Send our road safety pollies to Europe

[cro142]

I have just returned from a month in Italy, Switzerland and France where I drove about 5000km. I was amazed by the higher level of driving skills in these countries compared to Australia.

Starting off in Italy, I had some initial reserve about the fast and furious driving reputation of the Italians, but after a day or so it became obvious that drivers are highly skilled in driving in a very crowded environment. While the road rules are treated as a general guide only, it is very apparent that logic prevails, and that drivers are extremely tolerant and and use common sense to be able to cooperate skillfully in a very crowded driving environment.

In dense traffic situations in the cities, there was plenty of light flashing and horn tooting, but not as abuse as is the case in Australia. Rather, it was to advise intentions and to "negotiate" right of way in complex situations where the rules would be useless. The result was that the traffic was very dense, but progressed very quickly in a very ordered and cooperative fashion. Mind you, this included turning 2 lanes into 3 or 4, being continually buzzed by a gaggle of motor scooters just millimeteres from your mirrors, and filling scooter-sized holes in the traffic with a car !!! All in all, great fun - especially when remembering to keep right and change gears with your right hand, and to use the indicators when turning - not the wipers, as the wands are reversed in LHD!!

It was on the Autostrades where the driving skills are so superior to Australia.
The Autostrades in Italy are not as good as our Australian freeways, as the lanes are narrower and there is a continuous Armco barrier right on the lane edge on both sides - so its like racing on a street circuit with nowhere to go.

On a 3 lane Autostrade, the right lane (left for Oz) was mostly occupied by trucks, and I mean literally thousands of trucks. These seemed to trundle along at around 110 kmh, ocasionally moving to lane 2 to overtake, but they are not allowed in the left (fast) lane. One hard and fast rule is that you KEEP TO THE RIGHT LANE (left for Oz) after overtaking and NEVER OVERTAKE ON THE RIGHT (left for OZ), and this is a major factor in the successful traffic flow, as you can depend on the behaviour of others.

The result is that cars in the centre lane move at about 130 -140 kmh ( speed limit is 130 nominally), and if you overtake into the left (fast) lane, you IMMEDIATELY move back to the centre lane. The fast lane seems to move at something like 160 -170 kmh, as I was cruising at 140-150, but continually overtaken by cars doing a hell of a lot more. It was not only the Mercs, Porsches, BMW's and Audis doing this - there were also plenty of shopping trolley hatches involved !! Things moved so fast that if you moved out into a very-clear fast lane to overtake a 140kmh slow-coach in the centre lane, it would be quite likely to have your mirrors filled with a Merc about a metre from your bumper by the time you were able to move back.

This was fabulous driving and I really enjoyed it. The thing is that the emphasis is on driving skill, and on logical road rules that provide a mechanism to keep huge volumes of traffic flowing. Although the speed limit is nominally 130, there is no mindless enforcement of arbitrary speed limits - I overtook a police car at 145, but he took no notice. Rather the emphasis is on logically and safely moving the traffic. My observation is that this creates a driving attitude where everyone does the right thing, and the traffic flows much better and more safely as a result.

This contrasts to Australia where we have had nearly 2 generations of enforcement of sometimes-ridiculous speed limits (Remember I'm the guy who was booked for 113kmh near the QLD-NT border on the club Darwin trip last year), which has resulted in a driving population of speedo-watchers, with no attempt or possibility of developing the skills evident in Europe.

For example, an opportunity was lost in QLD with the opening of the M1 (Brisbane to Gold Coast), to introduce strict "keep left unless overtaking", and "no overtaking on the left" behaviour. This could have been a first step in intoducing European style driving behaviour, which would have increased traffic flow and allowed for a possible raising of speed limit in the future. As it stands now, the M1 is much more congested and unsafe than it needs to be.

So, I suggest broadening the outlook of our road safety regulators with a close look at the European situation to see what is possible. This has to be more informative than the current moronic attitude of "every K over is a killer" which is demonstably wrong. There is an old saying: " to every complex problem there is a simple solution that is easy, cheap and WRONG". This is the case with mindless enforcement of speed limits, without regard to raising the level of driver skill and behaviour.

By the way, the hire car I had in Europe was a brand new (7km) Fiat Punto 1.9L Diesel 6 speed manual. It was comfortable, went well, gearbox was brilliant, and I was quite impressed at its overall capability, and especially the fuel consumption. Over 5000km, varying from dense city traffic, to Autostrade cruising at 140-150, to endless first and second gear work in the Swiss Alps (52 hairpin bends in 14km), it averaged 5.8 litres per 100 km. That's almost 50mpg. Not bad.

Cheers,

Peter C

[phoon]

Thanks for that informative outlook on Euro driving Peter. Unfortunately, common sense on road rules plays no part in the stategies of the law makers in this country, revenue raising would be highly restricted if it was. The driving skills are appalling to say the least here as you know. Give anybody a licence and send them off with as little as 3 driving lessons. Road courtesy is replaced here with road rage. As long as the people in charge do nothing to train and educate the newby drivers and as long as the revenue from speeding fines continues to fill the coffers, nothing will change.

Hear, hear CRO142

I too have experienced this when in Europe except from the drivers seat behind the LHD wheel of a Volvo B10M twin turbo diesel, 54 seater coach. Yep, in my mid twenties during the mid 90's I was a tour coach driver for Eurobus which was bought out by Contiki and renamed Busabout which is a popular form of travel for many Ozzie and Kiwi backpackers.

You certainly have their driving expertise, rules and regs stated well. After 4 years I finally returned to Oz and found driving here very very frustrating. I'd flash my lights to let someone through who didn't have right of way and they'd tell me to F-off with a stern middle finger stretched to the Gods!!!

It seams unreal that as we see the 3 lanes develop up toward the Sunny Coast from BNE that most road users use pominently the middle and left hand lanes as the main peice of road. Instead, we should be using the left hand and middle lane with the added addition of the third lane when necessary...nope, on the odd occasion when I drive down to BNE the fast lane still has the dopes sitting out not passing squat.

It's ironic, but I had an easier time putting a 54 seater through the centre of cities such as Paris, Rome etc than I do putting a V8 through Caloundra!!!

Dave

[coyote]

To add to the general improvement to our road safety make it a one way trip for the pollies.

Originally Posted by 747FLI

It seams unreal that as we see the 3 lanes develop up toward the Sunny Coast from BNE that most road users use pominently the middle and left hand lanes as the main peice of road. Instead, we should be using the left hand and middle lane with the added addition of the third lane when necessary...nope, on the odd occasion when I drive down to BNE the fast lane still has the dopes sitting out not passing squat.

Dave

Ooops,

Meant to say right and middle lane as the prominent use...useless!

[Pedro]

Originally Posted by 747FLI

Ooops,
Meant to say right and middle lane as the prominent use...useless!

Yeah .. figured out that one.

I know what you're talking about cro142, I've done a lot of driving in Europe and it's as you say.

On the flip side, we have to have road rage here or the mindless shows that follow the 7 & 9 news wouldn't have anything to do stories on, apart from use-by dates on bread.

[tucky]

Was it an auto Dave, or did you kangaroo hop around Europe?

Originally Posted by tucky

Was it an auto Dave, or did you kangaroo hop around Europe?

Tucky, the cheek mate, it was "the car" huh!!! Yep the coach was manual but I also initially had trouble with it too! Scenario: push clutch in, smash left hand knuckles against side window and then remember that the gear stick is on your right...after a few bruised knuckles I eventually got it right!!!

The coach actually had a six speed manual with a splitter so twelve gears all up, great for knocking down half a gear and listening to the turbos whistle in the tunnels!

Dave