The Washington D.C. metro area has the No. 2 worst traffic in the nation. Los Angeles is first. I would argue that traffic isn't caused only by volume of cars or insufficient highways. Where I live, on the boarder of Fairfax and Loudoun counties, there is an inordinate number of rich folks in fast, high-end cars. Many of these folks are hyper, "type A" people with cellphones glued to their ears. Because they can afford pricey vehicles that can outperform other vehicles, they tend to drive like lunatics, often causing accidents, which then leads to backups. At the very least, they can ruin your morning commute with their rude road habits. This is not to say others, with modest cars, aren't equally rude or dangerous. But in parts of Northern Virginia, it seems you are more likely to be tailgated by a BMW or Hummer than a 10-year-old Ford Focus.
In addition, we have an incredibly diverse population with people from all over the globe living or visiting here -- a good thing in many regards, but not so much when driving. I suspect the rules of the road in Pakistan don't match the customs of driving in America. I often see drivers just stop for no apparent reason. I mean totally stop dead in the middle of the highway where there is no stop sign or red light. And things like signaling or yielding are completely alien to these drivers. I never saw anything like this, not even when I was commuting from Connecticut to New York City every weekday.
This all leads me to wonder which metro area truly has the worst drivers?
The drivers here in Birmingham aren't as bad as other places, but the problem is that there are too many good ole boys who think they're Dale Junior at Talladega rather than just going home on I-65.
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