If you think you’ve got it bad when commuting to work, well, it could be worse. Forbes has compiled a list of the worst traffic jams dating back to 1969, and these are epic standstills where roadways turned into parking lots.

2012 TomTom South African congestion index

In 2012 TomTom released its congestion index for South Africa which revealed that Johannesburg drivers are the most frustrated behind the wheel due to a 37 minute addition to their daily commute during peak periods. Cape Town followed closely with an additional 34 minutes added to their journey, while Durban drivers on average spend an extra 15 minutes in traffic.

The Congestion Index captured data from vehicles throughout South Africa, which contains over five trillion measurements. The Congestion Index also evaluates congestion levels in cities at different times of the day and different days of the week. However, traffic in South Africa is not as bad as in the rest of the world.

Worst traffic jams in history

Here are some places listed as having the worst traffic in history:

In September 2005, with Hurricane Rita approaching, Houston residents were told to evacuate resulting in as many as 2.5 million of them packing evacuation routes, creating a massive 170 kilometre queue on Interstate 45. The congestion reportedly lasted for 48 hours, leaving motorists stranded for as long as 24 hours along the 483 kilometre route from Galveston to Dallas.In Beijing, China, commuters were trapped in a 100 kilometre long traffic that lasted for 12 days.In 1969, more than 500 000 attendees descending on Max Yasgur’s famous farm for the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival were stuck in traffic for three days at the New York Thruway.A near record of 20.2 inches of snow fell in Chicago Illinois in February 2011, resulting in a 12 hour traffic standstill, with snow reaching as high as the cars’ windshields.The ensuing record-holding backup on April 12, 1990 in East/West Germany was estimated at a whopping 18 million cars on a roadway that otherwise averages a half million vehicles a day.Noted as the longest traffic jam in the annals of congestion, in February 1980 a combination of hoards of winter vacationers returning to Paris and inclement weather caused a massive tie-up that stretched 175 kilometres long. This happened in Lyon-Paris, France.

Currently, the spots with the worst traffic jams in the world are (in order from worst to not-as-worst) Brussels Belgium, Antwerp Belgium, Los Angeles USA, Milan Italy, London UK, Paris, Honolulu USA, Rotterdam Netherlands, Manchester UK and San Francisco USA.