Los Angeles is Still the Worst Place to Drive

Los Angeles still ranked top in the Worst Cities for Traffic in America according to the 2012-2013 INRIX Traffic Scorecard Annual Report.

The traffic congestion in the U.S. overall went up 4 percent in the first three months of 2013 compared to 2012. 

The City of Angels was named the worst city with traffic in the U.S. for the second year in a row. Compared to the beginning of last year, Los Angeles' traffic congestion in 2013 increased by 6 percent.

INRIX's study in 2012 suggested that average drivers in Los Angeles wasted approximately 59 hours in traffic annually.

The initial 2013 data from the study showed that the U.S.'s economic upswing could be one of the main factors that is contributing to higher traffic levels.

The improvement in economic sentiment, recovering of the U.S. housing market ,and stable gas price since the start of this year were also regarded as contributors to increasing traffic congestion.

The city with largest increase in traffic to date was Boston, which experienced a 31 percent surge compared to that of 2012.

Researchers speculated that it is likely a result of the Boston metropolitan area boasting unemployment figures that was 1.2 percent lower than the national average in February 2013.

INRIX Traffic Scorecard Annual Report gathered its data through crowd-sourcing in real-time from actual vehicles and mobile devices travelling on the road networks. The data collected were archived and analyzed to provide a comprehensive consistent and timely  measure of traffic congestion nationwide.