What one has to consider when talking about New York is the overall climate in which these individuals drive on a regular basis. New York City is a completely different driving experience than anywhere else in the world. There are far more cars in the city, far more pedestrians, far more obstacles, confusing roads, taxi drivers, all of which are using the same streets, cross sections, etc.

For the average driver, they don't experience anywhere near the number of obstacles that one in New York City would experience on a regular day. One of the biggest obstacles is the incredible number of people that are walking the streets. With so many people walking around, you have to be absolutely alert to ensure that you don't hit any of them. However, they aren't the only issue. As most people in the city don't have their own vehicles, you really have to watch out for the number of cabs around the city. These cab drivers pull in and out of traffic frequently, but as they are driving they are also looking for customers, so they aren't the most alert drivers in the city. This can make for a really dangerous combination of high traffic and unaware drivers.

Another issue for the driver in New York City is technology. For years NYC has been the mecha for high technology. Everyone in the city has a cell phone, an IPOD, a datebook, a laptop, and a wide array of other gadgets. It isn't unusual to see these drivers talking on their cell phones, while playing around with their PDA at the same time. People in NYC are extremely fast paced and as such have to multi task all of the time in order to finish their jobs within a reasonable amount of time. This of course means that most of the drivers aren't completely alert while driving, coupled with all of the obstacles, the people, the cabs, and you really make the environment even more explosive.

However, another situation in NYC that makes it difficult to drive there are the vendors. These vendors are so focused on serving their customers, that they don't always realize when they back out into the street in front of vehicles, or when a banner falls into the street. These vendors are so close to the curb that any little incident could cause a major reaction in the street. I have seen numerous accidents caused by a vendor stepping off the curb accidentally, by something falling out of a vendor booth, or even a disagreement with a vendor that caused the vendor to back up.

I don't know if you can say that New York drivers are bad drivers, as I'm sure they would be the best under stressful situations. If placed in a much smaller city, I'm sure they would get in fewer accidents than anyone else, because they are used to the high paced life. I think the major problem is that there are just so many people all not paying attention, with so many obstacles, that accidents are just bound to happen. When you throw that many vehicles through a city of that size, you are just asking for issues from time to time. Don't blame it on the drivers, blame it on the growth, blame it on technology, those are all part of the major problem.

Learn more about this author, Clacky McSnackins.
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