Driving standards worldwide

[jema]

Just having a laugh at this site about driving in Alabama :D

http://www.tardsite.com/

and it got me wondering about driving standards elsewhere?

London often gets a bad press, and for signposting it is awful. But I have always found the standard of driving and curtesy to be pretty good.

My pet hate is Pittsburg, where the roads are awful and the slip roads backup as no one is ever going to let anyone in :rolleyes:

jema

[billg2911]

That's a good one, here is some tips for driving in Boston

http://www.netfunny.com/rhf/jokes/92q1/morebost.html

[Lolboy]

Originally posted by jema
But I have always found the standard of driving and curtesy to be pretty good.

jema

Your havin' a laugh right?

Lolboy.

[dicki]

have you ever driven in london? apart from the signs being awful you are surrounded by suicide pizza boys, mad old ladies who can barely walk let alone drive a car (i've been hit twice by these mental old biddies now), sales reps in thier beamers with no respect for any law of the road and bad boys in thier max power mobiles wearing sunglasses at night and driving around with thier fog lights on because it looks cool

dicki

[jema]

Originally posted by dicki
have you ever driven in london? apart from the signs being awful you are surrounded by suicide pizza boys, mad old ladies who can barely walk let alone drive a car (i've been hit twice by these mental old biddies now), sales reps in thier beamers with no respect for any law of the road and bad boys in thier max power mobiles wearing sunglasses at night and driving around with thier fog lights on because it looks cool

dicki

My expereince is to be honest mainly rush hour driving in west London, and when I'm forced to think about it, I have seen road rage incidents and been rear ended once :( I still say that in terms of overall level of curtesy, such as letting people in and not blocking turns, London rates well though.

jema

[Ottoman]

I grew up driving with roundabouts..
came to canada and they have lights and intersections...

takes getting used to that's for sure..

I've had a few close calls

[BigBen]

I just like to watch TV programs where our American friends have to get out of there cars and touch there noses :D and walk a straight line :D while saying the alphabet etc hee hee hee I wish they would bring it in over here in the UK so we could watch it live in the street, would be great fun hahahahahhahahahha

Regards

[speculative]

Lol!! You city folk have it easy! :p

http://www.geocities.com/jeniegirl27/Roadkill.html

[MrP]

my personal opinion is that the driving test in the UK is a joke.

you can pass your driving test having done no more than 30 mph, and then go straight onto a motorway and do 70 plus mph with no more training.

i know i aint the best driver in the world by a long way (ask liz and the asgard!!) but the things some people do amazes mes. someone recently on a dual carridge way nearly drove into me cos he didnt indicate or use his mirrors, and on other journeys i have seen people reading a map doing 80mph up the M6, and someone else driving up a motorway with a flat front tire he didnt know
about

ho well, before long we wont be able to do more than 20mph without getting a speeding ticket if the police get their way, so it dosent really matter how good or bad drivers we are :(

toodles :xsofa:

[jema]

The speed issue bugs me. There are plenty of ill sign posted 30mph zones where to be honest you do need 25mph enforced, whilst at the opposing end of the scale there is no good reason why 70mph should be the limit on the motorway, it is so routinely disregared anyway.

jema

[MrP]

i think some people have to learn that driving isnt a right, its a privlidge that has to be earnt

toodles :xsofa:

[dicki]

yeah most people forget it's a privelage, they drive ok for thier tests then it goes down hill from there

another thing i'd like to see is getting everyone to ride a motorbike or moped for a couple of months. first this would get people used to seeing motorbikes on the road and it would also make them learn where to look for motorbikes when they are making manuvers, the number of people who pull out infront of me is ridiculous and those 2 grannies i mentioned earlier tried driving through me when i was on a bike :mad:

dicki

[MrP]

Dicki,

if motorbikes didnt sitin a cars blind spot we might see you easier :p

toodles :xsofa:

[jema]

Originally posted by MrP
Dicki,

if motorbikes didnt sitin a cars blind spot we might see you easier :p

toodles :xsofa:

I used to ride a motorbike so I am sympathetic, but I do find especially on busy motorways, the tendency of bikes to fly up between the lanes pretty disconcerting :( I always look, but it is easy to see then being missed or rather hit :(

jema

[dicki]

yeah i hate it when motorbikes do that, personally i have no sympathy for the bikers that make it difficult for people to see them (undertaking, sitting in blind spots etc etc), the thing i have trouble with is T junctions when people don't even look for you and just pull out, and when your sitting in traffic not going anywhere and people just switch off and don't even see you (i had to actually wake one guy up cos he'd fallen asleep at the wheel and started trying to nudge through me)

dicki

[jema]

Whilst in rant about bikes mode, I may as well rant about pushbike riders. When its dark round here I tend to casually count riders with and without lights... it is always around 50% :rolleyes:

I started doing this after almost hitting a guy dressed in black as I went on to a roundabout, he was side on to me, and I simply did not see him :( To be honest I don't know if this one had lights or not, but visible he wasn't.....

jema

[dicki]

oh good yeah... and couriers (motorbike and cyclists) they are unbeleivable... scary stuff

dicki

[JohnyX]

While I haven't lived all over the United States, I would have to agree with Jema's assesment of the drivers in Pittsburgh. You just missed one point. Drivers tend to use off ramps to pass and thus further exasterbate the traffic jams as they merge back in.

Of course the streets down there seem to have been laid out by the town drunk. Nothing like trying to merge onto a grid locked highway and cross over 3 lanes of traffic in the matter of a city block to make your next exit.

[jema]

Originally posted by JohnyX
While I haven't lived all over the United States, I would have to agree with Jema's assesment of the drivers in Pittsburgh. You just missed one point. Drivers tend to use off ramps to pass and thus further exasterbate the traffic jams as they merge back in.

Of course the streets down there seem to have been laid out by the town drunk. Nothing like trying to merge onto a grid locked highway and cross over 3 lanes of traffic in the matter of a city block to make your next exit.

lol,

Pittsburgh marked my U.S. driving debut, straight off a long haul flight, into an automatic, i'd only drive manual gearboxes before, driving on the wrong side of the road on the roads from hell :rolleyes: it took me until the day I left Pittburgh to smash the car into something though :D

jema

[dicki]

oh driving abroad is fun! my first experience was when i was 19 on the streets of paris in a knackered old car that kept stalling so you had to keep your foot on the accelerator. keeping your foot on the accelerator is exactly the right thing to do in paris... if you see a gap, anywhere, just drive at it as fast as possible and you'll be amased how easy it is to make your way through :)