sorts of traffic rules, scrape past double parked cars at high speeds, pull uees in the middle of major streets right in front of cop cars and completely ignore any lane markers - con brio. But - since conditions are so awful you have to be reasonably competent to survive.

(Although as far as I have been able to determine any breathing person who doesn;t actually have an accident during the driving test passes.)

But - my understanding is that orlando is the world capitol of single car accidents - due to the massive number of tourists (often driving on the wrong side of the road - for them) with no clue as to where they're going and 3 lovely offspring in the back shrieking Mickey! Mickey! at the top of their lungs.

Add this to the invisible elderly (only the hats of whom appear above the dashboard - doing 30 in the left lane) and it's a recipe for the worst in the world.

Well, according to my insurance agent, North Charleston, SC has some of the worst drivers in the US. When I moved back here from Boston, my insurance went up $800 a year...that's with a clean driving record and the exact same coverage I had in Boston.

Turn signals are a foreign concept to the majority of the people here. Living in Boston and LA, I'm used to being cut off and cutting people off at a rapid rate, here, they cut you off painfully slow and cause more accidents because of the slowness.

And as Metalbird mentioned, the police here are just as bad as the other drivers! They actually make the situation worse when they respond to accidents as they generally end up causing additional ones due to their actions or lack there of in controlling traffic.

I work and drive in NYC every day so I think I can say objectively that the cab drivers in NYC are INSANE!!! Although last week I was trying to drive from downtown to the '80s on 3rd avenue behind a tourist family who were so intimidated they almost got nailed 3 times within a couple of blocks (they were from out of state but I won't mention the state so I won't get flamed). While driving past them they were checking out how tall the buildings were (not kidding!) and then would swerve out of the middle lane when they were honked at. I hate to be an obnoxious NY'er (from NJ actually) but it makes me crazy to see people trying to navigate the traffic of Manhattan when they aren't used to it. It's so much easier to take public transport. Unfortunately for me, my job demands that I need to drive the car rather than public transport.

Please, please don't drive in Manhattan unless you understand how aggressive everyone drives! A bizarre rule of thumb that I was given years ago when I started driving in Manhattan is to not look into your rearview mirrors very often -- the drivers behind you are watching out for your driving and will avoid you -- concentrate on the traffic in front of you. From reading Italy posts, it sounds alot like driving in Rome. Also, please know that it is illegal to make a right on red in Manhattan. I've seen more accidents and close calls because people do not realize that you cannot make a right on red in NYC (definitely Manhattan and assuming the other boroughs as well).

Off my soapbox... Hope I didn't get anyone annoyed. :)

And, according to my husband, Northern New Jersey drivers are the worst ever (again from Bergen County so speaking from experience -- not to offend anyone).

I agree completely with the remark about Milwaukee drivers. They have no clue that the left lane is a passing lane. They decide what speed people should go and then camp out in the left lane while doing that speed, refusing to move over. Drives me insane. In Florida, though,I've noticed that many people are seemingly unaware of the fact that their car comes with a turn signal. Maybe they think it's optional equipment that they didn't purchase.

I suspect no one has been on a race track at high speed and has no concept of car control from the responses I see here.
M

I'll also agree with Patrick - I've had the pleasure of driving Alligator Alley and had to drive over 80 MPH just to keep with the flow of traffic. Same thing on I-75. Plus, no one seems to use turn signals. And if a driver does and is attempting to change lanes, you better drop back because he/she is moving over whether you're in the way or not!

You know what's funny? I live in a wonderful town (Fort Collins, Colorado) A town that I can say is the only place I've ever lived where people drive 5 miles UNDER the speed limit everywhere, regardless of traffic. Its ridiculous. AND we have our fair share of soccer moms who, while on their cell phones, turned around yelling at their kids and trying to get them to their first overscheduled appointment of the day, run stop signs and speed through the streets their kids play on. Suburbia at its WORST. SLOW YOUR ROLL soccer moms.

