Who has better drivers? SA or UK?

[TitanSimba]

I'd like to know what fellow Saffas think of UK drivers. I've been here 6 years now so I have my opinion (although you don't need to be here that long to make up your mind). And don't forget to back-up your opinion with a reason.

Go on then... you first.

[DKL]

I'll flip it around, being English but having driven in SA this year. I don't recall any instances of daft driving in the few thousand Ks we did along the south coast last September. Never once did I pull over onto the hard shoulder to let someone by and not get an acknowledgement. I think we only ended 3 abreast across the road a couple of times and they were so staright and quiet it wasn't really a problem.
I didn't really know what to expect but it was very relaxing. I do think space has a lot to do with it, both geographically and population wise. Its more difficult to annoy people when you don't see them that often!
Cape Town was chaos mind but certainly no worse than a major city here.
And all the interesting cars came out on Sundays - I saw an AH3000, a 70s Merc SL, a couple of MGBs and a 911E (I think) around Knysna one Sunday.

[uk_vette]

It would be more fun if we talked Cities in S.A.

I vote CPT for the crazy drivers, anything go's !

[Gerald-S1]

UK drivers for sure.
The level of incompetence in SA is absolutely shocking.
driving unroadworthy cars
overtaking on solid lines in stupid places
driving up your arse in traffic
lane hopping in bumper to bumper traffic
but the worst is the general belief that if a person on a main road can brake and not hit you then you are obliged to enter the road in front of him. Juss this does my moer in.

[Titan Simba]

Gerald-S1 said:

UK drivers for sure.
The level of incompetence in SA is absolutely shocking.
driving unroadworthy cars
overtaking on solid lines in stupid places
driving up your arse in traffic
lane hopping in bumper to bumper traffic
but the worst is the general belief that if a person on a main road can brake and not hit you then you are obliged to enter the road in front of him. Juss this does my moer in.

In complete agreement on all points.

And let's not forget that indicators on South African cars seem to be an optional extra. Changing lanes or turning right in front of you without so much as a hint of the orange light.

I don't know if anyone's been back recently, but the introduction of smaller roundabouts (circles) and how they are supposed to work appear to have completely been missed by drivers. They have no idea who has right of way, or which lane to be in to turn left, right or staight. Horrendous. (Slummies is particular bad.)

I'd like to nominate the city Joburg as the mother of craziness. A drive down any street in rush hour is terrifying for anyone who has not driven in Italy or down the Champs Elysse. Although "the Taxis" deserve special mention - being a law unto themselves, and all!

(Although drivers here in Swindon don't seem to be much better)

[DennisTheMenace]

The O/H reckons the manners are worse here !!

And to hear her swear and go at other drivers in afrikaans is something else

[Traveller]

SA drivers win hands down, without doubt. Was in SA a few months back, and I absolutely dreaded going out on the roads, articulated trucks doing 140 km/h fully loaded down a hill, not one but several, taxis crossing multiple lanes, 150 km/h with a full load of passengers and luggage, a driver watching a movie on the dashboard with a portable DVD in the fast lane while travelling at 60 km/h on the highway, vehicles that are so unroadworthy it is seriously scary, overloaded chugging their way to Moçambique or Zim and to top it off witnessing 3 road rage incidents in the space of three weeks.... I was a nervous wreck with the family in the car. I use to do 1000's of k's a month, in and around the JHB Pretoria bloemfontein area, and I now wonder how the heck I survived without a serious accident.

I actually preferred driving in the township areas, no façade of road laws, everyone does his own thing, stop streets, traffic lights, driving on the left were more of a suggestion than a law. It made life much easier, and probably a lot safer as everyone just had to watch out as anything could happen at any time.

[Libertine]

You get st drivers and good drivers in both countries. But as was said earlier, I would say that there are more unroadworthy cars in S Africa than the UK.

[Amaboknaai]

This kind of says it all to me...

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_...

I just got back from Cape Town and in the 2 weeks I was there, was reminded of how badly people drive there, particularly the "mini-bus" taxis. General standard of driving ranges from poor to diabolical. Unlicensed, unroadworthy vehicles abound. You only put your car through a roadworthy test when it officially changes ownership - some cars not been tested for 30 years, or even more!

