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On headlights: Over here I keep seeing cars with at least one burned out headlight every single day. Then again, this is the country where people barely know they have indicator lights and how they work(the more expensive the car, the less likely indicator lights will be used for anything) including using them for turns or lane changes. Along with that, people will attempt lane changes as soon as there's enough room for their car to fit in, and fog lights get switched on even in mild fog or rain, or occasionally just for the hell of it. My own  2010 Peugeot 207 99g has semi-automatic headlights though. If they're on when the engine is switched off, they'll turn off too and go on again when the engine is started again. As a result I always keep them on. Kinda sucks when I have to drive a car that doesn't have that feature, as I will forget to turn them off after killing the engine.
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Sep 10, 2013 19:27
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shoopeach posted:I only used mine a handful of times in Germany when the fog visibility was less than or equal to one white road marker on b roads. I have no idea what that distance is, but it was short. I think even then it pissed off some other people. As far as I know in most European countries rear foglights are permitted when visibility is below 50 meters. Fronts can go on for visibility under 200 meters. Inappropriate use will usually result in a ticket if spotted by the police. Doesn't stop people from turning them on the moment it's no longer sunny or there's a few wisps of fog like a kilometer ahead. Although most abuse seems to happen when it's raining here. My car has both, in a single switch that first turns on the fronts, then the rears, and turns them off in that same order. It's a biased switch, so if I forget to turn them off(Which never happens due to nice clear indicator lights) they don't switch on again when I restart the car. Smoke fucked around with this message at 10:24 on Sep 20, 2013 |
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Sep 20, 2013 10:22
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Here's a nice little roundabout in Nijmegen that has no lane markings whatsoever and various traffic lights on it. It's a bitch and a half to use it. The company I used to work for had a client nearby, and I always took care to avoid that roundabout whenever possible. Thankfully said client was located a bit to the south of it, and I had a few small city roads I could use to turn around and avoid the roundabout completely.
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Nov 4, 2013 09:33
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xzzy posted:Is it true that some places in Europe (UK maybe? I'm going off a fuzzy memory here) that failure to properly allow a zipper on a merge will get you ticketed? In Belgium they're currently working on doing just that, basically ticket everyone who's zippering improperly. Which will be quite a relief, since it'll hopefully finally teach people how it's done. Currently, people tend to zip in all the wrong places, and a road I take to work daily suffered from just that issue until they moved the zipper part to after a set of lights. It's still a godawful mess to drive to and from work though, since 80% of my route is two-lane road, except for one bit which is one-lane. It's responsible for quite a lot of traffic obstruction since everyone who needs to go south pretty much has to take it. The two-lane parts are also filled with people speeding despite traffic cams(That everyone knows are there so they just slow down around it, then speed back up again) It's fun when there's actual mobile checks by the police though, lots of camera flashes. I tend to stick to the speed limit myself, and this has resulted in other drivers tailgating me quite a bit. I even had one guy tailgate me for about two traffic lights, then (illegally, using a turn lane to get next to me)pulling in front of me at the third one, cutting me off, and slamming on his brakes "to teach me a lesson about driving at the correct speed". Ended up rearending him at a fairly low speed due to his rear end in a top hat behavior. Guy turned out to be DUI, now has a court date and I'm still waiting for the insurance payout. Hell, he almost ran off after it happened but thankfully decided to stay around so he could yell at me and threaten me. Kind of helps that the cops I called to the scene were fully on my side and the guy had been drinking. The bad part is that stuff like this takes forever to get handled here.
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Nov 20, 2013 11:47
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Drunken Lullabies posted:Sucks that you have to wait so long for the check but at least the police weren't total dicks and actually sobriety tested him. And he was dumb enough to stick around. Get a dash cam! Sobriety tests are standard fare here in case of accidents that require police on-scene(I had to take one too) Dash cam purchase is planned for sometime in the near future so I can share the true horror that is driving in Belgium on a daily basis, along with the wonderful quality of the roads.
