Europe's Worst Drivers .......

goodisonpark · Joined: 12 Jun 2003 Posts: 193

LONDON, England (Reuters) -- Italians are the worst drivers in Europe but Norwegians are the most likely to lose their cool, a survey has found.

According to the poll by vehicle lease company LeasePlan, 22 percent of European drivers said Italians were the worst menace on the roads. The French came in a distant second, picked by 16 percent.

Nearly two-thirds of Norwegians admitted having "behaved aggressively towards other drivers," compared with only 43 percent of the Dutch and 41 percent of Americans.

Different people respond to other drivers' annoying habits in different ways, the survey found.

"Using verbal abuse is the preferred method in France (73 percent), Spain (64 percent), Portugal (65 percent) the Czech Republic (87 percent) and Germany (50 percent)" the report said.

"Rude hand signals are preferred in the UK (74 percent) the Netherlands (60 percent), Norway (58 percent) Switzerland (58 percent) and Hungary (44 percent)."

More pointless surveys done at the taxpayer's expense :ohno

The world is your oyster but the future's a clam

sethr · Joined: 24 Mar 2003 Posts: 190

Apparently, I'm a very international kinda driver. I use verbal abuse and rude hand signals.

bbchris

Don't rude hand signals differ from country to country?

RonOnGuitar · Joined: 08 Jan 2003 Posts: 1916

"Don't rude hand signals differ from country to country?"

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Yup - I believe the encircled thumb/index finger that means "OK" in the US means something not as pleasant in Germany. (Mike would know exactly what of course.)

I found this page which addresses the topic a bit,

Travel - hand language

RonOnGuitar · Joined: 08 Jan 2003 Posts: 1916

Oh yeah, that reminded me of an odd, funny bit of history. A small US ship (the Pueblo)was captured by NKorea in 1968 and the captured crew found a way to "communicate" their real situation -

"The crew learned that the North Koreans did not know what showing the middle finger signified in the United States so they decided to use that to their advantage in future propoganda photos. The crew is seen in several pictures showing their middle fingers to the camera to indicate that the whole thing was a lie and that they were not being treated properly. The men told the North Korean guards that the gesture was a Hawaiian good luck sign. In one instance, a photo that was published in the 18 October 1968 issue of Time magazine showed several crewmembers posing for the camera while discreetly showing the "Hawaiian good luck sign." In early December, the North Koreans finally figured out what the finger meant and began to take revenge upon the men; this began a period referred to as Hell Week. Hell Week actually lasted 10 days and the beatings and injuries sustained were more severe than at any other time in captivity. The crew used many examples like this to exert their resistance to their captors without them knowing, which amounted to a mental victory despite their physical defeat."

excerpted from -

http://home.sandiego.edu/~sgreer/captive.html

image at -http://www.sandiego.edu/~sgreer/images/timefinger.jpg

bbchris

hahahahaa That's hysterical!!! :banana

RonOnGuitar · Joined: 08 Jan 2003 Posts: 1916

The explanation that it was a "Hawaiian good luck sign" was pretty good, hahaha!