The Ten Commandments of Driving

[Nanuq]

As issued today by the Vatican:

1. You shall not kill.

2. The road shall be for you a means of communion between people and not of mortal harm.

3. Courtesy, uprightness and prudence will help you deal with unforeseen events.

4. Be charitable and help your neighbor in need, especially victims of accidents.

5. Cars shall not be for you an expression of power and domination, and an occasion of sin.

6. Charitably convince the young and not so young not to drive when they are not in a fitting condition to do so.

7. Support the families of accident victims.

8. Bring guilty motorists and their victims together, at the appropriate time, so that they can undergo the liberating

experience of forgiveness.

9. On the road, protect the more vulnerable party.

10. Feel responsible toward others.

[Usil]

I used to work in ER and saw families destroyed by drunken teens. You look at the number of deaths in Viet nam over 10 years and then compare that to the total traffic deaths each year and suddenly you realize the magnitude of the problem. I find there is no place I need to be that fast. Drive carefully.

Usil

[Jumbie]

It's not a matter of driving carefully. It's a matter of looking out for the idiot* next to you.

Everyone should take a course in defensive driving.

Okay, of course we need to drive carefully as well.

* And we all know that everyone else is the bad driver when we talk about it. Heh, it's never us.

***

My favourite though is whenever I go on the highway and see the geniuses on motorbikes without a helmet in a t-shirt and shorts. Luckily they aren't gonna kill anyone but themselves unlike the football mom in an SUV too big for her to handle while she talks on the phone and does her nails while driving.

I don't know about elsewhere in the world, but it's waaayyyy too easy to get a license in N. America and it's too easy to keep said license once you have it. Driving laws should be much stricter. Get caught with a DUI and there's no 3 strikes bull. Run a red light and you're in serious trouble. I speed, I admit, but the fines should be much, much higher (same goes for people who drive at 20 miles/hour).

I believe that in places like Germany that it's pretty tough to get your license. I'm sure some of our German or other European members can confirm. So that even though there's the Autobahn, the people using it actually know how to drive.

[Pugwash]

I believe that in places like Germany that it's pretty tough to get your license. I'm sure some of our German or other European members can confirm. So that even though there's the Autobahn, the people using it actually know how to drive.

Most of the EU has much more strict tests than in the US but we simply don't have the same driving culture as you. Our cars are generally smaller, too, and we don't expect our kids to drive to school.

[Usil]

Being an American living in Paris for the past 4 years, I can speak to the differences for driving in Europe and the US. After you have been driving for a few years, it becomes an automatic response - relegated to the non-thinking parts of the brain, much like walking or using your hands. You become used to the flow of traffic and there are certain expectations you have for other drivers in most routine circumstances. This is for normal driving. Anything that disrupts the normal pattern of driving is dangerous and you all of a sudden require considerably more attention and action.

Moving to Paris and driving in Europe required me to shift out of automatic mode and shift into thinking mode. Driving patterns are different, city driving is different, light patterns at intersections can be different, round abouts are different, cars gathering at lighted street corners are different, drivers expectations in certain circumstances are different and traffic flow is different on many streets where street lines are non existent. All of this required me to adjust my pre-existing driving patterns and skills to the new conditions. It took about 6 months before I completely adjusted to the differences and became comfortable driving here. It actually helped that I had bought a motorcycle when I arrived and used this for my city transportation. People who come visit are nervous in the car as I drive through the city as they see the differences I listed.

Now I find myself returning to the States in a few months and I cringe at going back to driving in the US. I find that driving in Europe is much more safe and the drivers are, in general, more courteous to your needs as you try to navigate in congestion. Similar circumstances in the US are such that drivers near you would rather see you crash and burn before letting you merge or maneuver is tight places or heaven forbid you get in front of them. I know that I paint with a broad brush when I say these things but I have experienced these conditions many times and it is not an exaggeration. I am not looking forward to returning to driving in the States where I have to quickly check the rear view mirror at every stop light to see if some idiot is actually accelerating toward the changing red light to get across the intersection from 100 meters back. I have been rear ended twice in the last two years I lived in the states by idiots doing exactly that and once I narrowly escaped collision after I had stopped and the light was actually red - I looked up and see this hugh pickup truck barreling towards me at high speed (towards my little Mazda MX-5). Seeing the intersection was clear, I started to drive forward and by doing so narrowly averted him crashing into me.

