Driving in other countries

leadfoot · 27-04-2008, 01:46 AM

I was looking at another thread on which drivers you hate the most & I started thinking about when I was living in Bangkok & the standard of driving there.Some of the things I had to put up with;-

The sheer volume of traffic on roads never really designed for cars in the first place.I was lucky in that I could walk to work,but if I had to go to see my solicitors I would have to allow in peak hour at least 1.5hrs to travel 12km.I even sat in a traffic jam once where nothing moved for 3 hours.

The standard of driving ranged from bad to appalling & it shows with a road toll of around 60,000 each year.They have more kids under 10yo die on the roads than we have here in total each year.A lot of it is due to drink driving & not wearing seatbelts or helmets,but in general they couldn't drive a nail into a watermelon.Ignoring red lights & driving on the wrong side of the road also seemed to be popular.

Then you have millions of motorbikes,tuk tuks,corrupt police,kids running in & out of the traffic trying to sell things to the drivers,motorbikes riding down the footpath,people pushing food carts down the road at night with no lights, f@%*ing elephants (yes in the middle of a city!).In general it was a near total lack of thought for the safety of anyone - including themselves

Having said that, they handle heavy traffic much better than we do,with nowhere near the aggression that you see here.It was hard adjusting to a non aggro type of driving where whoever was the biggest and whoever was in front wins, then having to adjust back again to a more law abiding type of driving when I returned back home.Things I would do over there would get me bashed or locked up here!

Anyway... I would be interested to know where others have driven & what they experienced ...good & bad!

jeremyevans · 27-04-2008, 02:39 AM

should try malta, sometimes they drive on the left and other times of the day, they drive on the right.

southern ireland is crazy aswell.

lamborghinifan · 27-04-2008, 08:44 PM

forget other countries, try driving in Toowoomba, QLD.

:

Yellow_Festiva · 27-04-2008, 08:53 PM

Hello From Singapore, after spending the last week of my trip in Bangkok....

Yikes.... cars all over the place... tuk tuks with sports exhausts and nut case drivers behind their wheels.. ummm I mean handle bars.

It took over an hr to get from Khao San rd to the Siam Centre in the back of a Tuk Tuk. I wish I had one of those sars masks like most others there.

Haaaaa funnily enough I also drove my Hyundai Excel (called an accent over there) for a month in Malta. They were pretty sedate most of the times, mostly drove on the 'correct' side of the rd as well.

Driving on the wrong side of the rd in other parts of Europe is just funny for first timers... you keep looking up and to the left for the review mirror only to realise that your looking at the top of the A pillar haaa

Cheers

alecrain · 27-04-2008, 08:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by leadfoot

I was looking at another thread on which drivers you hate the most & I started thinking about when I was living in Bangkok & the standard of driving there.Some of the things I had to put up with;-

The sheer volume of traffic on roads never really designed for cars in the first place.I was lucky in that I could walk to work,but if I had to go to see my solicitors I would have to allow in peak hour at least 1.5hrs to travel 12km.I even sat in a traffic jam once where nothing moved for 3 hours.

The standard of driving ranged from bad to appalling & it shows with a road toll of around 60,000 each year.They have more kids under 10yo die on the roads than we have here in total each year.A lot of it is due to drink driving & not wearing seatbelts or helmets,but in general they couldn't drive a nail into a watermelon.Ignoring red lights & driving on the wrong side of the road also seemed to be popular.

Then you have millions of motorbikes,tuk tuks,corrupt police,kids running in & out of the traffic trying to sell things to the drivers,motorbikes riding down the footpath,people pushing food carts down the road at night with no lights, f@%*ing elephants (yes in the middle of a city!).In general it was a near total lack of thought for the safety of anyone - including themselves

Having said that, they handle heavy traffic much better than we do,with nowhere near the aggression that you see here.It was hard adjusting to a non aggro type of driving where whoever was the biggest and whoever was in front wins, then having to adjust back again to a more law abiding type of driving when I returned back home.Things I would do over there would get me bashed or locked up here!

Anyway... I would be interested to know where others have driven & what they experienced ...good & bad!

Wonder where the "asian driver" stereotype comes from?

:

aquahead2001 · 27-04-2008, 09:16 PM

I lived in Indonesia for over 3 years, I usually had a driver but on occasion, I would drive myself. I didn't find it that bad, the speed was usually low and Rule one of two made it pretty safe.

We would joke that there was only 2 rules.

R1 - He who see you, protects you.

R2 - He who has the most money, pays.

I'm now spending a bit of time working in the Middle East, and I'd say the driving is much worse there and far more dangerous. Extremely high speeds and they just don't seem to look out for each other.

Every day there are shocking accidents due to speed and poor driving, mainly with heavy trucks and buses. Pity the person who gets caught between a bus or truck at the speeds they drive at.

cycle myth · 27-04-2008, 09:42 PM

Spent some time in Germany.

The roads and the country side are just fantastic.

Autobahn at 150 k was just keeping pace.

