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Driving in Europe

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  • 03-12-2007 11:22am
    #1
    craichoe
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,706 ✭✭✭


    Anyone have any experience of driving between countries in Europe?

    We drove from Roscoff to The Hague and found there was border control between France and Belgium, went looking for passports, which puzzled me as I thought they were in Schengen. Going from Belgium to Holland there were none.

    Were living here now and went for a spin to Antwerp yesterday (only an hour and a half) and again there was no border control.

    Its a bit strange here, the Dutch drive like nutcases when their in Belgium and the Belgians drive like total lunatics when their in Holland.

    I was in the fast lane doing 180 kp/h and there were cars booting past me in the overtaking lane , doing in excess of 250 kp/h at a guess. This was in a 130 kp/h zone !

    So whats the story, is this a random thing ? Should we carry our passports in the car at all times, or is a Driving license sufficient ?


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    #2
    Alun
    Registered Users Posts: 21,464 ✭✭✭✭Alun


    I think they reserve the right to have passport controls in place if they feel the need for whatever reason. During the European Cup football competition in Germany there were quite a few border controls between Germany and the Benelux countries for example. I can't think of any reason why there should be any right now though.

    Re: the 'spin to Antwerp' .. where were you coming from? I lived near Eindhoven, and the bit of motorway between the border and the first exit or so on the Belgian side is a regular speeding fest. It's pretty straight and relatively traffic free, and the Belgian police are well aware of this. Coming back from Antwerp, you'll regularly see a nice little line of non-Belgian cars lined up on the hard shoulder behind a cop car just before the border, so be careful! They also have cameras there sometimes, as I know to my cost :)

    Personally, when living there I always had my passport with me at all times, just in case. Heck, even on a long cycle ride on a Sunday afternoon, I could find myself in Belgium almost by accident.


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