Hooniverse Asks- In Your Experience What is the Worst City in Which to Drive?

Robert Emslie

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Vintage SF

Let’s face it, even cities built around the automobile – like Los Angeles – are still a pain to get through by car. And when you consider the narrow thoroughfares, quaint cobblestone paving, and maze-like cartography of some of the world’s oldest and most densely populated urban landscapes, well, it makes investing in a good pair of shoes look like a good idea.

I’ve had the pleasure and challenge of driving in most of the biggest name cities in the US; San Francisco, Chicago, San Diego, Philadelphia, Washington DC, etc, as well as the aforementioned LA where going pretty much anywhere requires a check of the traffic to determine if it’s even possible. For most of these metro environs, getting past them is made easier by ring roads and highway bypasses, while getting anywhere downtown still requires steely nerves and a lot of time on your hands. Double that if you need to find parking.

As I noted, there are basically two types of metropolis – those whose major construction period post-dated the advent of the auto, and those whose was before. Each offers auto access but the pain point for drivers is elevated in the older cities, countered somewhat by all the timeless architecture you can view while stuck in traffic. Even most modern cities lack the infrastructure to support the volume of traffic presently thrown at them on a daily basis. Today, I want to know, in your experience, which city has been the most painful in which to drive.

Image source: Fifties50s 

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Robert Emslie

Robert Emslie

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87 responses to “Hooniverse Asks- In Your Experience What is the Worst City in Which to Drive?”

  1. Vavon Avatar
    Vavon

    Unless you have an Amphicar, the answer is Venice!
    <img src="http://www.destination-venice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/venice.jpg"&gt;

    Reply
    1. $kaycog Avatar
      $kaycog

      Oh, what fun!
      <img src="http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01412/venice-car_1412682i.jpg"width="500"/&gt;

      Reply
      1. Vavon Avatar
        Vavon

        Hahaha, you actually found a picture with an Amphicar in Venice… GREAT!!!

        Reply
  2. wisc47 Avatar
    wisc47

    In and out of Chicago…during rush hour.

    Reply
    1. SSurfer321 Avatar
      SSurfer321

      80mph-0mph-80mph in bumper to bumper traffic. What's not to like?

      Reply
    2. desolit Avatar
      desolit

      You forgot to mention the Dan Ryan sweepers. traffic is crawling at 25-30 mph….. one dude doing 90mph sweeping 5 lanes of traffic using the emergancy lane the exit ramps and the entrance to the skyway.

      Reply
  3. I Think Not Avatar
    I Think Not

    I've only experienced, personally, two of the worst — Atlanta and Los Angeles.
    I'd give the nod to ATL as worst of the two, possibly because the speed limit when traffic is flowing seems to be "whatever you please", and partly because rush hour is pretty much all the time these days.

    Reply
    1. SSurfer321 Avatar
      SSurfer321

      Ugh, thanks for reminding me that I've driven through ATL. If I ever go back, it'll be too soon.

      Reply
    2. BobWellington Avatar
      BobWellington

      I don't really find Atlanta that bad. I mean, the traffic sucks quite a bit, but it doesn't seem that crazy. 85 really winds through the city, though, and it feels like someone might sideswipe you at any second. I find driving in Toronto to be even worse, though.

      Reply
      1. Mad_Hungarian Avatar
        Mad_Hungarian

        ATL is a mixed bag. The freeways are a mess. Either gridlocked or a mad dervish of speeding, constantly merging madness. But the surface streets tend to be relatively easy to get around on compared to some other cities.

        Reply
  4. JayP2112 Avatar
    JayP2112

    Budapest on a holiday.

    Reply
    1. quijoteMike Avatar
      quijoteMike

      Agreed! To Bratislava 4 hrs, 3 to get over bridge and going north, 1 to get to Bratislava!

      Reply
  5. scroggzilla Avatar
    scroggzilla

    Turin, Italy….but only when Charley Croaker's in town.

