Andy Hall wrote:
On Sat, 13 Aug 2005 12:44:03 GMT, T i m wrote:


On Sat, 13 Aug 2005 12:01:04 +0100, Andy Hall
wrote:



IMCE, this is very much a north/south issue or perhaps a cultural one
in Europe.

Countries further north or with a Germanic language/cultural root tend
to have a more proceduralised environment and usually do tend to work
by and to follow rules.

Those further south with more of a Latin language/cultural root tend
to have the rules, but frequently apply them just when something bad
happens.

Seems to fit ...

I was driving a mate recently (who had moved to Italy about 10 years
ago) when the set of lights I was approaching turned to amber and I
stopped (it would have been touch and go that I would have crossed the
first set *just* as they turned red or not).

He had a bit of a panic and asked me 'not to do that again!'. He said
that had I done that (stopped on an amber) in Nth Italy I would
probably had had a car in my boot, in the South it would have been
guaranteed!


Oh sure. The best white knuckle ride I ever had was with a taxi
driver in Milan who thought that traffic lights were more of a
"policy" thing. However, he did believe in giving hand signals. The
window was wound down the whole time and he gave many of them with the
middle finger of his left hand.


Milan, I'd agree with. My job occasionally takes me to Italy
(Rome/Milan/Turin) and Germany (and on only a couple of occasions to
Spain, Madrid).

Of those, I think the Italians have the most (not the word... I'm
looking for)... arrogance - take nothing away from them, typically good
drivers (in that they miss things, and they can fit a 13' car into a
13'1" space on the motorway at 80mph. My outstanding memory was a trip
to Turin where I was constantly being cut-up by learner drivers.

The Spanish, certainly city driving, appear oblivious to the dangers on
the road. As a pedestrian you take your life into your own hands if you
endeavour to cross the road. Memories there was of
feet-against-car-panels being used by scooter-riders to negotiate the
lanes of traffic in central Madrid.

The Germans, however, a completely different kettle of fish. Very
competant on the roads (just god-awful Autobahns with two lanes - inner
full of HGVs and the outer full of 200kmph Porsche; first time I took a
couple of colleagues there comments akin to "bloody exocet coming up
behind" were frequent. The strangest thing was in the city centres,
where the local pedestrians refuse to cross until they get the green-man
at the crossing. Nothing wierder than waiting, German beer beckoning
from the pub over the road, with a bunch of Germans at a crossing and
moving onto the road when the traffics past, to look around and realise
you're on your own.

I always find the trip back from the airport home the most relaxing as,
once again, you get used to the good old British motorway and
predictable driving.

Horses for courses, of course.

Mike