Bad driving - or is it?

[NugentS]

Try Beirut - I am there at the moment - and I haven't really spotted much in the way of rules at all yet.

Lane discipline - well why use one lane when you can have 2 (assuming that you can actually see the lane demarkation. And I certainly haven't figured out the rules on roundabouts - AFAICT no one has any right of way.

Still the driving seems quite restrained - and I haven't seen a smash yet - although the state of some of the cars seems to indicated thats bumps happen quite often. Also drivers seem quite aware of what is going on around them.......

Its eye opening

Sean

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

..sounds like Sutton in Ashfield..

[deltafox]

Some of the backstreets in Rome were littered with busted up 127's. Plenty of spares...
Almost every single car i saw had a dent or scrape of some description apart from the Fezza and Lambos we saw one evening.

[gshughes]

Ever seen the Italian touch parking method ? Quite scarey.

The most scared I've been in a car is driving round the Arc de Triumphe, I was very nearly T boned by a police car, I hit the gas and he shot behind me ! I then had my front bumper taken off by a Frenchie in a 405 on the Champs-Elysées. It was when half of Paris was shut due to floods, 6 lanes went suddenly down into 2, and he pulled into my lane despite the fact he hadn't passed me yet. Luckily he opened his door, looked out, shrugged and grunted and drove off. I was quite glad as my French is rubbish ! We then continued to where we were staying with the bumper inside the car. God bless the old VW Jetta, next morning the plastic bumper just popped back on and it was fine until the day I got rid of her.

The key I think is to drive as they do and you'll be ok, so hit the gas and the horn, but not the brake.

[Zod]

NugentS said:

Try Beirut - I am there at the moment - and I haven't really spotted much in the way of rules at all yet. Lane discipline - well why use one lane when you can have 2 (assuming that you can actually see the lane demarkation. And I certainly haven't figured out the rules on roundabouts - AFAICT no one has any right of way. Still the driving seems quite restrained - and I haven't seen a smash yet - although the state of some of the cars seems to indicated thats bumps happen quite often. Also drivers seem quite aware of what is going on around them....... Its eye opening Sean

I spent quite a lot of time there in the mid-90s. One day we were at the beach club at the Riviera on the Corniche when we heard an almighty screeching of tyres. We ran to look and sw that it was a massive dump truck trying to take the corner onto the South End of the Corniche (bad adverse camber) at speed. Inevitably, it rolled with am enormous crash.

[streaky]

Try Delhi. The rule appears to be that everyone has to look out for you! And it works! Mind you, the traffic is travelling at only a few miles per hour. One thing about Indian drivers though, they never change down when approaching a corner. It appears to be a point of honour to go round in top gear, then change down on exit only if the engine almost stalls. Partly why the overall speed is so low. Well, that and the three-wheeled rickshaws, the "Tuc-Tucs", the pedestrians and the sacred cows (and, no, I don't mean SWMBO) - Streaky

[NugentS]

streaky said:

Try Delhi. The rule appears to be that everyone has to look out for you! And it works! Mind you, the traffic is travelling at only a few miles per hour. One thing about Indian drivers though, they never change down when approaching a corner. It appears to be a point of honour to go round in top gear, then change down on exit only if the engine almost stalls. Partly why the overall speed is so low. Well, that and the three-wheeled rickshaws, the "Tuc-Tucs", the pedestrians and the sacred cows (and, no, I don't mean SWMBO) - Streaky

I spent today trying to figure out the rules on x-roads. My conclusion is that there are none.

:-)

Sean

[gilbertd]

gshughes said:

The most scared I've been in a car is driving round the Arc de Triumphe, I was very nearly T boned by a police car, I hit the gas and he shot behind me!

That's normal, the French Priorite a doite (priority to the right) rule simply doesn't work on a roundabout so they suspend it and put markings to show who has priority. However, roundabouts are very new in France except for that big circle of cobbled road around the Arc de Triumphe. The rule means that traffic joining the 'roundabout' has priority over traffic already on it. The technique is to either floor it or anchor up when you see someone heading towards you!

[Zod]

streaky said:

Try Delhi. The rule appears to be that everyone has to look out for you! And it works! Mind you, the traffic is travelling at only a few miles per hour. One thing about Indian drivers though, they never change down when approaching a corner. It appears to be a point of honour to go round in top gear, then change down on exit only if the engine almost stalls. Partly why the overall speed is so low. Well, that and the three-wheeled rickshaws, the "Tuc-Tucs", the pedestrians and the sacred cows (and, no, I don't mean SWMBO) - Streaky

Mumbai and Calcutta are equally bad, but Cairo is even worse.