to HT!
I didn't drive in India and after doing the Golden Triangle by road with a guide/driver I never would. This is a list of rules of the road I decided were Indias after days of obervation
1. Use your horn to alert drivers you are behind them
2. Drive on whatever side suits you best. Left is preferable but it doesn't really matter.
3. Use your horn to wake the driver in front of you.
4. Lanes- they don't exist. Those lines down the road are just decoration
5. Use your horn when overtaking
6. Dual carriageways- its ok to drive the wrong way down if
a. you are a tractor
b. you are bigger than everyone else
c. you can't be bothered crossing over to the other side
7. Use your horn to let the cow know you won't knock it down
8. Don't worry about avoiding pedestrians- its up to them to avoid you
9. Use your horn to say hello to the next vehicle
10. When entering a roundabout, don't stop- its up to the vehicles already on the roundabout to avoid you.
11. Use your horn to help you stay awake.
12. When turning on to a main road you must not look out for oncoming traffic. Its their fault if they crash into you
13. Use your horn
14. When turning onto a main road please remember that someone may be driving the wrong way down it.
15. use your horn
16. If you are involved in an accident, get out of your car, yell and scream at the other driver, have a good punch up and then both get back in your cars and drive off.
17. If you are a bus driver it is wise to slow down a little before any bridges to give roof passengers a chance to duck
18. Auto rickshaws- max amount of passengers is the number who can get in to it or hang off it.
19. Night driving- please be aware that people will be sleeping at the side of the road. Please try to avoid putting your lights on as this disturbs them.
20. Speed- there are no speed limits at all. Taxi and truck drivers in particular have a duty to get anywhere as soon as possible.
21. If your driver hasn't used his horn in the last couple of minutes please make sure he is still awake.
22. Don't get too close to the back end of an elephant or camel.

Our guide told us of one couple who decided to drive from Delhi to Agra. They called him from Agra as they couldn't face the terror of driving back!

Fiona wrote:

:welcome to HT!
I didn't drive in India and after doing the Golden Triangle by road with a guide/driver I never would. This is a list of rules of the road I decided were Indias after days of obervation

It looks terrifying!
What about car accidents rates there in India?

I know the super rich often have the really expensive car on the drive, and that is where it stays They use the cheaper ones to actually drive.

It's many moons since I've been to Italy but, I do seem to remember lots of horn blasting and arm gestures from the drivers.

Paris, was a nightmare, especially when it was the first time I'd been driven by a fellow Brit there and we faced the dreaded roundabouts. We of course stopped............. and received a fanfare of car horns

I lived in Holland and can't remember anything bad about their driving skills but it is a fairly flat country so no sneaky brow of hills

Portugal we've driven round there quite a few times no problems

Possibly Greece is a contender for some of the worst drivers, along with Italy.

Glynis HT Admin wrote:

Paris, was a nightmare

I lived in Holland and can't remember anything bad about their driving skills

That's why I chose driving around Paris ring road at midnight every time I drove across Paris urban area.

Now I remember when I was in The Netherlands, that some of Dutch campervan drivers often don't respect safe distance when they're behind you on secondary roads.
However, As I said before, I consider The Netherlands is a very good place to driving around.

Looks like there is always at least tiny crucial differences between countries in it.

A couple of years back, a friend asked why i dint move to Greece or Cyprus, with my driving/ road safety experience I could always get a job taxi driving, so i pointed out i don't have the relevant skills....

I can't drive with one arm out of the window smoking, whilst holding a mobile phone in the other hand, steer with my knees and still operate the horn .....

I have written several times over the years the way to cut accidents in Cyprus is to remove the horns from all vehicles. because then they would not be able to drive

My sister was out in Cyprus for a while and she said the driving was downright dangerous sometimes- almost always men

Three places are very much of a muchness when it comes to driving for me:
Cyprus (been here for 9 years and the local drivers still never cease to amaze me). It's obligatory to drive while using a mobile phone, lighting a cigarette and an arm out of the window. The other night arriving back home on our street there was a guy reversing out of his drive while on his phone rather than finishing the call on his driveway before setting off!
Malta - just as bad as Cyprus. If there's a road don't bother with road markings, just use the horn at any opportunity and as for lane control well, forget it.
Cairo - if there's 3 lanes of traffic why stick just with those when you can squeeze 5 cars abreast?

TBH I find driving in the UK quite scary at times. As soon as I drive off of the ferry in Dover it seems as though all hell lets loose on the roads. It's not always the fault of drivers of UK registered vehicles as often the foreign lorry drivers seem to have no knowlege of the highway code. But many drivers seem to totally ignore the speed limits and there are often some very dangerous overtaking manouvers.

I think one of the scariest places I have actually driven is Mexico, something I wouldn't want to repeat.

