Flightster

Driving Culture and Traffic Laws

• by Dusko
• on December 8th, 2010
• 3 Comments

What is wrong with this picture?

Recently I was pulled over by an officer for a traffic violation. On his question if I knew why he pulled me over, I said I didn’t have a clue. It was true. I consider my self as a quick, but very safe driver. I usually drive kids, and I don’t gamble with my or their lives. It turned out I made a U-turn at the commercial district, and that’s illegal. “What?” I asked. I’ve never heard before of something like that, and there was no sign indicating I was in a commercial district. Plus I made U-turn at the place where I had marked middle line. Fortunately I still have my foreign accent, and with kids in the back seat, I was able to get a way only with the warning.

But the best part is that the event made me write this article. I’m sure there are some kind of traffic rules that people are not aware of. But what happens when you come to another country for the first time, and sit behind a wheel?  Sometimes that can be very challenging.

As someone who has lived in few different countries, and a big fan of driving, it’s always interesting for me to analyze traffic laws and cultural differences on the road. For example flashing with headlights can mean a lot of different things. Somewhere it means “Out of my way”. Somewhere else “You go first”, and somewhere else “I passed cops waiting for the traffic from your direction, so be careful”. That last flashing with headlights can be treated illegal in some countries, by the way.

I don’t want to mention the fact that Latin alphabet is not used in all countries. So sometimes, if you go further from the big cities, you might end up in the situation where you can’t read signs.

There are some other traffic laws that you have to pay attention to, as a foreigner. For example, if you go to Europe, don’t think about making a right turn on red. That’s illegal. And you should definitely be more courteous to pedestrians at the cross roads (zebras).

If you go to Italy, make sure you are careful about scooters. Those drivers don’t pay attention if you are in a car which can pin them down. They drive very crazy, and they ARE everywhere. Italians are also very impatient when they drive. So if you hear a lot of honking or yelling, don’t get provoked and try to stay calm.

Germany is very proud of their autobahns, where believe it or not, there is no speed limit. That’s right. Take your beloved car on the autobahn, and go as fast as you want. In order to actually make a limit, cars imported into Germany must have a chip installed, which limits the maximum speed to 250 km/h (155 mph). I heard of stories where some people “know a guy who can override this chip, or replace it”, so you can imagine how much excitement you can get there.

But in some other parts of the world, as Eastern Europe, you don’t have a comfort of having a lot of Freeways. That doesn’t make people drive slow on narrow roads. Overtaking another vehicle while going head to head with a car from other direction is very common. People are used to it. But finding your self in that situation for the first time, you as a stranger can think of that as a suicide. And if you don’t do it, people behind you will honk the horn, and push you to taste that thrill.

In some countries I was challenged to show my passport to police officers that pulled me over. This is something that you should avoid as much as possible. If you have an international driving license, or even the one from the US, you should stick to those. At some places police officers ask for the passport, and take it away from you if you don’t agree to pay the ticket at the spot, or have any other issues (what wouldn’t be much of a surprise, since you are again, a foreigner). Considering that we are talking about payment in local currency, it can get very messy. Sometimes officers will agree to giving them a bribe, believe it or not. The US dollar is still established well enough for that purpose, so keep the smaller bills handy (oh, that reminds me about some trips to Hungary; nice girls, great sausages, and I’ll keep my opinion about police officers for my self).

I’ve heard that people from Australia also have their stories. If you drive there, make sure you don’t strike a kangaroo running across the highway. Similar rule applies for a deer or wild hogs in other parts of the world.

Overall, my suggestion would be to talk with someone who you know that has already been in the country that you plan to visit and drive. Ask them about their experience. Usually it’s very hard to figure  this out from an online resource, or a booklet.

What about you? Were you surprised by some driving cultures at the place you visited in the past?

Dusko

Dusko is the IT chief at Flightster. He has been telling to computers what to do since the first CD-ROM units appeared in PCs. If you have a technical question for him, be ready for the useful seminar on the subject. Nothing unexpected from the people in that type of a trade.