Driving in Europe

[atgcpaul]

We are wrapping up a 3 country tour of France, Spain, and Portugal. We rented a car to tour Normandy for a day as well as rented a car to drive from Barcelona and then tour Provence for several days. I was struck by the relative courtesy of drivers in France and even in Spain.

On a 3 lane highway (where the speed limit was 130kph), what do you think the drivers in the middle lane did as a driver approached from behind? They actually tried to move to the slow, slow lane before the passing driver had to move to the fast lane to pass. I saw that time after time and started doing the same.

Where I live now, it's kind of like the wild west where every driver thinks they're the only ones on the road. In the US it's better, but all the drivers local to me always rag on us for our road rage.

Paul

[leehljp]

Japan is kinda courteous, unless you meet up with a few of the young yakuza. In merging, Japanese honor those who will be slighly bold, try and keep up, don't hinder the flow, and move into the flow. But be hesitant and they won't. They are courteous to the slightly bold - mainly because the bold ones (as I describe it as an American) are not causing a slow down. My experience with Americans in large cities - courtesy varies from city to city. In Texas, particularly West Texas two lane roads, similar to what you mentioned, they will move over into the paved shoulder and let others pass.