TRAFFIC SHOCK: DRIVING IN EUROPE IS DIFFERENT!
Aug 07 '03 (Updated Dec 04 '06)
The Bottom Line If you like to drive aggressively, know the rules of the road, and stay attentive at all times, you'll really enjoy driving in Europe. Otherwise, take the train!
DRIVE, HE SAID
I’ve always loved to drive. When I was 16 I got my license, and what seemed like almost unlimited access to the family car – a mid 50s Buick convertible with portholes on the hood! With a ride like that I naturally became the chauffeur of choice when my friends and I set off on our great adventures on the roads in and around the small towns and lakes and hills of Western Massachusetts.
I didn’t have access to a car while I was in college – except during the summer – but at graduation I entered the Army, and shortly after that found myself assigned to duty in Europe – where my real driver education began. Since then I’ve had the chance to travel tens of thousands of miles in Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Britain, Austria, Istria, and even San Marino – driving a variety of two and four-wheeled vehicles.
I’ve found out that the differences between driving in Europe and driving in America are as great as the differences between European and American food, wines, beer and language - if not greater. We can sample a lot of aspects of Europe in America – eat calamari, drink Heineken or a glass of Chablis, say “Gesundheit” - but nowhere in America can one experience driving in the European style.
Driving or riding on the roads and restricted access high speed highways of Europe is absolutely unlike traveling by motor vehicle in the US – where the family car tends to be an extension of one’s home – a multi-purpose spare room on wheels: with electronic entertainment facilities – equal to or better than those in the home – including the latest in CD sound and DVD video and gaming technologies, reading lamps, reclining chairs, telephones, and food and beverage serving amenities – all potentially serious distractions from the primary task of controlling one’s vehicle.
WHAT’S DIFFERENT?
Driving in Europe demands 100% of one’s attention – and cars built for the European driver tend to offer fewer distractions. On any given paved road, from the winding one and a half lane tertiary road through farmlands or mountains, through the two or four lane blacktops that meander through the countryside, to the very high speed national highways – like the autoroute in France, the autostrada in Italy, or the Autobahn in Germany and Austria – the pace of traffic is – to the typical American motorist – unnaturally FAST!
My personal guesstimate is that regardless of the posted speed limit (if any), traffic on any European road moves at a rate about 50% faster than traffic on similar roads in the US. 40 miles an hour on a narrow country lane becomes 60, 60 on a long, straight two-lane blacktop road becomes 90, and a likely top speed of 80 on a national highway becomes 120mph or more.
This doesn’t take into account the fact that on the Continent, speed limits are posted and speedometers measure in kilometers per hour – so the speedometer of that Ferrari (or that motorcycle) passing you at 120 mph with its headlights flashing is reading 200 Kph!
HOW DO THEY DO THAT?
As a rule, it takes a lot more demonstrated driving skill to get a driver’s license in Europe that it does in the U.S. - road tests tend to be more challenging, written tests more extensive, and rules of the road – like lane discipline, the consistent use of turn signals, and right-of way priorities – are comparatively uniform, widely understood, and rigorously enforced.
For example: “keep to the right except when passing” is a law in some US jurisdictions, an informal guideline in others – and in either case more honored in the breach than in the observance. The result? Clusters. Even on lightly traveled sections of US Interstate highways, drivers in the left or passing lane will drive abreast of others in the right hand lane for miles on end – or with a speed differential so slight as to require several minutes to move past the slower moving vehicle – even as dozens of other cars stack up in NASCAR formation behind the “leaders” of the pack.
To the people at the head of the cluster this seems right. Looking like professional high speed drivers (the NASCAR formation) with cruise control locked in at or slightly over the posted speed limit.
Some of those in the rear of the cluster will continuously shift lanes and change speed in a long, frustrating, and ultimately dangerous effort to weave their way through and beyond the cluster – only to overtake another identical formation a few miles down the road – where they begin the risky process over again.
Other than the NASCAR image, what causes this distinctively American condition? Several reasons: relatively poorly qualified drivers, speed limits that are arguably too low, lack of uniformity in or unawareness of rules of the road, and – most of all – near universal failure to “keep to the right except when passing”.
Again, not so in Europe. For the most part, drivers are skillful and attentive, and the rules of the road are uniform, widely understood, and preclude this kind of rolling roadblock - resulting in much higher typical speeds.
WHAT ARE THE RULES?
A few highlights: slower moving vehicles MUST stay in the right hand lane, the passing lane is ONLY for passing, one must NEVER pass on the right – and in the passing lane the FASTER vehicle always has the right of way. Minimum as well as maximum speed limits may be posted – and failure to maintain adequate speed can be just as illegal as excessive speed. Additionally, turn signals MUST be used to signal lane changes.
Flashing headlights are used to signal the intent to pass, and slower moving vehicles are expected to move out of the way. Failing to do so is discourteous at best – if not illegal.
The result? Slower cars stay on the right, faster cars are on the left, traffic flow is unrestricted, turns and lane changes are anticipated, and in general, everybody knows what everyone else is doing, or about to do – thus enabling things to happen not only faster, but more smoothly than in the US.
European drivers are also far more aware of the presence of two-wheeled vehicles on the road. Experienced motorcyclists know that they are effectively invisible to many American drivers. Not so in Europe. Motorists are not only aware of, but in many cases, are deferential to two wheeled vehicles. At red lights or stop signs, or when traffic is stopped for any reason – waiting to board a ferry boat or at a rail crossing – bikes, scooters, mopeds and motorcycles are EXPECTED to move to the front of the queue, and do so.
Unfortunately there is a lot more that one needs to know in order to drive safely in Europe. And Britain and Ireland (where traffic moves on the left, rather than the right) present special challenges. The best source of information for Americans driving in Europe that I’ve found is the 100 plus page US Army Driver Training Manual at http://rmv.hqusareur.army.mil/drivrman/190-34.htm#P02-04
It’s lengthy but thorough, and has been used to train thousands of American service members stationed in Europe. It includes a detailed discussion of typical Western European (German) traffic laws ands rules of the road, color illustrations of hundreds of road signs and traffic control devices, and an extensive set of questions and answers to test one’s knowledge.
IN SUMMARY
If you like to drive aggressively, know the rules of the road, and stay attentive at all times, you’ll really enjoy driving in Europe. Keep to the right, pass on the left, and use your turn signals continuously! Be alert to the presence of very high speed vehicles – including those with only two wheels! If you’re an uncertain driver, easily distracted, or unaware of the rules, you’ll be miserable – and be placing yourself, your passengers, and other motorists at risk. Under those conditions, it’s better to take the train.
If you’re a motorcyclist and are interested in the possibility of riding in Europe under controlled conditions, take a look at the epinion on touring with Muenchner Freiheit
In any case, have a great trip!
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frebo3
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Location: Texas, USA
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Socialism is the opiate of the intelligentsia
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