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From: jug@whuxle.UUCP (Joseph U. Grauman)
Newsgroups: net.travel
Subject: Re: Driving in Europe
Message-ID: <269@whuxle.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 29-Feb-84 12:01:29 EST
Article-I.D.: whuxle.269
Posted: Wed Feb 29 12:01:29 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 2-Mar-84 07:31:52 EST
Organization: Bell Labs, Whippany
Lines: 30


  [Is European driving as fast and crazy as some say it is?]

I'll cast a resounding NAY on this issue.

Having driven through a fair portion of Europe I cannot agree with this
characterization.  There is one major difference between European driving
and American driving - in general, the European drivers are much more
courteous with each other and with 'foreign' drivers.

The Autobahns are comparable to our super highways, and their equivalent
of State highways are often 2 lane roads (1 lane in each direction) but,
generally, in good condition.  The posted speed limits are higher
than those in the US (Typically 130 km/hr {80 mph} on the Autobahn
and 120 km/hr {75 mph} on the state highway).  I saw only one
radar trap in the 2500 miles I drove (it was in Switzerland).  In fact,
the police is not very visible in general (at least in the countries
that I visited:  Germany, Austria, and Switzerland).  My general
impression was that Europeans are very skilled and good drivers.  One
of the metrics I used in making this judgement was the fact that you
don't see as many traffic accidents there as you see here.  In fact, one
hardly sees cars on the road (in the countries named above) with body
damage.  (This picture changed when I took a two day side trip from
Germany into France.)

In summary, I found driving in Europe more relaxing than in most areas
of the US in which I have driven.

Joe Grauman
AT&"T-BL
whuxg!jug