I would like to debunk some of the popular myths on driving abroad. I say that driving abroad is as dangerous for you as driving in your own country, as long as you know the rules that apply in a specific country. People often respond that majority of statistics show that a lot of tourists have fatal accidents abroad. Well I think, it is not worth it to rent a car/ bike in another country if you are going to be driving fearlessly like you perhaps would in your own country. Different countries have different set of rules and different drivers, that is a fact. So what you suppose to do ? The best way is to do your research beforehand about rules binding when travelling abroad, also make sure you are cautious, that means no speeding at all times. After a while you get used to the rules and the drivers and feel more comfortable and confident on the road. In this post I will cover some of the countries and their rules and policies regarding driving.
1. UK
In UK you need to drive on the left side of the road. You need to look at the signs and small notes especially when parking. Usually signs and instructions are pretty straight forward, you only allowed to park in the free parking places, when you see white lines do not assume automatically that the parking is free of charge in that place, especially in London, as often there are white lines but you can park there for free only on the specific days or in a specific times. In England you tend to get a parking ticket pretty often, you might leave a car for 2 min in a wrong place and you'll get a ticket, it is important to check and read all the signs carefully before leaving your vehicle unattended. Apart from that the roads are pretty tight in England, so often the cars need to 'squeeze in'. What I mean by that you might often experience a situation when the road has a space only for 1 car to pass but you have a car parked on one side of the road and the other car trying to squeeze in from the opposite direction. Do not get pissed off, back off and give them the space to go through first and then you can go through, there is not really a rule who should go first so the longer you hold a grudge the longer you will be stuck in the same place.
2. Poland
In Poland drivers are not very dangerous, however some of them tend to drive faster than usual on the open roads and overtake often disregarding the safe distance between the cars to do so. You have to be aware of that when driving in Poland. You also need to be aware of signs, it is important to study the road signs in Poland before going there, as some of them might not be applicable in your country. Police tend to charge you straight away if you for instance drive 'upstream ' on a one way street, that is 'told' by a specific sign that is pretty easy to miss especially if non existent in your country. Poland in general has a lot of one way streets in comparison to England . Parking in Poland might be also pretty tricky, do not park in the places without the lines, unless it's in a suburban area surrounded by block of flats. Some places without the lines might still require a parking permit and in Poland it is not very clear whether you require a parking permit or not. It is better to ask people around just to make sure you won't get a 100zl parking ticket or more when back from your trip. Also remember to drive on the right side instead of the left. Majority of drivers tend to be understanding and cautious.
3. Malta
Maltese rules and signs are very similar to the ones in the UK. You drive on the left side of the road in Malta and the signs and road lines are pretty much the same. The rules are also similar. Do not park on the yellow and blue lines and you should be safe from any parking tickets. What is great about Malta, there is plenty of free parking everywhere, so you won't have much of an issue in finding a parking spot. Some Maltese drivers are not cautious enough when driving, try to be careful and drive slowly until you get use to their way of driving. That might be caused by pretty laid back attitude of highway patrols. Apart from that, you should be completely fine driving in Malta.
4. Greece
In Greece you drive on the right side of the road. Similarly to Poland, the speed limit in Rhodes is 80km/h. So the cars won't drive that fast in there even on the highways. In general drivers usually tend to exceed the speed limit to 100 / 110 km/h. In Rhodes we rented a bike so the parking was not an issue for us, also people often were telling us we should be cautious when travelling through highways and it would be best to avoid them. We personally travelled through the highway on a bike few times, as long as you are driving carefully nothing bad will happen even on a highway. But again there is definitely a greater risk travelling on a bike through highway than through a normal road. But that I think relates to any country you live in.
5.Italy
You ofter hear that in Italy drivers are unpredictable. I would say it might be true for some parts of Italy but definitely not all. Travelling through Italy with my rented car I have discovered that you can meet more of the 'unpredictable' drivers on the south part of the country rather than the North. People tend to create an imaginary lines especially in Naples, so instead of 3 lines or 2 lines there's suddenly 5, no kidding. People are just impatient and do not want to stay in one spot for too long and wait in a traffic. You got to budge it. But other than that we did not experience any bad situations, there is no major problem with parking as long as you cautious of signs and rules you should be fine. Be aware of the highway tools, I have covered them in my previous post on Italy please check the following link : https://www.wix.com/dashboard/3e192d49-e68d-449e-9524-c91f993fbb81/blog/5bdd8e1d7b5f12001a2a33e5/edit
Have a great journey and let me know if you have any fortunate/ unfortunate driving experiences from other countries :) #happytravels