    Reply
  6. muthalovin Avatar
    muthalovin

    The worst traffic jam I have ever been in award: Atlanta
    The longest I have ever been in a car going from point A to point B in the same town award: Dallas
    Terrible traffic and drivers award: Austin

    Reply
    1. Mark Avatar
      Mark

      Houston has terrible traffic and drivers, not Austin.

      Reply
    2. jeepjeff Avatar
      jeepjeff

      Were you driving from Plano to Arlington? Dallas is just huge. It only takes a little bit of traffic to get that award. (Driving in Dallas is a particular joy of that city, IMO. It's one of the little pleasures of visiting my In-laws.)

      Reply
      1. muthalovin Avatar
        muthalovin

        I honestly don't remember. I am pretty sure we were driving from north to south. I fly into Dallas, and met my dad for my cousins graduation. He brought in 2 motorcycles that he was going to trade in at a Ducati dealer in Dallas. The locals said that we would have plenty of time to get to the dealer, and be back for the graduation. It was a Saturday, and we left early in the morning. We missed my cousins graduation and reception. It was a 12 hour adventure, I believe.

        Reply
        1. jeepjeff Avatar
          jeepjeff

          Wow. Dallas is something like 50 miles across (ignoring Ft Worth), so you should have been able to make it. That's some monumentally bad traffic or bad directions ;). (The Plano to Arlington is kind of NE to SW, I just picked them because they're on opposite sides of Dallas.)

          Reply
  7. anisse Avatar
    anisse

    Hmmm i would say Casablanca in Morroco!! Hell its a nightmare!! No rules is respected as anytime you get caught by cop 10$ in local money will be enought to be released with a big smile. By night no red light anymore, its all about luck! I've seen so many crashes that could have been avoided just by respecting simple rules but.. mediteranean blood it is!!!

    Reply
  8. Oscar Beltran Avatar
    Oscar Beltran

    Bogota, Colombia. It takes one and a half hours to drive 7 miles!

    Reply
    1. HSA Avatar
      HSA

      That's faster than my last experience of the German Autobahns. It was slightly slower than that approaching Hamburg – until I reached the point where the jam started on the bypass road.

      Reply
  9. VolvoNut Avatar
    VolvoNut

    Washington DC is horrible,with time variable no left turns, alternating one way streets every two blocks. Get lost or turned around and you are on a self guided tour. Ugh.
    Close runner up is Pittsburgh, where they simply forgot to build roads. Note to PennDOT, a two lane strip of blacktop laid down on a cowpath with no shoulder, is NOT a major thouroughfare.

    Reply
    1. pj134 Avatar
      pj134

      We don't have those problems in the good corner of the state 😀
      Although, we do have Kelly Drive… which would make an excellent road course if we ever had a GP in Philly… it just happens to be a very narrow 4 lane road with lots of twisties.

      Reply
      1. Mad_Hungarian Avatar
        Mad_Hungarian

        I moved from Philly to Savannah, GA eight years ago. When I got to Savannah, I had to train myself not to laugh when people here complain about traffic and parking. They have no idea. I go back to Philly to visit friends and relatives periodically and it gets worse all the time. Vine St. and the Surekill can be jammed any time, any day of the week.

        Reply
        1. pj134 Avatar
          pj134

          I think the problem comes down to population density. There are a shit ton of people living in and commuting to/from a ~130 sq mile city. It's going to get packed some times.

          Reply
    2. Jay_Ramey Avatar
      Jay_Ramey

      DC's not bad compared to some other metro areas, certainly not NYC or Boston. If one has a commute from outside the beltway into Foggy Bottom, then yeah, that's going to suck. It's really the pavement quality that had an issue with, but now I know better (that is, that its worse elsewhere)
      All that development out in Gburg and Rockville is really what's clogging things up getting into downtown or even Bethesda for that matter (which is otherwise pretty clear)

      Reply
  10. Alff Avatar
    Alff

    I've driven in all of the U.S. cities generally regarded as among the worst (except New York – nobody drives there, there's too much traffic). My personal least favorite is D.C., not for the congestion, but for the confusing way the city is laid out. It's almost as if the city designers made it complicated on purpose, to confound invading armies.