How about driving in Toronto behind an Escalade/Lexus SUV/Navigator while the driver chews gum, talks on her cellphone and applies mascara (2 coats). But I will admit that the worst driving experience was in N.Y. in a cab on the way to Laguardia. I had to scream at him to "pick a lane."

Well, I would wonder, living in Florida, whether Patrick has ever driven in New England.

Metalbird91, I think about your comments every day driving to and from work, and I live in southern NH - where there seems to be a plethora of MA drivers who are positively ruthless and drive to intimidate!

I would add to your list, those who have no regard for "YIELD right of way", or staying/moving left to pass - as passing on the right is, allegedly, illegal.

On my way home, the speed limit changes from 65 to 55, where the exits are one after another, not clover-leaf configuration - rather lanes where folks are getting on and off in the same lanes - and those "driving to endanger" PASS, going, I would guess 75 or more, in the on/off lanes - making it rather impossible to GET OFF. Driving just-a-car, as opposed to a HUGE SUV, it is nearly impossible to see all about and move right so as to exit.

I wonder every day where in the world our State Troopers hang out. Where are they? "Following too close" is seriously dangerous, and those who do so would be stopped and ticketed in many jurisdictions. Along with "passing on the right".

Even more horrifying is that these NUTS are often on cell phones all the while! With no regard, whatsoever, that they are cutting you off. Ostensibly, they assume you'll avoid THEM.

I'm from Maryland (many long years ago), where you would get stopped and ticketed for anything and everything (rightfully so).

Some years ago, someone started a thread here on Fodor's - something like "don't go to Maine - they go after unsuspecting tourists for speeding". Of course, they go after speeders, whoever they may be.

Even more horrifying are the CT drivers. I just HATE driving through/around Hartford, and try to time that for late at night, but it's still quite scarry.

Oh yes, I've driven all over New England. No comparison.
I've seen everything mentioned so far and more.

Driving too slow in the left lane? Ignoring traffic lights or stop signs?
Failure to use turn signals? Mere child's play!. . .

Here in Naples at least once a month we get someone who goes forward instead of reverse and crashes through a building.

I can't tell you the number of times I see cars hung up on a raised median because they didn't realize it was there and they were going to the wrong side of the street or turning left from a side street where a median blocks their way.

Shall we talk about the cars with "no driver" -- meaning the ones where the 90 year old is so shrunken she's below the visability of the steering wheel?

Publix parking lots are field games for "bump and go" -- the best way to park in a parking lot is to back up until you bump into something, then go forward till you bump into something else. This is especially effective for those who can't see behind them or in the rear view mirror.

Care to guess how many times I see a car going onto an interstate the wrong way by entering via an exit ramp? More than once I've seen them driving along the interstate going the wrong way at about 25 miles an hour, seemingly oblivious to what is going on -- and that is miles between exits!

Then there was the legally blind man (yep) who was driving down the street and thought he hit a trashcan so kept going. It was a child that he ran over. That actually changed the laws here about renewing driver's licenses for elderly without tests.

I repeat -- you people don't have a chance in this contest with Florida drivers in the picture. Although the true contest could be where these drivers originally came from. Usually Ohio and Wisconsin are blamed, at least in Naples.

Reno...absolutely the worst!!!!!! You have the old time Nevadans that are from the time when we had NO freeways through town and you could set a bomb off on the road and never hit a soul. They are creeping onto the freeway on ramp at about 20 miles per hour. They will then stop and look both ways and then start up again before actually getting on the freeway. They will get up to a blazing top speed of at LEAST 25 MPH once on the freeway. Then you have the guy that just moved here from the Bay Area passing the old timer going at least 80 with a Starbucks in one hand, a cell phone in each ear, and flipping the old guy off as he goes by, and running red lights is the latest sporting event. I never, NEVER, just go when my light turn green..a sure recipe for disaster.

