uh oh - european roads... now what? (tips)

[bart]

IN BRIEF:

note: nothing contained within the 'lessons' is fiction.

so for those of you who never driven in europe before, i'd like to share with you how it is...

first, i'd like to start off and say that if you take all the people in canada and let them drive in europe, only 25% will survive. this is because 50% will kill eachother off crashing, 25% dont know how to drive stick, and lets say that leaves 25%. :rolleyes:

ok, so say you're one of the lucky 25%. and you are able to get around, but are pissing people off, and not making the most of the roads available to you...

LESSON #1: [passing]

no no, this isn't the kind of lame passing done on alberta highways, where people still don't know how to do it properly. the majority of roads in europe are two way traffic 'highways'. one lane in each direction, with a shoulder on each side.

so here is a pic of what cars look like driving along...

http://www.newveedub.com/images/crap/normal.gif

NOW, lets say you want to pass... well, if there is no opposing traffic, lucky you, give 'er. if there is, you better start passing, or others will pass you!!! seriously.

to start, make sure nobody is passing coming in the opposite direction, if not, you are ok, turn on your left blinker, and slowly make your way towards the center divider... (keep your blinker on this WHOLE time). you will notice opposing traffic notices this and they start moving over onto their shoulder, now go!!! pass as many cars as you can, with your blinker on. the most important thing to watch out for is if cars aren't passing coming from the opposite direction, if so, you will have to merge back into your lane. keep looking far ahead, analyze the road, check for gaps, if need be, you can safely merge into your lane, because as for now, you are your own lane. once you are satisfied, merge, by flicking the right blinker. once merged, flash your hazards twice as a sign of appreciation.

so its done something like:

http://www.newveedub.com/images/crap/passing.gif

zoomed:

http://www.newveedub.com/images/crap/zoompass.gif

now, if you've never done this before, being canadian or american, and sum everything from the above pic, you will have **** in your pants, literally. :D

other notes:

-you will get the occasional semi truck which will not get out of your way, because he is bigger than you, and more intimidating. so too bad for you, time to play dodge ball.

-sometimes cars will not be able to get out of your way, due to bicyclists on the shoulders (yes, they are allowed). everyone is supposed to share the road, so make sure before you start passing, the shoulders are clear for both directions, otherwise you will have no room to get through.

-keep close to the car you are passing, as if there is a car approaching you from behind at speed, he will pass you! if this is the case, opposing traffic will move over as far as they possibly can for that car to fit in, but this is rare. pic:

http://www.newveedub.com/images/crap/twopassing.gif

now thats tight! i like it tight baby! thats about it. if you have any questions, please feel free to ask me. :thumbsup:

real life pics:

http://www.newveedub.com/images/crap/c10.jpg
http://www.newveedub.com/images/crap/c11.jpg

MORE LESSONS TO COME LATER!

[ZorroAMG]

Great post, great pics, but also note, Bart, how wide the roads are there in comparison, factor in all the pussyshittyslowghey drivers here and you have all the reasons why it is t3h suck on Canadian roads...:D

[illeagle]

damn, if i tried that here, i woulden't get 2 blocks. People are slow, then when you pass, they swerve to hit!

[BigTruckDriver]

bart, thats crazy talk
they dont have roads that wide in europe

[ZorroAMG]

^WTF man, can you not SEE the pictures, and SEE the license plates on the front of the cars?

[BigTruckDriver]

lol
im kidding mang!

although, barts theorem does not hold true in the UK.
u try that in england and you will DIE!!!
good on the big highways tho :thumbsup:

[ZorroAMG]

Oh ok hehe, gotcha!

[Seanith]

Originally posted by ZorroAMG
Great post, great pics, but also note, Bart, how wide the roads are there in comparison, factor in all the pussyshittyslowghey drivers here and you have all the reasons why it is t3h suck on Canadian roads...:D

Exactly what I was going to say!
Awesome informative post, but from the picture it appears the lanes are about 1.5 the size of the lanes we have, but none the less it would still be :nut:

[Vtecpower]

thats just like italy when i was driving with my cousins and they wanted to pass some one they wouldnt care about incoming traffic they would just pass right between and over there they ride eachothers asses like crazy to them its normal but if they did it here ppl would be getting outta there cars and kill eachother

[/////AMG]

I can't not tell anyone how much Canadian drivers suck ass but to the people who have driven in Europe.

Bart is right, only 25% of the people here are as good drivers anyway, let alone in Europe, they will get banned at driving.