Given that I learned to drive there in '80s, and lived there until 2000, I feel suitably qualified to comment.

[Libertine]

Amaboknaai said:

This kind of says it all to me...

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_...

I just got back from Cape Town and in the 2 weeks I was there, was reminded of how badly people drive there, particularly the "mini-bus" taxis. General standard of driving ranges from poor to diabolical. Unlicensed, unroadworthy vehicles abound. You only put your car through a roadworthy test when it officially changes ownership - some cars not been tested for 30 years, or even more!

Given that I learned to drive there in '80s, and lived there until 2000, I feel suitably qualified to comment.

I can hardly believe that there were 102 kids in an 18 seater. They must have been samll kids.

That said, I have seen people hanging out the windows of a taxi.

[robsartain]

I think its very hard to compare.

My other half (quite a good driver) found the narrow streets in the uk a nightmare, and parking in small spaces. But this is not a skill you practice in S.A.

I found generally that the Brits will let you change lanes, let you out of junctions and are generally more polite, but if you cut them up its full scale road rage, where in SA they aren`t polite a letting people out but generally don`t get as upset about appalling driving.

The circles still confuse everyone to this day, and Taxis are best given a wide birth.

[Traveller]

Libertine said:

I can hardly believe that there were 102 kids in an 18 seater. They must have been samll kids.

That said, I have seen people hanging out the windows of a taxi.

102 is pretty ridiculous, but I use to work on the N1 highway to the Heidelberg toll. During peak holiday traffic, rolled taxis, severe accidents, head on collisions were a daily occurrence. Not unusual to have 25 people injured in a single accident. The vehicles were dangerous in the extreme, total rust buckets, mechanically falling apart, Regrooved tyres, drivers doing 36 hr solid without rest, the whole lot. After your first 10 or 15 accidents, you just become immune to the carnage.

Having said that, nothing, nothing comes close to the taxis in Lagos, they are in a whole world of their own. They often have more welding than actual steel. The best bit is when it is two similar but different vehicles welded together, a hybrid taxi. Sometimes you seriously wonder, did I really actually see that?

Edited by Traveller on Monday 1st March 20:15

[Libertine]

Traveller said:

Libertine said:

I can hardly believe that there were 102 kids in an 18 seater. They must have been samll kids.

That said, I have seen people hanging out the windows of a taxi.

102 is pretty ridiculous, but I use to work on the N1 highway to the Heidelberg toll. During peak holiday traffic, rolled taxis, severe accidents, head on collisions were a daily occurrence. Not unusual to have 25 people injured in a single accident. The vehicles were dangerous in the extreme, total rust buckets, mechanically falling apart, Regrooved tyres, drivers doing 36 hr solid without rest, the whole lot. After your first 10 or 15 accidents, you just become immune to the carnage.

Having said that, nothing, nothing comes close to the taxis in Lagos, they are in a whole world of their own. They often have more welding than actual steel. The best bit is when it is two similar but different vehicles welded together, a hybrid taxi. Sometimes you seriously wonder, did I really actually see that?

Edited by Traveller on Monday 1st March 20:15

I remember once seeing a a taxi roll in the central reservation of the motorway, going south from Durban. To literally see people flying out the windows, was not a pretty sight.

Considering the carnage that goes on there, the roads over here are relatively save!

The welded taxi made me look this up.. Just couldn't find the one of him driving the taxi with a spanner for a steering wheel..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STIKcVFQ53w&fea...

[Alfanatic]

Agree with just about everything said above. UK drivers are more polite and better mannered than SA drivers, and they on average seem to be more observant and more competent in general, which I would assume is a result of the roads here being much more challenging to drive on because they hardly ever go straight, they're very narrow, they're full of potholes (though SA is getting worse with that now too) and vision here is very restricted in comparison - there's often something stopping you from seeing more than a short distance up the road, where in SA even on junctions the pavement is often so wide you can just see a lot more, so I think drivers in SA tend to relax a lot more.

The result of all that seems to be that in SA you get a lot of bored drivers going flat out in a straight line, then practically getting out and pushing the car around the corners.

The roads seem less grippy there too.

SA taxis are something else though.