It's actually this way in large portion of the world - traffic laws are kind of fluid in most places. Tanzania was far and away the least regulated out of the places I've driven. Everything on the road was just a suggestion. The only real rule seemed to be that, where convenient, you at least made an effort to not murder other human beings - otherwise, game on. 2 lane roads became 4 or 5 lane roads. Signs & lights were disregarded entirely. When you wanted to change lanes, you changed lanes and relied on the person next to you to want to avoid death so they let you in. All that said... there was clearly some organic organization. You had to pay attention and learn local rules, but it worked. The scariest place I've ever driven was Peru - outside Cusco. Nothing to do with traffic, but some of those mountain roads are terrifyingly narrow/steep/sketchy, and these guys will cruise along at 50+ MPH, whipping around the dirt hairpins, occasionally encountering someone else doing that speed and having to come to a screaming halt and negotiate around the lip of the road, with nothing below you but a thousand feet of air and death.
That's why there's so many terrible bus accidents in places like this. They ignore the physics of the situation and send 30 people to a fiery death. If you get on one of the busses, you put your life in alarming danger immediately. If it's not a kidnapping, it's being sent careening off a mountain into a pit of despair.
Picking out the worst city to drive in America is splitting hairs, none of them are bad at all once you've driven in an Asian city other than Tokyo, it's fucking Thunderdome over there.
Best I've seen is a guy in Thailand driving his motorcycle with his dog behind him, holding on to him with its forelegs. That, and the sandy road curve that was angled in the wrong way (outwards), convinced me not to drive a scooter.
Allow me to sum this up for all of you - people everywhere suck. People behind the wheel of a car, no matter where they are located, suck harder. You're welcome.
When I was in Cali a couple months ago, we were in Santa Monica and some dude had stopped in a turning lane, and his back seat passenger had the door open and was cleaing sand out of his shoes or something like that. I was behind him, and the person behind me was honking their horn. The shoe dude was looking at me and I was shruggling like, whatever. It was when the guy behind me got out of his car that the passenger finished his thing and they drove on. I don't think DC drivers are bad so much as they are just fast and aggressive. My husband's vote for worst place to drive is New Jersey. But it isn't because of the drivers, it is because of the roads. If he has to drive through NJ, he specifically plans his breaks/gasups to happen before or after, so he doesn't have to stop at an exit in NJ. Something about not being able to make left turns and having to drive for several miles just to turn around and get to a gas station.
Well, I definitely don't want to be where they drive like the stick figure dude in Juice's video he posted in the Death Pool thread. That guy seems like a lousy driver.
Yeah, seriously, what the fuck was that shit? I'm rarely disturbed, having talked to serial killers (I'm not kidding), and worked on murder cases (photos included). But that shit? Wow, I was like 'that disturbs even me, and surprisingly, I don't like it.' At one time I would have said with conviction 'I've seen it all.' Not anymore.
I thought I didn't get it because of my age. And since everyone I just quoted is my age, my opinion hasn't changed.
Clearly, it was a parody of the classic film "Three Guys, One Car" which is a metaphor for the United State's dependence on foreign oil.
Thanks for clearing that up. I had mistakenly thought it was a metaphor for man's inhumanity to man, vis-a-vis post modern consumer society. Somebody bring me a PBR.
There is a certain south latitude one hits where the following things happen: Car drivers are fucking insane and all traffic laws are meaningless. Houses are made of cinder blocks with rebar sticking out People stand outside of restaurants and stores yelling to get you in
Starting to feel crappy at work, so I went out and got some of those Emergen-C packets. I'm drinking it now and thinking it doesn't taste as good as the one other time I had one. Then I remember that when I had it before it was at home in the evening and I had put gin in it.
I love gin. It is not as versatile as vodka, which is pretty much a blank slate, but for the things it is good in it is DAMN good.
Gin is like selling your soul. It's fantastic for a while, but you know at some point you're going to have to pay the bill. Someone should bottle a gin and name it Faustus.
Late to the discussion on this, but during my 48+ hours in LA, I saw two HORRIBLE fucking driving decisions where people had no idea what they fuck they were doing. People basically stopping in the middle of intersections. I was like "No wonder the traffic is bad here."
Someone say gin? I like gin. Gin and tonic. Gin and Seltzer. Gin Greyhound. French 75 with gin. Tom Collins. Gin martini. Gin Rickey. Gin Lemonade. Singapore Sling. Gin and juice. Sloe Gin Fizz. Ramos Gin Fizz. Gin Gin Mule. Gin Gimlet. Pink Gin. Gin Negroni. Gin Vesper. Gin Leap Year...