As the legendary birthplace of jazz, New Orleans shines bright mainly due to its musical heritage, French colonial history, and hugely popular seasonal events like Mardi Grass or the French Quarter Festival. But while this lively sweltering city draws in huge crowds of tourists each year, visitors who decided to go there by car are still divided over whether they’ve made the right choice.
The Big Easy has never been the same since Hurricane Katrina made landfall there in 2005, but there are many other pressing issues that haven’t been fixed for decades. Some of those problems include the city’s violent crime rates, poor road conditions, and subpar local drivers.
Vehicle Break-Ins
Car break-ins are a common occurrence in New Orleans, especially in certain neighborhoods. So, travelers should never leave any valuables in their car even if they parked in a garage. An alarm system is a must-have when driving into the former “Murder Capital.”
Even though murder rates have steadily dropped in recent years to around 100 per year, New Orleans still ranks as one of the nation’s cities with the highest murder rates. What is more, hurricane Katrina devastated more than 80% of the city and more than doubled the homeless population, to around 12,000.
By 2018, the municipality’s “housing first” policies reduced that number to 1,100, but more and more people have fallen into homelessness over the last couple of years, which, along with rampant poverty and poor access to quality education, only added fuel to the city’s crime rates.
The latest incident occurred early this month, when 50 cars were broken into in New Orleans East by a single armed perpetrator in one night. The New Orleans Police Department is still investigating the case.
Bad Drivers
A few years back, Louisiana ranked 5th on the list of states with the nation’s worst drivers. Also, according to Allstate’s “America’s Best Drivers Report” (2019), New Orleans was ranked 177 out of 200 U.S. cities by car accident frequency, with number one being the safest city for drivers and number 200 being the worst.
But the Big Easy is not home to the worst drivers in the state. At the 188th position, Baton Rouge is worse. Baltimore drivers were the worst in the nation, with Washington (2nd) and Boston (3rd) drivers trailing close behind.
Louisiana drivers are known for careless driving, failure to wear their seat belts, disobeying traffic rules and signals, and inability to keep a valid driver’s license. What is more, a car crash accident in New Orleans can quickly turn into an ordeal as many local drivers are either uninsured or underinsured.
Poor Road Conditions
Poor road infrastructure is another reason New Orleans is not so friendly to out-of-city drivers. Potholes, sinkholes, and other road defects are so rampant that calling the city to report potholes has turned into a local sport.
In the first quarter of this year, around 450 New Orleanians dialed 311, the city’s hotline for non-emergency use, to complain about poor road conditions, marking a 20% decrease from a year prior.
In 2016, two-thirds of the city’s roadways were in poor or worse condition, with just 14% of roads receiving a “good” or “excellent” score. Much of the damage done to the city’s infrastructure can be traced back to Katrina, which would cost the city over $2 billion in FEMA funds over the next two to three decades.
Currently, the municipality burns through $150 million to $200 million a year on road repairs and maintenance work, which is ten times what used to be spent on roadwork before the hurricane’s historic landfall.
Conclusion
New Orleans is a city worth visiting due to its rich melting pot of diverse history and cultures, but if you decide to do it by car, take all the precautionary measures to avoid potholes, break-ins, and bad drivers. Also, steer clear of certain parts of the city and be wary of extreme weather as the city faces a greater-than-average risk of tornadoes. The only two things you won’t have to worry about are the steady traffic flow and parking availability.
