What do you do when the man responsible for traffic safety in one of the busiest urban areas in the country is drunk? It’s shocking, but a New Jersey Transit worker has been paying a homeless alcoholic to direct traffic and get him coffee while he sleeps in empty buses.
“If he’s flagging down a bus and can barely stand up, you should be concerned,” Sean Patrick Hillman, a commuter concerned about the behavior of a man directing traffic outside of a 37th street parking lot, told NBC 4 News after failing to get anyone at New Jersey Transit to look into the matter.
NBC 4 News filmed Hector Santiago as he drank from a brown paper bag concealed bottle behind a portable toilet at the height of rush hour. After finishing the bottle he went to a nearby liquor store rather than returning to work. When confronted by the cameras he took a swig from his Vodka bottle.
The actual Transit employee Santiago was covering for, Max Caramas, was filmed asleep in a bus on the lot while Santiago was drinking and directing traffic.
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“The shortest distance between two points is under construction.” -Noelie Altito
While an amusing quote, it comes with a sting of truth for those that live in urban areas, where construction, accidents and the sheer amount of people on the road trying to get to different places contribute to maddening congestion.
It’s a way of life in the city, but some of these places are even worse than others.
GPS navigation manufacturer TomTom recently released its findings about the most congested cities in North America by compiling its own real-time traffic data. The company determined the top 10 worst cities for traffic congestion by comparing travel times between peak traffic hours and non-congested (free-flow) hours. The cities with the biggest difference between the two — expressed as a percentage increase in travel time — took on the not-so-illustrious distinction.
Click through to see the most congested cities in North America. To see more on how TomTom ranked the cities and for more information on each, such as the worst days of the week and times of day to be on the road,head over to the TomTom website.
We’re sorry if you’re a driver in one of these places.
Image Credit: Oran Viriyincy, Flickr
Increase in travel time (free-flow to peak hours): 25%
Delay per year with a 30 minute commute: 86 hours
Delay per hour driven in peak period: 36 minutes
Montreal has gotten better since TomTom’s last congestion study, but the Canadian city is still especially bad during evening rush hour. The delay per hour during peak traffic time is 36 minutes.
Image Credit: Goodnight London, Flickr
Increase in travel time (free-flow to peak hours): 25%
Delay per year with a 30 minute commute: 29 minutes
Delay per hour driven in peak period: 74 hours
Congestion in NOLA has been increasing in recent years. Drivers can expect lengthy delays on Friday evenings and Thursday mornings, especially on non-highways.
Image Credit: jczart, Flickr
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Increase in travel time (free-flow to peak hours): 25%
Delay per year with a 30 minute commute: 78 hours
Delay per hour driven in peak period: 31 minutes
Gridlock on Washington’s roads mirrors the gridlock of the federal government. Traffic during peak hours is really bad on non-highways, resulting in drivers wasting about 78 hours per year sitting in traffic.
Image Credit: cbowns, Flickr
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Increase in travel time (free-flow to peak hours): 25%
Delay per year with a 30 minute commute: 84 hours
Delay per hour driven in peak period: 35 minutes
Non-highways in San Jose are just brutal during peak hours. All of those tech visionaries in Silicon Valley have plenty of time to plan out the future while they’re sitting in traffic for 84 hours per year.
Image Credit: toprankonlinemarketing, Flickr
Increase in travel time (free-flow to peak hours): 25%
Delay per year with a 30 minute commute: 81 hours
Delay per hour driven in peak period: 31 minutes
Canada’s biggest city also sees some of its worst traffic congestion. Thursday mornings and Wednesday evenings are especially bad here, both on highways and non-highways.
Image Credit: elPadawan, Flickr
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Increase in travel time (free-flow to peak hours): 25%
Delay per year with a 30 minute commute: 84 hours
Delay per hour driven in peak period: 35 minutes
Drivers in the Emerald City are delayed for a remarkable 84 hours per year. Although cars provide a shelter from Seattle’s notoriously rainy climate, it’s little consolation for those stuck in traffic on the freeway.
Image Credit: Atomic Taco, Flickr
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Increase in travel time (free-flow to peak hours): 25%
Delay per year with a 30 minute commute: 84 hours
Delay per hour driven in peak period: 35 minutes
Between San Jose and San Francisco, the Bay Area is simply brutal for drivers. Thursdays are especially bad in SF and drivers can expect a delay of 35 minutes per hour behind the wheel at peak hours.
Image Credit: moonlightbulb, Flickr
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Increase in travel time (free-flow to peak hours): 25%
Delay per year with a 30 minute commute: 86 hours
Delay per hour driven in peak period: 36 minutes
Although Hawaii provides plenty of ways to escape from stress, driving is not one of them, especially in the state’s capital. Drivers here spending 86 hours per year wishing they were doing something else.
Image Credit: Corey Leopold, Flickr
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Increase in travel time (free-flow to peak hours): 25%
Delay per year with a 30 minute commute: 84 hours
Delay per hour driven in peak period: 35 minutes
Vancouver is consistently ranked as one of the best places in the world to live. That’s remarkable considering the traffic. Non-highways are awful during peak hours, especially during the middle of the week.
Image Credit: Tim in Sydney, Flickr
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Increase in travel time (free-flow to peak hours): 25%
Delay per year with a 30 minute commute: 90 hours
Delay per hour driven in peak period: 39 minutes
No surprises here. LA has a reputation for congestion. Although the city recently announced it would be syncing its traffic lights to ease the traffic jams on non-highways, it’s likely to remain at the top of the list for a while. Commuters here waste 90 hours of their lives per year sitting in traffic.
Image Credit: USFS Region 5, Flickr