Motorway manners - UK v Continent
Discussion
I'd be interested to hear thoughts from the masses on this.
I drove a return trip from the continent, including Belgium and France then over to the UK.
I am disappointed to report that the UK road users on the M20, M25 and M11 all have a very similar and very annoying habit of hanging in the outside lane, and will move to the middle lane ONLY if there is at least 3 miles spare road in front of them and someone is making it very obvious that they want to come past! - WHY???
In Belgium and France, when you approach another car and you are progressing faster than them, they move out of the way and allow you to carry on your journey at your chosen speed. They also (generally) make use of all lanes as intended ie: If there is f
k all on the road then they stick in the inside lane, overtaking and moving into the other lanes as necessary.
What made it worse (on UK roads) was that people would take great exception to my wanting to travel faster than them and physically block or even brake test me
What the fk is all that about!? The new section of the M25 with 4 lanes may-as-well just be 2 lanes! nobody ventures into the TWO slow lanes!?
Now, Im not pretending that in everyday life the French and Belgians are polite and considerate (that would be an untruth), but the Brits.... What happens to people when they get in their cars to turn them into insta-cocks?
Over to you
I drove a return trip from the continent, including Belgium and France then over to the UK.
I am disappointed to report that the UK road users on the M20, M25 and M11 all have a very similar and very annoying habit of hanging in the outside lane, and will move to the middle lane ONLY if there is at least 3 miles spare road in front of them and someone is making it very obvious that they want to come past! - WHY???
In Belgium and France, when you approach another car and you are progressing faster than them, they move out of the way and allow you to carry on your journey at your chosen speed. They also (generally) make use of all lanes as intended ie: If there is f
k all on the road then they stick in the inside lane, overtaking and moving into the other lanes as necessary. What made it worse (on UK roads) was that people would take great exception to my wanting to travel faster than them and physically block or even brake test me
What the f
k is all that about!? The new section of the M25 with 4 lanes may-as-well just be 2 lanes! nobody ventures into the TWO slow lanes!? Now, Im not pretending that in everyday life the French and Belgians are polite and considerate (that would be an untruth), but the Brits.... What happens to people when they get in their cars to turn them into insta-cocks?
Over to you
I agree... i never fail to me stunned when i return from Europe by the clear difference in driving standards between the UK and the continent and the sheer bloody-mindedness of us Brits on the motorways, even more-so when you figure that most of the motorways in France, Belgium and Germany are 2-lane anyway. Over here we have the luxury of 3 and sometimes 4 lanes, yet most queue up and fight over the middle 2 lanes!
i always find the same, in the EU people use their mirrors and pull over as soon as its appropriate, over here they are ignorant s that wont move often obstructing emergency service vehicles with lights and sirens on
had it about 20 mins ago, knobjockey on the a20 in a navy 3.0tdi A4 doing 64 in lane 3, wasn't going to pull over for god herself
although the peeps in the lake district on the whole pulled over for the R8 when i was lobbing that about up there, so good on them
s that wont move often obstructing emergency service vehicles with lights and sirens on had it about 20 mins ago, knobjockey on the a20 in a navy 3.0tdi A4 doing 64 in lane 3, wasn't going to pull over for god herself
although the peeps in the lake district on the whole pulled over for the R8 when i was lobbing that about up there, so good on them
I'm in Hungary at the moment - driving standards are pretty good, you still get bullied on the motorway by the usual suspects (big saloons, foreign people carriers, the odd white van) but in general etiquette seems better.
Also out on the rural roads overtaking is a given, with not a trace of queue-jump hostility and any grief only coming from bad overtakes.
Last week I was in Romania and some of the overtakes there were suicidal. But then I guess when your main national roads are mostly single carriageway, clogged with trucks, passing through villages at 50kph limits and queues kms long caused by a simple broken traffic light or a disused level crossing, I guess patience gets frayed.
As an aside I've only seen one Trabant on the road, no Wartburgs or Ladas and the oldest cars driven by the poorest folks have been old Dacias.