I encountered very poor driving standards in New Zealand, saw two accidents within my first day of arriving there. Good job there is a low population so not too many cars on the roads. Also in Australia the huge trucks own the roads and I learned very quickly to get out of their way.

I find driving in France and Italy normally a doddle though was surprised once when driving through Naples on a two lane road to find cars driving either side of me making my one lane into three lanes and I must admit to finding driving in Paris a bit like driving on a racetrack.

The Netherlands are normally fine, I haven't noticed too many campervans on the roads but do find in summer that the Dutch do tend to clog up the roads when towing their caravans to southern countries.

I wouldn't attempt to drive in Eygpt especially Cairo, or India where even when being driven by a professional driver it can still be a scary experience.

edited for typo

I have never been to Switzerland, but a friend of mine said they drive very well, even better than Germans ones.

Without doubt Poland, closely followed by most of eastern Europe. Blind bends are perfect for testing you overtaking psychic powers and who needs 2 lanes, lets overtake on the inside and outside at the same time, the car coming towards you will have to move! Speed, why faster, faster. Never mind pot holes, try craters on many of them. Remember, not so long ago, driving licenses could be 'bought'.
Portugal, Algarve used to be very poor, the N125 was notoriously one of the worst roads for accident related deaths in the world. However, things are improving, but don't be surprised to find something doing 20mph on the motorway, basically because that's it's top speed. The drivers are still speed thirsty!
Best style of driving is more difficult. To what do we compare this?
Good luck

Naples was hair raising, they just pulled out in front of you , or stopped in the middle of the road to chat to a friend coming the other way. No wonder all their cars had dents in. It was mad. We once took a taxi from the airport to Rome at 100mph and the taxi driver only had one hand on the wheel. Scary !

LA was one big traffic jam , husband got fed up driving there .

New York taxis were a law unto themselves and had no patience and would lean on the horn even though you could not physically move anywhere .

In Malaysia the little scooters would undertake as well as overtake and wing in and out of the traffic. How they did not get killed I do not know .

I loved driving down the strip at night in Vegas , so many pretty lights.

Fiona, are you sure that you weren't in Tunisia? Your description is spot on for the Tunisian drivers who all think that they are driving at Brands Hatch. Even many of the hotels here have notices warning guests that the drivers ignore all zebra crossings!

That sounds about right!

Or The Gambia? Or Cuba? I don't drive but but have found being a passenger scary enough in both places. In both places everybody drives down the middle of the road and you just have to hope that they remember which side of the road they are supposed to swerve towards at the last minute in order to avoid a head on collision!

What must make it even worse in Cuba is that there are hardly any road signs - if you don't know the way to where you are going then there are very few clues to help you. I would never consider hiring or advising anybody to hire a car and drive themselves around whilst touring the island. Also, every junction on the main trunk roads between the main cities is thronged with hitchhikers milling around on the equivalent of the hard shoulder in the shade of the junction overpass, complete with official marshalls who supposedly organise it. In practice this means that they jump out into the road and flag down any car that doesn't have a tourist registration number plate! And once it stops then all the hitchhikers hustle around establishing who is first in the queue for whichever destination the hapless driver is going to! The best marshalls have this sorted, they will have a clipboard with everybody's names and destinations on it but some clearly think that their job is done once the car has been flagged down and it has come to a halt. Chaos doesn't begin to describe it.

And I almost forgot to mention that if you are a tourist being driven in a taxi or people carrier this means that your driver won't even so much as slow down but will simply plough on at speed and swerve round the huddle of people spilling onto the road. Unless of course he spots someone selling bananas or pineapples when he (always a he - I've never been driven by a woman) will slam on the brakes and start haggling on the roadside. It doesn't seem to make much difference which side of the road the seller actually is!

SM

My nephew and his girl friend hired a car and toured Cuba 6 years ago. I had just returned from a visit and had seen the lack of road signs etc. I told him I didn't think it was a good idea and had said in this instance it might be better to sign up for an escorted tour. I was regarded as an old fuddy duddy and my advice was ignored.
On his return he said he wished he'd listened to me as they had wasted hours taking wrong roads and at times had got totally lost and neither of them could speak Spanish. He said it was a lot of fun though.

patient2nurse wrote:

Portugal, Algarve used to be very poor, the N125 was notoriously one of the worst roads for accident related deaths in the world. However, things are improving, but don't be surprised to find something doing 20mph on the motorway, basically because that's it's top speed. The drivers are still speed thirsty!

I drive everyday on the A-6 spanish highway, which is often used by portuguese people to go to Madrid, and yes, their own way of driving are getting better. However, few of them still drive so fast and make risky overtakes.
As far as I'm concerned, portuguese people drive better than italians ones.

Did anyone see " Worst Place To Be. A Taxi Driver" last night on BBC2

It backed Fiona's post above....crazy drivers in India!!! Even the car he had to take a mock test in had no hand break, mirrors or indicators

missed it