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Zurich15325 Posts
An email to all employees this morning reminded everyone to drive responsibly. They send those out every week. After just having once again survived the daily commute this seems like a joke.
In 2009 an average 55 people died each day in car accidents. That’s in a country of not even 30 million where drunk driving doesn’t exist and half the population is banned from driving.
Entering the road here wakes a mixture of comical amusement and fear for your life. Traffic rules in general are optional. Even traffic lights just give a broad idea who is supposed to go ahead and who not. I have driven through South American city traffic, which certainly isn’t easy to operate in coming from strictly regulated Germany, but this here is a whole different deal. In Buenos Aires rush hour traffic is hell as well – but still there is this general theme that everyone wants to get from point A to point B, even if that means not taking much consideration for other drivers.
Here it’s the opposite. The main idea of driving seems to be preventing everyone else from getting from A to B even if it means you will be slowed down as well. If someone wants to switch lanes here, it is your responsibility to prevent that by any means short of a full on collision. And by lane, I mean the here popular definition of “any part of the road and the near surrounding that’s wide enough for your car”.
The average local drives with one hand on the cell phone, and one hand on the horn. Honking nonstop is mandatory as soon as you go slower than 20km/h. It is said that they don’t bring their cars to inspection until the horn is faulty.
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/zatic/traffic.jpg)
If you want to make a left turn, of course you will dutifully file in on the very right side – and just accelerate faster than everybody else. Common practices of passing someone include taking highway exits, opposing lanes, parts of the desert, closed off construction sites.
If there is a red light and you actually halt in the first row it is customary to not fully stop, but to slowly roll onwards at about 10 meters per minute. This often enough results in several cars slowly rolling right into the center of the intersection such that crossing traffic has to perform impressive evasive maneuvers. Of course, the first and second row of ‘waiting’ cars can’t see the traffic lights anymore in that case – but they’ll surely be reminded to finally go by 200 angrily honking horns when the light finally turns green.
All cars here a set to make an annoying beeping noise at 120 km/h. Which interestingly enough seems to be one of the only effective traffic rules – inner city traffic is usually limited to exactly 120 km/h. Regardless of course of road condition or congestion.
The Company must have realized that losing a substantial part of their workforce to traffic accidents is bad for business, and they do everything they can to educate respectful driving. Every building is plastered with posters reminding everyone to drive safely. There is campus police patrolling the company compound with vigilance. The slightest offense is punished harshly: One citation will cost the ENTIRE team of the driver their bonuses. The second one and you are invited for a serious talk to a board of upper management. I have not heard of anyone getting two citations so far.
Of course, this does little to change driving outside the safe zone. As soon as you are cleared to leave at the compound gate, everyone slams down the accelerator and heads off into madness once more.
Depending on my mood I will follow this up with more blog posts about working abroad.
 
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United States24670 Posts
Sounds much worse than the traffc-related problems I've had lately...
...but I've had it on my mind. The past few days I've been driving to different parts of New York State and have had to go through NY City several times. It amazes me how frequently somebody totally screws up and nearly causes an accident. It also amazes me how rarely I see accidents considering this.
Yesterday I was driving from the Whitestone Bridge to the Clearview, and the two lane road merges into one before the remaining lane then merges into the highway. This one guy in a minivan apparently didn't notice that there were no longer two lanes and went speeding past the guy in front of him in the 'other' lane which wasn't actually a lane. I noticed he was suddenly going to crash into me so I got as far left as I could and he missed me to my right and eventually slowed down enough to merge behind me (in front of the guy he irresponsibly passed). It was clear he hadn't done it intentionally but just had no idea wtf he was doing. Of course the instant I laid eyes on an asian male hurdling towards me like an idiot I immediately thought "DAMMIT WHY IS THE STEREOTYPE SO DAMN TRUE."
That was like one of ten cases where an accident almost happened although that particular one would have involved me.
edit: similar to the OP there are some habits around here that piss me off (again, not as bad). People drive with a very small following distance which is obviously unsafe. If you decide to drive with a safe following distance (a few seconds behind the guy in front of you) then the people behind you get impatient, pass you, and then change lanes directly in front of you. Many people aren't satisfied unless they create the most dangerous situation possible even though it doesn't save any actual time for drivers. Another thing: why do people never let other people in? It's disgusting.
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lol asians arent nearly as bad at driving as indians are. i really have no idea how most of them passed their licence test
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From my time living in the US and UK, I can tell you that the Brits know how to drive, and (at least in this corner of the states) Americans do not.
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Hahaha, driving stereotypes are amazing (for a white male)
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I notice that there is a huge difference in the quality of drivers between my college town and my home city (not really a city though). Whenever I drive home, everything goes fine, most drivers are respectful, they drive at a reasonable speed, most know the rules of the road, until I get to my home city. As soon as I get off the interstate, fucking RETARDS EVERYWHERE. Seriously, it is that immediate. I'll have problems with at least 3 drivers on the 2 mile stretch from the exit to my residential road. Fucking old people driving 30mph on a 45mph road, rich girls in their land rovers on the goddamn phone, rednecks in their big ass F-950s stomping the gas as hard as they can weaving in and out of traffic, on the sidewalks, it's fucking ridiculous.
Jesus, I'm glad I don't drive where OP lives.
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5/5
I do not see how driving can get any worse than this. These people treat it as if it were a game, with no manners at all while driving. Oh well, that is what happens when a large percentage of the population are under a horrible education system and the majority of the roads are highways with barely any traffic.
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just got a new phone that's fully touch screen
i have SINCE completely stopped texting while i drive due to the fact that i cant feel my way to the buttons so i have to focus really hard on the phone and it SCARES THE SHIT OUTTA ME
be safe. dont die.
wtf is that picture @_@
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do you know the story behind that picture?
is everyone trying to turn onto the other direction of freeway?
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Korea (South)17174 Posts
just looking at that picture puts me on tilt lol
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On May 01 2010 23:21 JohnColtrane wrote:
lol asians arent nearly as bad at driving as indians are. i really have no idea how most of them passed their licence test
Indians =/= Asians !
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On May 02 2010 03:50 ilovezil wrote:Show nested quote +On May 01 2010 23:21 JohnColtrane wrote:
lol asians arent nearly as bad at driving as indians are. i really have no idea how most of them passed their licence test
Indians =/= Asians !
!!
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EPT
