Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
The Worst Drivers
(Photo Spirit, Shutterstock. Stock Photo ID: 738738481)
I saw an article at Forbes that lists the large American cities with the worst drivers. @ekentgolding, you live in (or near, I guess) #3! Memphis is #2, and Albuquerque is ranked the very worst. Apparently Memphis has a lot of drunk driving and I know @davecarter has often talked about the frequency of drive-by shootings in Memphis.
I was kind of surprised that Chicago is not in the list. Maybe drivers there have improved, because if I had to name a big city I’ve driven in where I have seen discourteous drivers — and especially reckless taxi drivers — it would be Chicago.
What’s been your experience? Does the Forbes list seem about right to you? What are the worst behaviors you commonly see?
Published in General
I’m surprised Atlanta didn’t crack the top ten.
Well, actually, a good choice for the police to pull you over. The guidebook said a bribe of $20 would be enough. Didn’t happen, thankfully.
Sorry it took so long for me to see this! But yes, I spent 8 years in Memphis and, while the traffic wasn’t quite as crazy as NYC or as rude as Boston, I’ve never seen such a preponderance of sheer stupidity. They’ve made an art form of doubling the speed limit in residential areas while driving one direction and looking another. Anticipating the flow of traffic, planning your turns ahead of time, and simply using good sense are universally frowned on in the city that brains forgot. It was so bad that I wrote an article on how to survive the place and it was published at The Federalist. I’m in the Florida panhandle now, and things are much more sedate. Of course the locals drive so slow you could replace their speedometers with calendars, but the odds of you getting from point A to point B in one piece are really good.
That is an outstanding article, Dave.
The entirety of the states of Virginia, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina.
I take it you haven’t been to NJ, NY, CT or MA.
There is a long expressway that runs through Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Santa Clara, and so on. It’s four lanes and seems in places almost like a country road even though it’s in the middle of Silicon Valley. I was driving it one afternoon when I noticed the left lane was stopped, about ten cars just sitting there in a line. I assumed an accident, so I slowed down or there would have been. Some female idiot wanted to take the exit to her right. She was just waiting to pull across the right lane.
There was a slot between my car and the one ahead, so this woman tried to pull in front of me to take the Wolfe Road exit. I blasted the horn and saw her sitting in the seat, shoulders up around her ears, waiting for the collision. Had to hit the shoulder and take the exit myself. Saw something similar on Hwy. 85. She had not only stopped but was backing up. Were they Asian women? No idea, but they both had black hair. A lot of people couldn’t understand that Silicon Valley in CA is not the same as Hong Kong or Beirut.
I’ll vote for the Bay Area for the stupidest drivers I’ve encountered.
I had a friend who was a Vietnamese woman. She was totally Americanized during the 6 years before I met her.
Except that whenever she needed a thing while driving, she would simply stop. A piece of gum from her purse in the back seat? She’d stop. Even if on Hwy 85 or on 280 with traffic zooming around us at 90mph.
I never could understand how she had not caused a serious accident.
As shown in #49, those people may only cause others to crash, while having no direct consequences to themselves.
Nashville. When they’re calm, they’re only bad. When they’re ticked off they’re homicidal. When they encounter a choice they don’t like they stop. On the highway.