No Parking Trivia Quiz

Answer: Dublin

While it may be surprisingly to some, according to GPS data Dublin, Ireland has traffic that is worse than London. Dublin has a tight congested downtown and a car driving culture. Over 100,000 Dubliners drive less than four kilometers to work each day, eschewing the traffic reducing alternatives of public transport, bicycling or walking. A Dubliner with a thirty minute commute will spend over 96 hours of "misery time" being delayed in traffic each year. At least you can finally read that copy of Joyce's "Ulysses" or Stoker's "Dracula" as you slowly move past such landmarks as Trinity College and the majestic 11th Century Christ Church Cathedral.

There are many ways to measure traffic and road congestion. One method created by Tom Tom International BV, maker of GPS driving aids, is an index comparing the travel times a driver would experience over a route between congested and uncongested time periods. The greater the disparity between the time to travel the same point to point route during congested periods creates the traffic misery index.

Answer: Los Angeles

Los Angeles would be my pick for the worst traffic but according to the Tom Tom survey there are even more traffic-laden cities. Drivers in Los Angeles average ninety hours of delay per year for each thirty minutes of commute. The City of Los Angeles is the second largest in the US at over 3.9 million residents. However, the Los Angeles statistical metropolitan area consisting of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside Ventura and San Bernardino counties consists of over 18 million people and would have the 15th largest economy if a separate country. The Los Angeles area is about 88,000 km2, making it similar in size to Portugal. Vancouver, British Columbia, follows Los Angeles as the most congested city in North America with San Francisco and Honolulu also rating high for regional traffic.

Traffic or congested roads are caused by a variety of factors. A common cause of traffic is the "bottleneck" or choke point where there is a reduction in the number of lanes available for vehicles. South of the Los Angeles, along the Pacific Coast you will find the El Toro Y. This intersection merges the I-5 and I-405 freeways into a single road and is a classic example of a choke point. The "Y" carries over 400,000 vehicles per day and at is widest has 26 lanes that must eventually reduce to just 10 lanes of congested traffic.

Answer: Rome

The "Eternal" City of Rome has had traffic problems since the 3rd Century BC. No less a figure than Julius Cesar passed a law that prohibited private vehicles from Rome's streets from dawn to dusk. People entering Rome had to park their carriages at the city gates and either enter on foot or in a human powered litter. Traffic enforcement was left in the hands of freed slaves called "Vigiles" who were also responsible for using long bucket brigades to combat the danger of fire.

In modern times, Rome remains a congested and dangerous city to drive in or be a pedestrian. Drivers in Rome can expect to spend over 92 hours a year in delayed traffic per 30-minute commute. Each year Roman roads claim over 250 lives and see more than 21,000 accidents. Roman drivers are notorious for ignoring traffic or lane control signs. Road fatalities per capita in Rome and across are twice as much as the UK and four times that of the Netherlands.

Answer: Warsaw

Warsaw was devastated by the defeated Nazi army as it retreated from Poland in 1944. Over 85% of the historic city was leveled to rubble. Modern Warsaw is a vibrant, economically prosperous city of over 1.7 million and road services struggle to keep up. Despite the fact that Warsaw's subway is one of the newest networks in Europe and is entirely underground, central Warsaw roads remain gridlocked. A typical driver with a thirty-minute commute in Warsaw will spend 96 hours a year in traffic jams. On the positive side, Warsaw's traffic problems can in part be attributed to the tremendous growth in the Polish economy which has grown over 180% between 1990-2010.

Cities like Warsaw also experience increased traffic congestion from bad weather. While road and lane closures account for only an estimated ten percent of traffic congestion, poor weather conditions drive up the number of road accidents. Accidents are believed to account for as much as 25% of traffic jams. Taken together, the cumulative effect of poor weather significantly increases traffic chaos.

Answer: Sao Paulo

As incredible as it sounds, Sao Paulo is not even the most congested city in Brazil, as that honor goes Rio de Janiero. Tom Tom estimates that the average Sao Paulo driver with a 30 minute commute will spend an additional 102 hours per year stuck in traffic. Workers in Rio de Janiero suffer an added 114 hours in traffic. In both cities, a one-hour trip will take at least two hours at peak traffic times. Imagine that Sao Paulo's traffic could even be worse, because Sao Paulo has a local ordinance that requires each licensed vehicle to be off the road for one in every five days.