    Reply
    1. Jay_Ramey Avatar
      Jay_Ramey

      Pierre L'Enfant designed it with avenues radiating from a center, in the same way that Paris is laid out (or at least was at that point in time).

      Reply
      1. Alff Avatar
        Alff

        L'Enfant terrible.

        Reply
  11. Sjalabais Avatar
    Sjalabais

    Paris. I will never forget my 1990 experience, coming from the sheltered and orderly ex-GDR to a city where people not only bumper-parked – they also used their horns and were five cars in three lanes. That blew my mind.

    Reply
  12. Tim Hogan Avatar
    Tim Hogan

    Bangalore, India. I haven't, however, driven in Russia and based on the videos on YouTube, that's probably worse.

    Reply
    1. quijoteMike Avatar
      quijoteMike

      I have driven in Moscow, Kiee and Odessa (OK last two are Ukraine) and the vast majority is fine and free flowing – except of rMoscow in rush hour.
      But the videos hold a lot of truth. You can see bad wrecks on the sides of roads in the most unexpected places.

      Reply
  13. skitter Avatar
    skitter

    New Orleans:
    1. Unsignalled, meandering lane changes take whole minutes, except when the car is being driven at the same slow speed basically perpendicular to traffic to get to the next exit.
    2. Traffic speeds up while approaching blind crests over the tops of bridges, especially when the sun is in their eyes, even though traffic is always stopped or wrecked on the other side.
    3. Terrifying, massive incidence of drunk driving. Some days it seemed like 1-in-3.

    Reply
  14. Joshua Miller Avatar
    Joshua Miller

    Chicago can fuck off, but Detroit get's honorable mention for potholery.

    Reply
  15. datRoad Avatar
    datRoad

    New Orleans, LA
    You cannot possibly get through uptown to downtown without bottoming out on any/all of the potholes and missing pieces of road. Wheels last forever, but suspensions and alignments get changed more than the 10w30 in most cars. IF the heat or rain or flooded streets don't kill you, the all or nothing proposition of the other drivers certainly will.
    I have driven for years in SF, Los Angeles and Houston. Yeah, traffic and distance all suck (SF parking is just insane) but New Orleans is by far the worst city to drive in, or around, or near.

    Reply
  16. Maymar Avatar
    Maymar

    I will fully concede that familiarity breeds contempt, and basically every other city I've driven in (Montreal, Vancouver, Washington, Boston) has been off peak hours, but I hate driving in Toronto. The only new freeway built in the area in the past 40 years is a privately-owned toll highway (because a bunch of NIMBYs stopped one particular freeway through their neighbourhood that subsequently set precendent to halt any other development planned), of the two ways into downtown, one's occasionally prone to flooding and the other's a crumbling political nightmare that the city's considering knocking down and just sticking with the six-lane road beneath it, frost heave makes the roads terrible (either because they're potholled, or a mess for the entire summer due to construction), lanes arbitrarily end for no reason, rendering huge chunks of pavement unusable to most of our citizens, we're sprawled out for like 50 miles, and drivers are largely untrained and apathetic. I mean, why would we be competent, when we have this man setting an example for us?
    <img src="http://www.cbc.ca/gfx/images/news/photos/2012/08/14/li-ford-car.jpg&quot; width=500 /img>

    Reply
  17. marmer01 Avatar
    marmer01

    No Texas city has bad traffic, compared to LA, Chicago, Boston, DC, and NYC. I live in Houston and with few exceptions it's really not bad. Only the commuter highways at commute time are slow; surface streets are fine most of the time.

    Reply
  18. Macko Avatar
    Macko

    Beijing had a 6 DAY LONG traffic jam a year or two ago. I havent driven there, but I have been a passenger there. Ooof.

    Reply
  19. BЯдΖǐL-ЯЄРΘЯΤЄЯ Avatar
    BЯдΖǐL-ЯЄРΘЯΤЄЯ

    Worst I´ve been in was Santa Cruz de la Sierra Bolivia, loudness of horn matters over there.

