Should immigrants take a UK Driving test? Horror crash...
Discussion
Around here a few years back we had a large influx of people from kosovo etc, as soon as they got some cash they all bought cars and stuck lots of halfords crap on.
None of them actually had a licence though and because the police were spending a large proportion of their time pulling these people the council paid for them to get licences saying it was cheaper than spending extra money on police.
None of them actually had a licence though and because the police were spending a large proportion of their time pulling these people the council paid for them to get licences saying it was cheaper than spending extra money on police.
Jasandjules said:
It is however true to say (though no doubt "racist" in the eyes of some) that certain countries have a rather lower respect for drink driving than the UK..
Italy being a prime example – the standard of driving there has to be seen to be disbelieved; it is truly appalling – even Italian drivers end up driving down the wrong side of motorways! We have seen woman driving with phone in one hand, make up in the other, tarting themselves up in the mirror, even having their children on their lap, pressed up against the steering wheel while driving! Drink driving is rife, crashes are the norm, and insurance premiums are huge (£1000 just for third party, not even fire and theft, for a bog standard saloon!)By comparison, the UK, no matter what people who don’t travel abroad much may think, has a much higher standard of driving overall – in the UK, people moan about others pulling out in front of them, or not indicating, this is nothing compared to what we have seen on a daily basis!
I was born grew up in India.
The sheer carnage has to be seen to be believed.
People riding without helmets directly under "wearing your helmet is compulsory" signs.
People on "motorways" where they will simply stay in the right lane and refuse to move. You have no choice but to overtake in the left lane where the same will happen.
In cities (though this has improves as more expensive cars are around) traffic lights are academic after 8pm and no-one ever signals.
Roundabouts (and this is crucial for the UK) have NO system whatsoever. You simply get in and around depending on traffic and the size of your balls. This little gem has to be experienced to be believed.
Rules are pretty much non-applicable.
The reason high speed systems work, or work as they do in "developed" countries is because of the rules that are followed. I'd advocate a UK driving test everytime for certain countries. In some cases, it's not that the immigrant doesn't want to be safe, or doesn't care a hang. They simply have bad habits ingrained and these need to be removed.
The sheer carnage has to be seen to be believed.
People riding without helmets directly under "wearing your helmet is compulsory" signs.
People on "motorways" where they will simply stay in the right lane and refuse to move. You have no choice but to overtake in the left lane where the same will happen.
In cities (though this has improves as more expensive cars are around) traffic lights are academic after 8pm and no-one ever signals.
Roundabouts (and this is crucial for the UK) have NO system whatsoever. You simply get in and around depending on traffic and the size of your balls. This little gem has to be experienced to be believed.
Rules are pretty much non-applicable.
The reason high speed systems work, or work as they do in "developed" countries is because of the rules that are followed. I'd advocate a UK driving test everytime for certain countries. In some cases, it's not that the immigrant doesn't want to be safe, or doesn't care a hang. They simply have bad habits ingrained and these need to be removed.
AdvocatusD said:
I was born grew up in India.
The sheer carnage has to be seen to be believed.
Isn't there some huuuuge number of people killed in road accidents in India each year? I mean, something tells me it's around 30,000 or some equally incredible number.The sheer carnage has to be seen to be believed.
ETA - Holy s**t, I just looked up a google search and one website says 80,000 deaths!?!?!?!?!?
Edited by Jasandjules on Sunday 19th April 12:09
Jasandjules said:
AdvocatusD said:
I was born grew up in India.
The sheer carnage has to be seen to be believed.
Isn't there some huuuuge number of people killed in road accidents in India each year? I mean, something tells me it's around 30,000 or some equally incredible number.The sheer carnage has to be seen to be believed.
ETA - Holy s**t, I just looked up a google search and one website says 80,000 deaths!?!?!?!?!?
Edited by Jasandjules on Sunday 19th April 12:09
The amount of close calls we had beggars belief!
AdvocatusD said:
I was born grew up in India.
The sheer carnage has to be seen to be believed.
People riding without helmets directly under "wearing your helmet is compulsory" signs.
People on "motorways" where they will simply stay in the right lane and refuse to move. You have no choice but to overtake in the left lane where the same will happen.
In cities (though this has improves as more expensive cars are around) traffic lights are academic after 8pm and no-one ever signals.
Roundabouts (and this is crucial for the UK) have NO system whatsoever. You simply get in and around depending on traffic and the size of your balls. This little gem has to be experienced to be believed.
