British drivers
 

http://www.theguardian.com/commentis...-us?CMP=twt_gu

Funny, Canon Chasuble seems to encounter a lot of idiots and silly old duffers ;-)

Scary really, to think they let Americans loose on European roads after their 'joke' of a driving test... ;-)

The UK driving test is regarded as being one of the easier ones in Europe. Until the loophole was closed, Germans used to come over and take the test here rather than in Germany, where it is a lot tougher.

And unfortunately, once people pass their test they seem to forget all the things they learned. Especially using indicators before turning...

In fairness, relatively few Americans ever drive on busy, crowded, roads at home. Or leave space for a double-decker bus when they park overnight on the street outside their house - never mind reverse into the nanospace that new neighbour's Chelsea Tractor has left for you. Or get across a road junction in the 0.3 milliseconds that are all Ken left for us when he last re-engineered the phasing of the lights.

Also, there's no "American" driving test, because each state has its own. The test tends to be much more difficult in densely populated states than it is in the states that are mostly wide open spaces.

I found the article amusing. The writer took a premise and then wrote accordingly, what else is new. To be fair, I think the article was meant to be entertaining rather than strictly factual.

As someone who has taken a UK driving test as well as a Canadian driving test and Swiss driving test, I can say that I did not find the UK any harder than the Canadian and easier than the Swiss.

The author makes a big deal out of studying for the theory test while I found reading through the book obviously makes sense but an experienced driver from another country will find most of it much the same. Yes, a few signposts and names of crossing are different but hardly rocket science.

A few afternoons at the pub, having a few locals quiz you, will soon take care of that part. I aced the theory and the woman who administered the test seemed to think that was unusual. I wondered at the intelligence of the average applicant if that were the case.

As for the actual driving test, the tester had more difficulty than I did I think since I took the test in a left hand drive car.

The 'tester' recorded two faults. One for not passing a bus stopped at a bus stop. I pointed out that in a left hand drive car, I could not see the right hand lane beside the bus and so chose not to pass when I could not see. The other was for not looking over my right shoulder before pulling out from a parking spot. I pointed out that in a left hand drive car, it is the left shoulder that is your blind spot, the right side is fully visible in your rear view and right side mirrors.

He recorded these two 'faults' anyway but I still received a 'pass'. I was annoyed I didn't ace it.

Perhaps for a young student (which the author declares himself to be) from Podunk, Iowa who therefore learned to drive in a small town in the countryside and who has only a few years of driving experience, the test was relatively different. But anyone who learned to drive in a major urban area in any State or country would find it no more difficult than at home. flanneruk alludes to that somewhat.

I would disagree with flanner on just how many Americans ever drive on busy, crowded, roads at home though. Like any country, the majority of people live in cities and are used to high volume traffic.

No need to 'be fair' to them flanneruk, try driving on Highway 401 across the top of Toronto (yes I know it's in Canada)which has between 12 and 20 lanes. It's the busiest road in N. America with an average of over 425,000 cars per day. Or Interstate 5 in Orange County, California which gets as high as 356,000 per day around the Lake Forest Drive intersection. Compare that to London's M25 which only averages 147,000.

<i> just how many Americans ever drive on busy, crowded, roads at home though. Like any country, the majority of people live in cities and are used to high volume traffic. </i>

The majority of Americans do not live in cities. Only about 1/3 do. The plurality lives in suburbs. American suburbs have more driving capacity than most European cities, which comes in no small part from being hundreds of years younger . . .

You have never driven until you have driven in Sicily.

"try driving on Highway 401 across the top of Toronto (yes I know it's in Canada)which has between 12 and 20 lanes"

I have. Also I-5

Compared to Hyde Park Corner - or my bus-infested, Cotswold street - both are a complete doddle. I've driven both with cruise control ON, they're that easy to drive.

The theory test in Italy was rather long and difficult, but I had no problem with it. I had one error in about 100 questions, and was the first in the group to finish, although the test was in Italian. I observed that most of the Italians were copying from each other, which probably slowed them down.

On the road test, the tester sat in the back seat and rarely raised her eyes from her cell phone. One of my drivers' ed. classmates ran off the road and nearly into the town wall, but he was passed.

