Regional variations in driving?

PBC_1966

In the various places I've lived and traveled within England, I've noticed over the years that there's quite a variation in driving from place to place. I don't just mean the sort of difference between city drivers and rural drivers, as I think that's found just about everywhere.

I've lived in both Lincolnshire and Norfolk (both eastern England) in recent years, and in both cases in areas which are predominantly rural, with scattered villages and small towns. There are idiots everywhere (possibly visitors anyway), but aggressive and stupid driving doesn't seem to be anywhere near as bad here in Norfolk as it was in Lincolnshire.

Do you find a similar situation in different parts of Ireland? Which areas have the most courteous drivers, and which the most aggressive?

mike65

There are without question variations, the most aggressive drivers are in Dublin. Not a surprise given the number of cars and the lack of space, "he who hesitates is lost" in the big smoke!

I find the further wesht one goes esp outside decent sized towns the worse the driving. With plenty of wandering across white lines, lack of indicator use, mirrors etc. As for parking...:eek:

Mike.

unkel

My experience in driving in the UK is that driver behaviour is generally exemplary

Motorways are used as they should be, same as in France, Germany, the Netherlands, etc.

The UK has one of the lowest traffic death rates per capita, even if you take into account the population density it is still pretty good

Every single day I encounter people over here that just head into a roundabout without even noticing other traffic

Because of the total incompetence of maybe not the majority, but at least a very large minority of Irish drivers, combined with the ludicrous payouts for injuries, people here pay about 500% more for insurance cover than they should...

Mind was over in Norwich a good few times for business years ago and there were a few boy racers burning the rubber in their Opel (Sorry, Vauxhall) corsa's in the city centre alright

BrianD3

Dublin drivers: aggressive, impatient, unforgiving of mistakes by others, decisive, prone to road rage over the slightest thing. Always jumping from one lane to another to get ahead and save some time. Involved in many slow speed accidents where they rear end the car in front in heavy traffic.

Country drivers: lots of slow, indecisive dawdlers in VW Ventos who hog the white line at 40 mph on national primary roads. Indicate late or not at all. Terrible lane discipline on roundabouts etc. Will dawdle out in front of you from side roads without looking forcing you to jam on, then will proceed to drive at a snails pace in front of you :mad: Lots of "cute hoors" who drive slowly until they see some "flash Dublin bollix" trying to overtake they'll speed up to make the overtake as difficult as possible.

Nordie reg drivers: Extremely aggressive and dangerous when driving in the Republic. Ignore speed limits, continuous white lines. Suicidal overtaking on twisting national secondary roads.

BrianD3

Our man in Havana

BrianD3 wrote:

Dublin drivers: aggressive, impatient, unforgiving of mistakes by others, decisive, prone to road rage over the slightest thing. Always jumping from one lane to another to get ahead and save some time. Involved in many slow speed accidents where they rear end the car in front in heavy traffic.

Country drivers: lots of slow, indecisive dawdlers in VW Ventos who hog the white line at 40 mph on national primary roads. Indicate late or not at all. Terrible lane discipline on roundabouts etc. Will dawdle out in front of you from side roads without looking forcing you to jam on, then will proceed to drive at a snails pace in front of you :mad: Lots of "cute hoors" who drive slowly until they see some "flash Dublin bollix" trying to overtake they'll speed up to make the overtake as difficult as possible.

Nordie reg drivers: Extremely aggressive and dangerous when driving in the Republic. Ignore speed limits, continuous white lines. Suicidal overtaking on twisting national secondary roads.

BrianD3

I would agree entirely with BrianD3.

PBC_1966

I think it's important to distinguish between drivers who are arrogant/aggressive and those who are just inept. There are quite a few people around here who seem incapable of parallel parking, for example. I can wonder how they manage after seeing somebody try to drive forward into a space and then shuffle back and forth a half dozen times and still end up 3 feet from the curb, but they don't bother me anywhere near as much as the racers and idiots who sit on your bumper flashing at you because they want to go faster. Fortunately, the latter aren't too numerous.

Mind was over in Norwich a good few times for business years ago and there were a few boy racers burning the rubber in their Opel (Sorry, Vauxhall) corsa's in the city centre alright

I'm only about 20 miles from Norwich, so I go into the city fairly regularly. It's certainly better than most big cities, but you'll run across a few of these idiots, especially at night. You can generally hear them coming from about a half-mile away by the "thud-boom" sounds emanating from their zillion-watt audio systems.

aodh_rua

BrianD3 wrote:

Nordie reg drivers: Extremely aggressive and dangerous when driving in the Republic. Ignore speed limits, continuous white lines. Suicidal overtaking on twisting national secondary roads.

Amen to that.