TOP 10 Most Extreme Traffic Challenges

10. Brussels daily traffic

Located in a highly urbanized region with commuters flocking in from the Belgian hinterland, the Netherlands and Luxemburg to their workplaces in the city, Brussels is leading in Europe in terms of road congestion, leaving even London and Rome behind.

9. New York daily traffic

New York traffic suffers from a number of bottle necks and the Manhattan traffic congestion is somewhat even iconic with the yellow taxis sprinkled inbetween. Gridlock situations can easily block the entire system.

8. Los Angeles daily traffic

According to the Texas Transportation Institute, a Los Angeles citizen loses about 72 hours each year in traffic. The total annual cost of extra fuel spent waiting in line amounts to $10.3 billion.

7. Cairo daily traffic

While in some cities a traffic jam is caused by drivers halting on red traffic lights, this isn't the case in Cairo with its 4.5 million cars. Here, everyone is on his own and without rules making his way through the overcrowded and chaotic streets.

6. Moscow commuter traffic

With close to 3 million cars on the city's streets, Moscow's inhabitants must have a great deal of patience on their way to work. According to an IBM study, average daily delay in the Russian capital is 2.5 hours with 40% of drivers even stuck for 3 hours.

5. Mexico City daily traffic

The study conducted by IBM amongst 8000 drivers in 20 different cities gave Mexico the worst rating and apparently driving in the city's urban traffic is a pain. Apart from the congestion on the streets, the metropolitan area with a population rounding 22 million, also has severe problems with air pollution.

4. Sao Paulo commuter traffic

The Sao Paulo daily commuter traffic is infamously known as horrifying and TIME magazine reported from the Brasilian mega-city about "The World's Worst Traffic Jams". The biggest traffic jam was recorded in 2009 stretching over 293 km.

3. Houston traffic jam 2005

When Hurricane Rita headed towards Houston in 2005, 2.5 million people decided to pack their belongings into their cars and leave the city. As consequence of the evacuation, the Interstate 45 was blocked completely over 100 km and many found themselves stuck in the middle during up to 24 hours.

2. China National Highway 2010

In 2010, the Chinese national highway 110 and Beijing-Tibet expressway were about to beat the traffic jam record, but failed to do so when the gridlock resolved after 100 km and ten days of painful waiting for the poor drivers stuck in it. Reasons for the gridlock were the huge amount of trucks on the street and road maintenance works.

1. Lyon-Paris 1980

The longest traffic jam recorded in history and officialy recognized by the Guinesss Book of Records as such, stretched over a 109 km distance between Lyon and Paris in 1980. Reasons for this extreme traffic jam were bad weather and heavy traffic.