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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

That only applies to trucks ;-) lol

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.

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)

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.

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!

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.

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