Patrick, you bring back some "great" memories. I grew up in Florida but in the early 80's my husband and I moved to S. Florida (Naples back when there wasn't even a movie theater in town) and I was in shock. It was absolutely not unusual to be driving down the road and have a caddie in front of you straddling the white line meant to separate two lanes of traffic. Of course, you couldn't even see the driver except for a mass of white hair. We affectionately dubbed them "frog heads". We just learned to live with it and tried to find the humor in the situation. I can't imagine how bad it must be 20 years later!

Now we live in Austin, TX, which is a very young and hip city. We are constantly amazed at how awful the drivers here are. Everyone is glued to their cell phones and the concept of merging is non-existent. Also, driving down the highway in the middle lane doing 50mph is the norm!

I guess when you think about it, bad drivers are everywhere. Who knows, maybe we're all bad drivers and just don't know it!

Ahhh-Texas in general...where the "5 lane weave" is the norm...deeelish.
Patrick-you are hilarious. Sadly, you are also accurate. My one experience driving near Jupiter Island was a real eye opener.
Our town is one of those constantly on the "best to live in" or "best to retire in" communites. I'm just waiting for one our our lovely Farmers Markets to get ploughed into by someone who doesn't even know they are alive still, much less driving.

Hmmm. I make funny posts and they go unnoticed. I make an absolutely serious one without a single bit of humor and I'm told I'm hilarious.

They are all bad. Wherever I move to, wherever I drive in. Americans are bad drivers, period.

I drive all over the country, but, since I'm a Jersey gal, I'd have to say that the worst drivers I've seen lately are on Rte 1 in Edison. The rest of the bad drivers are in the other towns that span Rte 1.

I must say, though, I enjoy driving in NYC. I can wheel around with wild abandon, completely ignoring lanes, at high speeds on roads that are marked 25 mph. I must say, I did get miffed at the tourists on Monday that were taking pics of the skyline, while backing up traffic on 495 into the Lincoln Tunnel..

Five years ago I stopped commuting to SF. When asked what changes I had noticed since "not commuting", I stated I can go weeks now without using "a...hole" in a sentance. When commuting, I used it regularly and frequently.

that would be in a "sentence".

My uncle who lives in New England states that Boston drivers are known for their arrogance and incompetence, having been there on more than one occasion, I think I agree. Taxi drivers though are another breed in themselves, and the crazy ones are not confined to new york city. There is a Russian woman who drives a taxi here in Chicago who is legendary among a few people I know, I've had her twice and I know a couple of other people who have been unfortunate enough to sit her cab, praying for their lives, but getting home in record time and listening to her rant about how everyone else drives like 'idiots' while she takes corners at 40mph and her wheel scrapes the sidewalk.

I've driven in a lot of cities over the years. Almost all the major ones.

Then I moved to Memphis. Whoa....

I have seen multiple unsignaled u-turns in the middle of a busy 6 lane street. I've seen 5 - count 'em 5 cars make a left after the light went red (and this from a turn lane that would have given a green arrow back again in a minute or so).

I've seen full on left turns from the right across multiple lanes of traffic. I've seen people drive up the shoulder JUST so they can run a red light well after cross traffic had started through.

The other day I got to see a little car quickly cut off a big pickup to jump into the turn lane without a signal, then stop short at the light. Truck honks. Little car gives finger (a standard response). Another honk/finger sequence. Big bubba truck slams and pushes little car through a left turn. AND STILL NO SIGNAL FROM EITHER OF THEM. LOL.

And I've seen all of this in the past week. I can't drive to the store without one good OHMAHGAWD DIDYASEETHAT??? every single time. Does it sound like I'm exaggerating? The radio station I listen to has a buzz line - "Memphis drivers suck. Our listeners just suck less".

Oh, did I mention that one of the 5 cars running the red was a school bus full of kids?

muskoka -

I don;t think you understand. In NYC lanes are a foreign concept - you simply drive wherever you can fit through.

