No surprise there!! 15 years of driving in and around metro New York City and nary an accident. Moved here in 1990 – and was rear ended 4 times in 6 years. Two drivers had the nerve to get out and yell at me for not blowing through a red light/stop sign? Hello, who has the obligation here? I do want to thank the women who promptly came up to my window with checkbook in hand upon rear ending me at a red light in Olde Towne. In my experience, drivers in other major metro areas are equally as aggressive as here in metro DC, but the big difference is predictability and following the basic rules (read laws) of the road. Changing lanes at intersections, turning into the correct lane (look that one up if you can’t remember your license test), lack of turning signals, driving in white and yellow cross-hatched areas (illegal in case you were wondering) are among the traffic laws that are routinely disregarded……….I think I’ll start a column on driving etiquette.

Rt 1 south of Alexandria City is by far the most dangerous highway in the area. It will worsen too, with increased Ft Belvoir traffic. Stay alert out there!

Not surprised.

The rapid expansion and development of the region was never accompanied with the developments of roads and traffic management . Hence the worst commute in the country which produces harried and crazed drivers. The reason Sioux Falls has the least accidents may be because rush hour is nonexistent .

1. There is no reason to go to Sioux Falls, thus there is no traffic and the risk of accidents is low.
2. Maryland drivers are the absolute worst. East side of Beltway and Rt.50 between Beltway and Annapolis is the stretch where I have seen drivers do the scariest crap I've ever witnessed.

So, out of the last 4 work days, during three of those days, Friday, Tuesday and today, Route 295 into DC from Alexandria was backed up from the ramp after the Wilson Bridge all the way over the 11th St Bridge. On two days those back ups were due to accidents. Today's back up was the result of a car fire. It took me over 2 hours to drive the 15 miles to my job yesterday.

I think that people who have accidents should be subject to paying large fines that reflect the lost time and stress that they put their fellow drivers through.

The only thing surprising about this is that cities in Maryland aren't higher aside from Baltimore. I don't usually have much issue in VA, but the second I drive into MD I take my life into my hands. Last weekend I took a drive to Annapolis, and was flicked off twice in ten minutes, both times for driving like a normal, responsible human, and nearly driven off the road twice too. Not only are they dangerous, but also angry. Not that Route 1 is much better, but in my entire life of living in Alexandria I've seen less aggressive driving than in one weekend in MD.

The reason Maryland cities are not mentioned is because their drivers are always in Virginia, hence causing the insanely high number of accidents in Alexandria and Arlington.

I truly dislike the characterization that Alexandria drivers are the worst. The issue is more that Alexandria roads are where more accidents occur, regardless of where the driver is from. We have so many pass-through drivers from places other than Alexandria who don't know the roads well and get into crashes.

I drive through the neighborhoods of Old Town every day, and my big complaint is drivers who think the place to stop at a four-way stop-sign is the second white line of the cross walk. NO! It's the large white stripe before you get to the cross walk. With these jack-rabbit drivers, one never knows if/where they're going to stop, or just blow through the intersection all together. Very nerve-wracking, and an accident waiting to happen.