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Nov 20, 2013 22:14
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PainterofCrap posted:Is that still true? Nearly 40-years ago when my family lived in Switzerland, we'd go on holiday somewhere and my father had nothing good to say about Belgian drivers. Especially through the alpine passes. Yep. The main problem is that turn signals seem to be optional for a large amount of drivers, there's the rampant speeding because that extra half minute is important, yellow lights mean step on the gas because it's not red yet(Had people honk at me for stopping for yellow), and fog lights seen as fun ways to add illumination to your car. I've seen quite a few drivers with their rear fogs on just because it's dark or slightly rainy outside, or the front fogs because it looks cool, or even driving without lights because it's not THAT dark yet. It's very slowly getting better, but the main detriment is that a lot of new drivers get taught to drive by their parents/relatives rather than going to a driving school, and their terrible habits are passed on to the next generation. Along with that, there's still a slight drinking culture going on, people see having a few beers as not a problem when you still have to drive and almost all gas stations sell beer and booze. And then there's the terrible parking habits, where lines seem to be just vague indicators of where to put your car. Have to walk an extra ten meters? Why not just park outside of the lines because there's plenty of room for other cars to pass! For the record: I'm Dutch, got my license there, and only moved to Belgium a few years ago.
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Nov 21, 2013 09:08
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Almost had another car in my side yesterday on my way to work. Was driving the speed limit on the highway in the left lane, other guy was going slower than me in a silver Renault Megane in the right lane, and there was a truck a bit ahead of him. He decides that it's a perfect idea to start to overtake the truck right when I'm close to passing him. No turn signals or anything, thankfully he noticed me in time(I drive a dark grey Peugeot 207 99g, my headlights are pretty much always on, not like I'm invisible) and made some rude gestures at me for even daring to be in a lane he might want to use in the near future despite there being plenty of room. Because he was mostly heading the same way I was I got to observe him for a few miles in my rearview mirror. He never even used his turn signals at all when changing lanes. Just shows that I really need a dashcam.
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Nov 29, 2013 18:20
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Fresh from the Belgian news: These are the rear end in a top hat drivers others share a road with. Police is apparently already investigating this and they know who it was. Man drives a van on the highway, passes a truck and is cut off by someone in a BMW, who then decides to make some dangerous moves.
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Jan 6, 2014 09:33
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Ringo Star Get posted:Jesus Christ, either in that situation the BMW was either passing on the right-hand shoulder or was literally on this van's rear end when the van was going to merge over to the other lane to let him go by. Drivers with this "I drive the car, I am the important one!" mentality to drive like assholes and to try and cause a collision should have their licenses revoked and have huge fines levied on them. I'm fairly sure it's a combination of assriding and cutting off the truck. Most people seem to avoid the shoulder as much as possible, since there tends to be quite a bit of trash thrown on there. I've encountered behavior like this fairly regularly when driving home from work after a late shift.
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Jan 6, 2014 21:49
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After a long time I've got an update of my own car situation, which seems to have helped get someone off the road now, but I have no idea for how long. Back in June 2013 on my way back home from work, an rear end in a top hat tailgates me until we get to a red light with me in front, pulls into the left-turn lane to get besides me, then as soon as it goes green he pulls out, cuts me off and slams on his brakes, causing me to rearend him at a fairly low speed. Police gets on the scene, takes both statements, turns out guy was drunk or at least buzzed enough to be breaking the law. The good thing is that he was honest about what happened and didn't try to bend the truth or adjust his story in any way. Police tells me not to worry and that he's basically at fault(for being drunk, for braking in a situation which didn't require it and for tailgating) There were no witnesses but the statements matched close enough. Insurance broker also tells me not to worry, they'll do their best to help me and will keep me updated. Car has cosmetic damage on the front, needs a new hood, headlights, bumper and some other stuff. A cost estimate is drawn up and sent to both insurance companies. He got a court summons of which I was notified through my insurance company, court date is set for March 14 this year. Insurance informs me of this as well and I expect to have to go there too. This is actually good news since it'll most likely mean he'll be found at fault along with the other penalties. However, today I found out that his insurance company made a payment covering the repair costs. Contacted my own insurance companies and found out that his insurance decided he was fully at fault. Additional paperwork is still on its way so this kinda came out of nowhere(although it turns out my insurance broker already received the information on monday) Contacted my insurance companies(the legal business is handled by a separate company as part of my car insurance) today to see what was up and found out that I don't have to go to court, and all I have to do is get my car fixed and send them the invoice. Other guy still has to go to court of course for what he's done and will most likely end up with a suspended license for a while, along with other costs and fees. It's taken 9 months, but at least some justice was served. If I have enough left over from the payout after getting the car fixed, I'm getting a dashcam. In this situation it would have sped up the proceedings quite a bit apparently.
