The few times I have driven in NYC, I liked the drivers there. They were all paying attention and understood that everyone had somewhere they needed to go. Traffic was heavy but they all worked to keep it moving. Two examples I observed:
1. Street is five lanes wide. One on each side for parking and three for driving. Fellow in left curb parking space wants to pull into traffic. Traffic is solid flow. He puts on turn signal and a few cars back, a space about 1.5 cars long magically opens. He dives into space. A few cars later someone else signals and dives into the now open parking space. Traffic keeps moving the whole time.
2. Same street several blocks later. UPS truck stops to make a delivery. He of course double parks in left side traffic lane. He gets as close to parked cars as he can. Drivers in right and center traffic lane see what is happening and immediately squeeze over as far right as they can, making room for traffic in left driving lane to continue around UPS truck. Three lanes of traffic flow are maintained and everybody keeps moving.
These things are all due to EVERYBODY paying attention and making the effort to keep traffic moving at full flow. In Cincinnati, traffic would be backed up for blocks behind the UPS truck and the guy wanting out of the parking space may well have to wait until evening.