Driving in Spain
 

As the subject is being discussed in the US forum I am wondering what you think of driving in Spain and how it compares to the UK. I am not just thinking of other drivers but also of road signs, the condition of the roads, whether people respect zebra crossings where you are, etc.

I found British drivers very polite and always willing to give way and overall I preferred driving in England than in Spain, but maybe this is just because I was there for so long and therefore so used to it :unsure:

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zebra crossings and roundabouts are simply places to stop for a chat, aren't they?

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Or to park on as they are often reasonably empty.:lol:

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Driving in spain ......... I have been driving for over 30 years, my opinion of spanish drivers......... they drive there cars like they are weapons. one speed fast, over take on bends on the brow of hills. There is never a trip that I dont see a dangerous move.
I do not surpose that is ALL Spanish drivers, I was over taken last night on a road, the speed limit was 80 by a english man ( I recognized him ) he must have been doing 120 he took me on a bend at the base of a brow of a hill.
I amount of deaths on the road over the weekend of the Spanish Moto GP was terrible.
I just wish that when some of these actions are taking place the Police caught them, they do seem to be doing something we see the evidence on the TV, but is it enough fast enough ??

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Actually I think that they fall into 2 categories -
1. one speed dead fast.
2. one speed dead slow. Crawling along seemingly permanently in first gear and braking randomly for no apparent reason, always completely oblivious to the queue of traffic building up behind them.

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One thing that annoys me is on roundabouts lots of Spanish drivers stay in the outside lane, even if they're exiting at the second, third or fourth exit.

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we were told by a local policeman that it is actually OK to park on the black & white ones...........but not the red & white ones!

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Next time I go out I must look out for these "polite British drivers". My experience is that they are either three inches from your tail or creeping along chatting to their passengers. As for giving way--they do not know the meaning of the word.

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I think that is the way to do it acording to their highway code, but most drive straight across and use two lanes. ;-)

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A few months in Alabama would make you long for the Spanish drivers again...damn rednecks all drive like it's a NASCAR race.

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When I was a driving instructor, what seems like many years ago, the one thing I made sure my students learned was to understand that EVERY other driver on the road is an imbecile.
You need to keep your wits about you whenever you are in a car.
If you are late for picking up your little darlings from school, then you are late.
If the little darlings are playing up in the back seat, then you pull over at the first safe place and then stop, handbrake on, switch off, turn around and give them a roasting/handcuff them/tie them up/sellotape/duck tape their speaking orifices/do whatever you usually do, BUT WHEN YOU ARE STATIONARY, then continue.

Do not be the person who causes the danger, be the one who sees it coming because (s)he expects it and is therefore able to deal with it as a matter of course. And if other people want to flout the law or be boy racers or do things that you don't approve of, just smile sweetly, let them get on with it and get out of your way, then carry on and say to yourself "Better ten minutes late in this world than a lifetime early in the next"

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I enjoy the challenge of driving on Spanish roads. I learned to expect the unexpected at all times. Some of the manoevres verge on the suicidal. They either drive extremely quickly and sit up your boot lid even if theres a queue of 30 cars in front of you, or drive at 30 kms ph which happened this am when I drove to Denia ... I could have got there on my bike quicker.

Always an experience :D

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It has to be people who drive the cars that do not need a full driving licence. They only need to pass a road awareness course - no driving test. They are dangerous as they have no idea how to drive even though they can only go 30kmph. I would say that 99% of the people who drive these cars are over 90 years old. They should be banned.

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I did read that the inside lane on roundabouts was for OVERTAKING, and that everyone should use the outside lane. This was in a motoring column in a paper and wasn't a joke item. Apparently this is the law, and people have been pulled up for using a roundabout in a British way.

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Hi Anabella :)

I can't tell you what a pleasure it is to drive in Extremadura!
The main roads and motorways are very well maintained with lots of EU money - and compared to Britain they are SOooooooo quiet!! ;)

The motorway that runs from Madrid to Portugal is 2km from our village; but the amount of traffic on it makes it seem more like a British dual carriageway!
Although there are a lot of lorries travelling up and down this route, I've never seen a traffic jam and unless the wind is in the wrong direction, we can't even hear the traffic when in our village.

Some of the rural back roads are an "experience" - loads of pot holes, the occasional stray cow, dirt, dust, mud, whatever - but no different to a farming community in the UK.

I don't actually enjoy driving full stop (in whatever country) so I only drive here when it's absolutely necessary, and to familiar places :unsure:
However, I love being a passenger, and have been all over the region enjoying the stress free travel :)
We sometimes laugh and "complain" that the roads are busy, if we meet another car anywhere!! :D
The Roman influence form all those centuries ago does make some of the long, straight roads a tad boring - but the wonderful countryside more than makes up for that :thumbup:

Imagine driving in Wales, out of the holiday season and with sunshine - well, that's what it's like here :p

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I had already posted in the US forum on this subject and will repeat what I ended up with on my entry...

There are idiots on the road everywhere...