In May 2014 the combination of rains, fear of a bus and train strike and striking school-teachers produced a 7:00 pm rush hour gridlock covering over 214 miles of Sao Paulo's roads.

Answer: Mexico City

According to Tom Tom, Mexico City drivers spend an additional 107 hours per year in their cars for every thirty-minute commute. Workers suffer commutes as long as six-hours, and there have even been performances of plays or wedding receptions held in the midst of rush hour traffic. Marketing and commercial enterprises regularly include street salespeople using the traffic logjam to hawk wares or offer product samples.

Mexico City is also a fascinating mix of ancient Aztec, colonial Spanish, French and modern Latin American culture. The city boasts the impressive Chapultepec Castle and the surrounding urban park is twice the size of New York's Central Park. Mexico City has more museums than any city outside of London. When sightseeing, my advice is to walk because going by automobile will be a slow go.

Answer: Beijing

In August 2010, travel along China National Highway 110, a road that connects Beijing with Yinchuan to the north ground to a standstill. In the Beijing area, the mass of stopped vehicles extended for 62 miles and stranded motorists for as long as five days. The traffic remained clogged for a twelve-day period. The giant snarl was caused in part by road construction vehicles going in and out of Beijing for the purpose of building new roads to alleviate inner-city gridlock.

Beijing's traffic problems continue to mount as road construction cannot keep pace with the city's growth and the increase in vehicles bought by people who view car ownership as the status symbol of China's emerging middle class. If you can believe, studies also show that traffic is actually worse in Shanghai where commuters having a thirty-minute drive can expect to spend an additional 120 hours a year stuck in rush hour traffic.

Answer: Istanbul

Historic Byzantium, now Istanbul, is the world's fifth largest city with a city population of over 14 million. The ancient city uniquely occupies territory in both Europe and Asia. In addition to having to contend with bridges over the Bosporus (the narrow waterway that connects the Aegean Sea with the Black Sea) motorists in Istanbul also must deal with 15-20 inches of snow annually. Istanbul traffic gives commuters the "opportunity" to spend an additional 120 hours per year listening to any of the 100 or so radio stations that broadcast daily in over a dozen languages.

Answer: Moscow

Moscow is both the political and economic engine that drives the Russian Federation. Since the demise of the Soviet Union, restrictions on Moscow's population have been eliminated, and the city has grown by over 3 million people. Demographic reports also suggest that the real population of the city may be closer to 18 million as an added 5-7 million people residing in Moscow do not show on official population reports. When a large population is mixed with antiquated roads, a massive increase in automobile ownership and frequent road clogging snow, you can see why Moscow has such systemic traffic.

Moscow is first mentioned in Russian records in 1147 during the rule of the Duke of Kiev, Yuri Dolgoruky. Dolgoruky had concluded a treaty with a neighboring state and was returning to his base of Vladimir when he and his army stopped at a small inn along the Moskva River. Apparently in celebration, Dolgoruky's entourage killed the owner, brutalized his wife and daughters on the very spot where the Kremlin stands today. Despite the unsavory beginning, Dolgoruky and his descendants returned to build Moscow into the modern "traffic challenged" but economic and political powerhouse of today.

Answer: Paris

The Boulevard Périphérique is a superhighway with an inner ring and an outer ring each of four lanes. The road encircles Paris and a trip around covers 35 kilometers and should take no more than 30-40 minutes. However, on any given day over 1.2 million vehicles jam the Peripherique and make the trip between exits a nightmare. In my particular case, the half loop to go from the north of Paris to the south took over 4 hours and as you might expect, made me late for a flight at Orly Airport.

Many cities have ring roads that are magnets for traffic jams. One of the more famous ring roads is Washington DC's "Beltway". The description of someone being a "Beltway insider" is a derogatory euphemism for an American bureaucrat or career politician.