not being sark-astic here
 

Has to be Sark, one of the English channel isles. However, as cars are banned, the driving in question is of a horse and carriage - see www.sark.info. If we're speaking internal combustion engines I have driven in most European countries and North America. Big cities are frantic everywhere but I would say that outside these, the US if the easiest. European roads tend to be more congested and often, surprisingly, have higher speed limits. (I have never had a speeding conviction in Europe but am wanted in two US states for alleged speeding violations, both of which, if true, were probably related to unconsciously driving in a European way).

Actually there are many driving surprises at variance with national sterotypes. The English can be very aggressive drivers (probably because we're so overcrowded) and one's always a bit nervous of a road rage incident. Conversely, I once hired a car in Palermo, Sicily, for a few days and, apart from a few odd hoots, was amazed at how easy it was. Spain is also a great place to drive these days, as long as you avoid the narrow streets of old town centres. Lots of EU-financed highways that sweep through the landscape with very little traffic, and little hassle from other road users.

>Other than Canada what country is most similar to the US with regard to driving

I thought driving in Holland was a real pleasure.

The main issue that I've found outside of the western US and Canada is that the cities in other parts of the world (with the exception of perhaps Australia) were never designed with cars in mind. As a result, it's tough to park, roads are narrow, traffic is congested etc.

Cheers,
Geoff Glave
Vancouver

Excluding big cities in any country...I have enjoyed driving in Switzerland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, and to be honest I'm thoroughly accustomed to driving in New Zealand, Australia, and the UK. But...I'll again note that any big city can be a nightmare. I missed the correct toll gate twice going on the Sydney Harbour tollway - a total pain to rectify.

Why don’t you guys all come to Ireland & be run off the road !

A country where the rules of the road are ignored on a wholesale basis like it’s a national sport.

Not mention being intimidated by other drivers right on your tail end, shoving you out of their way, they do after all actually own the road you know & how there you be there in the first place !

Be honked & flashed at for slowing down in a residential area so as to obey the speed limit or stopping at an amber light & not just flooring it instead. I mean didn’t you know that amber really means accelerate ??

Watch the car behind you speed up intentionally as soon as appears you may want to lane change so as not to allow you merge into “their” lane.

Employ the use of divine inspiration so as to guess what another driver’s intentions may be at a junction, as it seems to be a jailable offence to use your indicators.

Then finally to cap it all off, run a serious risk of being slaughtered on the road by some young upstart in a souped up Honda Civic. Who knows it all, is infallible, is an infinitely better driver than anyone else & obviously possesses super powers. Who also of course also considers himself or herself immortal.


Ok rant over.............and breathe.......ah that's better now..... :(

At least in Illinois, it's part of the rules at a 4-way stop sign. If you reach the "stop line" at the same time as another car on the perpendicular stret, the car that's to the right gets to go first.

I haven't driven in too many other countries, but here's my POV on those that I have:

Canada: Much like US, except that 100 km/h speed is too slow for rural expressways (ie the 401 in eastern Ontario). Roads seem to be in comparable shape to the stuff across the border in upstate NY, which is to say decent, but not spectacular.

Germany: If I could drive in one country for the rest of my life, this would be it. In some cases, the Germanic predilection for following the rules strictly is a pain in the butt. Not on the autobahn. It's great to drive on a road where people behave in predictable and reasonable fashion. If you want to go fast, people get out of the way for you. Signage is a little confusing at first (it's not the A7 North, it's the A7 to Hamburg) which keeps you on your toes with respect to German geography.

The one thing I didn't like was that in some workzones, one of the lanes would be crunched down to 2.0m wide. You don't see them much narrower than 8'6" in the US.

Australia: At least for me, adjusting to sitting on the right and driving on the left was pretty easy. (it might've been tricky had I been driving a standard shift). Roads seemed to be in good shape (by US standards, not German standards). Variable speed limits are screaming for implementation. I can understand keeping the speed limit on the Hume Fwy low at night due to marsupials, but during the day, even 120 km/h seems too slow on the dual carriageway portions. 140-150 would be appropriate.