Rules are pretty much non-applicable.
The reason high speed systems work, or work as they do in "developed" countries is because of the rules that are followed. I'd advocate a UK driving test everytime for certain countries. In some cases, it's not that the immigrant doesn't want to be safe, or doesn't care a hang. They simply have bad habits ingrained and these need to be removed.
Driven in India as well and agree - also the same in most Arab countries - Saudi is hellish and in Jordan, if you can't get close to the traffic lights you simply make your own lane against the traffic and hope they get out of the way.The sheer carnage has to be seen to be believed.
People riding without helmets directly under "wearing your helmet is compulsory" signs.
People on "motorways" where they will simply stay in the right lane and refuse to move. You have no choice but to overtake in the left lane where the same will happen.
In cities (though this has improves as more expensive cars are around) traffic lights are academic after 8pm and no-one ever signals.
Roundabouts (and this is crucial for the UK) have NO system whatsoever. You simply get in and around depending on traffic and the size of your balls. This little gem has to be experienced to be believed.
Rules are pretty much non-applicable.
The reason high speed systems work, or work as they do in "developed" countries is because of the rules that are followed. I'd advocate a UK driving test everytime for certain countries. In some cases, it's not that the immigrant doesn't want to be safe, or doesn't care a hang. They simply have bad habits ingrained and these need to be removed.
All good fun.
Trust me - the driving in the UK is extremely civilised all things being relative.
Jasandjules said:
It is however true to say (though no doubt "racist" in the eyes of some) that certain countries have a rather lower respect for drink driving than the UK..
If you're referring to Poland (as one of the cars involved in this crash was Polish-registered), their drink-drive limit a quarter of ours, 20mg/litre. The UK is one of only four European countries (Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta are the others) to allow it as high as 80mg, everyone else is lower with quite a few eastern european countries having zero tolerance.If anyone's getting it wrong, it's us.
sjg said:
Jasandjules said:
It is however true to say (though no doubt "racist" in the eyes of some) that certain countries have a rather lower respect for drink driving than the UK..
If you're referring to Poland (as one of the cars involved in this crash was Polish-registered), their drink-drive limit a quarter of ours, 20mg/litre. The UK is one of only four European countries (Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta are the others) to allow it as high as 80mg, everyone else is lower with quite a few eastern european countries having zero tolerance.If anyone's getting it wrong, it's us.
For example some US states have a 30-day suspension for DUI, and most are 90-days, and (from personal observations) the attitude is that it is a bad thing to do, but accepted that it's just something people have to do now and then.
Edit: this table of penalities in the US is interesting:
http://www.iihs.org/laws/dui.aspx
Edited by g_attrill on Sunday 19th April 15:23
chris watton said:
Jasandjules said:
It is however true to say (though no doubt "racist" in the eyes of some) that certain countries have a rather lower respect for drink driving than the UK..
Italy being a prime example – the standard of driving there has to be seen to be disbelieved; it is truly appalling Italy does have colourful driving, but it changes with where you are. The northern Italians are actually quite sane, the southern Italians are morons, the city Italians are different depending on city.
In Milan, Turin and round Venice and Florence they are ok. In Rome they are a bit mental, but not entirely devoid of common sense. However, Naples is a whole different ball game on a level that isn't often seen anywhere on the planet.
You do occasionally see an Italian driving badly in the north - but thats merely that a Neapolitan thats managed to drive 400 miles without causing an accident, or at least not part of one. Like a bottle fly, an escaped Neapolitan has only days to live.
tinman0 said:
However, Naples is a whole different ball game on a level that isn't often seen anywhere on the planet.
I agree that Naples is dreadful, but the worst I have ever seen (I was on a coach and immensely grateful for that) is Cairo. Highlights of my excursion were bicyclists being mown down, a tanker lorry driving off the edge of a flyover and falling onto a couple of buildings below, and a car on fire while a group of angry motorists stood shouting at each other.And that was all in the space of a couple of hours.
sjg said:
Jasandjules said:
It is however true to say (though no doubt "racist" in the eyes of some) that certain countries have a rather lower respect for drink driving than the UK..
If you're referring to Poland (as one of the cars involved in this crash was Polish-registered), their drink-drive limit a quarter of ours, 20mg/litre. The UK is one of only four European countries (Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta are the others) to allow it as high as 80mg, everyone else is lower with quite a few eastern european countries having zero tolerance.If anyone's getting it wrong, it's us.
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