Also out on the rural roads overtaking is a given, with not a trace of queue-jump hostility and any grief only coming from bad overtakes.
Last week I was in Romania and some of the overtakes there were suicidal. But then I guess when your main national roads are mostly single carriageway, clogged with trucks, passing through villages at 50kph limits and queues kms long caused by a simple broken traffic light or a disused level crossing, I guess patience gets frayed.
As an aside I've only seen one Trabant on the road, no Wartburgs or Ladas and the oldest cars driven by the poorest folks have been old Dacias.
In general over a recent 2k mile road trip taking in France, Italy, Austria, Germany and Belgium i found the driving blissful.
Put your indicator on and people would move over if they hadn;t done so already...there were a few exceptions to the rule and 2 complete 'tards' but the % was far less than the UK.....
As soon as we got off the boat = Horrendous! No consideration, arrogance to the point of creating a dangerous situation.
It's a real shame!
Put your indicator on and people would move over if they hadn;t done so already...there were a few exceptions to the rule and 2 complete 'tards' but the % was far less than the UK.....
As soon as we got off the boat = Horrendous! No consideration, arrogance to the point of creating a dangerous situation.
It's a real shame!
Just returned from a road trip to Finland. Here's my quick and dirty guide to the driving manners I encountered, best to worst.
Germany (I'm sure the unrestricted autobahn is the reason the lane discipline is so good, I think you only have to have slightly dawdled in the outside lane once and been monstered from behind by something you didn't see coming due to the massive closing speed to learn that you move right when you aren't overtaking)
France (disregarding the Brits on their way to the ferries/tunnel)
Sweden/Holland/Finland/Denmark (Not much to choose between them)
Belgium (awful!)
UK (enough said, I am always reminded of the poor driving standard here well before I've reached the M25 on the return journey)
Germany (I'm sure the unrestricted autobahn is the reason the lane discipline is so good, I think you only have to have slightly dawdled in the outside lane once and been monstered from behind by something you didn't see coming due to the massive closing speed to learn that you move right when you aren't overtaking)
France (disregarding the Brits on their way to the ferries/tunnel)
Sweden/Holland/Finland/Denmark (Not much to choose between them)
Belgium (awful!)
UK (enough said, I am always reminded of the poor driving standard here well before I've reached the M25 on the return journey)
frosted said:
There's no difference in driving between most countries, what people fail to recognise is the amount if traffic on this small island compared to vast emptiness if other countries . But yeah you can crack on moaning about nothing
that is the funniest thing i have read in ages, do you write for michael macintyre ?A911DOM said:
In Belgium and France, when you approach another car and you are progressing faster than them, they move out of the way and allow you to carry on your journey at your chosen speed. They also (generally) make use of all lanes as intended ie: If there is fk all on the road then they stick in the inside lane, overtaking and moving into the other lanes as necessary.
I have found the same thing driving in France. Lane discipline is about a million times better than in the UK and people don't generally mind being overtaken. They do tailgate but not in the aggressive way you get here.k all on the road then they stick in the inside lane, overtaking and moving into the other lanes as necessary. frosted said:
There's no difference in driving between most countries, what people fail to recognise is the amount if traffic on this small island compared to vast emptiness if other countries . But yeah you can crack on moaning about nothing
I'm still laughing....no really, please stop it, you're killing me!
Sonic said:
I agree... i never fail to me stunned when i return from Europe by the clear difference in driving standards between the UK and the continent and the sheer bloody-mindedness of us Brits on the motorways, even more-so when you figure that most of the motorways in France, Belgium and Germany are 2-lane anyway. Over here we have the luxury of 3 and sometimes 4 lanes, yet most queue up and fight over the middle 2 lanes!
Inclined to agree with this. British seem to really take offence at people going quicker than them/being overtaken. Very keen to sit at 69.9mph in Lane 3 with the mentality of "I'm going at the limit, why should anyone go quicker?".I'd certainly agree, ime the standards in Germany, France and even Italy in terms of motorway driving is superior. I will say that the Paris ring road is utterly devoid of rules/lane discipline - 3 lanes of total carnage!
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