# British Drivers are Insane **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 10, 2003, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-drivers-are-insane/212456 "2003-11-10T19:32:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gjorp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c4cdca/32.png) [@Gjorp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gjorp)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-drivers-are-insane/212456/1 "2003-11-10T19:32:55Z")
I took a trip to England a few months ago, many months ago. I noticed then how insane the drivers are. What triggered this thread was an episode of Monty Python where I noticed how insane these drivers are. You people are insane. You drive in the middle of a city 60 miles per hour, on roads barely wider than your car! One of my relatives over there drives 75 mph, in the middle of London! You drive on the right side of the road, UP HILLS! You speed up to 20 mph to move one foot, then break 2 feet behind another car! And then, there are the ones who don’t even wear seatbelts. And please, tell me this is wrong. Is it actually part of the driving test to back up around a corner? I hear you guys have a good healthcare system, though. Is that why you feel you can be so wreckless? I don’t know, this may be rant, but I’m not angry about anything. This may or may not belong in the pit. It just blows my mind how insane the drivers in England are. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Doris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@Sir\_Doris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Doris)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-drivers-are-insane/212456/2 "2003-11-10T20:16:01Z")
Are you sure you’re not generalizing from your relative? Wearing seat belts is the law. Only drivers of buses, taxis etc are exempt. I’ve not seen anyone flout this. The stop start nature of driving you described does seem fairly typical, though. Dunno why - I guess many drivers are pretty aggressive. ---
**Author:** ![Gjorp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c4cdca/32.png) [@Gjorp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gjorp)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-drivers-are-insane/212456/3 "2003-11-10T20:21:46Z")
I’m not just generalizing just from my relative (btw, don’t ask me how he’s related, I have no clue), I also rode in buses and taxis. But, you’re right, I am generalizing. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Doris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@Sir\_Doris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Doris)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-drivers-are-insane/212456/4 "2003-11-10T20:44:20Z")
London drivers are probably the most aggressive. Was this after the congestion charge was introduced? Possibly the opportunity to drive at more than 5mph went to his head. True what you said about the driving test. Only into side roads, though. I guess the idea is it’s better than doing a three point turn in a busy road. ---
**Author:** ![unclviny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e274bd/32.png) [@unclviny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/unclviny)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-drivers-are-insane/212456/5 "2003-11-11T03:09:49Z")
One of the highlights of my trip to England was a taxi ride from the pub (the Bird in hand, Hilverston) back to Stafford. I was drunk (Strongbow all night) and the Paki taxi driver was a nutball!, he was blasting down single carriageways lined with high bushes and careening into blind corners, IT WAS GREAT!, I thought I was going to die but it was more fun than any roller coaster I have ever been on. It was a memory to last a lifetime! unclviny ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-drivers-are-insane/212456/6 "2003-11-11T08:32:47Z")
Er… you haven’t been to Boston, have you? To be honest, when I’m visiting and the brother is driving, he scares me too… and he has an M3 (lucky bastard). Dad’s too old to scare me. I scare him by pressing buttons on the radio he’s never noticed before instead. ---
**Author:** ![Trygve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4af34b/32.png) [@Trygve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trygve)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-drivers-are-insane/212456/7 "2003-11-11T11:38:12Z")
Perhaps you should take a trip to Tehran or Tbilisi and then comment on driving in the UK. ---
**Author:** ![spanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a6a055/32.png) [@spanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spanna)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-drivers-are-insane/212456/8 "2003-11-11T11:47:06Z")
I will accept that we are mad drivers over here - our only defence is that we aren’t quite as mad as the Italians. Turkey is the worst place I’ve seen so, people just drive on the side of the road that has shade!! I was on a coach in Turkey driving up a mountain road that twisted and turned back and forth up the mountain when we came up behind a truck hauling logs. Coach driver decides to overtake the lorry bearing in mind we are only just about going faster so we go into the outside lane and crawl past going around at least 2 blind bends in the process. If anything had been coming down they would have been forced over the edge and off the mountain – now thats scarey ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-drivers-are-insane/212456/9 "2003-11-11T11:48:01Z")
The OP certainly isn’t the way most British drivers drive. They’re way too sedate for me. People actually stick to the speed limit, which freaks me out whenever I go back for a visit. It’s a fairly accurate description of Portuguese taxi drivers, and many drivers in Dublin, Ireland. Perhaps London minicab drivers are like this, but on the whole it’s an inaccurate description. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by unclviny \* > \*\*Paki \*\* This is a racist term of abuse in England - suggest you don’t use it here. ---
