So I’ve been driving quite a bit lately with my new car and my new license.
I’ve been to Ikea, to Utrecht, to Arnhem, and to Doetinchem. I went for, respectively: furniture, frisbee, frisbee, and work.
I have a few comments about the driving situation in the Netherlands I’d like to share:
The Signs Suck
The roads and interchanges were designed by Rube Goldberg. They seem to revel in their complexity. Add to this the fact that the roads are not denominated in the general direction in which they travel, but only with a road number (“A15”) and then the name of the next major town in that direction.
Well that’s not a whole hell of a lot of use if you don’t happen to know EVERY damn town on the way to where you are going. What if you just wanted to drive somewhere recognizable, say Amsterdam, and you left from my place. You would need to know that you need to take the signs for direction “Rotterdam”, and then for direction “Den Haag” and THEN you might see some signs for Amsterdam. Well what if you don’t happen to have a mental map of the Netherlands memorized with all the population centers and where they lie in relation to each other? Well, then you’re SOL.
I find this annoyingly inefficient. Just put “North” or “South” on the damn roads so we at least know which direction we’ll be pointing if we have to choose between Gorinchem and Tiel.
Holy *&#@! Is That My Gas Bill?
45 Euros to fill up one tank. One tank lasts about four hours of driving. So if I drive to frisbee practice and back, round trip an hour and a half, that’s 16.87 EUR. I used to take the train to frisbee practice, which took about three hours of travelling time and cost me 18 Euros (12 for me and 6 for the bike, who needed his own ticket). So now I’m saving about 1.13 EUR each trip, and an hour and a half. Yes, my time is valuable, and I don’t regret anything, but Jesus Christ, $55 to fill up a tiny Subaru Justy?
What the?
People actually obey traffic laws pretty consistently. I noticed this when I got in the left lane to pass once, and realized that the entire lane was wide open as far as the eye could see. I gleefully contemplated slamming down the gas and making light speed to my destination before I realized three things: 1) I forgot to equip my car with the “light speed” option at the dealership, 2) Even if I HAD purchased the light speed upgrade I’m pretty sure my car would explode if pushed past 88mph (and not in a good Back to the Future kind of way), and 3) the reason the right hand lane was free was because every single car who got into it only stayed there long enough to pass the car in front of them.
It was surreal. People actually keeping right except to pass. And, as far as I could see, no one was making them. Even in the States if you see a cop on the highway if he’s in the left lane you can stay in it right behind him, as long as you keep a respectful distance. But everyone here was acting like the left lane had cooties or something. They’d get out of it so fast that it often looked like they were cutting off the cars they just passed in their haste to get back to the safety of the right hand lane. Weird.
They also pretty much stick to the posted speed limit. The cushion of safety here before you get a ticket is like 5kmh, or less than 3mph. Combine that with the fact that they have traffic cameras installed on almost every major highway, and you can see the reasoning a little better. But still, it’s strange. If I came up behind some dude going 55 in a 55mph zone, I’d probably scream at him.
Hey! Watch it Asshole!
I saved this for last. This is priceless. The rule for giving the right of way on a regular city or country road is: anyone coming from your right has right of way.
Now, if you are a normal person, you may think about this and say, “Say what!?” But it’s all true, I swear it. If you’re on a road, some other dude, coming onto YOUR road, without ANY WARNING at all, can just push his nose on out there, REGARDLESS of if he’s turning right or left, and you have to stop and give him right of way. Oh, and here’s the kicker. YOU have to give HIM right of way, but if he’s coming onto your road and turning left, he has to wait until the traffic from HIS right (i.e. the cars in the other lane on YOUR road), let him in. This stops your lane indefinitely while the intruder on your road waits for a break in traffic.
Yes, I know. Complete madness.
Why would the people ON a road not have the priority, you ask. I’m with you. But it gets worse.
Not only does this ridiculous rule make for unsafe driving situations in every Dutch town, but it’s even more complicated. This whole giving-right-of-way-to-the-right thing is ONLY in effect if there are NO “shark’s teeth” painted on the ground. These are rows of white triangles painted on the ground that let people know that in this case, at this particular intersection, the rule doesn’t apply. For those who are actually travelling straight on the road and can’t see the shark’s teeth, there is a special sign that indicates that, in this case, at this particular intersection, the rule doesn’t apply.
So not only is it an illogical rule. It’s not even the rule all the time!
Inconsistent!!! Cannot compute. Brain melting in fury.
Okay, say it with me, “SAY WHAT!?” So, basically, you never know WHO has the right of way, unless you develop a special sensory organ which can detect shark’s teeth painted on roads around the corner, or a special visual ability to have these important “right of way” signs flash brightly in your vision. I think the scientists should get on this right away, billions in genetic research needs to be invested to give people the ability to figure out who the hell has the right of way in the Netherlands.