However, something has occurred to me since then...the little nimrods riding on 2 stroke motorcycles that have no idea how close to serious injury, or worse, that they place themselves in. Whether it be passing on the right, failing to yield at the appropriate times, excessive speed or failure to be more courteous to the other road users, they really need to be reined in by the police. Don´t get me started on the racket they make while they ride :mad:

The Spanish road signs tend to leave something to be desired also. Directional arrows that are misleading, destination signs that are placed immediately before the on/off ramp and are miniscule sized. Approach and departure lanes that are so short as to be hazardous, plus not being able to see if there is a vehicle approaching as one merges at some intersections as the foliage/trees/wall/building blocks one´s view.

My favourite here in Javea is the proliferation of speed bumps that seem to be getting higher and higher. Pretty soon everyone will need a 4X4 to be able to surmount some of them...

Firtreesix

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Don't start a thread on speed bumps, they are EVERYWHERE, we have no way of driving more than 400m from home without having to go over one, and on the more main road that ours joins, they have just added another 4, each a pedestrian crossing. This makes a total of 6, in a distance of less than 1Km. There is one advantage to them though, they are at raod junctions, so slow the oncoming traffic down enough for you to turn across the road a lot easier.

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We have them on our urbi, they were bolted on plastic one but they got unbolted, so now they are concrete about 10 cm high.

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Around here they are speed trenches. They literally dig off the top levels of tarmac leaving a trench, and oftem there are two only a meter apart. Drive over at any speed your wheels feel as if they will drop off. Consequently they are causing traffic jams as people slow to a stop at them

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On a raod near us they just put a rough hump of concrete, about 4" high across the raod, no idea who did it, but suspect the local builders who are and were building some new apartments there. They wer removed about 3 weeks later, and a month or so after that we got the yellow and black humps.

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You do get idiots everywhere, but in my opinion the Spanish just seem to be less courteous. As long as someone can squeeze through they don't care where they park.
I've noticed that people pulling over in the UK will try to take up as little road space as they reasonably can whereas spanish drivers just stop mid - lane!

In the Grau of Gandia a week or so ago I saw a car pull up alongside another for a chat and about 4 other cars had built up before he decided to move out of the way. Neither car had made an effort to minimise the obstruction of the lane and when the second car moved out of the way he did so by crawling forward as slow as he could, with the other cars behind, and then put on his indicators to pull over as he stopped in front of his mate. Much to the annoyance of the driver behind who subsequently had to reverse back to get around him.

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I know ours is a sleepy old town but cars stop like this all of the time and rarely would they move out of the way. Pedestrians are worse they stop for a chat in the middle of the road even in the middle of a crossroad. No horns are pipped and usually people wave and smile when the obstruction eventually moves.

It took us a while to get used to this aspect of living in Spain.

Rosemary

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Is it my imagination or is the 120 K speed sign on motorways the minimum for Spanish drivers?

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That only applies to trucks ;-) lol

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Hi, I am a newbie. i was in the Ayamonte area last month and drove from Sevilla to Ayamonte on arrival and drove all around the area for 6 days. Thought the standard of roads were great compared to East Sussex, and the standard of driving was not that bad. The local kids on their scooters did make me do a second take - on one rainy day I saw one young lad driving his scooter with his mate on the pillion holding an unbrella - gives a whole new meaning to "soft-top". Our traffic plod would have a field day in the part of Spain I visited - they would all have writers cramp from the tickets they would be able to issue.

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No, the secret in Spain is that the spanish driving test is so hard and the fine for not having a licence is only €400. so nobody bothers with the test!

There is a european country where the drivers are polite and skilfull (with the exception of 2 wheelers who seem to born with a death wish everywhere).

Where the roads are uncrowded and it is bit like driving inthe UK used to be in the 1960's.

sorry I can't tell you where because then everyone would come here.

serious suggestion for spain is buy an old landrover so you don't care if it gets scratched etc - and they the spanish will give you a decently wide berth (except the lorries who cannot see anything smaller than a 6 wheeler)

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I know someone who got fined 2000 €`s for driving with a UK licence, the Guardia said it was not valid, lucky the guy with him knew some Guardia in Alhaurin and got them to fax the EU directive on it through to where he got nicked and got the ticket rerescinded.

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My earlier comment was tongue in cheek and referring to the spanish drivers not the brits (or anyone else for that matter)

I seriously suggest that anyone who is going to live in a foreign country (any) adopts their customs and follows their laws....When in Rome......

I have no time for Brits driving around in UK reg cars with no current road tax - you really know that they are driving uninsured - if they have an accident with you - you will get nothiing!

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You really can't generalise like that :) Shall I liken the drivers in Paris to those in the rest of France. Polite ... skillful? They're bloody lunatics.

Same with Spain, not all areas are the same.

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A guy in our street seems to spend all of his spare time putting new bumpers onto the cars of his friends......worrying or what.

Rosemary

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bet he's doing well


does he go out in the dead of noght & dent them:lol:

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Not thought of that.

Mind you he parked a strange car outside the house the other day and promptly rammed into the car in front of him so maybe he does do the damage in the first place.

Rosemary

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not just my twisted mind, then:ohmy:

I've woken up now!;)