Although I had been driving standard transmission my entire life, I took the standard 18-year-old drivers ed. course, because the red tape to get your license in any other way is formidable.

As a New Yorker I can testify to the fact that a chimp could pass the driving test here. It lasts about 4 minutes. You have to prove you can pull out of a parking space, drive a few blocks, make a left turn and a right turn, parallel park and return to base without hitting anything.

Obviously all 50 states have different tests, but I am not aware of any that are much more complex and non that requires merging onto a highway or even driving on a busy side road.

none of which qualifies you to drive in midtown Manhattan with hundreds of kamikazi cab drivers - or a gazillion tourists who don;t have a clue and try to drive between the lines.

DH has driven in London (and Manhattan and Paris and Los Angeles and Chicago and Philly and...) It was no harder than driving around Brussels at rush hour.

As for Tulips...I can't believe that anyone from Belgium could even think to be condescending about U.S. drivers

We saw a lot of bad driving in the UK, particularly by young male drivers.

No wonder Roy of Roy's Rolls cafe on Coronation Street had such a struggle passing his written and driving tests!

"Compared to Hyde Park Corner - or my bus-infested, Cotswold street - both are a complete doddle. I've driven both with cruise control ON, they're that easy to drive."

LOL - that's funny. Hyde Park Corner and pretty much any area of London is a picnic compared to some of the freeway cross mergers and mazes in US cities where people are switching lanes at 60+ mph next to a lane going 5 mph but I admit evading tour buses in the Cotswolds can be annoying. Good thing everyone is going 2 miles per hour gawking at the thatched roof chocolate boxes....

I found the UK theory and hazard perception tests quite straightforward assuming one actually spent some time to read the Highway Code for terminology. Although they do ask questions about first aid procedures which is something I never saw on either the California or Montana theory tests!

Weisser - you have to know when driving in Belgium that cars coming from the right go first, unless otherwise indicated.

Belgium is a small country with a huge amount of traffic travelling through to other countries. Travel on the Antwerp ring road and see the lanes blocked with Eastern European trucks.

What gets me is people who do not know the local traffic rules, get a ticket, and then complain that tourists are being target - several recent threads on Fodors.

I used to think Italy was the pits for driving until I met the Brussels ring road. I was cut up by a local driving in a hat, tamping his pipe and chatting on the phone all at 100km/h

That's not surprising.

Tulips, what does priority to the right have to do with your comment: "to think they let Americans loose on European roads after their 'joke' of a driving test"

I thought that was richly ironic coming from a citizen of a country that didn't require ANY practical driving test until the 1970s

Which means there are plenty of BELGIAN drivers -- not people from other countries driving in Belgium -- who never had to prove they could drive properly. Although yes, you do have lots of foreigners driving around recklessly and no small number of people with CD plates who think traffic laws don't apply to them. Put them all together and it's a mix that makes driving during rush hour in certain areas, like Montgomery Circle or the Place Louise an adventure.

And I'd need several hands to count the number of time Raisin and I were in a zebra crossing and almost mowed down by a driver with Belgian plates who didn't want to downshift and reduce speed to allow us to cross the road safely, even when we clearly had the priority.

I still hold my breath sometimes while on a zebra crossing in Switzerland even though drivers here always yield to pedestrians when they have the right of way.

Flanneruk, I do hope it was hyperbole when you wrote, "I've driven both with cruise control ON, they're that easy to drive."

No one (without a death wish) drives across Toronto on the 401 with cruise control on, or on the I-5 around LA. On othe parts of the highway yes but not in the cities themselves. To do so would be the height of folly to say the least.

Can it be that flanner is one of those people who drives with a little trilby hat on and string-backed driving gloves?

Compared to Hyde Park Corner - or my bus-infested, Cotswold street - both are a complete doddle. I've driven both with cruise control ON, they're that easy to drive>

Have you ever driven them in freezing snow, heavy snow, sleet - if not you have NO idea of how unnerving that can be - something that rarely happens in the UK - unless a few flakes of snow fall then the country comes to a standstill - even the London Tube and rail system at times.