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Feb 26, 2014 14:55
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Pham Nuwen posted:Glad to hear things seem to be going better than expected. Make sure to look for this guy on a cheap Wal-Mart bike as he joins the ranks of suspended-license drunk drivers, feel the schadenfreude. Somehow I doubt I'll be seeing him again anytime soon because as far as I have found out from all the paperwork he's not really from around the area. The schadenfreude for me mostly lies in that he got what he deserved basically, and probably hosed up his own fairly new car in the process, all because he "wanted to teach me a lesson about driving properly". This while I was driving the speed limit and refused to budge to his numerous attempts to push me out of the way. Nothing quite like seeing someone else's hood in your rearview mirror and not even being able to see their headlights due to how close they are.
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Feb 27, 2014 11:36
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Had a bit of a flashback today on my way home from work. At the red light right before the one I had the accident at, some guy pulled up in a shitbox Ford Fiesta in the left turn lane, slamming on his brakes hard enough to make his tires squeal and having to reverse back before the line. I was in front at the red light once again, so he was right next to me. I look over in surprise, he shoots me a grin. He's also playing music loud enough I could hear it through my closed window and over my own stereo. Lights to go straight go green, he floors it(again squealing the tires), runs the red left turn light, gets in front of me(not cutting me off though) and speeds off to turn left at the next lights. Somehow I was kind of expecting that behavior. And now I really need a dashcam. Belgian drivers are friggin' crazy.
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Feb 27, 2014 21:37
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SyHopeful posted:Also, gently caress the xenons in BMW X5s. I have yet to see one that was adjusted in a non-blinding fashion. I drive a 2010 Peugeot 207 99g which sits rather low to the ground(factory configuration, not lowered in any way), and every time an X3 or an X5 drives behind me I get blinded. Happens with other higher-sitting cars or maladjusted headlights as well, but most often with those. Somehow their lights are at the perfect height to turn my rearview mirror into a shining beacon of xenon, which is especially terrible at night. Also, I wish they enforced the law for rear foglights a bit more here. If it's dark and/or slightly raining some people already start flicking theirs on. I'm aware Belgian law states you can also use them during heavy rain or snow, but that's only when visibility is severely impacted to less than 100 meters(same with regular fog)
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Mar 2, 2014 17:03
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Anime Reference posted:Not like adults are any better, I work in downtown Pittsburgh and see people jaywalk through massive rush hour traffic constantly. Apparently they're too important to walk 20 feet to a crosswalk. Most of my daily commute consists of two-lane road with a 70kph speed limit. Every single day people cross at seemingly random spots and regularly have to run across the street to avoid cars. Walking to crosswalks takes effort.
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Apr 5, 2014 12:08
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Here's a nice example of road safety that passed me on the highway on my way home last thursday: The driver was not braking, as he had been driving like this in front of me for quite some time. I passed him while getting on the highway and not too much later he passed me again. Must have been some terrible lighting hackjob as I never saw the actual brake lights light up. Got a bit of video out of it too but it's not entertaining enough to post here. To top it off he had a burned-out headlight on the same side as well. EDIT: Now with video! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgQHHiyY6xw Smoke fucked around with this message at 18:09 on Aug 4, 2014 |
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Aug 4, 2014 18:00
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Meanwhile in Belgium, video of a car accident back in August has surfaced online. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-0E2Nxtm6o This is why you make sure you're in the right lane before the exit starts, and why you shouldn't move over two other lanes to make your exit in time. I see people try this poo poo pretty much every other day along with other rear end in a top hat behavior. The driver survived, accompanying news article in Dutch including her response to the video being posted here. Don't even bother with the comments as half of them seem intent on blaming the truck drivers that use the same road for causing an unsafe situation and making it impossible to drive in the right lane.
