I've ridden drops, flats, and sweep (my old school 3 speed) in traffic. Depends on the bike and how much shifting/braking I need to do. My roadie has downtube (soon to be bar-end) shifting, so being in the drops makes everything easier to reach.

In traffic, I ride the hoods - easy to stop in a hurry, and it keeps the width-profile down. Cars tend to pass closer than they should around here, and I'd hate to have my bars/hands/arms out too far past the general width they're assuming and get clipped.

I put a set of North Roads on my wife's hybrid recently and she loves them. Set up was easy (she has SRAM twist grip shifters) and they look great.

My main bike right now is a roadie with drops, though I rarely use the drops unless I'm doing the sprint/downhill tuck thing (or it's very windy).

I installed cross levers on mine, and use them at least 90% of the time. I have DT shifters and mostly stick to 52:19 when riding around town, so that doesn't factor into my bar positioning.

I love being upright and still being able to brake just fine. Other than the tops, I ride on the corners (thumb->lever access barely) or on or just behind the hoods, depending on which depends on how much brake lever access I get. (When cranking it up I much prefer the corners/hoods too)

Once you get used to drops in traffic, you'll love them I'm sure. My MTB with riser bars and bar-ends feels so wide and I'm much slower because of second guessing my width/gaps.