    Reply
  20. MVEilenstein Avatar
    MVEilenstein

    The geniuses who founded Seattle decided to build a city on tide flat and landfill, with massive hills and lakes to the east, ocean to the west. Today, there is literally nowhere to expand I-5 through much of downtown, and half of it is on stilts. Highway 99 through Seattle, known as the Viaduct, is literally built on fill, and sinking 1/4 inch a year.
    The sheer volume of traffic probably isn't as bad as other major cities, but the fact that it's concentrated in such a small area, with such aging and inadequate roads, makes it miserable. I avoid going there unless someone else is driving.
    Heckuva job, fellas.

    Reply
    1. mdharrell Avatar
      mdharrell

      At least the floating bridges are fun.
      <img src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2146/1629054186_c8ff61248c.jpg&quot; width="500">

      Reply
      1. MVEilenstein Avatar
        MVEilenstein

        Ever notice how the bridge acts as one big Gurney lip as the wind blows across it? One side of the bridge will be choppy and rough, while the other side for hundreds of feet will be calm and smooth.

        Reply
        1. mdharrell Avatar
          mdharrell

          It's a fetching effect.

          Reply
      2. Alff Avatar
        Alff

        As a lad, I was a paper boy. I remember the ongoing saga of a poor woman who mysteriously disappeared on a dark and stormy night in the late '70's/early '80s. It was an unusual story because neither her nor her car (a Plymouth Arrow, IIRC) were ever found. That is, until massive renovations to the 520 bridge a couple decades later. Sure enough, divers found car and body on the bottom of the lake under the bridge.

        Reply
        1. MVEilenstein Avatar
          MVEilenstein

          I can only imagine what's sitting on the bottom of that lake.

          Reply
          1. Alff Avatar
            Alff

            I know from personal experience that there is a wallet, keys to an Audi Fox and about half a case of cheap beer underneath the Seafair boom, and has been for almost 30 years.

          2. mdharrell Avatar
            mdharrell

            Which part of the boom and where's the Audi parked?

      3. Sjalabais Avatar
        Sjalabais

        I actually had to google "floating bridge". What an odd idea! Want to see Seattle once, the Volvo capital of America.
        [youtube gm0YQ3vuyyY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gm0YQ3vuyyY youtube]

        Reply
        1. Sjalabais Avatar
          Sjalabais

          …or was that Portland? Whatever.

          Reply
          1. MVEilenstein Avatar
            MVEilenstein

            That's Seattle.

    2. Jay_Ramey Avatar
      Jay_Ramey

      You, sir, have clearly never been on FDR Drive south in NYC, or good ol' Beantown traffic.
      Seattle drivers have nothing to complain about, trust me. It's the 22nd century on the west coast when it comes to road infrastructure.
      /4 years in Seattle

      Reply
    3. Stu_Rock Avatar
      Stu_Rock

      That Viaduct is terrifying. It reminds me of San Francisco's Embarcadero Freeway, which was terrible when it was standing and even worse when it collapsed.

      Reply
    4. Alff Avatar
      Alff

      Not to mention the fact that two land owners with separate visions for how downtown should be laid out started at separate ends and then had to match up roads right in the middle.

      Reply
      1. mdharrell Avatar
        mdharrell

        The middle has its own third grid, too:
        <img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a0/Seattle_downtown_neighborhoods.jpg/300px-Seattle_downtown_neighborhoods.jpg"&gt;
        Boren, Denny, and Maynard each apparently were rather stubborn.

        Reply
  21. C³-Cool Cadillac Cat Avatar
    C³-Cool Cadillac Cat

    Portland, OR.
    Hear me out.
    The metro area isn't all that large, however the locals seem to be horrible adverse to road building.
    MASS TRANSIT IS GOOD FOR EVERYONE!
    No…no it isn't.
    Plus, there is an inexplicable need for 80% of the driving public there to IMMEDIATELY move to the left lane on any freeway after entering…at 45 MPH.
    You're doing it wrong.
    Also, oncoming left-turn folks…YOU HAVE THE LEAST AMOUNT OF RIGHT-OF-WAY at an intersection, unless, you either arrived first, or have a traffic signal giving you the first spot in right-of-way.
    This last one seems to have invaded a few places since Y2K, but I saw it in Oregon, first.
    Final nail in Portland's driving coffin? Not allowed to pump your own fuel.
    Fail.

