UK driving etiquette - why is it so terrible?
Discussion
A short 30 minute motorway drive is frustrating and stressful these days.
Plenty of cars just sat in the middle lane, oblivious to their surroundings.
Drivers that cannot maintain speed, and will speed up while you are trying to overtake them.
Lane closure in 800 yards? Let's all sit and queue in one lane, leaving the closing lane completely empty. Of course you will then stumble across the self-appointed road police that try and block both lanes, or prevent you from safely merging at the merge point.
I drive all across Europe, and I have never seen such a terrible awareness of surroundings and attitude to driving in any other country.
Plenty of cars just sat in the middle lane, oblivious to their surroundings.
Drivers that cannot maintain speed, and will speed up while you are trying to overtake them.
Lane closure in 800 yards? Let's all sit and queue in one lane, leaving the closing lane completely empty. Of course you will then stumble across the self-appointed road police that try and block both lanes, or prevent you from safely merging at the merge point.
I drive all across Europe, and I have never seen such a terrible awareness of surroundings and attitude to driving in any other country.
aturnick54 said:
Slow said:
Its actually really good.
Perfect? No.
Go drive in somewhere abroad then come back and you notice.
In the last sentence, I said that I drive all across Europe. Generally in other European countries people use all the available road space and don't hog lanes.Perfect? No.
Go drive in somewhere abroad then come back and you notice.
aturnick54 said:
Slow said:
Its actually really good.
Perfect? No.
Go drive in somewhere abroad then come back and you notice.
In the last sentence, I said that I drive all across Europe. Generally in other European countries people use all the available road space and don't hog lanes.Perfect? No.
Go drive in somewhere abroad then come back and you notice.
t ton of the world that drive a hell of a lot worse.Popped to Sainsburys earlier to pick up a few essentials and the roads were busy but not 'mental', Sainsburys was though! Driving standards are mainly poor, with the odd idiot thrown in for good measure!
As my old driving instructor used to say, " Treat every other drivers as an idiot, expect them to do something stupid, and you won't go far wrong!" Sadly, this is true. Most drivers don't really care as long as they get to their destination, as long as they get passed that car, as long as they get out of that side street, even if they cut someone up!
'Drive defensively' has never been more appropriate! I can now leave the roads to the idiots until the Christmas madness has ended
Stay Safe out there!
As my old driving instructor used to say, " Treat every other drivers as an idiot, expect them to do something stupid, and you won't go far wrong!" Sadly, this is true. Most drivers don't really care as long as they get to their destination, as long as they get passed that car, as long as they get out of that side street, even if they cut someone up!
'Drive defensively' has never been more appropriate! I can now leave the roads to the idiots until the Christmas madness has ended
Stay Safe out there!
I don't generally regard European drivers as being a whole lot better.
We seem to revere Germany yet lane hogging is utterly rife there now (and not just by Dutch drivers)
Every time I go there I see more and more people passing on the right. It was unheard of 6-7 years ago.
The main advantage in some countries is relative space / low density such as covering long distances in France or when I'm driving across the Balkans and it's just hundreds of miles of very quiet fast flowing roads. Autobahn's when quiet (at night normally) can also be very fast indeed but you try travelling one end of Germany to the other on a summer weekend. I've seen some absolutely huge tailbacks in Austria, Switzerland, Italy recently rendering roads blocked for hours at a time.
I don't get the hate for Belgium either, I find they tend to flout the speed limit more openly than others and generally get a good move on. Granted I try to avoid the Brussels or Antwerp rings at busy times.
What I do find the strangest and most uniquely British is the orchestrated conflict and drama, people seem to go out of their way to create situations and then revel in the faux-outrage. Dash cam warriers are the most obvious examples, they seem to take enjoyment in setting others up to fail and then getting all melodramatic about it. Everywhere else you get drivers on the horn, pushing in and so on, then 5 seconds later it's forgotten about.
Oh and also the overtaking thing. People here are so dramatic about being overtaken. You'd think you just exhumed and violated their mother's corpse.
We seem to revere Germany yet lane hogging is utterly rife there now (and not just by Dutch drivers)
Every time I go there I see more and more people passing on the right. It was unheard of 6-7 years ago.
The main advantage in some countries is relative space / low density such as covering long distances in France or when I'm driving across the Balkans and it's just hundreds of miles of very quiet fast flowing roads. Autobahn's when quiet (at night normally) can also be very fast indeed but you try travelling one end of Germany to the other on a summer weekend. I've seen some absolutely huge tailbacks in Austria, Switzerland, Italy recently rendering roads blocked for hours at a time.
I don't get the hate for Belgium either, I find they tend to flout the speed limit more openly than others and generally get a good move on. Granted I try to avoid the Brussels or Antwerp rings at busy times.
