However, if staying under the speed limit is of concern I suggest you get a small unit with the speed warning indication, they should only cost a couple of hundred CHF's
Pity because you pay a lot of money for them.
Best way to get over your fear is to confront it. Not easy to do I know, but its the best thing to do. Take a friend with you and go on little excursions, then you get some enjoyment out of it also. If you don't you will limit your own freedom to roam.
I've been driving for a lot longer than your 8 years and I can tell you that
driving around Zurich has brought me to tears on more than one occasion! My problem is I can never seem to find an easy way to get back home from the motorway!
I have driven my UK car abroad before and I have to agree it is a bit more difficult (although familiar) the vision can be a problem in foreign countries. I have always rented cars in Switzerland and in many other countries and you get used to the steering wheel etc being in the ‘wrong’ place, so that particular thing is not the problem to switch over too.
1. The main thing I would say is the trams (these beasts stop for no one and will kill ...the law is always on their side!) A warning be very wary when crossing their paths or driving in front of one. If you end up were you shouldn’t be very carefull.
2. I find the road markings exceptionally bad this goes the same for the motorways which are very poorly lit and have very inadequate hard shoulders.
3. The pedestrian crossings are not lit and traffic lights are not uniformly positioned.
4. Too many 1 way streets! That take you the opposite way that you want to go.
5. Aggressive drivers hassle you, and there is no driver courtesy. It probably doesn’t help with GB plates for you!
Overall Zurich driving is a NIGHTMARE!
My advice to you would be always drive with a passenger until more confident.
Remember were your steering wheel should be (i.e. next to the pavement side) , as I have found before you revert back to UK side when panic hits.
Take yourself to media markt and buy a SAT NAV (i saw one for around £100) so you can concentrate on what’s around you instead of getting lost on the one way streets.
Also are you protected with liability insurance if you should be unfortunate enough to be in accident? Otherwise you could be sued if it’s your fault. I think we already have this included on our English insurance which you are probably using, but check.
Another thing the traffic police are ( P.gs) .
I was advised by a Swiss guy to get lawyer insurance as you may need the protection of a lawyer, if you have a knock, accident, cross the road anything to do with traffic stuff. I also speak from experience as well ( before i knew about this insurance) a family member was seriously hurt as a pedestrian and was interrogated for 3 1⁄2 hours! while extremely ill. Also the same 3 1⁄2 hour interrogation happened to a friend for touching a bumper without damaging it as this crime was all recorded on CCTV!
I will be buying a car in the next few months and I will be buying a SAT NAV myself to get me home in one piece. As well as getting the legal insurance!
Just use your car to head for the HILLS, it still is the best way to get around this beautiful country! And remember to be 'doubly insured' if you should God forbid make a mistake!
Cosmicgirl
agree with your points, though i didn't find driving in zurich to be so bad.
1. bad road markings and lighting - some markings are just bizarre and confusing. i tend to adopt the italian driving method and ignore than and figure out where i want to go and take the shortest route there ignoring all markings on the road.
2. non-visible pedestrian crossings. definitely hard to see compared to UK pelican crossings. i almost killed several pedestrians on my first outing and had several shouting and gesticulating at me. one even tried to chase me for a bit.
3. no driver courtesy - so fck 'em and just drive like an idiot too.
4. never noticed a 1-way street problem BUT the key is to get a tomtom so that you can disengage brain and just drive. not sure if anyone else finds this, but i tend to swerve a lot at the last minute when i realise tomtom wants me to turn right now.
5. definitely get insurance up to the max. esp. also legal insurance. a friend of mine had an accident and had a nightmare, other person claimed it was his fault, insurance wouldn't pay up, he had to sue the insurers etc. very messy.
IMO, best thing to do is give up the car and take public transport/taxis everywhere. or get friends to chauffeur you around
Get a different 1 that warns you earlier
or use it more often to get used to the spoken instructions and the distances it refers to.
Some models are better than others, and the higher models have advanced lane guidance so they tell you which lane you should be in.
Nice attitude! Wouldn't it be better to be a good example, by displaying more courtesy?
That works with the 95% who drive reasonably well, but the other 5% have disengaged their brains, swerve at the last minute, take the shortest route instead of following the road markings, and don't pay any attention to other road uses anyway.
Glad to hear so many people agreeing that signs here in ZH are far from being clear.
Some crossings are a real puzzle to figure out who's got priority!
Never understood why no one is doing something about it
Back to the OP's dilemma of driving here.
As some posts suggested: Take a couple of driving lessons .
It did a miracle for me. Not only you learn to drive more confidently, you'd also learn the tricks to park your car in not-so-large spots.
