Driving in Belgium?

[marcosgt]

It's been some years since I drove on the Continent, but I'm considering a trip to Spa later in the year.

I know the French having been getting anal about all the ste you need to carry in your car to be allowed on the road (hi-vis vests, spare bulbs, first aid kits, iron lung, spare right sock, etc), but wondered if Belgium was a rare haven of sanity or if it had gone the same way?

Buying all that crap could double the cost of the trip!

M.

[Upthejunction]

I just take the Hi viz vests with.
In fact they live in the car all year round because they make sense.

I've never bothered with the rest of the kit and never had an issue

[KaraK]

It's not too bad for Belgium: http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/touring_tips/...

[Bluebarge]

Erm - hi-vis vests are about £2 each, a spare bulb kit less than a tenner, first aid kit the same (surely you have one at home?)headlamp convertors are £5, you don't need the alcotester, so total cost of compliance - £20ish?

Your bigger worry will be Belgian drivers, who are comfortably the worst in Western Europe.

[KaraK]

Bluebarge said:

Your bigger worry will be Belgian drivers, who are comfortably the worst in Western Europe.

I'm sure they can't all be horrifically bad drivers but it seems a large proportion of them are. I loathe crossing Belgium!

[CoolC]

Bluebarge said:

Your bigger worry will be Belgian drivers, who are comfortably the worst in Western Europe.

This.

For my sins I spend a lot of time driving in Belgium. Spa is by far the prettiest part of the country though.

[Upthejunction]

Bluebarge said:

Erm - hi-vis vests are about £2 each, a spare bulb kit less than a tenner, first aid kit the same (surely you have one at home?)headlamp convertors are £5, you don't need the alcotester, so total cost of compliance - £20ish?

Your bigger worry will be Belgian drivers, who are comfortably the worst in Western Europe.

Bunch of shed draggers

[Riley Blue]

Look out for motorcycle police on the E40 around Jabbeke (near Ostend), they happily pull over foreign registered cars to relieve the drivers of some folding stuff while leaving the locals completely alone.

[dcb]

Bluebarge said:

Your bigger worry will be Belgian drivers, who are comfortably the worst in Western Europe.

I don't think so. I think the Brits are the worst.

Easy driving test, no motorway testing, all focussed in
on driving slowly enough to get past the speed cameras etc
makes me think the Brits are only slightly ahead
of the Americans in the driving quality stakes.

Hammering up & down the E40 from Aachen to Calais as I do
regularly, 9/10 bad driving is done by a car with Brit plates.

The Belgians can be a bit "relaxed" after lunch, mind you,
and I never drive after 9 pm over there. Apart from that,
the higher speeds and the better lane discipline than
the UK are a refreshing treat.

[Church of Noise]

Riley Blue said:

Look out for motorcycle police on the E40 around Jabbeke (near Ostend), they happily pull over foreign registered cars to relieve the drivers of some folding stuff while leaving the locals completely alone.

Yes, they send us locals lovely letters in order to 'motivate' us to share some of our hard earned...

[Gixer]

KaraK said:

Bluebarge said:

Your bigger worry will be Belgian drivers, who are comfortably the worst in Western Europe.

I'm sure they can't all be horrifically bad drivers but it seems a large proportion of them are. I loathe crossing Belgium!

Biggest advantage of living in Kent is being able to pop over the water for car trips and I have to agree, Belgium is the country I hate driving in the most. Their pot holes make ours look small, there are always traffic jams that make the M25 and M6 look free flowing and within just a few miles it becomes quite clear where most of our anti car policies have come from. Spa's great though

[Gixer]

dcb said:

Apart from that,
the higher speeds and the better lane discipline than
the UK are a refreshing treat.

There motorway speed limit is 120kph so 74mph so an extra 4mph is a refreshing treat?? If your not stuck in yet another traffic jam.

[krallicious]

The Crack Fox said:

Amen to that! I got done in exactly that spot some years ago. Incidentally that bit of road was once used for high speed record attempts by (IIRC) Jag.

That E40 motorway is a long, horrible slog through nowheresville. Grim

I don't know. After Aachen it becomes very quick! The E40 from Aachen to Brussels is also very lightly (if ever) policed, so making progress is very easy. I have also found the Belgiums to be very interesting drivers too.

[dcb]

Gixer said:

There motorway speed limit is 120kph so 74mph so an extra 4mph is a refreshing treat?? If your not stuck in yet another traffic jam.

The Belgians (The Walloons in the South and the Flemish in the North)
aren't so obsessed with speed as the Brits.

Exceedingly few speed cameras and coppers who will look at
*how* *well* you are driving, rather than any absolute number of kmh.

Drive like an berk average English driver, they will quite rightly have you.
Drive sensibly, they will use their discretion.

While 96 mph in UK will get you a court visit, Belgian coppers
in my experience don't even bother to get their books out
until somewhere North of 160 kph.

<Fast Show>Which is nice.

[marcosgt]

Thanks for the responses (and links).

Yes, I agree the cost's not actually huge (and I do have lots of the odds and sods, having been to France a few years ago), but wanted to understand the rules, before making my mind up.

I've driven to Spa a few times before, so Belgium is reasonable familiar to me, but I'd agree on the potholes. I've never found the Belgians particularly bad drivers (the UK must be up there, sadly) although they do drive rather insanely in heavy rain and fog...

Thanks again.

M

[Tom8]

Bluebarge said:

Erm - hi-vis vests are about £2 each, a spare bulb kit less than a tenner, first aid kit the same (surely you have one at home?)headlamp convertors are £5, you don't need the alcotester, so total cost of compliance - £20ish?

Your bigger worry will be Belgian drivers, who are comfortably the worst in Western Europe.

Ha, someone else has noticed too. We thought it was just us but Belgians are without doubt the worse drivers on the road. Take you life in your own hands driving in Belgie land.

[Redgate]

Tom8 said:

Ha, someone else has noticed too. We thought it was just us but Belgians are without doubt the worse drivers on the road. Take you life in your own hands driving in Belgie land.

Really ? Please enlighten me. Wouldn't it be the case that most Belgian drivers are used to travelling at higher speeds than 70 miles per hour and that most Brits have never have the chance to experience these speeds and therefore are not adequately trained to drive abroad?

I have said this before in a similar thread but a car with a Belgian plate is not necessarily driven by a Belgian.

Though I totally agree with the complaints about the state of Belgium roads, I cannot help but notice that England is also becoming a disciple of the pot hole cult.

[Skodaku]

KaraK said:

I'm sure they can't all be horrifically bad drivers but it seems a large proportion of them are. I loathe crossing Belgium!

Whilst Belgian drivers ain't the best - they do seem to like tailgating - the drivers in Ireland move the bar to a new low. More than just a few have never actually passed a test.

[AccordR]

Be prepared for a few dealys on the Brussels ring road !
Always managed to get stuck on the way to the ring

[gtidriver]

The main problem with driving through Belgium is the huge troughs that the lorries have left in the roads, can be quite scary.