Nice passing lessons Bart. :thumbsup:

[hjr]

the lanes in the picture are basically 2 canadian lanes. i agree though that europeans are better drivers. this is due to far superior training and restrictions to driving

[bart]

yep, its like $500-$1000 to get a drivers license in europe, so people MAKE SURE they get it right the first time. what is it in canada? $50 last time i checked, lol. ahah.

i never been on a UK road before, so i can't say much about how they do it there. but almost every other country in europe i have been on, with that said, poland, is the country where its done the most, LOL! the lanes in poland are more like canadian ones, but with bigger shoulders, so in the end, still the same general width of the entire pavement as in the pics i posted in the first post.

take the road from calgary to bragg creek, its like in the diagrams... if it was a friday or something, where it was packed, you were speeding along, and you brought over the europeans here, you'd be in bragg creek in the same amount of time as if you were the only one on the road, lol.

notice in the second diagram that on regular width lanes the car drives normally in the middle, they keep always checking behind them for approaching cars, if they see you, they will move over to the shoulder so its easier for you to pass...

i will try to get a video of it while i'm here, but it may take some time.

[cman]

yep driving in the UK was quite an experience i must say. 90% of roads there have a higher speed limit in comparison to what a similar road here would have, also the lanes on urban roads in the UK are generally much narrower than here.

[EK 2.0]

Originally posted by hjr
the lanes in the picture are basically 2 canadian lanes. i agree though that europeans are better drivers. this is due to far superior training and restrictions to driving


and no cup-holders, cell phones, or applying make-up...its all about driving once you are in teh hot-seat in Europe I love driving there on those summers I used to visit family...

[sputnik]

is it just me or do those lanes seem MUCH wider than ours?

[Gonthro]

Originally posted by sputnik
is it just me or do those lanes seem MUCH wider than ours?

i was gonna say that, we have no need for that BS because our roads division would have stuffed 4 lanes in that space!!

[fast95pony]

I spent 5 months in 1996 working in London.My rental car was a Fiat Uno Start Diesel,possibly the worlds slowest car.It had a manual tranny,but was still crappy to drive.Merging onto a roundabout or Motorway was a bitch.It got great mileage though.
Generally ,drivers are more courteous and more aware of what's happening around them.I like driving in the U.K. ,but the car was a POS, So I took the train a lot !

[cman]

yea the train service there is AMAZING, level after level of tunnels and always a train going somewhere

[bighead2267]

that's why dont' say insurance rip us off.......b'coz Canada Traffic is sucks..........really sucks.......i agree alot of us here paying for all the bad driver, but if the driving spirit and skill is not that bad, there is no bad driver............


i think they should really look into relicense and re-design all the insurance policy

everything is totally BS=BULL SHIT.

[Idratherbsidewayz]

Originally posted by sputnik
is it just me or do those lanes seem MUCH wider than ours?

That is a very rare wide road. Deerfoot would have 4 lanes on normal European roads. Nothing scarier than going 150km/h to keep up to traffic, 20-30cm from the car's beside you.

[euro_racer]

ahah i can't wait to drive the euro roads again, havent been home for 9 years and i am going in 11 days!!:thumbsup:

[bart]

back to life bump! maybe some of you in this city can learn something! :)

[xcelr8]

wow i never knew that...

[luftwaffe]

Not to be rude but where the hell did you see people doing that!? In most places in Europe this will get you KILLED. I've spent 10 years in Germany and let me assure you this is definitely NOT how you pass on undivided highways. Most secondary highways "Bundesstrasse" consist of one lane in each direction, about 20-30% narrower than a regular highway lane in Canada. There's marginal, if any, shoulders and the people driving in opposite direction most definitely won't voluntarily move onto the shoulder, unless you pull a kamikaze move and go in their lane. Remember, all this happens at min. 80-100 km/h

Here's an illustration

http://www.julian-roschlau.de/hike03.JPG

I don't think you'd want to pull a passing manoeuver like that on this road.

[bart]

it happens everywhere, the pictures in the first thread are from the UK. it happens mostly in countries which have poorer roads, ie: less "highways" more secondary roads, its just a way of getting to where you're going faster, by pretending it was a "highway", and those who want to do the limit, do, and move out of your way in courtesy. :thumbsup:

[luftwaffe]

That's pretty ghetto. I've never seen anything like that anywhere in mainland Europe. Must be a UK thing.

[3G]

That's how they drive in Lebanon too. Narrow lanes, no shoulders (1 mistake and ur stuck in a sewer hole in some places). Passing, passing, passing, but oncoming traffic doesnt move over, theyll move over a bit, highbeam you and honk at you like you're some crazy mofo but they all do it