Do drivers of other countries have this road warrior attitude ? Here in America ordinary easy going people once behind the wheel of there car turn into snarling mad road warriors! They have one goal, to get ahead of the next car at all cost! And if they cant do that, they ride your bumper, flip you off, honk there horn at you, swirve into oncoming traffic. All because you are only driving the speed limit! How dare you! Laws are made to be broken right? It gets crazy! Look at them behind there wheels, they are snarling at you! Why? I was just wondering. do drivers of other countries have this problem? Kind of like a Jeckel and Hide sindrome. Since there are people from all parts of this earth here, I thought it to be a good question. Any input on this?

Regards,

Garry

Garry,
Never drove in Italy, I see...
Road rage is becoming a world wide phenomenon. Best bet is to travel well armed.

yep same here,

the worst culprit it s the white van man(yes i mean you pete! :-) )

personally, id rather be 5 minutes late in this world, than 5 minutes early to the next!

cheers

joe

Poor driving skills, lack of turn signal use, not following the rules of the road, angry, angry people driving to fast for conditions......is that what we are talking about?

There could be a lot of reasons for this.
Our interstate system is designed for a higher speed than we've been mandated to drive.
Except for minivans, which are only marginal automobiles at best, our cars (mine, too) are over powered and sold with speed in mind. NASCAR makes a point of having their cars LOOK like street cars.
There are people who underdrive and hog the road. (Maryland was considering a law, I don't know if it was passed, that would have allowed police to ticket people who were inthe passing lane and not yeilding, even if they were driving the speed limit.
Our movies play up speed. (Think Vanishing Point, Smokey and the Bandit, Bullitt, French Connection, Cannonball Run, The Italian Job, Fast & Furious, etc.) In these epics, tires "squeal" on sandy surfaces!
Some of the worst offenders are the enforcement people themselves. E.G in my old job, I had a 25 mile commute. I would be regualrly passed by the Sherriff's van his way to the office, state police with no roof lights, local police using the turnpike (not their jursidiction) and one day, on the occasion of a police funeral in Boston, several out of state police cars on their way to the funeral.

You guys should try driving here in Egypt. I lived in the States for 13 years and drove there. Compared to Egypt, I could drive in the States with my eyes closed. In addition to the crazy un-imanginable way people drive here, there are no traffic lights, they put the exit sing right next to the exit itself. Highway..... you got people driving backwards cause thay mixed that exit. And if you just honk the horn a little-just as a warning and not as a complain- you end up being cussed out. And to top everything off, there is NO traffic police or traffic laws. Well, the laws are actually in the books, but if you mention it in front of an officer, he will laugh at you. So, you guys have nothing to complain about.

Garry,

As with you, I drive in Oregon, and the cretins here in the southern part of the state clearly have no idea what a turn signal is for. Ticks me off.

Cody

I live in Maryland, and I must say, the only other place I have been with worse drivers is Tijuana Mexico!! 1 person (all by themselves) in a S-A-V (suburban assault vehicle) talking on the cellphone doing 95 in a 55 passing people on the right (daily occurance). I agree with the comment that our interstate system was designed to handle higher speeds, I'm fine with that (I drive a WRX and I prefer to drive faster) but the problem with the speed limit issue is usually 1 of 2 things:
1. Person "A" who thinks it is his God given Right to go exactly 2 mph below the speed limit in the passing lane (get the heck outta the way, especially if there is no traffic) If the speed limit is 70 and someone is driving 55 in the "fast/passing" lane, pull them over too! They are posing a danger to the people who are comfortable with the speed or w/ driving their car.
2. Make "Speed Limit" exactly what it implies, a Limit, don't arbitrarily pull someone over going 5-10 mph over the "Limit" (just because they are driving a "Fast and the Furious" looking car, I might add) and then let the "Soccer Mom" doing 20mph over and talking on the cellphone with her 2 kids unbelted in the back seat go free.

As far as the road rage goes, unfortunately our country has a serious problem with violence. Too many people trying to get nowhere too dang fast. Man leave 5 minutes earlier. Here in MD and in D.C. you HAVE to tailgate the person in front of you or else you'll never get anywhere. You will be cut off 6-ways-to-Sunday if you don't. All joking aside, most of the problems come down to driving skills, if you can't drive, GET OFF THE ROAD!!! When someone makes a stupid decision and threatens someone else's life/vehicle, it is only natural to get protective. It is, however, very unnatural to kill someone over it.

You think US drivers are bad? Try some of the places in Europe or Asia. There are practically no rules over there. In Germany the Autobahn is basically go as fast as you can. In other cities the traffic is so bad (Los Angeles has nothing on these jams) that people will do anything and everything to squeeze in and out of traffic. In Asia some of the roads are so disorganized you have to fight traffic both ways because the roads are only 1.5 lanes wide.