Or. Alternatively. They could just make a rule that MADE SENSE! Here’s an example, “If you are on a road, any road, anywhere, at any time, YOU HAVE THE RIGHT OF WAY TO KEEP GOING STRAIGHT!” Or, to put it another way, “If you are on a road, and you want to turn onto someone else’s road, you best check yoself fo’ you wreck yoself.”
Alright. Enough for one session. I’m sure there will be more road stories. I hope none of them involve moving violations or breaking down on dark stretches of dark Dutch countryside with the werewolves closing in. But we shall see.
3 Comments
Daniel · October 4, 2005 at 3:22 pm
Here is a stupid Japanese driving rule. At every intersection you are supposed to slow down to 10 kph. Every Intersection. No one does though if you did you would get killed. You just need to remember if you wreck in an intersection to remember to tell the cop you slowed down to 10 kph.
The average set speed limit in Japan is 40 kph. That’s 25 mph everywhere. During the day time the average speed on a Tokyo highway is 20 mph. You usually have to do be doing 20 kph over the speed limit to get pulled over for speeding. It is not uncommon here to see people doing 50 kph over the speed limit. Lights are timed as to keep people from speeding so basically you have to stop at almost every red light. Japanese call green lights blue. In Japan they bow as the cut infront of you. I guess if you bow it is ok to cut someone off. Japanese park anywhere. Most two lane roads during the day have one lane because of all the illegal parking that goes on here. Because Japanese can’t navigate 4 way stops there is a light at ever intersection. Sometimes the lights are only 50 apart. Japanese do not stop at all for stops sign. I think the stop sign actually means just make the brake lights turn on. For some reason most Japanese come to a complete stop to merge onto the highway. It also cost 55 dollars to fill up an 8 gallon tank of gas. If you get rear ended you will be considered 10 % at fault for the accident. At least once a day I see some Japanese guy peeing by the side of the road next to his illegaly parked car, in the middle of the city. 100 miles on the highway will cost you about 45 dollars in tolls. Some toll roads actually cost about 1 dollar per kilometer. I will stop here.
Pete · October 11, 2005 at 2:42 am
Having lived in the US now for about as long as Brian has been in Holland I also have some observations, this time from someone who had to put up with the insane Dutch driving rules and now has to put up with the equally insane US driving rules. Rule Britannia rules as far as I am concerned.
So. Stop Signs. Who on earth invented stop signs. There I am happily driving on my right of way road, with no other car in sight, when a STOP sign appears and even though I can see for miles in all directions and can see that there is no traffic for miles I have to come to a complete halt. Wait patiently. And then pull off again, forcing me to accelerate rapidly to a decent speed so that I can make up for my lost time. Insane. I have now sailed straight through so many Stop Signs it just isn’t funny. Sooner or later some cop is going to send me to Driving School to fix me (a slap on the wrist correction which I wont get into but which is also a patently absurd way to deal with infractions). Plus there are far too many stop signs where they are not needed. Just get roundabouts guys – it makes more sense.
Then there are Stop Signs within parking lots! I am going at 2 mph and I still have to stop outside EVERY SINGLE STORE just because they bribed someone to put a stop sign outside? Come on – it is a ruse by store owners to make me gawk at their wares as I have nothing better to do.
Gas? GAS? If the cars over here actually ran on gas then we wouldn’t be invading Iraq (it would be Norway instead). It is NOT gas, guys – gas is gaseous and floats. It is petrol, now get over all those extra letters.
Pedestrians get right of way? Why do pedestrians get right of way? There I am driving through the parking lot, merrily stopping at every stop sign, when a pedestrian is spotted 20 metres (30 yards) away. I am then expected to come to a grinding halt, regardless of the Stop Sign situation to wait for them to amble across my path. If I should ignore them and do my European thing of “the car gets right of way because we pay road tax and you dont” then I get black looks and occasional gesticulation… In Europe the pedestrian gets out of the way, and they had better do it sharpish because I am coming through.
Green arrows for Left Hand Turns? Do you realize how much time this wastes? Just have a green light for all turns and allow the left turners to make their turn whenever they see a gap!
Number plates – here’s an idea. Why not have number plates on BOTH the front and the back of the car. Double the fun!
Allowing passing on both sides? I have now witnessed about 7 near misses as cars simultaneously try to move into the center lane from 2 different directions. Not smart.
And Americans drive too close together. The safe stopping distance in America appears to be 6 feet. If you leave any more than 6 feet gap between you and the car in front someone from immediately behind you will overtake (on whatever side they damn well please) and cut violently in in front of you – thus gaining a whole car length and arriving at their destination 0.1 seconds faster.
I have a whole list, but I wont indulge myself. Suffice to say that direction signs, traffic lights, distance indications, ‘gas’ prices, intersections, SUVs and trucks are on the list…
I would also say, in defence of America, that in general I find American drivers more courteous, more law abiding, more safe (and more boring) than anywhere else I have driven.
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