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Oct 15, 2014 15:57
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Nope, she was driving alone. Here's an article from the day of the accident with photos of the aftermath. The driver is lucky to have survived that with just two broken vertebrae and a shattered hand.
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Oct 15, 2014 16:09
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To the old man in the Maserati behind me as I was driving home today: There were four cars ahead of me driving the speed limit, and so was I, making sure to keep a safe distance between me and the car ahead of me. The right lane was filled up and slow enough to not allow me to move over to it safely without slowing down first. That does not give you the right to try to shove your automotive penis replacement up my rear end numerous times while revving loudly, and repeat the same with the car ahead of me the moment I can safely move over to the other lane. Also, weaving that car through traffic while speeding both before and after passing us is not a good idea in general. Especially when this road has a bunch of badly-synched traffic lights on it and you end up only two cars ahead of me when we get to the next set of red lights. He also did not use his turn signals.
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Oct 17, 2014 17:16
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Disgruntled Bovine posted:I don't know, if any car could turn me gay, it would probably be a Maserati. I see fancy expensive cars(Ferraris, Lotuses, Teslas and other Maseratis, and once a yellow Boss 302 Mustang which sounded quite wonderful) regularly on the roads here, and most of their drivers do drive courteously, even if they tend to have a habit of speeding. Seems to just have been an exception. As far as revving it goes, I've also had one behind me in a 50kph zone(with fairly dense traffic) whose driver couldn't decide which gear to use. The sound was nice but it looked ridiculous.
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Oct 18, 2014 16:14
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Why do people assume a tiny bit of rain is reason to turn on your foglights? Had a Honda Civic behind me yesterday that I first spotted because of a fairly unique light configuration: Giant selective yellow foglights, and the regular headlights were set to city mode(and were also selective yellow) It was dark(around 7 PM) and rainy, so I have no idea why he didn't have his low beams on or thought this was the optimal lighting configuration for this weather type. Annoying as hell to look at in your rearview mirror, and at first I thought it was a Juke with selective yellows until I noticed that the bottom lights were a bit too low for that, and the regular headlights didn't light up enough.
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Nov 15, 2014 14:40
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Anghammarad posted:I think they can't be arsed to get to the back of the headlight to change the bulbs. My octavia was a pig to get to, but my mates pug 2008 is almost imposible without some major spanner work On my old Mazda 323F I had to use a screwdriver to replace the headlights, but on my 207 it's a five minute job. Then again, the first time I had to do that it took me half an hour to just get the old bulb out. It's awfully tight in there. I've gotten some practice since then because it seems I need to replace a bulb every 8 to 10 months. Tried different brands, but they all gave the same results. So now I just get the cheapest ones I can find.
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Dec 2, 2014 22:05
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I'll see if I can put up a video of this later(Thanks Autoguard), but a few days ago I had someone pass me on a motorcycle while I was in the left lane, on the tiny bit of road remaining between the guardrail and my car. I was doing about 120(kmh), he was doing at least 140 and never even gave me the chance to move over to the right lane(not like there was space there anyway) Guy nearly hit my driverside mirror with his little stunt.
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Mar 13, 2015 18:51
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Finally got around to getting the video off my cellphone and edited down to the relevant bits: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jF7JoH450Uk And no, I could not move over to the right lane.
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Mar 14, 2015 17:28
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Other car in the right lane beside me. Earlier I had passed a truck, other driver behind me went to the right lane, then pretty much kept up with me.
