Friday Links

I grew up in California, spent most of my summers in Minnesota, and have spent almost all my adult life in NYC, but never owned a car in the US. When I lived in Dubai I leased a car, and thus have done most of my driving there and in other Middle Eastern countries (specifically, Israel, Oman, and Kuwait). When I returned to NYC I was shocked, shocked by how polite and sane the drivers are here compared to that part of the world. Cairo and Tehran were the worst – our guide/driver in Tehran went the wrong way down a one way street, with two lanes of cars barreling directly at us. The otherNevertheless in those two cities the drivers are all bad in the same way, so they all understand each other. There are unwritten rules that everyone obeys, such as take off your side mirrors so that you and everyone else have more maneuvering room. In Dubai driving was much more dangerous. This was partially because of the frequent road construction, but also because there were no unwritten rules and drivers from all over the world who followed the rules of their home country. There’s nothing like being on a 120-km road and getting stuck in the middle lane behind some guy going 80 km, with drivers passing on the left at 180 km and huge trucks on the right going 40. I’ll take NYC traffic any day of the week!

One advantage to driving in the middle east, though, is that you can do anything crazy at any time and nobody will think you’re out of line. If you’re in the right lane and need to make a left turn, no problem! You’ll blend right in.

NJ drivers are bad. very bad. when driving in the city, I watch out for them and not the taxi drivers. NYC taxi drivers are aggressive and have the skills for it but NJ drivers are aggressive but does not have the skill (ie in other words, clueless, wreckless, oblivious,…. take your pick on what makes most sense).

you know someone is bad driver when he/she changes lanes from right to left WITHOUT looking – HELLO, all you have to do is turn your head alittle and you’ll see there’s a car already in the lane right NEXT to you

Biff – Did you skip driving in Paris & Rome?

“People on the east coast also will drive slow in the fast lane whereas that happens far less on the west coast.”

The first time I was in Europe, particularly Italy and Germany, I was blown away by how much better the drivers are over there. Despited driving at high speeds, they are perfectly synchronized. Drivers immediately move from the fast lane to the slow lane as faster cars approach and just seem to generally be much more skilled on the roads.

Noki, as for NY taxis, my family from out of town almost always has to tell their drivers in NY to slow down. I’m the exact opposite; I love it when I get a crazy cabbie who will do almost anything to get me where I’m going as fast as possible.