(This however, is deliberate - and a whole other thing from the incompetent soccer moms who occupy three lanes because they are driving SUVs - the size of a T Rex - which apparently they can;t control - talking on the phone, eating and screaming at the kids at the same time.)

I guess everyplace has those idiotic drivers, I know they are here in Vegas as well. We get a weird mix of it all, there are the locals that have all bought cars without turn signals, driving north on I-15 it is like a speedway with all the California tourists racing to get into Vegas, then on the other side of town closer to where I live we have the slow-pokes coming in from Arizona that I swear when you see a slow car ahead in the distance you can almost guarantee it will have AZ tags...just plodding along at about 45-50 on the freeway.

With all that said, I think that does not compare to the drivers I faced in Montreal. Half of the year the lines on the roads are covered with snow, so I guess they think that since they can't see or follow the lines on the road in the winter, then why should they in the summer? They are also the worst (that I have experienced) for double parking. Forget trying to drive up St. Catherines, you can be driving up nice and normal and then you come to a complete stop and your still sitting in your car behind a van, while you glance over at the nearest cafe and see the driver of that van eating a scone and sipping on a cuppa!

I live in Portland OR where most of us are REASONABLY courteous drivers, but don't know how to drive very well. Put most of us in LA or NYC and we're toast.

The reason I posted was to ask if what I observed on a roadtrip here in Oregon is the same where you live. It used to be that on roads with two lanes the same direction, the right lane was the lane you traveled in, using the left lane only to pass. These days there are waayyy more cars in the left lanes than the right lane. I think it's because drivers fear that if they pull over into the right (slow) lane, they'll lose their place in the fast lane.

This topic came up a few years ago and the overall consensus was that Florida had the worst drivers. I have never driven there. I think San Antonio has the worst drivers. If you want to extend the question to the western world Italy has the worst drivers. They are out of their minds over there.

When you guys say that merging is a foreign concept, are you referring to the drivers that decide to merge as soon as they hit the highway, without yielding, and of course without that rocket science turn signal?
Unfortunately, there are some highways here that give you almost no room to merge, and basically, as soon as the section with the diagonal yellow lines ends, you must merge right there, which is very dangerous, especially when you have a ten foot tall full-size pickup or SUV behind you, and he gets angry at YOU and honks when you can't see the road behind his mammoth car. Then he will decide to go himself without consideration for you. Maybe large vehicles should come with loudspeakers to announce upcoming road conditions since we can't see a thing in front of or behind their behemoth forms. This is metro Atlanta, though.

Metalbird91, you are absolutely right. The same thing happens at street corners when you want to make a right turn and those monsters are pulled so far into the intersection you can't see if any cars are coming on the street you are trying to turn onto. Hopefully the gas prices will keep them off the road now.

Ahh, crazy taxi drivers. Reminds me of the night I rode with one in San Francisco. I needed to get from my Union Square hotel to North Beach quickly and it was a bit too far to walk.

The taxi driver asked very politely, "where can I take you this evening sir?". He proceeded to pull into traffic, leaning on his horn, shaking his fist, flipping drivers the bird, screaming four letter words and even challenging another driver to fight. When we arrived at my destination he turned and very politely said, "thank you sir, you have a great evening".

Try driving in Montreal, Quebec. They are on a suicide mission there. I absolutely refuse to drive there.

I have yet to understand the problem of a large car or truck in front of you or behind you, blocking your view. Whatever is even further behind that car or truck in the same lane behind you shouldn't affect your moves. Most cars I know have decent side mirrors that easily allow you to see what's in either lane to the side of the car or truck behind you. That should be your only concern. And if the big vehicle is in front of you and you are keeping a reasonable distance back, what is the issue about not seeing what's in front of him?
Sorry, but I drive behind or in front of trucks all the time and I really don't get what the issue is.

What am I missing here other than an obvious bias against anyone driving a big vehicle?