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Author Topic: Driving in another country, is it really that bad?  (Read 5330 times)

Dave (Isle of Skye)

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Eric Myrvaagnes

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Re: Driving in another country, is it really that bad?
« Reply #1 on: July 22, 2013, 11:56:08 am »

Looks a lot like driving in or near Boston. Well, a little worse, I'll have to admit.
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RSL

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Re: Driving in another country, is it really that bad?
« Reply #2 on: July 22, 2013, 12:27:21 pm »

Too much vodka!
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Justan

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Re: Driving in another country, is it really that bad?
« Reply #3 on: July 22, 2013, 12:49:16 pm »

^ beat me to it.

...combined with a surprising number of motion video recorders.

RSL

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Re: Driving in another country, is it really that bad?
« Reply #4 on: July 22, 2013, 01:59:55 pm »

Here's more: http://www.prochan.com/embed?f=e53_1351184775

This is in the USA. Maybe too much Bourbon.
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Dave (Isle of Skye)

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Re: Driving in another country, is it really that bad?
« Reply #5 on: July 22, 2013, 02:00:37 pm »

Too much vodka!

I think the lady who the truck swerved around and somehow missed by a whisker, was definitely on something, as she appeared to be totally oblivious to anything that had just gone on around her ???

Dave
« Last Edit: July 23, 2013, 04:51:34 am by Dave (Isle of Skye) »
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Slobodan Blagojevic

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Re: Driving in another country, is it really that bad?
« Reply #6 on: July 22, 2013, 02:02:44 pm »

I was driving there for eight years... still alive :) Like many in those videos, surprisingly (no wonder the theme of the film is "Second Birthday")

But my colleague isn't. He was a Brit, a Johnston & Johnston manager, father of four young ones, and was killed on a sidewalk, while exiting the passenger side of a parked vehicle. You see, Russian drivers do not think twice of using sidewalks to bypass a traffic jam. You saw it in the video too, when a car used the shoulder to avoid a stopped car and hit the guy holding a child. Stopping the car on the road, even with flashing lights, was equally stupid, of course, but you have to understand the guy, it was muddy on the shoulder, and he did not want his car dirty inside ;)

The irony of the story about my colleague is that he was, at that very moment, a part of an advanced driving course, organized by J&J and administered by British police driving instructors. The police instructor suffered a nervous breakdown and was on the next flight to London. I was in that car, undergoing the same training, the day before.
« Last Edit: July 23, 2013, 04:41:39 pm by Slobodan Blagojevic »
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BernardLanguillier

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Re: Driving in another country, is it really that bad?
« Reply #7 on: July 22, 2013, 10:12:32 pm »

Wow... that's something!

I am impressed by the speed of reaction of the drivers, they must be used to improvisation!

Icy roads obviously don't help.

Cheers,
Bernard

Sareesh Sudhakaran

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Re: Driving in another country, is it really that bad?
« Reply #8 on: July 22, 2013, 11:51:21 pm »

Those who have passed the Russian test are welcome to enter the next circle of hell: India.
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tom b

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Re: Driving in another country, is it really that bad?
« Reply #9 on: July 23, 2013, 04:34:05 am »

Those who have passed the Russian test are welcome to enter the next circle of hell: India.

Had to laugh… I was thinking about my recent trip to Rajasthan while watching the video.

Cheers,
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Chris Calohan

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Re: Driving in another country, is it really that bad?
« Reply #10 on: July 23, 2013, 07:03:56 am »

Those who have passed the Russian test are welcome to enter the next circle of hell: India.

And none of you have traversed the streets of Rome or Mexico City...now there's terror in every wheeled imagination. Try it in a taxi for even more humor.
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Rob C

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Re: Driving in another country, is it really that bad?
« Reply #11 on: July 23, 2013, 02:39:35 pm »

And none of you have traversed the streets of Rome or Mexico City...now there's terror in every wheeled imagination. Try it in a taxi for even more humor.



Rome's a pussycat. Try Barcelona straight off the ferry. You exit the port onto a roundabout that, at my last visit, must have had about five or six lanes going round it. You inevitably intend to head somewhere else, but unless you take the testicle-enlargement pills an hour before docking, you will spend the next day or so going in frantic circles until the gas runs out, at which time a fine and a tow-truck will get you the hell out of there.

I'm told that in Madrid, those people who can own two cars: one old relic for Madrid and another, newer one for going elsewhere.

Rob C

RSL

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Re: Driving in another country, is it really that bad?
« Reply #12 on: July 23, 2013, 04:08:52 pm »

Try Saigon. . . Oops. . . Ho Chi Minh City.
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Vladimirovich

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Re: Driving in another country, is it really that bad?
« Reply #13 on: July 23, 2013, 05:24:44 pm »

However, "we" have dashcam videos to prove (and a lot of those)... what about other contenders mentioned here ? namely India, Barcelona, Rome, Mexico City, etc ? any videos or just tales ?
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BernardLanguillier

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Re: Driving in another country, is it really that bad?
« Reply #14 on: July 23, 2013, 08:25:07 pm »

Rome's a pussycat. Try Barcelona straight off the ferry. You exit the port onto a roundabout that, at my last visit, must have had about five or six lanes going round it. You inevitably intend to head somewhere else, but unless you take the testicle-enlargement pills an hour before docking, you will spend the next day or so going in frantic circles until the gas runs out, at which time a fine and a tow-truck will get you the hell out of there.

The worst place where I have driven is, by far, Jamaica.

I was in India, Thailand, China, Cambodia, Nepal,... have not driven there though, but found them not to be as scary as Jamaica because people tend to drive reasonnably slow in those places.

In Europe, I woulld rate Paris as the worst, again because people tend to drive very fast in complex urban environments... although Rome by night on Fridays is pretty fun as well. Barcelona seemed pretty layed back in comparison, but that was nearly 20 years ago.

Cheers,
Bernard

dreed

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Re: Driving in another country, is it really that bad?
« Reply #15 on: July 24, 2013, 08:16:58 am »

But not just dumb drivers, dumb pedestrians too!
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Dale Villeponteaux

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Re: Driving in another country, is it really that bad?
« Reply #16 on: July 26, 2013, 02:41:47 am »

http://www.wired.com/autopia/2013/02/russian-dash-cams/

An opinion on why so many Russian cars carry video cams.

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tom b

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Re: Driving in another country, is it really that bad?
« Reply #17 on: July 26, 2013, 02:53:32 am »

Came across these images while looking for something else. Rajasthan drivers…







Cheers,
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Tom Brown
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