Fascinating article by Brian Palmer for Slate magazine regarding which U.S. city has the worst drivers. Now, I know most people out there feel the worst drivers have to be the ones they’re around, but Mr. Palmer uses actual research, in this article, so be warned!
So, which city has the worst drivers? Behold:
Spoilers: Miami is #1. Not at all shocking for someone (me) who lives here. Whenever I travel away from home, I’m always surprised by how much better the drivers are in other places. True, there are glitches to be found almost everywhere. As much as I like traveling to Canada, for example, the roadside signs and sudden changes to names of highways can be confusing and irritating to newbies. However, the drivers themselves in the places I’ve gone to thus far always seem to be more…mellow. More polite. More in control.
In Miami, driving is a form of warfare, and you have to always need to keep your guard up. Lately, my greatest frustration involves people who drive on a crowded/large street and then suddenly come to a stop to either let a passenger within the vehicle out or to pick someone up.
Yes, in the middle of a crowded street.
The “driver” (I use that term lightly) of said vehicle could simply drive into a parking lot or take a turn onto a smaller street and park in an embankment to deliver their passengers but no. The brainiac inside said vehicle figures it is best to simply stop in the middle of the busy street (often not even using their hazards) and risk getting rear ended to let their passenger off.
Another example: In the past few years I’ve driven I-95 during early morning rush hour to take my daughter to school. During the first month of doing so I saw on two different occasions vehicles flipped over onto their roofs and blocking a lane in the highway. The image was surreal, almost like witnessing a Michael Bay film in progress.
What had caused the drivers to lurch their cars in such a way as to flip them over? I can’t imagine. If it hadn’t occurred on the highway, I might have considered the poor drivers flipped their vehicles when they swerved to avoid someone that stopped to drop a passenger off.
Ah Miami.