Pilis Nemzeti Park Fella

A few days ago I drove my wife to the airport & me back alone. I think that was under 2 hours driving and I would say I witnessed/ was close to or involved in over 20 different hazardous driving actions. That's not just some young guy overtaking a slo-mo on wheels, I am a 110-120km driver on the M0 like most others. People pulling out in front of you, causing you to brake sharply, idiots screeching up behind you at 150KM+ in a 110km zone and flashing lights, grannies changing lane unnecessarily and unexpectedly when their lane is clear, people not knowing which lane to exit in then realising too late they'd better cut you up or miss their lane, the list could go on and on.

I don't even get riled these days about people driving up your a*se - as about 75% of Hungarians do - I just smile benignly, wait for a safe moment to let them pass and keep to the speed limit etc. Best not to look in the mirror, just concentrate on YOUR driving, I find.

My theory behind this 75% of bad drivers is twofold:

1. They mostly bribed their way to a pass in the driving test and never fully learned the correct & good skills of driving safely. I know the bribe is current as whilst my nephew & niece both took lessons, they also wanted to be sure of a pass etc and that costs money. Nephew is a great safe driver, niece is dangerous & would fail UK test maybe 5 times before passing. Both passed first time. My sister & bro in law are both appallingly bad drivers.
2. The older drivers only had Trabants & I think rubbish Dacias to choose from. The only way to drive those lawnmowers is top speed all the time (as that means about 30mph until you have built up speed for 20 seconds) a bit like 2CVs. Now they drive modern cars the same way. Wrong driving technique when you have a bit of power.
3. I forgot 3, the arrogance.

Over 20 years, I have re-trained my wife in driving and she is perfectly safe, even if I have to remind her monthly that a longer distance between you & the car in front gives more thinking & stopping time.

Every time I even venture out to buy some bread in our Pilis village, I have to think: what's some idiot driver going to do that could cause us to crash. And it often happens.

duztee

I don't think they are they are quite that bad, poorer standard than the UK possibly but then we are in Hungary not the UK, and the roads (outside of Budapest) are considerably less congested, so there is room to allow people space to be less perfect in their behaviour.
I agree it is wise to increase the distance to the vehicle in front slightly to allow for the non indicating/undecided/uncertain types which are common.
The ones who still catch me out are the drivers who approaching a round-a-bout with a clear view that nothing is coming still insist on stopping!

I am avoiding being overly critical of others driving standard because despite thinking I am an absolutely brilliant driver, I know the truth is that at my age my reactions are slowing down, my eyesight is degenerating, and I am loosing muscle. So now I have to stop at Give Way signs since my neck doesn't swivel fast enough and even if it did the eyes no longer capture sufficient detail in a fast scan.
So I for one am rather glad I don't still have to cope with UK traffic!

Peter_in_Hungary

Don't forget that round-a-bouts are a relatively new phenomena here, like when we came here in '94 there weren't any !!

enter

Every time I go out I can guarantee some stupid road behaviour (I am perfect )..usually speed/extra cautious, impatience and pedestrians living in another world, not looking before they cross the road etc etc. it reminds me of Devon.

scrubbedexpat142

Ah, brings back memories of driving in Hampshire! (Well most of the UK).

duztee

I don't know if it really counts as driving, But as in many countries it is the cyclists who are the biggest problem.
In my town they are suicidal!
The most common problem is they ride from side streets on to the main road without even looking. and I don't mean the young, it tends to be ladies of a certain age who think the are invulnerable.
I know the car has only recently replaced the horse and cart but surely cyclists must know that the car is moving a lot faster and it is going to hurt them more when they collide!

Not actually driving at all but related, my council hates spending money on paint, in particular the type that marks pedestrian crossings. The only indication of an official crossing is usually just one or two white strips close to the pavement, all the other having been worn off, so pedestrians think they are safe, which is only true if it is a local who knows the location of all the crossings. non locals are easily recognised by the tyre squeal as they realise why a 'stupid' person is walking across the road directly in front of them.

scrubbedexpat142

You're lucky, in Budapest they're homicidal!

Pilis Nemzeti Park Fella

I've had about 5 incidents of people going round them the wrong way

Pilis Nemzeti Park Fella

Had a good one 2 days ago. To get to our village you drive on a 90kmph limit road then turn left. I was driving at 90kmph but had some moron in a big white Horvath van up my a*rse, less than 2m behind me, urging me to go faster or waiting for some stupid time to overtake unnecessarily (usually). Anyway, they couldn't overtake and we both turned left towards the village.

Whilst I try not to get riled by drive-up-your-a*se morons, I still don't like it - it's a 40kmph zone in our village (with signs) so I thought I'd slow to 40kmph (we all mostly go at 50/60) just to show the plonker who's boss.

Cue a massive blast on the horn, then at some stupid/ dangerous point in the road the van overtakes me and his passenger mate leans out and shouts some invective I didn't quite grasp but got the gist lol

I just smiled benignly & carried on.

Today I was with a Hungarian mate of 20 years standing, I didn't start to talk about driving at all but he did & said it's absolutely appalling compared to a few years ago (like, in the first decade 2000's) - I'd have to agree. This is presumably the next generation.

duztee

For all of those followers not yet committed to living here.
If you are finding this thread a little perturbing, don't worry the general driving is not that bad. Just accept they drive differently from the UK, as do most continentals, and allow a little more room.
One possible point to consider is where you buy, if you buy a rural property or decide a quaint little village is the place for you, then accept you will need to drive. I live in a small town and drive 2 miles a week, and that is only because I am too lazy to carry the weekly shop. Swings and Roundabouts (sorry no pun intended :-))

Pilis Nemzeti Park Fella

Here's another one I just remembered. About 10 years ago I was on Szentendrei Ut driving towards Szentendrei - part of my route into the Pilis hills. It's a 90kmph dual road, two lanes both sides.

It was busy so quite a few vehicles in both my lanes going towards Sz. One car in the outside lane was gradually overtaking another in the nearside lane, quite a slow overtake manoeuvre but nothing strange, I was a couple of vehicles back.

This other moron desperate to overtake starts beeping & flashing, but the overtaker just carried on overtaking the nearside vehicle, albeit slowly.

So he overtakes and pulls in right. The arrogant flashing guy overtook HIM, pulled in right then braked sharply so basically we all came to a stop.

Arrogant guy jumps out and starts shouting at slow overtaker, who winds down his window to discuss it.

Arrogant guy gives him a big punch to the face, walks back to his car and drives off.

Pilis Nemzeti Park Fella

Sure, I only saw punch incident once in 20 years