I heard a story today about a very old man who just died behind the wheel at a traffic light in Sarasota Fl.
I remember driving into the mountains in Jamaica once and being scared to death by the cars full of people coming at us full speed, in our lane! They always moved over just in time, so maybe they were actually very good drivers~

Very sad, but yesterday here in South Florida, an 88 year old woman was killed driving the WRONG WAY on 1-95. South Florida anytime between October and May definitely has the worst drivers!

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localne...cb14a0093.html

This thread is becoming funnier and funnier. The contest seems to be between Florida and Portugal. After living and driving in Florida for 30 years, it's funny, but I never noticed anything out of the ordinary driving in Portugal. I don't have a clue what everyone is talking about, and we drove all over Portugal. Maybe those people have never driven in Florida?

Jamaica for sure. They hit you and just keep going. In Kingston, we were getting hit at every intersection. We finally gave up and took cabs. At least the continuing damage wasn't to our vehicle.

Regarding Florida: being a Florida native, I just want to defend my homestate. The reason Florida has the worst drivers is because the elderly along with all the terrible drivers from the rest of the country move here!! Native Floridians are wonderful drivers- LOL :0)

A group of Florida senior citizens were sitting around talking about their ailments.

"My arms are so weak I can hardly hold this cup of coffee," said one.

"Yes, I know. My cataracts are so bad I can't even see my coffee" replied another.

"It has gotten to where I cannot hear anything anymore." said one in the loudest voice of the group. 

"I can't turn my head because of the arthritis in my neck," said a another, to which several nodded weakly in agreement.

"My blood pressure pills make me dizzy," claimed another.

"I can't even remember what I'm doing half the time; if I don't make myself a note I forget what I am trying to do in the first place," chimed yet another. 

"I guess that's the price we pay for getting old," winced an old man as he shook his head. 

Then there was a short moment of silence...

"Well, it's not that bad," said one woman cheerfully. "Thank God we can all still drive."

This story just gets better and better... ugh!

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localne...c00fd00ec.html

Great story Anon.
The 2nd worst drivers in the world: Paris. Annnnd now, for #1- ITALY

I don't get the references to France and italy. To me, drivers in those countries have to have especailly good - to be able to avoid constantly having accidents given the rules/conditions they drive under. I mean, it takes real effort to be a bad driver on a wide open highway with no traffic - but the worse the condiitons (lots of traffic, few traffic lights, several-way intersections with cars coming from everywhere, traffic circles, double and triple-parked cars and masses of darting pedestrians) the greater the driving skills required to avoid hitting someone or something. I've always found drivers in Europe in general to be more skilful than those in the US - much faster and more erratic - but more skilful.

Yes, Florida is the worst because of the blue hairs! I lived in Atlanta and those are some of THE most aggressive drivers ever! I was always white knuckled driving in town and on GA 400. BTW, I always loved Seinfeld's idea of a FL state flag: 2 arms with holding a steering wheel with no head! Judy

CHINA

I read that more tourist are killed by being hit by a car than any other means.

Been there and believe it!!

Good point, Knoel, the native Floridian are good drivers. All 25 of them???

The comment about China reminds me of a story from my partner's brother who was on business in Taiwan. The taxi was zooming him off to the airport, when a bicycle darted in front of them. The taxi hit the bicycle which went one way, and the rider went flying through the air, landing on the side of the road. "Aren't you going to stop?", Richard asked, shaking and horrified. "No," replied the driver. "It was his fault. He pulled in front of me." To this day Richard has no idea if the man was killed or not.

I agree with Connie about China. You have to experience it to believe it. When our tourist bus was in traffic, it just drove over the line, on the other side of the road. We saw a city bus driving the wrong way in the middle of traffic. Cars cut off one another, missing other cars and pedestrians by millimeters. Aggressiveness is in, courtesy is out. Damn the traffic, full speed ahead.

And it only will get worse, as the number of cars is expected to double in the next ten years as a huge number of people get to afford it.

Let's keep it going!!

Two elderly women were out driving in a large car . . .

. . . both could barely see over the dashboard. As they were cruising along, they came to an intersection. The stoplight was red but they went on through.

The woman in the passenger seat thought to herself, I must be losing it. I could have sworn we went through a red light.

After a few more minutes they came to another intersection and the light was red; again they went right through.

This time the woman in the passenger seat was almost sure that the light had been red but was really concerned that she was losing it. She was getting nervous and decided to pay very close attention to the road and the next intersection to see what was going on.

At the next intersection, sure enough, the light was definitely red and they went right through. She turned to the other woman and said, "Mildred! Did you know we just went through three red lights in a row? You could have killed us!!!"

Mildred turned to her and said: "Oh shit, am I driving?"

The highways in New York City have the worst driving I've ever seen. I fear for my life everytime I must be on the road. Just last night there was someone making a right turn from the left lane, cutting in front of us & not even looking. I see this every time I drive. And no one EVER seems to look when changing lanes.

I disagree about Portugal...I had been afraid to drive there because I had heard stories of crazy drivers, but I found it to be the most pleasant driving experience of my life. I drove about 5 hours on the toll road, and guess what....people drove on the right and passed on the left. It made so much sense and was so...polite. We're SUPPOSED to do that in this country, at least in several states (NJ?) but no one seems to follow that rule and people pass on the right as well as the left because no one seems to realize that the left lane is for faster-moving traffic.

Well on the non-toll roads in Portugal they drive like they're from Boston, except worse.

Only place I know that has freeways with signs on the on-ramps prohibiting donkey carts.

The signs are ignored.

I used to have a little old lady friend who lived in a retirement center about 10 miles north of the center of Naples, Florida. One day when I was driving through the four lane traffic heading south, I came up behind a car going about 30 miles per hour in the left lane in a 55 mile zone. Suddenly I realized it was this friend of mine. She was soon leading a long procession of cars who couldn't get around her, most finally passing on the right when there was an opening -- me among them.
About a week later, I mentioned I had been behind her that day and asked why she was in the left lane. She calmly replied that she was going to be making a left turn and didn't want to have to switch lanes at the last minute. The place she was going to turn left was roughly 10 miles straight ahead. Now, that's what I call planning when driving!!

That is so sad. That poor old woman.
Although I have come from a state where everyone of every age drives, from every country, I cannot say any particular type is a worse driver.
Unless it is the overly aggresive late teens..they all seem to want to prove their machismo-that would include the young ladies too.
I would be happy to travel all around the world and take a survey if anyone is interested in financing it

Very funny, Patrick. :0)
Common misconception about Florida....but my family alone has more than 25 natives. Our numbers are great, we're just drowning in a sea of tourists, transplants, and snowbirds! I'd also blame the election fiasco on the elderly and transplants <tic>.