    Reply
    1. Alff Avatar
      Alff

      If there's a city that seems to have institutionalized hatred of cars, it's P-land.

      Reply
      1. JayP2112 Avatar
        JayP2112

        And bless their hearts. That's where I bought my gas guzzling Mustang for $5k less than in Texas.

        Reply
        1. MVEilenstein Avatar
          MVEilenstein

          No state sales tax FTW!

          Reply
          1. JayP2112 Avatar
            JayP2112

            Yep, but they don't let you pump your own fuel.

          2. C³-Cool Cadillac Cat Avatar
            C³-Cool Cadillac Cat

            Not worth it to pay property taxes and deal with the general idiocy there.
            Did so for four years, that was more than enough.
            Thankfully, three years living in Lost Wages, NV, counteracted all of it.

      2. MVEilenstein Avatar
        MVEilenstein

        Quite.
        [youtube V3nMnr8ZirI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3nMnr8ZirI youtube]

        Reply
    2. pj134 Avatar
      pj134

      The metro is friggin gigantic compared to Philly. I think the only problem here is that anywhere near the city you have no physical room for any more roads.

      Reply
    3. scoudude Avatar
      scoudude

      I agree that Portland is one of the worst cities I've driven in. So many times the signs for things like on ramps are after where you should turn and no advance notice that they are coming up. The people doing 45 in the left lane is also a pain and they continue to do it when they come to WA too. Since they can't see past the 100 "Save the Whales" , "Keep Portland Weird", "Share the road with Bicycles" and other stickers on the rear window of their Subaru or Prius they have zero idea that they are holding up traffic, not that they would likely care. Speaking of bicycles they are very dangerous in Portland since they refuse to observe the rules of the road, will cut right in front of you w/o looking and then flip you off after you almost run them over. People Jay walking right in front of you w/o looking and then flipping you off is about as bad as the bicyclists too.

      Reply
  22. TurboBrick Avatar
    TurboBrick

    Worst Design: Helsinki, Finland. Designed on purpose to be difficult to drive in, as a measure to reduce traffic(!). No left turns, EVER, and the HKL trams roam the streets looking for unsuspecting out of towners to run into.
    Requires most driving skill: Kuopio, Finland in the wintertime. Plenty of hills and stoplights to guarantee that you WILL get stuck going uphill. Outside of city center then you have steep downhill right handers with blind driveways that you are almost guaranteed to miss as your Nokians are desperately clawing for traction – also equally exciting for the poor fellow that was trying to get on the main road.
    Mentally challenging: Austin, TX. Rush hour, 95F, no breeze, intense sunlight that laughs at your AC (or lack thereof), and you have your choices of permanently red stop lights on the surface streets or freeways that aren't flowing at all.

    Reply
    1. HSA Avatar
      HSA

      Helsinki? It's a real pleasure to drive compared to Tampere, Finland (during normal traffic, rush hours are a different thing). Where else do you get EVERY traffic light turn red right in front of you – on purpose, so as to "reduce traffic"? Naturally, you can reach a green wave by speeding. But bear in mind that the municipal transport buses don't care a heck about the stoplights, so you can't trust on the green light if there's a bus route on the crossing street.

      Reply
      1. TurboBrick Avatar
        TurboBrick

        You know what would be nice? If good old boy system would allow someone to be put in charge that had refreshing new ideas like "Reducing traffic by making the systems work better".
        Or you could put a pharmacy technician in charge of the whole thing and watch hilarity ensue 😉

        Reply
        1. Dean Bigglesworth Avatar
          Dean Bigglesworth

          I could rant forever about how the traffic and roads are managed here but I fear that might cause severe depression and alcoholism and lead to unemployment, homelessness and an early death; freezing to death while hugging a can of Sinol under some bridge in Kontula. So I'm just going to say that the past week I spent driving in Sweden and Norway was much nicer. Everything just worked a lot better.

