There are plenty of old jokes about how awful the Spanish drivers are, though it has to be said things have improved greatly with the advent of EU money for the basic infrastructure. Roads, in general, are excellent, with hundreds of kilometers of motorway and A roads up and down – and across – the country. In adition, hte rules of the road are very clear, and the branch of the police force, the Guardia Civil Trafico, aren’t a bit slow in handing out fines for misdemeanors though you get a 50% discount for paying the fine promptly!
Having said all that, the standard of driving is actually not that brilliant at all. On motorways people still drive far, far too close to the vehicles in front, but the worst perpetrators are the lorry drivers. Not only do they drive so close you can’t see their number plate but they must be exceeding their speed limit by a long way. Cars can drive at up to 120kph on motorways, which I usually do, but lorries are not allowed to exceed 90kph. Now it doesn’t take a genius to work out that if I’m driving at 120kph and lorry, who’s restricted to 90kph is sitting right up tight on my tail, it’s a recipe for disaster. These days I just let them all do what they want and I keep well away from them, they’re farr bigger than me!
The worst offenders are the lorries who are doing up to their legal speed limit,but then decide to overtake the perfectly inoffensive lorry in front of them. Indicate (sometimes!) pull out, and sit in the overtaking lane for up to 3kms, dandering along at around 60kph as it’s a bit uphill. So, the two sit side by side for ages, with nobody else able to get past. Dreadfully frustrating!
I have to say that our town has to have the worst drivers in the country. They pay absolutely no heed at all to any road signs, road markings, or traffic lights. The majority of them are very old and have probably never done a driving test, or never had to worry about “rules of the road”. It’s quite common to start to go through the lights when yours have turned green, only to see at least 3 more old boys heading straight for you, having all simply disregarded their red light – maybe they think they’ve had to wait long enough so they’re just going to keep going anyway! There is absolutely no point at all in trying to remonstrate with any of them, best to just ignore them and let them go, as this means they’ll be well out of your way. Their other favourite trick is when coming round a corner we are frequently met with a car coming in the opposite direction, towards us, but halfway over the centre white line. They should really provide drivers in Spain with free Immodium…
I’m always amazed at how many people here live well into their 90s, as, given the way they drive, they should have been dispatched to the big race track in the sky years ago!
Off the very well-maintained main roads the state of the surfaces can leave a lot to be desired. Pot holes are plentiful, but so are other dangers like items which seem to have appeared from nowhere, waiting to cause you serious car problems. We were heading into town not too long ago when suddenly there was tremendous bang from the rear driver’s side of the car. We stopped, looked at the tyre, and saw a huge bolt had gone right through it, in one way and out the other. I couldn’t believe it, and neither could Jose, our local garage owner. To this day we have no idea how it managed to embed itself in the tyre in the way it did – pretty impressive! I kept the bolt as a souvenir! I needed new tyres anyway so it was as well it happened when it did.
Another thing, if someone bumps into your car you can be sure they’ll probably laugh it off and nothing more will happen. An old boy smacked into the husband’s white Nissan Terrano not so long ago, but just drove off. When we caught up with him he offered us a half-used tin of white yacht paint to repair the scrape! You couldn’t make it up!
Oh, and as for cyclists…well that’s a whole other story for another day!
My life in Spain 