I own a car but I ride my push bike everywhere to keep the blubber building up.On my bike I become invisible Ive been knocked of twice they never stopped to see if i was alive or dead,nearly crushed by a double decker bus, twice, Yes garry over here they are complete animals I wont even go into what I had to deal with when I was a Policeman. all the best

Ciao everyone,
Yes, the need for speed. I recently counted up all the countries that I have been to, and it totaled out to 28. Everywhere I have gone, everyone there said that they had the worse drivers in the world (except for England. I don't know what the English think, I just never heard a complaint.) Italy has some of the fastest drivers I have ever seen (but very few fatal accidents.) The worst thing is watching a column of cars six wide try to jam into one toll lane (I'm not kidding.) Shermies - Actually, Germany does have speed limits. After some really spectacular crashes, the limitless speed lane is done for. If you shoot the finger to another driver in Germany, watch out!! Vulgarity isn't tolerated, either. The Philippines was pretty wide open for driving, but road rage was not something I had ever seen there. The wildest driving I have ever seen was in the UAE.
Ciao for now
Rob

I remeber when i lived in scotland it was like a natioonal thing bad drivers drive white vans, but here in the USA its nearly everyone. People are so impatient and in a hurry all the time i would say thats what really causes 90% of accidents people cutting in and out of traffic. I have had to slam on the breaks a few times, cause some complete idoit decides on a highway at 65mph can fit in a 3 second gap between me and the car infront; and i only started driving

At least on the Autobahn, the use of the inside lane as the fast lane is respected as opposed to here where it it is inhabited by retired people, morons and some semi trucks that pass other semi trucks when they are going 1 mph faster than the slower one.

Now in Plano, and Texas in general which is land of the SUV, people think that if their vehicle costs more than $40,000 that the rest of us should get out of the way. And they like to run red lights. Don't get me started on cell phones.

Paul

Ah, yes, the cell. People driving in parking lots (Hey, didn't you just get in the car? Couldn't you make the call while you were waiting to get out of the spot? What's so important , it can't wait a couple minutes?) on the cell or in busy city traffic? There's just too much hapening to be that distracted. I saw a guy having a hellacious time trying to park his car across from my office. He's in and out of the space, into and out of traffic which is getting backed up at a corner or stopped in the line of traffic to let this jamoke get into his space while other cars are turning into the street. He almost take out a fire hydrant. As I go by, I see his cell is in his right hand at his left ear and he's trying to steer with his left hand on the right side of the wheel with his head cocked 45 degrees to the left!
As Tom and Ray Maggliozzi say, "HANG UP AND DRIVE!"

I remember driving in Egypt....the biggest vehicle (or the driver with the most guts) had the right of way, and an intersection meant downshift 1 gear and floor it!!!!. But in the States, the worst drivers I've found are in the Tampa Bay area. Even 635 in Dallas at rush hour is civilized compared to TB.

Ciao ptruhe,
Hey, I can tell you something about cellphones. I am a DOD Policeman on a navy base and a taxi driver comes cruising through the main gate -
1) driving
2) talking on a cellphone
3) eating a sandwich.
I yelled if she would needed to work on her laptop, too. I should have written her a ticket for careless driving (it would have stuck.) Instead, she calls and complains to my sargeant about my "abusing her." The sargeant told her I should have cited her for careless driving. Next time.....
Ciao for now
Rob

I think the prize for stupidity went to the woman I saw a few weeks back putting in her eye drops on the highway...I'd estimate her speed to have been between 70 and 75mph.

We had a road rage case a little while back in our state where two cars got into it and started racing down the highway. Long and the short of it, one of the guys shot the woman in the other car. His defense was priceless though..."I was loading my gun and it accidentally discharged." Now, firstly, I don't think I've ever felt it necessary to load a gun while driving. Also, call me crazy, but I seem to remember a few steps between the actual loading and firing, even if the safety is off?

Haven't tried Metro Manila eh? Big buses swerve from the rightmost lane across 5 lanes just to get ahead of the bus in front (bus driver salaries are based on number of passengers). Jeepneys (minibus frankensteins) suddenly go from 80kph to zero in the middle lane to let passengers off. Watch out for pedestrians flagging a ride. Chances are a taxi/bus/jeepney will cut you off just to get that potential passenger. Not to mention the high and mighty sons of god who think that just because their dad was elected to public office (using money "appropriated" from the national treasury) they can go against the flow of the opposing lane whenever they please

Yep guys, kinda makes you wonder! This is your mind and this is your mind behind the wheel!
I am amazed it is a world wide mind set! I dont travel, outside of when I was in the Army, so a lot of this is new to me. Out of all of this input, there is one thing that is a constant. Many people out there do go through a change when they drive a car. It seems to bring out the worst in them! And the cell phone thing?
Make that call before or after you drive that car. We dont want to pay your bill with our lives!
Many interesting post here, thanks for the input!

Cheers,

Garry

Holly Crap guy i witnessed the first accident i have seen with my own to eyes. A car traveling down the fast land (right lane) of a 3 lane highway (3 way each way) went of the road to the right spun out through a thick layer of bushes to the other side of the road and crossing all 3 lanes of traffic while spining and not getting hit once. No THATS LUCKY! anyone in my area can tell you I-5 at 4pm on a monday is usally has no gaps inbetween cars.
The driver got out and his family(i think it was his family) and examined the car then drove off again.

Now when i seen this i was like

Kinda brings back the old Walt Disney Goofy cartoon about Mr. Walker and Mr. Wheeler. Mr. Walker is a mild-mannered pedestrian who becomes the raving lunatic Mr. Wheeler when he's behind the wheel

New Zealand drivers are bad as well. As are a lot of Australian ones

To john mendoza..
the Philippines sounds just like Egypt. everyday when I get home I thank God that I made it in one piece. Seriuosly.. as soon as I park the car, I actually say "thank you God for bringing me home safely to my family another day"!! Sometimes I think if it were not for tha grace of God, we would have 100's of deaths on the streets everyday.

Problem in the US of A is that turn signals have been made optional and cell phones mandatory

You think American drivers are bad, try driving in the Ukraine or Russia. There is no such a thing as staying in your lane - it's driving in the center of the white line, not within the lines. :-) When I was in Kiev I actually saw people driving on the sidewalks to avoid traffic!