I recently wrote about the 10 Worst Places To Drive In The World according to the Huffington Post.
While I wouldn’t claim to have a ton of experience driving outside the United States (I much prefer to take public transportation or walk), I have driven in a bunch of foreign countries & places.
When I first came across the Huffington Post article, it was after just getting back from our Quick Euro Roadtrip where I drove on some pretty crazy roads in the Lake Como area of Italy. This experience made the article even more interesting to me.
My post drew a good amount of interest and comments, many which questioned the validity of the HuffPost’s list so to speak.
Commenters mentioned some glaring omissions from the list like Bangkok, Cairo and Sao Paulo among a few other places.
While I have been to Bangkok, Cairo and Sao Paulo, I didn’t drive or even consider renting a car in any of these cities. I don’t recall what it was like so much in Sao Paulo but I do recall Bangkok being totally crazy and I agree that it should’ve made the list. I also remember Cairo being pretty hectic but it doesn’t stand out as much as Bangkok.
I also thought of another place that I feel was worth consideration- Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Again, I didn’t drive there but the roads were so crazy that it was almost impossible to figure out how to even cross a street or road. To do so, many times Kim and I would wait and follow a local as they crossed! (Yes I admit it, we could’ve used a crossing guard!)
After thinking a bit more about the Top 10 mentioned, I thought it would be fun to get some reader feedback.
I decided that a poll would be a great way to do so. In the poll I will ask a couple of questions:
Let’s put the power in your hands and see what results we get!
Do you prefer to rent a car or take public trasportation while traveling in foreign countries?
- Both (It just depends on where I will be traveling) (36%, 16 Votes)
- Public transportation (34%, 15 Votes)
- Rent a car (16%, 7 Votes)
- I'd much rather have someone drive me around (14%, 6 Votes)
Total Voters: 44
In your opinion- What is the worst place to drive in the world?
- Mumbai, India (35%, 24 Votes)
- Cairo, Egypt (10%, 7 Votes)
- Bangkok, Thailand (9%, 6 Votes)
- Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (9%, 6 Votes)
- Beijing, China (7%, 5 Votes)
- Manila, Philippines (6%, 4 Votes)
- Rome, Italy (6%, 4 Votes)
- Lagos, Nigeria (6%, 4 Votes)
- Jakarta, Indonesia (3%, 2 Votes)
- Sao Paulo, Brazil (3%, 2 Votes)
- Saudi Arabia (3%, 2 Votes)
- Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia (3%, 2 Votes)
- Athens, Greece (1%, 1 Votes)
- Paris, France (0%, 0 Votes)
- Istanbul, Turkey (0%, 0 Votes)
- Seoul, South Korea (0%, 0 Votes)
- Toronto, Canada (0%, 0 Votes)
Total Voters: 69
Points w/ a Crew- Some do like to complain about others but there are plenty of bad places to drive. We’ll be in the DR in June for a few days. Was considering renting a car for a day possibly but not too sure.
DJ- You definitely have an interesting way at looking at the situation!
In the places i’ve been in china, the traffic lights. lanes are just a display, lots of drivers take whatever is available, & the thing is everybody is doing it so no troubles. only the tourists are complaining scared of what they saw. if the systems work no need to worry about the foreigners.
I think generally people just like to complain about other drivers. I drove in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and that was pretty wild