One of the things that sticks out most to me from my time in Zurich is how bloody appallingly impatient Swiss (or maybe just Zurich, haven't seen anywhere else) drivers are... and that's coming from someone who knows London fairly well.
When the light goes green, if the front car hasn't moved forward in the first nanosecond , the sodding horns begin. And then carry on. And on. Also they have NO tolerance for ANYONE making the slightest error, like needing to change lanes because of going in the wrong one or similar. There's just no patience for it, and this is something which I can say 100% that the UK does not have a big problem with, i've been driving a good while and on the whole the UK is pretty understanding with such things.
It's not just the incessant tooting, it's also the fact that "safe distance" in Zurich is obviously something which has never been explained here... the car behind is often so close to the one in front it's like they're tring to give the automotive verison of a french kiss. As a result of this, i've seen two crashes right outside my workplace (one involving a scooter who really should have known better).
Now i'm not generally an angry person, but if I had to drive here I think I would end up hurting someone... from what i've seen the mentality in Zurich is impatient and careless. Not impressed.
Nah, a trip back to Manchester then a week over Christmas spent pootling around the north west showed me that the driving is about the same there as it is here.
The only difference is that the Swiss haven't yet perfected the "w*nker" hand signal.
Driving up the M6 in Thelwall territory is a suicide mission - the motorways here are a lot less stressful because they are less crowded and you can't always be sure that the person driving like a lunatic IS actually Swiss. I'm not Swiss but my car has got ZH number plates and I make mistakes when out and about (and lost) so I could be contributing to the driving rep of the Swiss. Sorry!
I agree with the distance thing completely. I also get really annoyed when a car comes up behind me in the fast lane and starts flashing his lights at me like a lunatic trying to get me out of the way when I have several cars in front of me and can't go anywhere. Why do these drivers (Swiss or not) think they can ask me and the rest of the motoring population to move out of their way by behaving like arses?
Erhemm. You appear to be a typically over-sensitive-to-horn-bast British driver.
Blowing your horn in the UK is tantamount to throwing down the gauntlet. In Italy the horn is used in a similar fashion to and with the same frequency as indicators. Switzerland is about in between.
Swiss drivers are not challenging each other's manhood, as in the UK, when they blow their horns. You may well even find drivers thankful for being told the light is turning green and give a cheery wave, not the middle finger and the start of road rage...
Yeah but horn blowing is usually forbidden in other countries, in built up areas and in any case just for extreme danger... not "move over or outta my way". And they DO cause accidents constantly by kissing your bumper.
Maybe it's just where I live but I don't hear a lot of horn tooting. I'm not saying drivers here aren't impatient but use of horn falls well short of incessant. I've always assumed there's some law against it.
Twice, whilst waiting to turn left into heavy-ish traffic, I've had the idiot behind me pull out from behind (innuendo not intended) and round in front of me to turn left. Both times causing myself or other traffic to brake suddenly.
Funny - I always had the exactly opposite impression. Driving in Zurich drives me mad because everyone is going so slowly, and you have to stop at every ****ing traffic light (you can bet that the next traffic light will always be red when you get there). You should spend some time in Paris if you want to experience really crazy driving....
I agree that drivers honking wildly can be somewhat irritating, but - if you're waiting behind some people who are (1) checking their makeup in the rear mirror, (b) intensely picking their noses, (3) deeply involved in a chat on their mobile, (4) have forgotton where the 1st gear is, (5) are nervously staring at the red lights which do NOT apply to the traffic lane they're in, then a simple, short "wake-up call" comes in useful sometimes
Pure, raw, unbridled forum rage. In fact i'm going to go out now and kill the next 5 fluffy bunnies I see. Their deaths will be on your head, and I hope you can deal with that on your conscience.
Couldn't agree more... I have been driving in small towns, big towns, cities in Ireland, England, Scotland, Sweden, Canada, USA, Germany.. and Switzerland. I could write several pages here. (However, to fair, I have seen this kind of behavior quite a lot in Germany as well).
One incident was when waiting for green and when it is yellow the person behind me impatiently and instantly flashes with the lights. My conclusion is that she must have decided to flash from start, I mean these nano-seconds after red before green are quite few. And btw it was raining heavily, many pedestrians take more chances then when crossing streets so racing on yellow was a no option.
Another incident, I wanted to cross the street. Since it is a crosswalk a car stops (going from left to right) for me but since there is tram crossing my way (from right to left) I dont cross. I stay on the sidewalk. The driver practically loses all selfcontrol and yells and screams wondering why I am just standing there. And me wondering why he can't see that I can't walk through trams and wondering if I even should explain that . And I thought I was the "good guy" letting him pass. But the aggressivness and bitterness rules apparently.
Richdog, One thing I have noticed about Switzerland is that many of the lights here stay green for a ridiculously short amount of time. If that front car doesn't move in the first nanosecond, half of the green is wasted. This can be a bit frustrating when 20 cars are lined up at a light that only gives time for 3 to pass.