**Author:** ![green\_bladder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@green\_bladder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/green_bladder)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-drivers-are-insane/212456/10 "2003-11-11T12:05:48Z")
You want insane? Go to India - if you can drive in India you can drive anywhere in the world. ---
**Author:** ![kferr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/71e660/32.png) [@kferr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kferr)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-drivers-are-insane/212456/11 "2003-11-11T12:12:50Z")
I’ve lived and driven in both the US and the UK and I’d say the Brits are slightly more aggressive than the Yanks. My theory is that it is the round-abouts that cause it. You have to be fairly quick and commited to get into the gaps. You’d sit there all day waiting for what a typical US mid-westerner would consider a safe gap. This also leads to the Brits treating the accelerator and brake as on/off switches, there’s no coasting for these folks! ---
**Author:** ![manwithaplan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@manwithaplan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manwithaplan)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-drivers-are-insane/212456/12 "2003-11-11T12:24:30Z")
The UK has the best [road safety record](http://www.statistics.gov.uk/STATBASE/ssdataset.asp?vlnk=6538) in the EU and one of the best in the world. There was 6 road accident deaths per 100,000 polulation in 2000, compared to 15.2 in the US. Some adjustment would be required given the higher annual distance travelled by US drivers but the UK is usually cited as an example to follow in road safety policy formulation. Penalty points, aggressive use of speed cameras, ready access to data by police on the road etc. are all reasons for their good record. There may be some bad drivers but the overall picture is pretty positive. ---
**Author:** ![slortar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-drivers-are-insane/212456/13 "2003-11-11T13:29:50Z")
Just out of curiosity, how icy and snowy do roads get in winter in the UK, anyway? ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-drivers-are-insane/212456/14 "2003-11-11T13:37:37Z")
When I was flat hunting in London I can remember at least one occasion in which I sat in the back of the agents’ car whimpering with my hands over my eyes because I was so terrified by the way he was driving. I also remember being quite amazed, on my first visit there, to see these huge lorries filled with noxious chemicals _barrelling_ down city streets. So yeah, I tend to agree with the OP 😉 ---
**Author:** ![green\_bladder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@green\_bladder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/green_bladder)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-drivers-are-insane/212456/15 "2003-11-11T13:59:23Z")
Actually, the only time I’ve ever seen a road accident was when I was in London on vacation a bunch of years back. We were waiting at the bus stop when van slammed head-on into the back of a private car in the opposite junction. I didn’t see what happened after because the bus had arrived 😉 . Of course, we can’t draw any conclusions from it. So, uh, I’ll make like a taxi and blast my way out of here. ---
**Author:** ![Jennyrosity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@Jennyrosity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennyrosity)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-drivers-are-insane/212456/16 "2003-11-11T14:38:06Z")
You’re missing the point. Brits are just insane generally. Although we prefer to think of ourselves as eccentric. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-drivers-are-insane/212456/17 "2003-11-11T14:41:16Z")
If you want a chance to experience what it’s like to cheat death, try Mexico City sometime. I was there with some other students in my Spanish class several years ago. I’ll never forget those harrowing taxi rides. The drivers completely ignore the lane markings, and stopping at red lights is optional. How they managed to avoid crashing into each other was a feat I never understood. If everyone else and I drove here like they did in Mexico City our cars would look like they had just come out of a demolition derby. ---
**Author:** ![rekkah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ee59a6/32.png) [@rekkah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rekkah)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-drivers-are-insane/212456/18 "2003-11-11T19:54:16Z")
You’ve clearly not seen Maltese drivers. BTW, the reversing round a corner is indeed on the driving test, but it’s always a very quiet corner on a residential road with no traffic about. ---
**Author:** ![WILLASS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/54ee81/32.png) [@WILLASS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WILLASS)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-drivers-are-insane/212456/19 "2003-11-11T21:37:53Z")
I vote Morocco as the scariest place to get a taxi, I genuinley could not see how we were getting through the gaps that Abdul was wanging his way through at 90mph in busy traffic on pothole riddled roads in a totally knackered Nissan Sunny all the time talking to me and looking at me over his shoulder…i’m not a religous man but I believe _Allah_ was keeping an eye on this man. On the difference between U.S and British drivers I have noticed that when I watch the _Worlds Most Hilariousley Fatal Police Mishaps_ or whatever the particular show is called, the U.S drivers in chase footage seem to drive at a speed that most drivers in the U.K do all the time… ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-drivers-are-insane/212456/20 "2003-11-11T21:45:08Z")
I listen to Virgin Radio on the web at work. Due to the time differrence I get to hear the afternoon traffice reports. Every day I play a game with myself. I try to guess which road.(M1 M11 M3 etc) has the ‘overturned lorry’. There is an overturned lorry almost every day. It took a while for me to realize that a lorry is a large truck and not my sister. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-drivers-are-insane/212456.md?page=2)