I am not looking forward to going back to this.

Usil

[marrickvilleboy]

Most of the EU has much more strict tests than in the US but we simply don't have the same driving culture as you. Our cars are generally smaller, too, and we don't expect our kids to drive to school.

......well lets not forget many of the sports cars are manufactured by EU countries i.e Germany, and with the addition of the autoban....lol i'm not too sure about what you just said.

[gran]

POPEs been around for a long time....

[Usil]

Did they invent the Pope-mobile?

Usil

[gran]

Did they invent the Pope-mobile?

Usil

No not POPEs diddnt invent it......GOD did

[eddhead]

As issued today by the Vatican:

1. You shall not kill.

2. The road shall be for you a means of communion between people and not of mortal harm.

3. Courtesy, uprightness and prudence will help you deal with unforeseen events.

4. Be charitable and help your neighbor in need, especially victims of accidents.

5. Cars shall not be for you an expression of power and domination, and an occasion of sin.

6. Charitably convince the young and not so young not to drive when they are not in a fitting condition to do so.

7. Support the families of accident victims.

8. Bring guilty motorists and their victims together, at the appropriate time, so that they can undergo the liberating

experience of forgiveness.

9. On the road, protect the more vulnerable party.

10. Feel responsible toward others.

just re-read number 5 "... occassion of sin..." LOL... ahh the good old days... some of my best sinning was done in the backseat of my old ford!!

[eddhead]

Being an American living in Paris for the past 4 years, I can speak to the differences for driving in Europe and the US. After you have been driving for a few years, it becomes an automatic response - relegated to the non-thinking parts of the brain, much like walking or using your hands. You become used to the flow of traffic and there are certain expectations you have for other drivers in most routine circumstances. This is for normal driving. Anything that disrupts the normal pattern of driving is dangerous and you all of a sudden require considerably more attention and action.

Moving to Paris and driving in Europe required me to shift out of automatic mode and shift into thinking mode. Driving patterns are different, city driving is different, light patterns at intersections can be different, round abouts are different, cars gathering at lighted street corners are different, drivers expectations in certain circumstances are different and traffic flow is different on many streets where street lines are non existent. All of this required me to adjust my pre-existing driving patterns and skills to the new conditions. It took about 6 months before I completely adjusted to the differences and became comfortable driving here. It actually helped that I had bought a motorcycle when I arrived and used this for my city transportation. People who come visit are nervous in the car as I drive through the city as they see the differences I listed.

Now I find myself returning to the States in a few months and I cringe at going back to driving in the US. I find that driving in Europe is much more safe and the drivers are, in general, more courteous to your needs as you try to navigate in congestion. Similar circumstances in the US are such that drivers near you would rather see you crash and burn before letting you merge or maneuver is tight places or heaven forbid you get in front of them. I know that I paint with a broad brush when I say these things but I have experienced these conditions many times and it is not an exaggeration. I am not looking forward to returning to driving in the States where I have to quickly check the rear view mirror at every stop light to see if some idiot is actually accelerating toward the changing red light to get across the intersection from 100 meters back. I have been rear ended twice in the last two years I lived in the states by idiots doing exactly that and once I narrowly escaped collision after I had stopped and the light was actually red - I looked up and see this hugh pickup truck barreling towards me at high speed (towards my little Mazda MX-5). Seeing the intersection was clear, I started to drive forward and by doing so narrowly averted him crashing into me.

I am not looking forward to going back to this.

Usil

Honestly, I think it depends on where you drive in the US ... I HATE driving in South Florida and LA for instance merging is like a contest. Midwest is pretty civil though

don't laff, but although NY and in the Northeast generally, is congested I find people are better at adhering to informal rules of the road than they are in other places, especially with merging. One from the left, one from the right.. repeat...

I have also driven in a few German cities (pretty civil actually) and Italy (absolute chaos in Rome and Florence, and the Tuscan countryside) but not in France or the UK so I will not comment ont those countries.