They all know how to drive and keep right (ie left for aust).

Had to keep a good eye out (and ear as you heard them coming first) for exotic cars flying up behind.

We could learn a lot.

Paull · 27-04-2008, 10:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cycle myth

Spent some time in Germany.

The roads and the country side are just fantastic.

Autobahn at 150 k was just keeping pace.

They all know how to drive and keep right (ie left for aust).

Had to keep a good eye out (and ear as you heard them coming first) for exotic cars flying up behind.

We could learn a lot.

Same again in Switzerland and Czech Republic, ultra courteous. Mind you, if you don't get out of the way, you get some very special attention from the car behind you.

Slightly off topic, sorry, is that when you are on the escalators (going up for example), there is a practise where people who want to stand still, stand on the right side and those that want to keep moving, walk on the left side. Once again, very very courteous. And yes, we could learn a lot

alecrain · 27-04-2008, 11:24 PM

Driving in Poland is crazy- especially on country roads:
notice speeding, double continuous line crossing and overtaking an overtaking car
EXAMPLE

leadfoot · 28-04-2008, 12:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yellow_Festiva

tuk tuks with sports exhausts and nut case drivers behind their wheels.. ummm I mean handle bars.

With three passengers in the back they do good wheelstands too.Bloody dangerous things

scooby · 28-04-2008, 11:18 AM

Yes Leadfoot, I spend 6 weeks every year driving around Thailand. Usually when I'm in Bangkok I get to a point where I park the car and get a taxi to where I'm going. Outside of Bangkok isn't so bad, except many ppl don't have a license and don't really know how to drive... these are usually the fools screaming along the highways at 180km/h plus., most accidents I see tend to be on the horrific side.............but......at least there is no road rage!

scooby · 28-04-2008, 01:20 PM

....then again, sometimes I have to drive in the Sutherland Shire..................

Yellow_Festiva · 28-04-2008, 01:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by leadfoot

With three passengers in the back they do good wheelstands too.Bloody dangerous things

Only 3??? Must have been a slow day! Hows 5 at a time lol. I also saw 6 passengers get out of a Daewoo.. I mean Chevy Matiz Taxi...

allypally · 28-04-2008, 02:04 PM

If you really want to experinece the "dark" side, try India.
Driving 10 klms might take several hours. 2 laned "roads" which we would consider fit for camels only, generally have 8 cars side by side. The footpath, is generally considered an "overtaking lane" and rarely is positioned on the outside of the traffic. Normally found where the people are standing somewhere in the middle of the traffic.
One Way, generally should be interpretted as "drive one direction only at any one time". To know if someone is driving, even if the car is stationary, is to determine whether their hand is on the horn or not. If the horn is heard, they are driving.
To drive in a straight line, in the one continuous direction, is considered not normal.
A traffic accident which involves a fatality, is considered a "non event"

Paxton · 28-04-2008, 02:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scooby

....then again, sometimes I have to drive in the Sutherland Shire..................

Say what?

We're courteous compared to what goes on outside of the 'borders'.

Pinch · 28-04-2008, 03:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paxton

Say what?

We're courteous compared to what goes on outside of the 'borders'.

Yes, there are a few of us in the Shire that can drive, but even I have to admit that there is some pretty crap driving going on around here. Can't even blame 'outsiders' cause a lot of the cars are wearing Tynan's, McGrath, Dominelli or Stewart number plate frames, or even worse 'We Love the Shire' stickers... not enough love though to keep your fellow Shire neighbours alive though...

Can all the Engadine drivers please stand up and repaeat after me "Keep left unless overtaking". That's right, even on the 'mad mile'. There is no such road rule as keep left unless turning right in 5 km's.

So after googling driving in Italy, France and the UK I have 10 weeks before I experience it in the flesh. All those movies showing near misses on the Amalfi coast are starting to freak me out though. How wide is a Hertz Fiat Grande Punto again?

scooby · 29-04-2008, 08:07 AM

How wide is a Hertz Fiat Grande Punto again?

As wide as you want it to be, Pinch
Good luck driving on the 'wrong' side of the road

Jesk · 29-04-2008, 10:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alecrain

Driving in Poland is crazy- especially on country roads:
notice speeding, double continuous line crossing and overtaking an overtaking car
EXAMPLE

I wanted to hide under the seat watching that

GTP534 · 29-04-2008, 02:41 PM

I drive a lot here in Brunei where I work, cars are right hand drive. Road signs are in Malay but the symbols are easy to understand.

Most people don't abide by the speed limits and we have a 3 lane roundabout in the capital, Bandar Seri Begawan, where some drivers see how fast they can go.

Red lights don't mean much either and the laws are not really enforced. We do hear on the news though that speeding fines issued increased this year from 23 to 25!

People don't like it if you toot them but road rage is nearly non-existent. I find driving skills are low and most people here can drive fast in a straight line but don't know how to corner.

Petrol is cheap, about AUD$0.45 per litre for 97 octane unleaded and AUD$0.30 for diesel.

I like driving here.