Terrifying driving countries and experiences
Discussion
Old Merc said:
bristolracer said:
Im in Vietnam right now .
Hanoi has 5 million scooters on the roads,it is total mayhem, the stuff you see carried on the backs of them, air conditioners,wardrobes,cages of ducks, four members of the family.
Our taxi driver said a family of SIX on ONE bike is normal. I saw a women with a baby in arms !!!!
I think its a toss up between Vietnam and Thailand regarding scooters.
Then you come across something like this??
They last photo is one of them multipurpose farm tools isn't it? It's a plow, a tractor and when you don't need it to do those you can power your house from it like a genset and, I guess like this guy, you can fabricate the rest of a vehicle, hook it up and go riding in to town. Versatile bit of kit.Hanoi has 5 million scooters on the roads,it is total mayhem, the stuff you see carried on the backs of them, air conditioners,wardrobes,cages of ducks, four members of the family.
Our taxi driver said a family of SIX on ONE bike is normal. I saw a women with a baby in arms !!!!
I think its a toss up between Vietnam and Thailand regarding scooters.
Then you come across something like this??
ChilliWhizz said:
Lots, but Egypt was the worst, Cairo was on another level altogether
Cairo is madness, as are most Middle Eastern countries - when everything is Allah's will, they simply don't give a f
k.Had a high speed drive with a police escort in Libya which was hair raising as they were nothing more than local thugs with AKs, but they were necessary so there's not much we could do about it.
Rural India, Pakistan & Nepal is nuts too - the only saving grace is the roads are so bad that yoiu can't get much speed up, but they still find interesting and ingenious ways to crash vehicles.
Old Merc said:
And you will find a lot of the taxi`s are 40 year old Peugeot`s that have done a million miles.
It was difficult to decide between India, Nepal, Egypt, Morocco and Haiti but I think I choose Haiti. Everyone seems to have a desire to die in a horrible accident in the above countries. Haiti wins for the fact that none of the vehicles except those driven by aid workers are remotely road worthy, not even close. We did not see a single non aid worker car that wasn’t dented and scratched to buggery, half looked like they’d actually been crushed (probably had).
The most terrifying experience I’ve had was in Vietnam. We were in a transit minibus overtaking a couple of lorries with a bus coming the other way, no problem driver thinks we’ll just squeeze into the gap between them. Nope a minibus behind us had decided to undertake the same lorries and occupy the gap. At this point you’d just change down and floor it or brake and abort but nope our Vietnamese driver just starts flashing his lights at the bus as if the driver can force it to disappear into the ether. Eventually we all start shouting at him and he changes down a couple of gears reluctantly and go for it, we can’t have missed the bus by more than inches. No tip for that idiot.
The most terrifying experience I’ve had was in Vietnam. We were in a transit minibus overtaking a couple of lorries with a bus coming the other way, no problem driver thinks we’ll just squeeze into the gap between them. Nope a minibus behind us had decided to undertake the same lorries and occupy the gap. At this point you’d just change down and floor it or brake and abort but nope our Vietnamese driver just starts flashing his lights at the bus as if the driver can force it to disappear into the ether. Eventually we all start shouting at him and he changes down a couple of gears reluctantly and go for it, we can’t have missed the bus by more than inches. No tip for that idiot.
pixelatedJH said:
Nor did the LPG tank 20 centimetres from my head.
Ah yes, I'd forgotten about the whole LPG thing. That's an issue in Mexico too: most trucks / buses have them externally mounted with an insecured pipe going from the tank to the engine bay. Saw a crash a couple of weeks back where a truck had gone off the side of the road and the LPG tank had exploded - not pretty!Manilla. Lovely, friendly people. Chaos and choking traffic fumes
Morocco. Chaotic. Didn't drive there.
Buenos Aires - fast, busy, multi-lane roads, taxis swerving and undertaking continuously. A bit like Southern Italy. It appeared surprisingly free flowing, but then we saw a couple of fatalities in three days...
Mendoza. A small city, but driving around it required more than 2 eyes. No traffic lights on big junctions, unlit junctions, no left turn, crazy buses, crazy cars, donkey carts, potholes. Out of town in the desert and mountains it was fantastic.
Brussels - a crazy, flat-out taxi ride at over 160km/h through the tunnels in a big, black Mercedes saloon. I had visions of Princess Diana's final journey....
Antwerp ring road. Shockingly bad for a country neighbouring the UK.
Morocco. Chaotic. Didn't drive there.
Buenos Aires - fast, busy, multi-lane roads, taxis swerving and undertaking continuously. A bit like Southern Italy. It appeared surprisingly free flowing, but then we saw a couple of fatalities in three days...
Mendoza. A small city, but driving around it required more than 2 eyes. No traffic lights on big junctions, unlit junctions, no left turn, crazy buses, crazy cars, donkey carts, potholes. Out of town in the desert and mountains it was fantastic.
Brussels - a crazy, flat-out taxi ride at over 160km/h through the tunnels in a big, black Mercedes saloon. I had visions of Princess Diana's final journey....
Antwerp ring road. Shockingly bad for a country neighbouring the UK.
Edited by MC Bodge on Wednesday 11th April 23:07
Salamura said:
Italy is fine. In fact, I find that Italian drivers are more disciplined than British ones, at least on motorways. I've driven several times across the country, it's a breeze.
A drive from Shanghai to Wuxi was by far the most terrifying experience in my life. The mad local cab drivers, lorries driving on the wrong side, bicycles and mopeds on the motorway, a truck losing it's wheel in front of us (!)... Just mad.
The next most terrifying drive was more of a circumstantial thing. 2 in the morning on a French b-road, gazillion lorries everywhere trying to avoid the paid autoroutes, torrential rain, and we're driving a Wartburg 353 with 1 headlight, barely functioning wipers, broken fuel gauge, and no brakes. And worst of all, all my mates in the car were asleep...
A drive from Shanghai to Wuxi was by far the most terrifying experience in my life. The mad local cab drivers, lorries driving on the wrong side, bicycles and mopeds on the motorway, a truck losing it's wheel in front of us (!)... Just mad.
The next most terrifying drive was more of a circumstantial thing. 2 in the morning on a French b-road, gazillion lorries everywhere trying to avoid the paid autoroutes, torrential rain, and we're driving a Wartburg 353 with 1 headlight, barely functioning wipers, broken fuel gauge, and no brakes. And worst of all, all my mates in the car were asleep...
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