Driving In New York

Navigating and driving through the streets and parkways here in New York is very stressful. Aside from the heavily congested roadways, there are drivers that are driving like maniacs. They weave in and out through traffic with  complete disregard of traffic rules. Yes, I’m referring to all drivers including those drivers of tractor-trailers, who are obviously in need of another round of CDL training. Oftentimes, I wonder why they are on the roadways to begin with.

When I used to come on vacation here, I always thought I can easily adapt to the driving style of New Yorkers. I would drive then, because I was a holder of International Driver’s License, but it was not frequent enough, for me to get the real feel. While Manila’s traffic is many times more congested, we don’t drive like maniacs, and drive 90 miles/hr. How can we do that anyway, there’s no space. We just know how to navigate good in tight spaces LOL, specially when traffic is crawling.  Right here, sometimes I can’t keep  myself from closing my eyes for a second, when I see a  car driver speeding off like an airplane, changing lanes left to right. No matter how I’m used to driving, as I have been driving since I was 18, I still get nervous.

Luckily, I don’t have to deal with New York’s road  congestion everyday. As much as I can, I pick off peak hours when I do my errands. I only get caught up in traffic if there are accidents, and or if I have no control of the time when I need to head out.