Just come back from two weeks in (very) sunny Spain. All I can say is that the Spanish method of driving is barmy. It seems to consist of driving as close to the vehicle in front as possible until they get out of the way. The parking was hilarious. Any free space (pedestrian crossing, junction, island) is fair game to park the car. I saw a Fiat Punto parked across a main junction. The other drivers just went around it.
Nudge parking is obligatory and you must be touching the car in front before you leave the car. How they get out of spaces is beyond me.I watched a battered Seat park next to a new M-B SL 55. The driver duly smacked his door into the side of it. Immediately afterwards a mad moped rider pulled up alongside and just let the bike fall against it. Nobody pattered an eyelid.
Two out of three cars have dents and scratches. It was so mad, it was funny!
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Having a very close link with Southern Spain's interior, all I cn say its a lot more relaxed in the country....
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We had a Spanish student a few years ago who read a story in the paper of some guy getting done for 140 mph on the motorway. In Spain, said he, we go out on our motorbikes and do more than that as fun because in Spain the police have to catch and physically stop you before any punishment is allowed. Its great fun he recounted. Also -don't know if this is true-if you have a person in your car needing emergency hospital treatment you simply wave a white handkerchief out of the window and yippee you belt through the traffic like on casualty and everyone gets out of your way. Abuse of this privilege incurs great wrath on behalf of the authorities and is widely respected.
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Am I right in believing that CD/DVD sat navs are banned in Spain and that Brits have to disable them? Something to do with the Spanish liking for TV on the screen.
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Dunno, but you can get the spanish map CDs/DVDs, so people must use them!
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Indeed, an electronic womans voice screams at you "Right --Right i told to you turn right you son of a donkeys tail" and an electronic arm flies out and makes an obscene gesture.
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I just kicked out some rubbish. It may well have taken some worthwhile stuff with it.
Do try and avoid the racist stuff, it says more about you than your targets. The particular offendor[s] will be dealt with.
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The Spanish have banned speed trap radar/laser detectors with dire consequences such as confiscation of the car, like the French. I find drivng much dodgier in Italy, especially at cross-roads with no traffic lights. The Italians also have similar parking techniques to those midlifecrisis describes.
HJ
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I've had a couple of motoring holidays in Spain in recent years, and must confess I didn't notice anything unusual about Spanish driving. In fact, it seemed pretty well indistinguishable from British driving, which rather surprised me - especially after my experiences in France, where they do drive with a certain flair!
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>>I find drivng much dodgier in Italy, especially at cross-roads with no traffic lights
Thats my experience too. Spanish and portugeuse driving is a little bit mad at times, particularly regards to tailgating, but the italians are terrible. Traffic lights seem to simply be colourful street ornamentation and speedlimits non-existant.
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Advice for Italy (Rome) includes leaving the handbrake off when parked in tight situations to facilitate bump parking and to minimise the damage!
I have seen in Rome double and triple width parking, so how you get your car out when you return I dont know, unless you have a few strong mates with you!
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pmh (was peter)
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Why just the Spanish?
What about the Portuguese, French, Greek and Italians plus, of course, about 25 per cent of UK motorists, who are all as equally scary?
I took my other half on a city break in Madrid once and, before we arrived, offered her £1 for every undamaged car she could spot - it didn't cost me very much....:-)
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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Must say I don't find driving standards in Spain so different from the UK these days - but in the UK a lot of the bad driving seems to be wilful and malicious. If you are walking in Madrid just don't be first on a pedestrian crossing when the green man lights up.
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Having just been in Spain and Gibraltar for a few days, I can say that the Spanish are definetly worse than the French, German and British when it comes to driving. The complete lack of awareness outside their cars was just amazing, if it's not directly in front of them, it's not there!
One of our friends who we had been away with was hurt in an accident on her way back to the airport. A guy in a Merc decided to try and overtake where there was not enough room for 3 cars and hit her from behind at an estimated 140kph(she was doing 60kph) on a narrow single carriageway clipping the rear drivers side bumper and sending her into a field, narrowly avoiding some trees. Thankfully she is on the mend.
I think the main thing that I notice is the constant stream of mopeds / bikes cutting in and out of traffic; This is probably the main difference for me from the UK (apart from London in parts).
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I have spent a lot of time driving both in Gibraltar and Southern Spain.
The main problem I have found is the number of youngsters on Mopeds, certainly in cities like Granada and Seville.
The main N340 down from Malaga to Gib used to be a death trap but has been upgraded ( with EEC money) so that it is generally Motorway standard and the speeds I feel are much the same as UK.
Certainly they take a more 'relaxed' attitude to parking but I have never yet been blocked into a parking space that I could not get out of.
Once you get off the coast and inland then IMO its a great place to drive.
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>>Once you get off the coast and inland then IMO its a great place to drive.>>
Agree absolutely.
What is even more remarkable about European countries is the fact that although most of them are vastly larger in size than the UK, roads generally are far superior than here, even in out of the way places.
Another country where the standards of the roads never failed to amaze was South Africa, especially along the Garden Route.
If you really did get off the beaten track, then the roads were mostly stone or dirt, but even the route to Arniston (next to the town which is the southern most in the country, the road was first class.
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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What bothered me in Spain was the lack of co-operation. In the UK someone will normally let you out into the fast lane when you get stuck behind something slow-moving. In Spain, no way....
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We are generally reckoned to be one of the more disciplined nations when it comes to driving standards, and we certainly have a much lower rate of fatals than most of the world, certainly Europe.
Yet when the DSA push through changes to the testing system which even they think are flawed, the reason given is to bring us into line with the latest EU directive.
Maybe they should think about coming into line with us.
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Guys ( and gals)
We have some of the busiest roads in the UK, On the whole we drive pretty fast compared to some and yet
We have one of the lowest death and accident rates in Europe.
Guess that makes us pretty good.
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Guys ( and gals) We have some of the busiest roads in the UK, On the whole we drive pretty fast compared to some and yet We have one of the lowest death and accident rates in Europe. Guess that makes us pretty good.
Tell that to the safety scamera schemes... ;o)
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