Roundabouts - not too hard to deal with, surprisingly...I read up on the rules before I went, and it was pretty easy.

On the whole, I agree with you 100%. I spent 1.5 weeks in LA last summer and actually found it quite easy to drive, even in a minivan! Sure it took me hours and hours to get from San Diego back to LA during rush hour, but otherwise the signs are clear and it's easy to find where you're going.

But, I think you'll have trouble finding signs anywhere in the world that are as good as Montreal. They always tell you which way to Toronto. It's great! :D ;) Now... the rest of the road system and signs there are another story.

And out-of-staters wanted California to spend $40mil to add exit number signs to our freeway system :td:

If Canadians can drive in California, so can the rest of the US! :mad:

(btw, yes we are wasting the money and currently installing the wretched signs)

I recently returned from South Africa, and driving there was amazing!

Despite driving on the 'other side' [well, what American's consider the 'other side', but in reality where the majority of the rest of the world drive!!! :-)] of the road, I was very impressed.

I drove approximately 1,500km over 10 days from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth. The roads are perfect (even better than some US and UK cities), everything is well signed, and people move onto the hard shoulder to let you pass/overtake them if you come up behind. After doing so, it is customary to say 'thank you' by flashing your hazard lights, to which one gets a 'welcome' with a flash of high beams. People, even in Cape Town, always [playfully] fight about who to let go first at a four-way 'Stop' sign [the rule is the first on there is the first one out]. The signage is as good as, if not better, than any US city/freeway [and definitely better than most of Europe].

I was very impressed - oh, and i didn't witness any road rage either!

I'm not so sure about that, the Scandinavians are very, very strict on the rules of the road, partly because the police are very, very strict in enforcing. Americans tend to be a bit sloppy in driving (at least that's my impression from having driven there, and from what other Americans on FT have said ;)), so I would have thought that some of the more bizarre rules (like the 3 second spacing rule in Norway) would be all to easy for Americans to break and get pulled over for. Probably somewhere less strict would be better. My first thought was also NZ, as from what family members have said, there is just no traffic. Driving on empty roads, no matter which side, is always easy :)

Know the international signage
 

Have lived in Germany for five years and Korea for one, and driven extensively in Europe, to include the UK. Believe Germany then Austria, then Switzerland are the easiest -- followed by France and Italy. However found the Italian spirit in driving a little tough, and Paris is a city for the Metro not the car. In all i would say it really helps for an American to study the international signage system, in most of those countries it allows you to get by w/out the local language, but the signage can be so complicated it is almost another language.

To go back to the OP's question, I would say the Scandinavian countries are probably most similar in style to the US. Same side of the road, relatively clear and well-maintained roads (amazing how the Finns keep their roads seemingly so free of frost damage), no major metropolitan areas, not many "little" cars because they do not handle the snow well, drivers more courteous and competent than the worldwide average, etc.

Cross the border from Finland to Russia and you can reverse most of those comments (including from time to time the side of the road they choose to drive on !)

There was no traffic on South Island when we went last October. But there were cops. :eek: We were clipping along at about 140kph, but the constable put 120kph on the citation— and I got the distinct sense he did us a great favor in that. :)

Easiest Foreign country to drive THROUGH
 

Easiest Foreign country to drive THROUGH.... That would be Belgium! On the way from Netherlands (Holland) to France, I completely drove THROUGH Belgium without even realizing it. And this was before the EU.

- Tim

...they start off at an advantage to horrible sprawl cities! (imo)

Hmm, so far I've driven in Australia, New Zealand, England, Oman, UAE, Latvia, Lithuania.
Driving in Oman was the best of all; brand new roads, lit all the way, signage in English. In Australia, everytime I get in the car, something or someone hits me. (I'm three for three. :eek: )