German Town Scraps Road Signs to Increase Safety

[alvaro84]

That Magic Roundabout is a funny thing. Though it is logical and systematic, I'd surely get lost in it Man, those crazy English drive on the wrong side of the road to begin with

[Laurentiu]

he-he, it's not so hard, it took me about 10-20 minutes to get over the initial "shock" and 1-2 weeks to start doing things instinctively rather than by thinking when I started driving here in CY. And please, don't say bad things about traffic in England...In my personal opinion from what I've seen the UK is second only to Germany in road behaviorism. And yes they seem to be very passionate about roundabouts but not as much as the French where half of the world's roundabouts are located , about 30.000 of them, can't even fathom that.Haven't been to France yet though to experience all that twirling around

The best part to me is the safety, can't beat that...again a link to IIHS Click Here
....40% fewer vehicle collisions, 80% fewer injuries and 90% fewer serious injuries and fatalities (according to a study [15] of a sampling of roundabouts in the United States, when compared with the junctions they replaced

Originally Posted by alvaro84

Man, those crazy English drive on the wrong side of the road to begin with

Theoretically speaking, left-hand traffic/driving does have a few advantages but not enough to say it's better...it's just different..

[alvaro84]

I was joking of course

What would be really bad is switching sides... I don't want to cross borders with different handed driving on the two sides too often...

[Laurentiu]

There's aren't much places near us where that can be encountered:
Changing sides at border

BTW, Hungary was with Czechoslovakia the last country in mainland Europe to drive on the left switching in 1939 when Germany invaded. Your grandparents probably drove on the "wrong" side

[alvaro84]

Originally Posted by Laurentiu

BTW, Hungary was with Czechoslovakia the last country in mainland Europe to drive on the left switching in 1939 when Germany invaded. Your grandparents probably drove on the "wrong" side

I can't imagine why did they that

Anyway, it's almost new to me. I've already read about it, but totally forgot later

[Clev]

My favorites are the giant billboards and electronic signs that espouse safe driving, while distracting drivers from it.

AdFreak: Don't drive distracted, says distracting ad

[Piwoslaw]

Originally Posted by Laurentiu

Was it in Bucharest by any chance ?

We didn't go that far south, maybe next year? This was in a small village near Fagaras. The lady (in an old Dacia, of course) went against the flow with such ease and grace as if:

• She did it all the time,
• There shouldn't be anyone else on the intersection,
• She didn't even swerve to miss me, as if she didn't notice me!!

Originally Posted by Laurentiu

For real adrenaline though, have to go to places like Sao Paolo, Brazil, any mega-city in Asia, Moscow...too bad we don't have any "comrade" from Russia to tell us tales from Moscow's streets

I once asked a Russian about traffic differences between his homeland and Western Europe:

• Traffic laws? What traffic laws?
• The first, and only, time he saw lanes painted on the pavement was in the center of Moscow. Outside of the capital there are no lanes, no dividing lines, no traffic signs.
• Roads are just a bunch of holes. If you're lucky, there is some pavement between holes. If you're less lucky, you won't be able to get out of a pothole.
• As if traffic jams in Moscow aren't bad enough already, rich businessmen pay to have emergency lights on their limos. Even other emergency vehicles (ambulance, police) must give them the right of way. There are thousands of such limos which totally disorganise the traffic flow, so much so that normal drivers are starting to protest.
• And last, but not least, there are stretches of roads in the country were you drive FAST, don't stop, and have your Kalashnikov ready.

I've never been that far east, so I have to rely on his word.

[Piwoslaw]

Originally Posted by alvaro84

Man, those crazy English drive on the wrong side of the road to begin with

Even being a pedestrian for a week kept me on my toes. But my friend spent a few months in England and claims that it seems more natural for him. But he didn't do any driving.

My Grandparents drove in Sweden in 1967, on the day after switching. They survived. (Grandpa died a year later, but this was apparently unrelated.)

Anyway, I don't need to go all the way to the Isles to see left-hand driving, I just drive through rural Poland on a Friday or Saturday night. The drunk drivers are all over the road

[Arragonis]

He he. Want to know why we still drive on the left (aka the correct) side of the road ?

Originally Posted by De Gaulle

Here is a country which is not European. Its history, its geography, its economy, its agriculture and the character of its people ‑ admirable people though they are ‑ all point in a different direction. This is a country which cannot, despite what it claims and perhaps even believes, be a full member

That was the french president deciding that Britain couldn't be part of the EEC in the 60s. After all that help and everything...

Anyway after that we had too many motorways, roads and cars to swap. So we didn't.

Originally Posted by Clev

My favorites are the giant billboards and electronic signs that espouse safe driving, while distracting drivers from it.

AdFreak: Don't drive distracted, says distracting ad

When myself and the wife got married and spent a lot of time driving instead of..., well, you know... our fave slogan was

"Frustration can cause accidents"

Still raises a titter in the Arragonis-mobile that one does.

[ShadeTreeMech]

Originally Posted by Piwoslaw

Anyway, I don't need to go all the way to the Isles to see left-hand driving, I just drive through rural Poland on a Friday or Saturday night. The drunk drivers are all over the road

Too much Sobieski being served? Being a lover of vodka and 25% Polish to begin with, drinking from what is purported to be from my grandfather's homeland is comforting, somehow.

I suppose to understand why the brits drive on the dark side, you have to understand their priorities. In left hand drive, the steering wheel is managed by the left hand (genereally speaking, the weaker hand) and the shifting by the right. So one could interpolate that the American was more concerned with shifting than steering

I look forward to more roundabouts in this backwards country. It is especially nice, I think, in a low traffic volume intersection.