That would work if people could admit that they make mistakes when they drive. I thought this was a problem in the US, as everyone drives and there are very few truly properly trained drivers. It turns out that I was incorrect and there are places where people are less flexible/polite. I guess what I was perceiving as lack of politeness in the US was just ignorance and lack of technique. We know that the Swiss have it culturally ingrained to "never be wrong." Unfortunately, for courtesy to work and be used, requires there to be a modicum of humility and the realization that one might be wrong. In most cases, it just isn't going to happen.
Funny enough, I just go on my merry little way, being nice and waving people in to traffic jams and letting pedestrians cross safely and just generally making eye contact and acknowledging the existence of other motorists. What I get in return is startled looks and smiles and waves of appreciation. Not from all drivers and pedestrians, as a very high number of people are cold fish, seemingly disconnected from the reality through which they are driving. But for the ones that notice, it does seem to make their day. And that makes mine.
BTW, to the OP, you may find that you are nervous because, due to the fact that you are driving a RHD car, you are too close to the other lanes. When I go to the UK to visit the In-laws, I find that I have to concentrate on lane positioning for the first few hundred miles. Lane positioning is a very subtle thing and just a few inches difference in location will change whether people perceive you as a danger. This will cause people to honk at you, which my experience has been is not a very Swiss behaviour. I honk at far more people than honk at me.
Good Luck,
Brian.
I don't agree with your analysis. I think it is simply that many people in many countries have no awareness of their surroundings. That includes when they're on a bicycle, walking or in a car.
To say that it's an ingrained need to be right, implies that there's some conscious thought going into the behaviour!
It sounds like your confidence has been knocked by unfamiliarity. It also may be that psychologically you feel that you are the only one who doesn't understand what's going on around you which can cause anxiety.
I also imagine that if your car still has UK plates, that you feel quite conspicuous, and unfortunately local drivers anywhere are never that tollerent of easily identifiable non locals who they consider to be faffing etc.
In general Switzerland is very easy & calm compared to driving in the UK - in other words if you are happy on UK roads then you shouldn't need to stress out about Swiss roads.
Like others have said, maybe go out at quiet times or book a couple of lessons to familiarise yourself with unfamiliar road markings etc.
But try & get back in the saddle - I'm sure you'll get it quickly once you feel a bit more relaxed with the general road environment here.
Personally, being a veteran of London driving for 15 years, I find Zurich rather tame & almost miss the argy bargy of London occasionally!
I just had a really traumatic time driving my scooter from Hoenggerberg down to my places at Winterthurerstrasse (not more than 5km!!!) I'm a new driver, and had never taken this route before (i took it the other way) but thought it would be a piece of cake since the Bus 69 takes the exact same route. Until I end up in the wrong lane at Bucheggplatz and end up heading down to Schaffhauserplatz instead. First panic was the street that was running on the same path as the tram line, scooter wheels + tram tracks can't be good and I was extremely nervous. And then I realized I could not make any U-turns, either because I *really* couldn't (tram tracks) or I was blind from my nervousness. Finally i managed to turn into a housing area and got onto my street, in the wrong direction, with a tram on my side, and lots and lots of cars queuing up behind me... with no way to turn left!!! How on earth do I find out where to turn along the tram tracks? It's so frustrating!
haha noting will happen when you cross them in a bit of an angle.
go to 1:10
After the third lifeless corpse bounces off your fender you become numb to the endless paper chase that is Swiss insurance. I fall asleep to the gnarl of crunching twisting metal and the whiplash of carbon fiber strands.
Actually I don't mean the physical difficulties of crossing tram tracks with the scooter, but rather : where can I make U-turns along tram tracks (because all I see are no-left-turn signs!)
Turn right, then right again - then turn left onto the main road - easy!
your on a scooter. look around for the police, which you never see around and wip one. go into Geneva ones to look at how they drive. It is like a free for all for the scooters
Practice makes perfect. The roads are tight, and of course, it helps a lot (visibility wise) to have a car with the steering wheel on the left (not the right as it is in the UK).
I don't find the signs all that bad in Zürich. The biggest issue is that some lanes split for short periods of time and you have 5 seconds to decide.
When one arrives for the first at the various corners of the Hb it can be freaky because you have the sharp turns, the underpass roads etc and you're still kinda clueless as to where you want to get, let alone process this small but strong chaos.
The trick to any big city is to be extremely alert , first so you make it out without any damage, and also to know where and how to get somewhere; obvious enough but too often brushed off.
Basel on the other hand, miss a turn and you're in for a joy ride having to cross the river to make it all the way back around
Having driven a fair bit in Boston, New York(getting back in the tunnel by accident not so great ) , the crazy overloaded highways heading into Washington DC, Paris, etc; I think it really becomes a habit of adapting to local driving conditions.
If you have a good idea of how the city is organized driving can be a breeze in Zürich.
It's a habit for me to get lost on foot in Zh but "never" by car; that may be due to planning the car stuff a bit more and also because it's generally the same routes that I know by heart.