          Reply
  23. Scandinavian Flick ★ Avatar
    Scandinavian Flick ★

    Pretty much anywhere in New York… All the freeway exits seem to have been designed when the land was first settled, and thus only needed to accommodate horse drawn buggies that traveled at a max speed of 5mph. A 90 degree angle straight off the highway is treacherous enough, but the drivers around there seem to expect you to take it at speed and will honk at you if you so much as hit the brakes.
    Also, the potholes…. Great unholy fuck, I have never seen such horrendous potholes. I never thought anything would make me thankful for Highway 80 in California, but the entire wheel swallowing potholes in NY make ours look like botts dots.
    <img src="http://i.imgur.com/3epbA3W.jpg&quot; width='500">

    Reply
    1. Jay_Ramey Avatar
      Jay_Ramey

      +1 Traffic on FDR drive makes Gumball look relaxing. The shtuff I've seen happen on FDR is just unreal

      Reply
      1. Scandinavian Flick ★ Avatar
        Scandinavian Flick ★

        I felt seriously stressed out pretty much the entire time, and I consider myself to be an above average driver. I suppose I might get used to it if I was there for longer than a week, but that was long enough to convince me that I didn't want to be there longer than a week…

        Reply
    2. Rust-MyEnemy Avatar
      Rust-MyEnemy

      Now we know where the moon landings were really filmed….

      Reply
    3. Sjalabais Avatar
      Sjalabais

      Picture looks like a game of battleship went awfully serious.

      Reply
  24. mdharrell Avatar
    mdharrell

    <img src="http://hooniverse.info/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Vintage-SF.jpg&quot; width="500">
    By the way, the last time I drove my '59 Ford to San Francisco, it looked nothing like this.
    Mine was Wedgewood Blue and Colonial White Styletone, not Torch Red and Raven Black two-tone.

    Reply
    1. Mad_Hungarian Avatar
      Mad_Hungarian

      And that '60 Pontiac flattop is glorious.
      That picture is in the Fisherman's Wharf area of SF which is full of tourists but flat. Because I am not used to it, I find driving in the very hilly areas of SF gives me major anxiety. It's things like blind turns onto steep downhill streets that are like driving off into the air. And the downhill streets themselves, some of which are so steep that I have no idea how fast I can go and still maintain control of the car, brake at the bottom and such, so I put the car in first and creep down at 10-15 MPH.

      Reply
  25. njhoon Avatar
    njhoon

    The worst for me is DC and that is simply because I don't know enough of the local roads to avoid traffic jams.
    I don't mind driving in NYC in fact I sort of enjoy it. Driving in Manhattan is just a huge game of chicken with taxis and playing beat the traffic – if you know where your going. If not you're sitting in gridlock. A good rule of thumb is if you are leaving NYC or coming from NJ, listen to the traffic report (on 1010 Wins) and head for where they say it is clogged and stay away from where they say it is clear. By the time you get to the crossing that they say is clear everyone else who heard it is clear went there and jammed it up, the clogged ones are clear. Also stay off Broadway, and Park Ave, avoid Columbus Circle, never use the West Side Highway during normal hours, use 79th st to cut across Central Park not 65th.

    Reply
  26. FuzzyPlushroom Avatar
    FuzzyPlushroom

    I deal with it pretty well when I have to drive through Boston, but my current car spent most/all of its life in the city until I adopted it several weeks ago.
    It's halfway through its fourth clutch at 147k miles.
    I don't know what that says, but it doesn't speak well for Boston.

    Reply
  27. stickmanonymous Avatar
    stickmanonymous

    Perth, Australia.
    It's not the infrastructure that's so bad, but the drivers and law enforcement.
    The *only* thing the police generally seem to care about is speeding (by more than 3 km/h). It's really impossible to explain until you see it, but the complete disregard of others is what sets Perth drivers apart.
    Occasionally the police will bust someone for "hooning" (actual term), but almost never for anything else. I've spent a few evenings on youth programs while parked in shopping centre parking lots. One evening I saw numerous drug deals go down, and the patrolling cops did nothing. One drunk bogan pulled a couple of donuts in his Commodore, and cops appeared from everywhere and carted him off.
    Priorities.

