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About driving "habits" and regulations...
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05-11-2008 10:05am#1Hi all,
I started driving in this country some time ago, but now I noticed many things that "stimulated my curiosity", maybe somebody can enligthen me. I hope I will not start any flame, it's just that I simply don't get it...
- How comes that the average parking distance from the front and/or rear car is 2 meters (sometimes more :eek:)? It's a waste of space, and shows no consideration for other people. I'm not talking about an isolate case, I see it regularly everywhere. As fare as I know, if leave more than 50 cm during the exam you don't pass it!
- Overtaking, in left-side driving countries, must be done on the right of the car you're passing, never on the left, unless of course the car in front of you is turning right. This, again as far as I know, applies to motorways also: if you're on the right lane and somebody faster than you is approaching, you simply move to the left and let him/her pass. However, if you're coming from behind and the car in front of you is not letting you pass, you cannot simply dash left and pass it anyway!
Even worse, motorbikes are not allowed to speed through two cars "just because they are small enough". :mad:
Drivers cannot expect to be passed from anywhere, so they pay attention to their right only, passing on the left would mean "kiss your licence goodbye"!
- Is there a reason why many cars are parked with the shift in the "Neutral" position? Again, I always knew that you must leave the 1st gear in if parking on a flat surface or facing uphill, and the reverse gear if you park downhill. This can be considered a minor issue, compared to the previous ones, but handbrake alone cannot be 100% trusted, it would not be the first time that it fails...
Also, I'd like to ask your opinion about some "creative interpretation" of road regulations by Bray town council: I almost risked to be clamped because I parked in a zone where a sign clearly stated "2 hours disc parking". I put my disc, but a person living in the area warned me that, even if the sign says so, the area is not disc parking, but "pay and display" parking. In fact, there's a ticket machine in the area, but I didn't notice it. I asked him the reason of this discrepancy, and he told me that the area became a pay parking TWO YEARS AGO! :eek:
Again, as far as I know, as a driver I must pay attention to signs ONLY, not to the mere presence of a parking machine. If the signs says free or disc parking, it's free/disc parking! Incredibly enough, EVERY disc parking area in the town has now a ticket machine, but the old signs are still there. Pure laziness, lack of "spending will", or "trick" to cheat on foreigners? 0
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Also, I'd like to ask your opinion about some "creative interpretation" of road regulations by Bray town council: I almost risked to be clamped because I parked in a zone where a sign clearly stated "2 hours disc parking". I put my disc, but a person living in the area warned me that, even if the sign says so, the area is not disc parking, but "pay and display" parking. In fact, there's a ticket machine in the area, but I didn't notice it. I asked him the reason of this discrepancy, and he told me that the area became a pay parking TWO YEARS AGO! :eek:
Again, as far as I know, as a driver I must pay attention to signs ONLY, not to the mere presence of a parking machine. If the signs says free or disc parking, it's free/disc parking! Incredibly enough, EVERY disc parking area in the town has now a ticket machine, but the old signs are still there. Pure laziness, lack of "spending will", or "trick" to cheat on foreigners?
I guess you're from a European country where they actually have proper parking discs with a rotating wheel that you put on your dashboard indicating the time you arrived at, and that you can park free for up to the time posted on the sign? I came here after 20 years in Germany and the Netherlands, and thought exactly the same thing, I must say.
If so, you're in for a shock. As far as I know, that European system has never actually been used in Ireland. What Bray used to mean by 'disc parking' was actually a kind of pre-paid 'scratch card' you could buy from shops in Bray, and you scratched off one circular area and wrote the date and time in it (at least that's the way I think it worked, I never actually used one).
Now they've abandoned this system, and have gone over to 'normal' tickets, but the Disc parking signs are still all over the place, including at all entry points into Bray. I mentioned it once to the parking warden that foreign visitors might find it confusing (understatement!) but he obviously hadn't got a clue as to what I was talking about.0 -
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Every Irish person I know parks with the car in gear.
My girlfriend's French and parks with the car in neutral whihc she says is the way they are thought in France. I think its bizzare and she has often gotten into the car after I've parked to start it and have it lurch forward because she didn't put her foot on the clutch.
So basically you are talking nonscense and making sweeping unsubstantiated generalisations - but seeing as that is the norm around here bring it on you foreign job stealing theiving twat!
Objection: you state "Every Irish person I know parks with the car in gear", which is as relative as my statement. I noticed the "parked in neutral" issue since two years and, even if not 100% of the cars are parked like that, I guarantee that a good 80% of them is. Therefore, my alleged "nonsense" has the same value as yours.
