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Old 01-03-2013, 11:16 PM
 
Location: Duluth, Minnesota, USA
7,639 posts, read 18,121,762 times
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Which country has the last scary traffic? On a related note, which country is the best for driving in?

I would have to say it's the U.S., in specific the more sparsely populated parts of Minnesota and the rural interstates. The interstate system is a motorist's dream. In many parts, you can just set the cruise control and drive 100 or maybe even 200 miles without a worry. No wonder why "road trips" are such an American obsession - American cars with their cruise control, automatic transmissions, and roominess and comfortable seating (in many cases even for passengers) seem to be made for them unlike the cars from any other country, which are often never driven 10-20 miles out of town and have obnoxious manual transmissions and a lack of cruise control.
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Old 01-03-2013, 11:51 PM
 
Location: M I N N E S O T A
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The country of Texas, wide open roads and high speed limits....

Last edited by iNviNciBL3; 01-04-2013 at 12:15 AM..
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Old 01-04-2013, 12:07 AM
 
Location: Windsor, Ontario, Canada
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I would say it's America and Canada, simply for the wide open spaces.


Obnoxious manual transmissions??? You understand on the interstate....you can just put'er in 5th gear and leave there, right? I don't even have to think about driving stick anymore. It is simply second nature. Might as well be an automatic. Cars with manual transmissions also have cruise control. European cars, I would think, are manual because driving there is far more technical. I think MOST people, around the globe, including North America on average, have no reason to travel more than 10 or 20 miles out of town on a regular basis, and never do unless you're commuting to work. In that case, the Europeans actually understand travel, unlike us North Americans, and have built and heavily use....wait for it.......TRAINS!

All automatics have done is make people lazy. Remember when a manual transmission was called "STANDARD"?? That's all it came with. Automatic was the option.

Room and comfort? There's a reason their cars are generally small. When you find a city in North America, that has a city center with main roads built with a horse and carriage in mind (ie: the middle ages), you let me know. On the other hand, Europeans make ALL of the high end, top preforming, most comfortable vehicles on the road in the world today. So....with the exception of maaaaybe squeezing Cadillac in there, I don't know what to tell ya.
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Old 01-04-2013, 12:19 AM
 
Location: M I N N E S O T A
14,773 posts, read 21,494,000 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Magnatomicflux View Post
I would say it's America and Canada, simply for the wide open spaces.


Obnoxious manual transmissions??? You understand on the interstate....you can just put'er in 5th gear and leave there, right? I don't even have to think about driving stick anymore. It is simply second nature. Might as well be an automatic. Cars with manual transmissions also have cruise control. European cars, I would think, are manual because driving there is far more technical. I think MOST people, around the globe, including North America on average, have no reason to travel more than 10 or 20 miles out of town on a regular basis, and never do unless you're commuting to work. In that case, the Europeans actually understand travel, unlike us North Americans, and have built and heavily use....wait for it.......TRAINS!

All automatics have done is make people lazy. Remember when a manual transmission was called "STANDARD"?? That's all it came with. Automatic was the option.

Room and comfort? There's a reason their cars are generally small. When you find a city in North America, that has a city center with main roads built with a horse and carriage in mind (ie: the middle ages), you let me know. On the other hand, Europeans make ALL of the high end, top preforming, most comfortable vehicles on the road in the world today. So....with the exception of maaaaybe squeezing Cadillac in there, I don't know what to tell ya.
Believe it or not but i was just on a train about a month ago here in North America.

This thread is about driving in cars though; and the USA and Canada have a huge and very efficient freeway system. doesnt matter about where the cars are from, you can buy japanese, german, american, british, etc, etc cars in the USA and Canada.
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Old 01-04-2013, 12:23 AM
 
Location: Windsor, Ontario, Canada
11,222 posts, read 16,424,594 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by iNviNciBL3 View Post
Believe it or not but i was just on a train about a month ago here in North America.
lol.....well, I know that we have'em. We just don't exploit them like they do. Not at all.


Also....re-reading my first post, it seems to read a little harsh. Sorry 'bout that folks.
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Old 01-04-2013, 12:28 AM
 
Location: Tricity, PL
61,694 posts, read 87,077,794 times
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5 posts and nothing about TRAFFIC. Please stay on topic, folks.
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Old 01-04-2013, 01:43 AM
 
Location: Monnem Germany/ from San Diego
2,296 posts, read 3,124,298 times
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Driving is different in different countries. Whatyou are not used to is scary.

I found driving in Italian and some French city’s scary at first but after a few days it’s ok.
For the locals it is no big deal, however put them in LA on the 405 at rush hour and they may find that scary.

I found driving in Germany quite relaxing from the start in comparison to So. Cal.

Probably the least scary would be rural parts of the US.
However there is a lot of aggression bordering on violence on the roads in America. As a motorcyclist and bicyclist I have never had people swerve at me, open doors on purpose, or throw stuff at me in any other country.
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Old 01-04-2013, 01:52 AM
 
Location: Westminster, London
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In my limited experience, probably Germany despite the high volume. Much like their national mentality, drivers are civil, orderly and more inclined to follow regulations than anywhere else I've been -- though I've yet to visit much of the rest of the world.
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Old 01-04-2013, 02:51 AM
 
Location: Belgium
1,160 posts, read 1,971,739 times
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Hmm, the least scary traffic. The obvious one's are of course the USA and (to a lesser extent) Canada. I don't know about the traffic situation in Australia and New Zealand, so maybe those countries ought to be included as well.

In Europe, the Scandinavian countries are pleasant to drive. Also (well at least for me) The Netherlands, despite its dense population, especially outside the Randstad area.

I've driven an automatic a couple of times, but I just don't like it. Although for long road trips, it's probably a lot less tiresome to drive an automatic. But I feel like I have more control over my car driving stick.
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Old 01-04-2013, 04:23 AM
 
Location: Eindhoven, Netherlands
10,644 posts, read 16,027,294 times
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the Netherlands because there are traffic lights and speed cams everywhere!
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