yamyamsam

When I drove to Tihany from the Slovenian border in feb last year, I was pretty startled by the driving in Hungary, people over taking on blind hills/corners, lorries trying to overtake me with huge trailers !

What is your experience driving in Hungary? Do people abide to speed limits? did I just catch it on a bad day?

enter

Welcome to Hungarian driving. Imo some are very impatient (as they are in queues) and love speed, many appear they are invincible to danger. I have invested this week in a car cam, oh and whether in a car or 40 ton truck some drive whilst on a mobile. I dare say it is the same the world over.The more you drive on Hungarian roads the more you will see, if I go out shopping there is always something dangerous/stupid others do.

FenTiger

I think both UK and Hungarian drivers are as bad as each other. A week ago in UK going out in the car to visit friends within a mile of leaving home there were three bad driving incidents! Luckily once pass that one mile things calmed down. Hungarians seem flippant about using mobiles when they are driving. I've been a passenger several times over the years in Hungary and felt like yelling at the driver to put the flipping mobile away. The worst thing is it was usually another relative calling the driver asking if we were in the car and on our way "home". If I am ever in an accident when the driver was using a mobile they will never be forgiven by me because they're intelligent enough to know the risks.

blackwaterman

There does seem to be a lot of very poor judgement displayed. The motorway network, generally quite new, seems to me much less problem than the main roads. On these, terrible accidents occur apparently without reason. I'm not convinced that seat belts are always worn either, and certainly have great sympathy for the Rendorseg who must be quite traumatised after attending. UK underwent a series of quite small improvements in white lining, signage changes, minor movements of obstructions etc in collaboration with TRRL which I feel Hungary could benefit in copying. Many times, at t-junctions the 'Armco' barrier obstructs drivers view so they must pull into the very road on which they don't have good visibility. Also, many roads are raised above surrounding fields with a deep drainage ditch each side, so one's immediately upside-down if you come off. I suppose being central within Europe means not all bad drivers are necessarily Hungarian.

enter

yes seen a few in the ditches and of course there is the parking issues at shops etc as I posted same the world over,having held a licence for nearly 50 years I have seen most of it. I say in Hungary head on crashes are likely fatal

yamyamsam

Ah yes, I forgot about the raised roads with the ditch channels either side, in Slovakia and other surrounding countries (I can't remember of Hungary), but it's common to see a cross and some other type of marking of someone passing away there.

A shame really.

Sachina

As someone who drove for over 30 years in Southern Africa I have to disagree. I find on the whole Hungarian drivers don't drive too fast and are considerate to others on the road.

I regularly drive to Miskolc along the main highway from Poland and Slovakia and in summer it's the Polish drivers that drive over the speed limit and take chances like overtaking on blind corners. And they always seem to be in convoys of 2 or 3 powerful cars at a time.

Regarding using mobiles, I actually saw far more drivers using their mobiles whilst staying in the UK than I've ever done in the 10 years I've lived here. And we won't mention the number of UK drivers who are happy to drive home after having a few beers in the pub.

wolfi

There is a special "class" of drivers in Hungary that irritates me the most:

Black, high powered Audis (sometimes also BMWs, Mercedes or any kind of SUV) where the drivers think the road belongs to them!
I often go (if the road's good) at 110 - but they will still overtake you and drive through a village with 80 km/h ...

I've warned all my friends and family before they come here to be careful of these - the driver's usually a mafioso,a politician, a scrupulous businessman - probably all three of these ...

The police have a rather low standing (and not enough resources) and what's missing are speed cameras like we have them in Germany and Austria in almost every village/city.
The same goes for using mobile phones - can't these loonies pay for a hands free device/set?
*End of rant*

PS:
My Hungarian wife totally agrees with me!

enter

I agree with you Wolfi I call these drivers very impotent (important) in life as they seem to be in a rush for the next important event )

fidobsa

The roads I drive on have very little traffic so I suppose that enables drivers to stay calm but I would say the standard of driving I see is generally quite good. I don't need to go out much in bad snow but when I do I never see vehicles in ditches or whatever. When driving from UK I am always glad to get to Hungary as I feel safer than on the German and Austrian roads.

PaulinEger

Personally I think that the standard of driving over here is terrible. I drive 50-60kms per day to and from work and average about 16,000kms per year in my car, plus what I drive in my wife's and also what I ride on my motorbike and I see a lot of accidents and experience (almost daily) some scary over taking and reckless speeding.
I felt a lot safer riding my bike in England than I do over here.

wolfi

Paul, I agree!

There are two extremes in Hungarian drivers:

One group which is kind of afraid, they drive very slowly, brake whenever there's something like a turning or a crossing - typically a small older car with an old person driving ...
And then the "professionals" that I described who don't accept any rules.

I always try (at least in Germany, Austria etc) to swim in traffic or go with the nflow- but that's sometimes impossible here. If I don't overtake a slower car the next faster one will arrive and try to overtake both slower cars - even if a queue has built up there will be someopne trying to "jump it" from the back, which is expressy forbidden in Germany e g.
Especially on the main roads here that lead to the motorway this is common.

PS: if you drive exactly at the allowed speed, almost every car will overtake you - Hungarians are not willing to just follow another car ...

enter

As I said in my first post][B] probably the same world over, a small old car driver can be young or old as is the case,lots of people who cannot afford a newer car, I see so many mark 1 VW's from the 80's. I had a VW Golf GTI ,Escort mark 1 etc etc they are all here and still on the road, MOT? they are so small!. Point is they could be young/old etc I have seen new/old cars with young/old drivers in and nothing is consisitent.If I see a newish BMW/AUDI especially with German plates the older drivers appear to be on medication and appear just to be clinging onto life itself and the younger appear to be on self importance addrenelin.Some of the worst in newer cars are females, aggressive,hornets nest here lol.

duztee

There is never going to be a simple answer to this question, in this or any other country.
We are human, we all think our driving skills are at least more than adequate, and usually consider ourselves good drivers, hence we are unlikely to try to improve something we already feel is good enough.

One of the problems in Hungary is the massive increase in car ownership.
I have only been here 5 years, when I first arrived there were probably less than 20 cars parking in my street, now there are 5 times that number.

Still there is an entertainment factor in all of this, just park in any supermarket carpark and sit and watch the wide variety of skills displayed from the precise and competent to the downright abysmal 'How the *$"* did they get a licence', and obviously the same standard they apply to their manoeuvring and parking skills must go with them out onto the roads.

I would add that I know my driving standard has deteriorated perhaps because of aging or perhaps the volume of traffic I am subjected to now living in rural Hungary just doesn't keep the senses as sharp.

wolfi

"Parallel parking" is crazy in Hungary - never have I seen so many cars manageing to occupy two parking spaces ...

And the LIDL just put up a sign "No stopping" near the entrance where no sane person would even think of parking - but you'll always find someone there ...

Now in Germany they would have added a sign "violators will be towed" - that would be a fantastic source of income ...

I think it's part of the basic problem:
Like the other parts of former Communist Eastern Europe (and that includes East Germany too) almost 50 years of civic development are missing - at least for some people ...

PS: My wife sees it the same way - she doesn't understand either what some/many of her compatriots are thinking, especially the total disregard for rules which seem obvious to her and me.