Are motorists becoming more and more stupid?

[new2ford]

Originally Posted by Brazen

Makes me appreciate Australia and our car culture, we travel two to three times the distance of the average European and our drivers are a lot better and have a better attitude. Nothing scarier than a European who takes public transport all year then jumps in a car and does 160 on ice on a motorway. Like pilots who improve with hours in air, so do car drivers who spend more time on the road.

There are so many awesome presumptions in that little piece that I don't know where to start.

Well no, for a start European drivers are a lot better and have a better attitude. This is a Russian car crash video. The Russians are crazy drivers. Sure, part of Russia is in Europe but the rest of European drivers don't drive like this!

Distance? Another presumption there. Europe is a big continent. I haven't done a map overlay recently but it would be about as big as Australia. When I arrived a few months ago I started by looking at second hand cars (I've subsequently long-term leased one, it was so cheap, about $150 a week) and I was surprised at the number of 5-6 year old cars with 2-300,000 ks on the clock. The Octavia I'm leasing is 6 years old and now over 200,000 kms (and still going strong at a regular 140 km/h!).

I'll tell you why. Because of the lack of speed restrictions on the motorways you can get much further in the time. In 2 hours in Australia I'm lucky to cover much over 150 km. In Europe I can cover 250 km in the same time. Because there are so many cities and attractions relatively close apart people go out driving to visit other places a distance away more often. As a Sydneysider for instance you'd only visit Brisbane once for the annual holiday. In Europe you'd go off to more such places. If you visit Rome from Berlin you are driving the same distance as Sydney-Melbourne or Sydney-Brisbane. People buzz off from central Europe to the beaches of Croatia all the time in summer or the alps in winter. The truckies are also doing 1000 km journeys just like in Australia but at 90 km/h and lots of controls and curfews and the industry prospers.

There's also tons of car use in the cities in spite of the excellent public transport but they're not as car-dependent as in Australia so actually have an alternative if something goes pear-shaped, whereas we don't. Sorry to go on so long but that little myth needs to be put to rest before it spreads!