The last part about governments not acting upon reckless driving, I think it depends on the country. In the Netherlands it is pretty well done. Most disciplined drivers you could find in the world.
The last part about governments not acting upon reckless driving, I think it depends on the country. In the Netherlands it is pretty well done.
Absolutely not! My experience from a couple of years living and driving in NL:
Speeding is expensive, but has no other consequences -> speed limits are effective for poor people only. No other controls are in effect. The average speed measurement over longer stretches of road is a nice touch, but again, no consequences but expensive tickets. Also, contrary to Switzerland, fines are NOT bound to your income / wealth.
Most disciplined drivers you could find in the world.
Also not. Things wrong with the average Dutch driver that come to mind immediatley:
Due to the low speed limits, overtaking another vehicle is a long process - that’s not the fault of the drivers, but the system’s fault (although the average speed limit is designed to allow a quick burst in speed for this, it’s hard to know when you’ll pay an expensive fine and I wouldn’t rely on it either). What the average Dutch driver does with it however is a problem:
the driver overtaking will creep up to the car to be overtaken’s rear bumper before changing to the left lane, and will typically go right back into the original lane after clearing the slower car by like 5 meters - due to the slow process of “catching up” this leads to minutes with a very dangerous distance to the car in front of them, and will occasionally cause accidents (thanks to the low speed those are not as fatal).
the driver being overtaken basically never slows down to speed up the process and make it safer for all involved
on the contrary, people will sometimes even drive at very irregular speeds and speed up a little just when someone attempts to overtake them
and then
4) many Dutch drivers do not understand zip merging and hate people doing it correctly. If a lane is closed down, people will merge onto the other lane(s) kilometres before the road closure, and there will always be someone who behaves aggressively towards vehicles using the lane until the frontmost part where it is closed and the zip merger should be done. I’ve seen truckers(!) veer to the side to try and intimidate cars passing for a zip merger, because they perceive these people as “cutting the line”
The last part about governments not acting upon reckless driving, I think it depends on the country. In the Netherlands it is pretty well done. Most disciplined drivers you could find in the world.
Absolutely not! My experience from a couple of years living and driving in NL: Speeding is expensive, but has no other consequences -> speed limits are effective for poor people only. No other controls are in effect. The average speed measurement over longer stretches of road is a nice touch, but again, no consequences but expensive tickets. Also, contrary to Switzerland, fines are NOT bound to your income / wealth.
Also not. Things wrong with the average Dutch driver that come to mind immediatley: Due to the low speed limits, overtaking another vehicle is a long process - that’s not the fault of the drivers, but the system’s fault (although the average speed limit is designed to allow a quick burst in speed for this, it’s hard to know when you’ll pay an expensive fine and I wouldn’t rely on it either). What the average Dutch driver does with it however is a problem:
and then 4) many Dutch drivers do not understand zip merging and hate people doing it correctly. If a lane is closed down, people will merge onto the other lane(s) kilometres before the road closure, and there will always be someone who behaves aggressively towards vehicles using the lane until the frontmost part where it is closed and the zip merger should be done. I’ve seen truckers(!) veer to the side to try and intimidate cars passing for a zip merger, because they perceive these people as “cutting the line”