I’m very fortunate to have never had a serious accident in my life. I think with 20 years odd driving, and considering some of my friends who have had multiple accidents – then I consider myself either a hell of a lucky driver or pretty good. I have also travelled extensively and wherever practicable have hired my own car to explore the country being visited as I see it as real pleasure to have the freedom to go wherever you can.
Driving in different countries naturally takes a particular skill:
In the United Kingdom people are generally quite fast (especially on rural roads) but also polite. Other drivers will let you merge slowly into the freeway as you enter it. They will follow basic guidelines and rules around travelling around a circle or roundabout.
In South Africa there are two hazards in that half the country runs at fast, almost reckless speeds in high performance, 'zooped up' sports cars, whilst the other half drive really slowly in overloaded trucks or wrecks. There is no consistency in travelling in the right (passing) or left lane so it’s not unsurprisingly to come around the bend and find three trucks attempting to overtake at a snail’s pace on a hill of a 3 lane motorway. Driving in the country though in South Africa is a pleasure though – few cars, generally well maintained roads and beautiful open vistas (It’s probably like driving through the American mid-west!)
My experience in driving in the Philippines is that people tend to believe the rules are slightly flexible anyway and it’s usually the larger or smarter car that has preference. Or if you can see the whites of their eyes...the person with the most determination! As a populated country, the roads in the cities (especially Manila) get really congested and I was astonished sitting still in traffic to see cars not only using the emergency lane but even the sidewalk to get up and on.
So when it comes to driving I guess my main rules are:
- be considerate
- adopt your driving style to the country concerned (e.g. Don’t be the one waiting to enter the motorway in South Africa as no-one will give you a gap and people behind you will think you have stalled ad will start overtaking you)
- get your spatial awareness right
- pre-empt what other users (sometimes a.k.a. idiots) are likely to do. Is that car door going to open…is that child on the sidewalk on their scooter suddenly going to veer into the road…has that person coming into the circle actually seen me.
- get to know how your car works – do your own maintenance and fill up your own petrol