What I do find the strangest and most uniquely British is the orchestrated conflict and drama, people seem to go out of their way to create situations and then revel in the faux-outrage. Dash cam warriers are the most obvious examples, they seem to take enjoyment in setting others up to fail and then getting all melodramatic about it. Everywhere else you get drivers on the horn, pushing in and so on, then 5 seconds later it's forgotten about.
Oh and also the overtaking thing. People here are so dramatic about being overtaken. You'd think you just exhumed and violated their mother's corpse.
Edited by theboss on Friday 22 December 15:59
I think people have different experiences of driving in Europe depending on
1) which countries they drive in
2) what sort of roads they drive on
3) what time of year they go
4) the purpose of their journeys
5) how many miles they cover per year in the country they're talking about.
I have never met someone who says "Oh, driving in France is SOOOO much better and the roads are excellent" whose driving experience in France isn't ~1,000 miles a year of holiday or other reasons of pleasure, almost exclusively on RN and toll roads.
The two second rule doesn't seem to translate into other languages. For all the tales of German drivers being great, they really don't have a sodding clue about safe following distances and in some cases go apoplectic if you are more than six inches from the car in front. Having seen lederhosen dancing in Munich they clearly don't have the same qualms about proximity to each other's arses that Brits do.
So driving down to the south of France in early summer is lovely. Commuting in and around Paris is rubbish. Driving anywhere that Germans, Luxembergers, Swiss and Belgians frequent outside of their home countries can be mayhem. Also, if you visit Germany with a Frenchman, don't let him drive. I nearly died that way. He insisted it made sense because they drove on the same side of the road but... The Parisian driving style is incompatible with German autobahns.
Italians are always fine; yes they saved money on their Highway Code by just photocopying the instructions for Mariokart, but no-one in Italy has any delusions that their country drives properly whereas the French, Germans and British all think their way is best. It's refreshingly anarchistic.
1) which countries they drive in
2) what sort of roads they drive on
3) what time of year they go
4) the purpose of their journeys
5) how many miles they cover per year in the country they're talking about.
I have never met someone who says "Oh, driving in France is SOOOO much better and the roads are excellent" whose driving experience in France isn't ~1,000 miles a year of holiday or other reasons of pleasure, almost exclusively on RN and toll roads.
The two second rule doesn't seem to translate into other languages. For all the tales of German drivers being great, they really don't have a sodding clue about safe following distances and in some cases go apoplectic if you are more than six inches from the car in front. Having seen lederhosen dancing in Munich they clearly don't have the same qualms about proximity to each other's arses that Brits do.
So driving down to the south of France in early summer is lovely. Commuting in and around Paris is rubbish. Driving anywhere that Germans, Luxembergers, Swiss and Belgians frequent outside of their home countries can be mayhem. Also, if you visit Germany with a Frenchman, don't let him drive. I nearly died that way. He insisted it made sense because they drove on the same side of the road but... The Parisian driving style is incompatible with German autobahns.
Italians are always fine; yes they saved money on their Highway Code by just photocopying the instructions for Mariokart, but no-one in Italy has any delusions that their country drives properly whereas the French, Germans and British all think their way is best. It's refreshingly anarchistic.
If you want to see poor driving standards, or to rephrase totally psychotic behaviour them you need to sit outside a school at start time. I've had this pleasure twice, it's pure entertainment, better than anything that's on the telly.
The local hospice where my wife works is straight across the road from one. Dozens of stressed young mums who have driven the half a mile or so to drop off little Petunia or Tarquin(its a quite well to do area), all looking pristine and suitably trendy rushing about like their @rse is on fire, barging each other out of the way, screaming, ramming, it's absolutely hilarious.
Just to sit on the hospice wall with fag in hand and witness it all is one of lifes great spectacles, expensive SUV's trying to fit in Nissan Micra spaces, I can't remember ever laughing so much. Yes at this time of the year people who aren't very bright are rushing about like blue arsed flies trying to cram 2 weeks worth of chores into 2 days with obvious results but it has nothing on the sheer aggression, stupidity, entitlement and plain bad manners that is to be witnessed outside a school.
Try it if ever you're depressed or just to fill half an hour spare, you won't regret it.
The local hospice where my wife works is straight across the road from one. Dozens of stressed young mums who have driven the half a mile or so to drop off little Petunia or Tarquin(its a quite well to do area), all looking pristine and suitably trendy rushing about like their @rse is on fire, barging each other out of the way, screaming, ramming, it's absolutely hilarious.
Just to sit on the hospice wall with fag in hand and witness it all is one of lifes great spectacles, expensive SUV's trying to fit in Nissan Micra spaces, I can't remember ever laughing so much. Yes at this time of the year people who aren't very bright are rushing about like blue arsed flies trying to cram 2 weeks worth of chores into 2 days with obvious results but it has nothing on the sheer aggression, stupidity, entitlement and plain bad manners that is to be witnessed outside a school.
Try it if ever you're depressed or just to fill half an hour spare, you won't regret it.
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