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Mar 14, 2015 18:25
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For the past month or so there's been a driver in my area driving with a spare on the front left. Clearly marked with a weathered label stating max speeds of 50MPH/80KPH. I know it's being driven since it's parked in a different spot every day, and I'm just hoping that I'm not anywhere nearby when it eventually gives up.
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Jun 10, 2015 16:39
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eriddy posted:I was under the impression that there's almost no way out of being liable for an accident if you rear end someone. I'd like to know if you have any luck out of that one. I was lucky enough to not be liable for this type of accident about 2 years ago. It helped that the other party was driving drunk and our statements of what happened matched. He wanted to "teach me a lesson" because I was driving the speed limit in the left lane of a 2-lane road with another car in the right lane pretty much matching my speed, on a road littered with speed/red light cameras and traffic lights. He felt I should have been speeding to pass the other car to move over to the right, and tried to make this clear at first by aggressively tailgating and flashing the high-beams, then illegally going straight in a left-only lane at a traffic light, pulling out at high speeds(lane light was also red) and cutting me off, then slammed on his brakes the moment he got in front of me(the "lesson") I ended up pulling over and calling the police(while being threatened by the guy at first until he saw that I was serious about calling the police), breathalyzer test concluded that he was drunk and the officer told me I was not at fault(Along with informing me that he was at fault for also creating a dangerous situation by abruptly braking for no good reason, along with drunk driving) The other guy ended up having to go to court over it, and his insurance company waited with payment until a week or so before the court date(9 months later, the Belgian legal system is slow as hell)
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Jul 3, 2015 09:00
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davebo posted:Alright, is it my turn to be the one to say that despite everything being this drunk assholes fault, the situation could have been avoided if you had just been in the same lane as the person whose speed you were matching in the passing lane for some reason? I'm glad you didn't because I like stories where drunk drivers get their comeuppance, but most of us would have prioritized our car and our safety and avoided the situation entirely. 2-lane road with a 70kph speed limit, quite a few light-controlled level crossings and terrible light synching. I was coming up on a traffic light(about 300-400m from it) when the tailgating started, light turned to yellow a few seconds later. All traffic lights on that stretch have speed/red light cams. If I'd sped up to pass I'd have ended up running the red light (or getting a speeding ticket) Police also agreed with me sticking to the speed limit for that reason, there was no way to predict something like this would happen.
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Jul 3, 2015 16:52
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nitrogen posted:Y'all ever get "that freaky feeling" while watching traffic? Happened to me earlier and probably saved me from getting into an accident. I get this a hell of a lot in Belgium. Was driving home last friday in the evening after work, on a two-lane road, coming up on a traffic light at an T-intersection(which meant a left turn lane also got added to the road). I was driving in the right lane and spotted a driver in a BMW speeding behind me(speed limit is 70kmh, this guy was going about 90-100kmh), pulling to the left lane and cutting off a car in that lane, then getting in the left turn lane at the light. Regular lights already red but the turn lane light was green, going to yellow at the moment the BMW passed me. He blows through the yellow(which goes red less than a second later) and goes straight back into the regular straight road. There's no cameras at this intersection, so I guess making an illegal move in a turn lane is somehow less bad than blowing straight through a stale red? If there was any police nearby they'd have pulled him over either way, but good luck finding actual traffic cops in this area. At this same intersection I've also seen drivers actively passing the traffic light on the right side across a bike lane just to not be going through the red though. Whatever makes you feel better I guess.
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Sep 1, 2015 08:15
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sleepy.eyes posted:Anyone else get really annoyed when some rear end leaves his fogs on 24/7? That poo poo makes it hard to see at night, son. You can turn them off, there is a little toggle. This is what half of Belgium seems to do the moment it's dark and there's some light rain. Although front fog lights go on for some people in any conditions that aren't a bright sunny summer afternoon. I wish people would actually get pulled over and ticketed for it here, but the conditions of darkness with light rain also means there's virtually no police on the road, except for the occasional speed camera stuff.
