Current Politics in the United Kingdom

[Wendigo]

Here you go

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...ted_death_rate


I think you'll find the UK fares well when compared with France, Germany and even dare I say it Russia where they probably still think all their vehicles are armoured

[palo5]

Originally Posted by otokonomidori

Have you driven much in the UK?

No, but some years ago a number of European countries required people to be properly trained by qualified instructors before they could take a test (and they still do). That was expensive for an individual. But at the time, UK did not have such a requirement, and anyone could be trained by anyone who had a driving license

So the scam was to save money by getting a UK license and then exchanging it for a European license. This leads to the belief that UK standards must be lower

I don't know what UK test procedures are today, but if they're the same, the scam won't work if there's no deal, because UK licenses won't be recognized anymore

Someone mentioned French drivers. My only experience with them was in Paris. We were told that one big difference between the Germans and French was that the Germans worship their cars, and the French don't care what happens to them

We were asked, for humor, to look out for any French cars that did not have dents in them. And after a week, I had only seen two out of thousands -- one was a Ferrari and the other was a Porsche. But I never saw reckless driving. A German would almost have heart failure if he saw a dent in his car

The most dangerous EU driving I've seen was in rural Greece in the mountains. And the most irrational was in Saudi Arabia -- only place I've ever seen where they blink and then turn in the opposite direction

[scoundrel]

Originally Posted by palo5

No, but some years ago a number of European countries required people to be properly trained by qualified instructors before they could take a test (and they still do). That was expensive for an individual. But at the time, UK did not have such a requirement, and anyone could be trained by anyone who had a driving license

So the scam was to save money by getting a UK license and then exchanging it for a European license. This leads to the belief that UK standards must be lower

I don't know what UK test procedures are today, but if they're the same, the scam won't work if there's no deal, because UK licenses won't be recognized anymore

Someone mentioned French drivers. My only experience with them was in Paris. We were told that one big difference between the Germans and French was that the Germans worship their cars, and the French don't care what happens to them

We were asked, for humor, to look out for any French cars that did not have dents in them. And after a week, I had only seen two out of thousands -- one was a Ferrari and the other was a Porsche. But I never saw reckless driving. A German would almost have heart failure if he saw a dent in his car

The most dangerous EU driving I've seen was in rural Greece in the mountains. And the most irrational was in Saudi Arabia -- only place I've ever seen where they blink and then turn in the opposite direction

Scroll back to the 1950s and early 1960s and people did commonly learn to drive by being tutored by friends and relatives who were already full license holders. In those days there were hundreds of abandoned RAF airfields all over the country and these were good places to take a novice driver where he or she could learn to operate the controls with no risk of hitting anything or hurting anyone.

But that was then and this is now. My parents both learned with a driving school and that was in the late 1960s. I don't know anyone who didn't go to a qualified driving instructor and learn to drive in a car with dual controls, in which the instructor could brake if the learner failed to do so. My instructor only ever did that to me once and I still resent it. There was bags of room to pull out. I know there was because I used to pull out of that same junction every day into smaller gaps than that riding a 50cc moped with far less acceleration than a one litre Mark One Nissan Micra. My instructor maintained that my experience on mopeds was a minus, not a plus, because it taught me to be aggressive. I am a bad one for road rage...that's true.

I actually learned to ride a moped when I was 17 and that was still the Wild West. You used to put L plates on, get the Rider Policy from Norwich Union, then get on the road - totally OJT. My fellow riders in the 6th Form at school persuaded me to enrol on a voluntary RAC-ACU training course, which I attended on Saturdays for about two months and this was excellent advice. But nowadays you have to pass a test before you can even ride a motorcycle on L plate, and that's no bad thing.

[palo5]

Originally Posted by scoundrel

Scroll back to the 1950s and early 1960s and people did commonly learn to drive by being tutored by friends and relatives

I was taught by the Army, and learned to drive tanks, trucks & cars, but was never a "good driver", and drove almost nothing after training. None of our vehicles were fast and most driving was off-road

Most of my driving since then was in foreign countries, so I was ultra-careful. But I don't drive anymore and my licenses are expired

[bjcb0]

Originally Posted by palo5

Someone mentioned French drivers. My only experience with them was in Paris. We were told that one big difference between the Germans and French was that the Germans worship their cars, and the French don't care what happens to them.

The French have improved over the years, although their attitude to cars remains fairly careless (unless the cars are particularly new or precious). My first driving in France was in the early 1980s and my initial view was that French driving was fine. Having been lulled into a false sense of security I then drove into central Paris and was terrified!

[scoundrel]

Originally Posted by bjcb0

The French have improved over the years, although their attitude to cars remains fairly careless (unless the cars are particularly new or precious). My first driving in France was in the early 1980s and my initial view was that French driving was fine. Having been lulled into a false sense of security I then drove into central Paris and was terrified!

Go for a circuit of the Arc de Triomphe in the middle of the day and you'll find out what it's all about. No one signals - you have to just interpret everyone's car-body language and predict their next moves. I got away with that once - I'm never trying it again.

[palo5]

Originally Posted by bjcb0

The French have improved over the years, although their attitude to cars remains fairly careless (unless the cars are particularly new or precious). My first driving in France was in the early 1980s and my initial view was that French driving was fine. Having been lulled into a false sense of security I then drove into central Paris and was terrified!

French drivers are thought to be erratic, so Paris could terrify anyone

But once I saw a clip on German TV, to show how "somehow disciplined" Paris traffic is

They found a road in the center of Paris with about 10 lanes of traffic that was speed chaos. How could a pedestrian survive crossing the road?

So they blindfolded the German reporter and told him to walk across in sleepwalk mode -- and it worked! All those cars racing around and not one of them hit him

I'm not making it up. It must be on youtube somewhere. The reporter is very well-known

[otokonomidori]

Originally Posted by Wendigo

I think you'll find the UK fares well when compared with France, Germany and even dare I say it Russia

There's YouTube channels dedicated entirely to the sheer brainless incompetence of Russian drivers

I taught both my sons to drive and also one of my French tenants - they all passed the UK driving test no problem - I think the French girl did better in the theory test.

[hoss]

I am glad you finally found a topic you all could agree on.

[palo5]

Originally Posted by LV Gas

Chauffeur?

Four of us shared a service vehicle for some time, but I almost never drove it. None of us were mechanics, but there was a tank army not far away, so we could get duct tape if we needed to fix it