    Reply
  28. Synchromesh Avatar
    Synchromesh

    Has to be Boston. It's extremely navigation-unfriendly. And I don't mean the GPS. I've lived here for over 20 years and there are still certain places that just don't connect in my head. This is especially true of all small streets in Allston/Brighton area but Boston and Cambridge as well. Add to that pretty bad quality of roads (and the fancier the neighborhood, the worse are the roads), moronic drivers and not so great weather about 8 months out of 12 and you get the picture.
    On the reverse side, I'm so used to Boston's twisted streets that when I went to NY with its grid-like pattern I was totally confused.

    Reply
    1. jeepjeff Avatar
      jeepjeff

      GPS has been anti-helpful in Boston. The first time I went there, my plane got delayed, and I didn't get to the place I was staying until 2am. At which point, I learned something fascinating about Boston addresses. In Boston, you can have an address on one street while having the structure physically located around the corner on a different street almost a block away from the street the address is listed for. This made for an absolutely hilarious half an hour when I was exhausted from a delayed cross country flight and just wanted to go to bed. Also, cold.

      Reply
  29. owl Avatar
    owl

    I love London but then I know where I am going. I loved Naples (Naples Italy that is) Utterly chaotic; traffic coming from every direction, traffic lights entirely optional and I was armed with an Alfa Romeo. Magic! I have also survived NYC although even I learned not to dis the cab drivers…SF and LA this summer.
    Where I have no desire to drive whatsoever is Makati City, Manila. In fact anywhere much in the Philipines – traffic going nowhere, kids and old people and donkey carts in the margin and old ladies in the middle of the road plus the diesel fumes, the jeepneys and the lack of any progress – even in a Suburban with a driver and an armed guard… (loved the place though, just not to drive myself)

    Reply
  30. Newport Pagnell Avatar
    Newport Pagnell

    DC. Tourists and Diplomats with immunity. Beltway sucks. Forget about it if it rains or snows. Cops and red light cameras everywhere. Easy to get lost and get into some bad areas. Expensive fuel, insurance, emissions testing and registration.

    Reply
  31. jeepjeff Avatar
    jeepjeff

    San Francisco is at the top of my list, but probably only because I've only driven in the US, and not in NYC. SF was laid out pre-automobile, it is constrained by geography, the active geology of the area helps thrash the pavement, and it has way more traffic than street and parking capacity. It's an awesome little tangled nightmare of a town. I generally take the subway when I'm going to SF. There are a few exceptions (and I admit, I like testing my left foot on the hills occasionally), but it's usually an awful enough idea that I just avoid it.
    NYC or a number of other cities elsewhere in the world (I'm looking at you, Beijing) would easily trump, but I've spent enough effort setting my life up to avoid stupid traffic that I see no need to topple SF's title anytime soon. Besides, this way, it's just one more way that Frisco is The City.

    Reply
  32. C107 Avatar
    C107

    Paris. Hands down. Why? Because the drivers are by the worst: relentless, ruthless, merciless. Driving as if they're in boxcars, and hyper-agrsssive by doing so. People tend to think Italy is bad, but at least most Italians have an eye on their surroundings and will let you live if you keep the pace and go with everybodys flow. Parisians will kill you and complain afterwards why you've been in their way.
    Otherwise, traffic-wise? London. Built in a time when cars simply didn't exist, so even the throughways are one-lane only, mostly. Crossing town can take you a day, literally. Makes Los Angeles seem like a large motorway.

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  33. ptschett Avatar
    ptschett

    The worst place I've experienced was the old Crosstown Commons at the junction between MN-62 and I-35W in Minneapolis & Richfield MN. Before the redesign it was congested for more than 12 hours a day.

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    1. Alff Avatar
      Alff

      Ooh, good call. Had a very unpleasant afternoon towing my sailboat through there at rush hour, with lane closures.

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  34. wunno sev Avatar
    wunno sev

    pittsburgh
    there is no semblance of a grid system, there are hills everywhere, and the drivers are terrible.

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    1. wunno sev Avatar
      wunno sev

      on the other hand, the views are fantastic

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