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Oct 16, 2015 20:41
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Deedle posted:Given your username I can't be sure whether you're just getting the poo poo end of the stick. But, no prepayment for gas is an embarrassing concept here. That's something Belgians do. It's just too drat inconvenient to have to walk into the shop twice. You just fill up and walk into the store and tell the clerk pump number four. They trust you because most people aren't petty loving thieves who'd steal €80 of gas. Even in Belgium it's not very common, most places either have you pay at the pump directly or only have the prepay requirement in the evening/at night(if they're even open then, Belgium is godawful about places being open after 8 PM due to stupid laws), and during the day they'll allow either paying at the pump or filling up and then going in to pay.
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Oct 23, 2015 08:55
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Despite the days getting shorter I still see a lot of people driving either without lights, or with at least one busted headlight or taillight. Worst was earlier this week though: Guy driving with two busted headlights(one fully dark), one busted taillight, and both front and rear fogs on to compensate for it somehow. Drove like an rear end in a top hat too.
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Nov 21, 2015 19:35
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PT6A posted:Frankly, it's kind of lovely to form an unpassable convoy of motorcycles going well under the speed limit on a road with precisely one passing section for 50km. Why should I or any other motorist give a gently caress that a bunch of people want to drive or ride all together in a group? Public roads are not a place where you get to inflict your recreational desires on other road users; this applies to people who stunt or race on public roads, or who hold up traffic for shits and giggles. How about cyclists with a Tour de France fetish? As soon as the weather gets nice here in Belgium they're out in packs, riding on the street instead of the bike lane(because you have to stay together as a pack apparently for proper TdF simulation), and occasionally in amounts that legally require an escort car but never having one(because that either costs money or one of them won't get to ride their bike) It's just recreation for the vast majority of them but they treat it as a race on public roads, thinking they rule the road and don't have to follow any rules. At least they tend to stay away from the major roads. As a fun sidenote: My boss did get into a rather heated discussion with a group of cyclists once for assholish behavior, ended up calling the police, and the group got to hear that they really needed an escort if they wanted to continue their ride. Lots of egos were deflated that day.
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Jan 16, 2016 13:27
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Deedle posted:Fog lights in the rain is such a loving Belgian thing to do. Eh, it's against the law but rarely enforced. And apparently it just being dark or just a bit grey is enough for people to flip them on here. In other Belgian news: Was driving home today, on a two-lane road. Get to a red traffic light at an intersection with two cars(first car silver stationwagon, second car dark blue compact shitbox) in front of me(left lane, right lane was a bit more filled) Light turns green, silver car starts to move but apparently too slow in blue car's opinion. So what's his natural reaction? Obviously, it's pass the silver car on the right after crossing the intersection, while traffic in the other lane is still accelerating, he cuts off the silver car, hits the brakes, both cars stop, driver of blue car gets out on the street and starts yelling at the first car for not going fast enough. At this point the right lane was clear, so I said "gently caress it" and passed them both on the right. In my rearview mirror I saw them both standing still in the left lane of a busy ring road while the green was still on. Hopefully nobody rearended them. What the hell is wrong with people.
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Feb 13, 2016 20:20
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In Belgium we're no longer sharing the road with a specific driver. A few years ago a dashcam video was posted online of a driver in a black BMW brake-checking and nearly causing an accident. As it turned out, this was a kind of notorious driver: yesterday he was sentenced to 18 months in jail and his car(actually owned by his ex-girlfriend) was impounded. A total of 23 witnesses of his behavior showed up. In previous cases he called himself a victim of other people's driving. The dashcam footage(there's a few other videos of him) is part of the reason he was sentenced. Unfortunately all I can find are Dutch articles about this, and as I'm at work I can't locate the original video but I'm fairly sure it was posted in this thread before. If you feel like Googling, the name "Curd V" should give some neat results.
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Mar 10, 2016 12:38
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There's no mentioning in any of the news articles about it if it's an attempt at insurance scamming, just assholish behavior and not wanting to accept other people passing him. He also repeatedly ordered a new slightly different license plate(at 2000 euros a pop), probably some attempt to make him harder to identify. He also didn't show up for any of the trials, calling in sick instead.
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Mar 10, 2016 13:17
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