Who has the worst surfaced roads in Western Europe
Discussion
I've noticed car magazines often criticise foreign cars for not having the suspension, chassis and steering setup suitable for UK roads. Is that because our roads are in a worse state of repair, or something else? I can't recall thinking roads in France, Germany, Spain, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland or Austria were as badly surfaced as ours, but maybe that's not a representative sample. We pay enough for them, and our annual temperature range is moderate, surely UK roads should be the best!
Well yes I drove down to the Algarve with an Australian girl in 1992 using an Alfa GTV6. The roads were quite crap and there were dead dogs lying in ditches which were left to rot. There also seemed to be people living in caves on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees, which I just took to be a normal part of being foriegn. I don't know what it's like in Portugal now, but they don't make cars as far as I know, so they won't be too worried about suspension geometry etc. I assume the most important thing would be for the roads there to suit tractors carrying Olives or EU subsidy forms.
The stretch of motorway from Brno to Prague (D1) in the Czech Rep is a bit iffy, but it's still like a race track compared to ours...and at least the Czechs are investing in new motorway-class roads..
Having returned from Brno Yesterday via road all the way back to Boulogne, i can confirm that our roads are absoloutely disgusting compared to those on the continent.
Having returned from Brno Yesterday via road all the way back to Boulogne, i can confirm that our roads are absoloutely disgusting compared to those on the continent.
I just visited Majorca for the first time since 1969 when it was a tin-pot dictatorship with dirt tracks aplenty. I was shocked to find the roads are now as near to perfect as I can imagine roads being! Smooth unbroken tarmac everywhere and fast new roads getting built from one end to the other. How do they do that? Why do we need 4x4's to cope with our rubbish roads?
Y 1 CAN said:
I just visited Majorca for the first time since 1969 when it was a tin-pot dictatorship with dirt tracks aplenty. I was shocked to find the roads are now as near to perfect as I can imagine roads being! Smooth unbroken tarmac everywhere and fast new roads getting built from one end to the other. How do they do that? Why do we need 4x4's to cope with our rubbish roads?
Because local authorities are too busy spending (mostly wasting) money on fancy engineering schemes or traffic calming and general busybodying, instead of carrying out decent quality maintenance on existing roads.
Visit Scarborough (if you must) for examples.
Best wishes all,
Dave.
Y 1 CAN said:
I just visited Majorca for the first time since 1969 when it was a tin-pot dictatorship with dirt tracks aplenty. I was shocked to find the roads are now as near to perfect as I can imagine roads being! Smooth unbroken tarmac everywhere and fast new roads getting built from one end to the other. How do they do that?
Perhaps this explains some of it, and what would the graph look like without UK rebate??
if you ever go accross to the ring, then you can get a a selection of crap roads.
1) The expansion joints in the french section of the E40 will have the car moving around quite a lot
2) If it's wet, I've seen swimming pools which hold less water than the Belgian sections of the E40/42
3) If you have a car with firm suspension, try and drive at more than 40mph along the road between beligium and germnay (after you've gone through Eupen). It seems to be relic from WWII that no one wants to pay to rapair
Some roads in Derbyshire around Hathersedge in the Peak district are more 4x4 than billiard table!!
1) The expansion joints in the french section of the E40 will have the car moving around quite a lot
2) If it's wet, I've seen swimming pools which hold less water than the Belgian sections of the E40/42
3) If you have a car with firm suspension, try and drive at more than 40mph along the road between beligium and germnay (after you've gone through Eupen). It seems to be relic from WWII that no one wants to pay to rapair
Some roads in Derbyshire around Hathersedge in the Peak district are more 4x4 than billiard table!!
Now you've got me started on the EU budget. How on earth did politicians ever convince us taxpayers we needed to part with huge wads of our hard-earned to pay for I-know-not-what abroad? Free trade in Europe is one thing, this EU budget is another. It should be reduced to zero and if people want to be EU commissioners they should do it as a hobby in their free time, after they've built some decent roads here first.
I can say with some confidence that the German roads are some of the very worst in Europe. The autobahns are massively dangerous when wet, standing water all over the shop, very little or no camber, no lighting, strange colour, poor line markings, no cats eyes, outrageously sharp slip roads, eternal contraflows, the list goes on!!!!
I've just returned to England after 3 years in Germany and British motorways are a pleasure to drive on in terms of road conditions, and the politeness of other road users. I know people complain alot about our roads but only when you've been away for a while do your realise what you're missing!
I've just returned to England after 3 years in Germany and British motorways are a pleasure to drive on in terms of road conditions, and the politeness of other road users. I know people complain alot about our roads but only when you've been away for a while do your realise what you're missing!
Y 1 CAN said:
Now you've got me started on the EU budget. How on
earth did politicians ever convince us taxpayers we needed to part
with huge wads of our hard-earned to pay for I-know-not-what abroad?
Free trade in Europe is one thing, this EU budget is another.
I seem to remember that EU membership was sold to us in the 1970s
on the basis of free trade.
We were threatened with all sorts of potential trade barriers if
we didn't join up.
As it is we a large net contributor [ and due to become larger soon],
and like any club membership, there are pros and cons.
I think the fact that the EU accounts haven't been signed off
for eleven years speaks volumes.
It seems that about 60% of the EU budget is soaked up in CAP
- a way to keep French farmers rich and mess up the operation
of a free market.
Might it be simpler if we just employed a team of folks
at Dover burning fifty quid notes 24/7 ?
Gassing Station | Roads | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff