BBC Monster Traffic Jam List Includes Lexington, Kentucky? Really?

[cpzilliacus]

NewGeography.Com: BBC Monster Traffic Jam List Includes Lexington, Kentucky? Really?

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has just published a list of 10 "monster commutes" around the world. Some are to be expected, and are usually found on any list of extreme traffic congestion, such as Jakarta, Bangkok, Manila, Mumbai, Seoul, Nairobi and Dhaka.

Lexington? However, reading further it becomes clearer that the BBC story deserves its own exhibit in the "Ripley's Don't Believe It" Room at the British Museum. BBC lists Lexington, Kentucky as one of 10 with "monster traffic jams." At first I thought BBC might have listed the wrong "L" place, having intended to cite Lagos or Lima instead. Not so, however since BBC quotes a Lexington commuter who claims to have spent an hour commuting to work one morning.

[english si]

Since the BBC moved from London to Salford Quays (Manchester), an hour's commute is a long one! A traffic jam longer than a mile is a long one...

I'm ashamed to have paid my license fee for that shoddy reporting.

However, I'd imagine that, for a city it's size in the US, Lexington does have bad traffic.

[StogieGuy7]

I looked at that list and it's total nonsense!  On a rainy day one December, I sat in traffic in the Sao Paulo area for FIVE hours before getting to the equivalent of their beltway!  And that was not atypical, I was told.  There are unbelievable traffic issues there.  Caracas is another city with horrible traffic congestion.  Worse than anything in the USA, I can assure you.  For what it's worth, San Jose, Costa Rica, Guatemala City and a lot of other places have horrible traffic as well.   

Yet, the idiots at the BBC imply that traffic in Austin or Lexington is worse?  It would be worthy of a laugh if so many people didn't take them so seriously......   

[agentsteel53]

not a traffic jam data point, but I have heard people tell me with a straight face, that having driven in places like Mexico City, Rome, Mumbai, Rio de Janiero... that the worst drivers they've ever encountered was in Boston.

wait, what?

[StogieGuy7]

not a traffic jam data point, but I have heard people tell me with a straight face, that having driven in places like Mexico City, Rome, Mumbai, Rio de Janiero... that the worst drivers they've ever encountered was in Boston.

wait, what?

While Boston drivers are/can be pretty bad, they seem like professional drivers when compared with the total lack of skills displayed by motorists in many (if not most) 3rd world countries.   I've seen some pretty "amazing" stuff when driving in Central and South America.  Yet people there think nothing of it, bad driving is simply a fact of life.     

[agentsteel53]

I actually think Boston drivers are quite good.  aggressive as Hell, but I have no problem with that.  if people don't want to go, they should stay home!

[kphoger]

I actually think Boston drivers are quite good.  aggressive as Hell, but I have no problem with that.  if people don't want to go, they should stay home!

I think that's the difference.  What is perceived as bad driving or aggressive driving is not necessarily the same from person to person.  I used to think Mexican drivers were aggressive, because they'll pull out into traffic, pass on hills or curves, go as fast as possible, run red lights, etc.

But then, one day, I was in Ramos Arizpe in about five lanes of traffic.  A bus pulled out from the right and angled across all lanes of traffic in order to make a left exit.  I, knowing the layout of the road, accelerated around the bus on the left and ducked back into traffic.  The driver following me, though, thought I was also taking the left exit, and got pinned between the bus and the curb.  He slammed on his brakes, skidded, and came to a complete stop.  Hearing the brakes and seeing it in my mirror, I promptly slowed down by about 20 mph, and crossed all lanes to the far right; the other driver pulled back into traffic from a dead stop and caught up with me.  Yet not a single person blared their horn, shouted, or thought anything of it.  You might call the bus driver "aggressive", but I'd say that all those other drivers on the road that day were very "easy-going".

Disregard for certain rules does not equal bad or aggressive driving.  It may seem that way to an outsider, but it's quite often a result of being more laid-back about driving (and, therefore, the associated laws) instead.

Interestingly enough, I knew a German exchange student whose sister had also been an exchange student–but she had lived in Boston.  Their father had visited her, and drove on the expressways.  When we asked him what he thought of driving in the United States, he described driving in the Boston area as quite relaxing, the reason being that he didn't have to always worry about what lane to be in, since people routinely passed on the right.

[hbelkins]

Yeah, this story got a few chuckles in Lexington. I mean, Lexington traffic blows goats (I have proof) but it's not world-class bad.

[Kacie Jane]

I mean, Lexington traffic blows goats (I have proof)

[Brandon]

Yeah, this story got a few chuckles in Lexington. I mean, Lexington traffic blows goats (I have proof) but it's not world-class bad.

True, it's not exactly Chicago.  Chicago's traffic can be world-class bad.  Groundhog Day 2011 comes to mind.

[hbelkins]

I mean, Lexington traffic blows goats (I have proof)

Nobody ever seems to get this movie reference, and I use it all the time.

[KEVIN_224]

@ KACIE JANE: Awesome picture! Ha ha!

I sometimes wish CT Route 9 had been extended further north from where it ends now (I-84/US Route 6 in Farmington, close to the West Hartford line). For those heading up to Enfield, CT or Springfield, MA from the west, one usually uses I-84/US Route 6 from this area east. They would then take Exit 51 in Hartford for I-91 North. The tunnel you'd start entering just before the exit can be a bitch during either rush hour. 

Heading west on I-84 in Manchester, one can bypass downtown Hartford by using I-291 West. That connects to I-91 in Windsor.

Heading north on I-91 in Hartford's south end, one can bypass downtown Hartford by using US Route 5/CT 15 North, heading over the Charter Oak Bridge (and over the Connecticut River) into East Hartford. US Route 5 splits off and then the last part of CT 15 merges into I-84/US Route 6.

[cpzilliacus]

I mean, Lexington traffic blows goats (I have proof)

Very good!

[Kacie Jane]

Credit where credit is due. All I did was type "sad goat" into Google image search. Came up with that pre-macroed and all. :-)

[KEVIN_224]

Wow! That easy huh? You're good!

[Duke87]

I mean, Lexington traffic blows goats (I have proof)

http://www.karlbinder.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/goat.jpg

Nobody ever seems to get this movie reference, and I use it all the time.

I got it. But I'm going to guess that most people in my age group have not seen Wayne's World, since we were too young for it when it came out.

[Takumi]

I've seen it several times, and I forgot it was in it.