I just spoke to a colleague, and he told me that actually they taught him to leave the shift in neutral position when the car is parked on a flat surface. At least now I found an explanation. :rolleyes:
As a final (yet off topic) consideration, I'd like to give my "appreciation" for your racist comment. You stated that your girlfriend is French, and I presume she works here in Ireland. Is this enough for you to qualify her as a "foreign job stealer" as well? 0 -
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Never heard that leaving your car parked in N or whatever was officially regulated. Rather a recommendation I thought. Driving an automatic myself no ambiguities there...
Also the undertaking thing... One shouldnt be doing it but sometimes I get annoyed myself with right lane hoggers and just do it. I can't say I see people doing it 'all the time' tho.
Also I can't say that parking is particularly bad.
There are issues with the standard of drivin on Irish roads, but I wouldnt regard the things you mentioned as outstanding.
In fact, I agree with you. Except for the dangerous overtaking, these are minor issues, I saw even worse in other countries (nobody is perfect). I was just curious.
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"Try going over to England" ? I am English and go over there all the time, actuallyOh no it isn't. Try going over to england - they do it there all the time.
Anyway, I've never seen it happen there to anywhere near the degree that I see it here (on the N11 / M11 in the mornings mainly) be honest.0 -
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I agree with most of your points raised, but the motorbike one - I've never seen anywhere in the world that bikes don't weave in and out of traffic and squeeze between cars. In fact, it's not as bad in Ireland as most places. Italy is the worst ever!
That's also true. Italy would deserve a special chapter by itself, when you move from a town to another you can sometimes feel like you are in a completely different world
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Formally parking your vehicle does not form part of the driving test here!As fare as I know, if leave more than 50 cm during the exam you don't pass it!
How can you tell? Many cars which are in gear may look like they are in neutral. It's often difficult to know without physically checking.I just noticed that all of them were left in neutral, and it made me curious.0 -
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Hi all,
I started driving in this country some time ago, but now I noticed many things that "stimulated my curiosity", maybe somebody can enligthen me. I hope I will not start any flame, it's just that I simply don't get it...
- How comes that the average parking distance from the front and/or rear car is 2 meters (sometimes more :eek:)? It's a waste of space, and shows no consideration for other people. I'm not talking about an isolate case, I see it regularly everywhere. As fare as I know, if leave more than 50 cm during the exam you don't pass it!
- Overtaking, in left-side driving countries, must be done on the right of the car you're passing, never on the left, unless of course the car in front of you is turning right. This, again as far as I know, applies to motorways also: if you're on the right lane and somebody faster than you is approaching, you simply move to the left and let him/her pass. However, if you're coming from behind and the car in front of you is not letting you pass, you cannot simply dash left and pass it anyway!
Even worse, motorbikes are not allowed to speed through two cars "just because they are small enough". :mad:
Drivers cannot expect to be passed from anywhere, so they pay attention to their right only, passing on the left would mean "kiss your licence goodbye"!
- Is there a reason why many cars are parked with the shift in the "Neutral" position? Again, I always knew that you must leave the 1st gear in if parking on a flat surface or facing uphill, and the reverse gear if you park downhill. This can be considered a minor issue, compared to the previous ones, but handbrake alone cannot be 100% trusted, it would not be the first time that it fails...
Also, I'd like to ask your opinion about some "creative interpretation" of road regulations by Bray town council: I almost risked to be clamped because I parked in a zone where a sign clearly stated "2 hours disc parking". I put my disc, but a person living in the area warned me that, even if the sign says so, the area is not disc parking, but "pay and display" parking. In fact, there's a ticket machine in the area, but I didn't notice it. I asked him the reason of this discrepancy, and he told me that the area became a pay parking TWO YEARS AGO! :eek:
Again, as far as I know, as a driver I must pay attention to signs ONLY, not to the mere presence of a parking machine. If the signs says free or disc parking, it's free/disc parking! Incredibly enough, EVERY disc parking area in the town has now a ticket machine, but the old signs are still there. Pure laziness, lack of "spending will", or "trick" to cheat on foreigners?
I disagree, i was on the A57 yesterday in Germany and witnessed some of the Worst driving ever. Cars travelling at 160km/h and sitting 2 meters behind the car in front of them, changing lanes without indicating, breaking speed limits all over the place (cars were flying past me in the 80kp/h zone)
Also when overtaking a car on the fast lane a car behind you would drive right up you ass trying to goad you into speeding up, even though you try to pull back into the fast lane once theres space.
Any the amount of people driving while on their phones without hands free was scary.
Europeans are just as bad as anyone.0 -
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