American reacts to: How to drive when in Europe
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 พ.ค. 2024
- Thank you for watching me, a humble American, react to What Americans Need To Know About Driving in Europe
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Paying 45 USD for a vignette (toll road sticker) will still be the least of your financial shocks in Switzerland
It's like two macdonald large menù in Geneve.
In fact I have spent half that on the Zürich public transport on a single day before someone told me about the tageskarte.
You mean like being 3 kph too fast ;-)
The swiss take it really strict with their speed limits and they do charge a lot if you are over...
That's why you should just take the train in switzerland. You can travel anywhere by public transport here and it is as comfortable as a car. Planing a route? Just open google maps, it lists you any available connection perfectly
They wanted CHF 5.00 for a 0.5 liter bottle of water when I was in Switzerland last time. 🤣
I changed my mind and was not thirsty at all from one moment to another.
Talking about the tolls, there is always a way to avoid tolls. I hate toll roads and didn´t pay a cent for tolls last time I drove through Switzerland and Austria. Just don´t enter the Autobahn, stay on the scenic country roads with great panorama view and avoid the toll rip off.
No, you would definitely cause an accident if you turned right on red in Europe because European traffic lights take into account pedestrians and cyclists which WILL often be crossing the road while cars are still on red.
There are several countries in Europe where it is allowed to turn right on red. In Poland and Lithouania this is marked with a green arrow below the light. But even in Germany there are about 5000 crossings where it is allowed, generally in former East Germany, but it's wider spread than just there. In Denmark, France and (very) incidently in the Netherlands it is allowed if indicated.
Though in general it is not allowed, and when allowed it is indicated.
The video did not point out that multi lane junctions do sometimes have an extra green arrow light that allows you to turn right before the lights change for straight on / turning left. That lights up typically after the pedestrian crossing phase.
YES! that is very important to mention.. Going right on red even if the Americans like it and find it a good invention cannot be safe unless you are absulutely sure that no one else can cross
@@Mus.Anonymouseyes, bit then you are not turning on red, since you have a green arrow
Turning on red means, you turn right at a red sign even when there is no green arrow
@@Phiyedough I know from experiencethat in poland it can be a permanent sign, not illuminated. On turning right on red, ALL other traffic (eg. pedestrians, cyclists) have 100% priority.
Over here, it is a flashing light which can be simultaneous with pedestrian lights. All other traffic has priority, but if you can without hindering them, you can turn right.
This is completely separate from so called "Protected turn" lights where the people turning right have their own traffic light, indicated with a rightward pointing arrow (like there are also leftward pointing arrowed traffic lights for left turning traffic).
NOTE for driving in the Netherlands: even when driving on a green (turn) light, cyclists and pedestrian officially do not have priority, but if you get into an accident, although it is the pedestrian or cyclist's fault (because they ran a red light for example), as driver of a car (or motorbike), you are held at least for a big part, accountable, not the pedestrian or cyclist generally. Only in very rare cases are the pedestrian or cyclist held accountable.
The signs are similar across Europe because most countries signed the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic which describes what kind of signs should be used (among other things).
I suppose 'Freedom Signs' are better than international agreement signs.
The majority of countries in the world use almost identical signs exactly because of the need to drive safely. In x years all humans will be speaking the same language.. it might be a heavy dialect of English, who knows, but it will happen. It's how we are and it's already happening. Selfie, twitter, Facebook, Like, email, click, touchscreen, browse, Google.... and many many more words we all use that aren't ours but we all know what they mean, and their number grows every minute.
in other words: these signs are not European but supposed to be used around the world. additionally, these signs are designed to be understood without knowledge of the local language. in contrast, US road signs use a hell of a lot English words on them.
"The signs are similar" That is not correct. Besides the city limit signs which are not regulated at all ALL signs are the same. MUST be the same.
It always makes me glad that we found so many ways to get along, considering our continent always had some kind of war or conflict going on since the bronze age. But after that "mishap" with Germany in the '40s we've made so much progress... Russia totally ruined this peaceful streak, but still, I'm happy to have open borders with nations whom we were actively at war with less than 80 years ago.
We use debit cards with chips in Germany instead of credit cards. That is a common American misconception: “no credit cards” doesn’t necessarily mean “cash”, but “chip and pin debit card”. I pay 98% by debit card, in German: “EC-Karte” (euro-check Card)
Also, don't expect to be able pay with your American Express card.
While I can't speak for all of Europe, there was some failed renegotiations with the local banks, so some places can't process the card. Also, American Express charges huge fees for businesses to get their money, so a lot of smaller places won't even bother even if they take card.
We use debit cards with chips all the time in the USA. The only time I use a credit card is online or for an emergency expense that wasn't part of the monthly budget.
For most places in Germany Visa and Mastercard are accepted. Its very rare that you cannot pay with credit card or apple pay and similar.
He said chip and pin. You have a chip but most Americans has to sign it to pay @@reindeer7752
Our cops don't need a reason to pull you over. In Germany they call it "General traffic control/check". Because driving here is a privilege, not a right, the burden is on the driver to prove he's good to drive, not the other way around. If police want to search your car, that's a different story, but they can always demand your documents including any after-market alterations, a breathalyzer, and they can do an exterior check (tire profile, lights, noisiness etc.).
TBF, never have been in such a check in decades
@@manuelh.4147 In the UK they can check if you have a current MOT (Ministry of Transport) test. It does not prove the vehicle is good but it does show it has been checked in within the past year. My first car was a bit of a banger that was 16 years old and had 4 bent corners so I was regularly pulled over when it was quiet and the police were bored.
Police can also ask you to show your warning triangle, high-vis vest, first aid kit, replacement lightbulbs, ... Sadly the different countries have different rules what you need to have in your car at all times.
I think they can also check if you have your emergency kit, your tools and your „warnweste“ 😂 although they don‘t go through your stuff you have to show it to them
That is actually not true. German police cannot stop you for no reason. Te difference is that they do not need suspicion of any crime or infraction. They only need a valid reason, which a "general traffic check" is considered a reason, if it is not motivated by personal factors.
About the traffic cameras, one thing he forgot to mention is that in some places it's not just at that one spot, but they check you on a longer distance. So there's 2 cameras, 1 at the start of that road and one at the end. So you can't just slow down to the correct speed at the 1st camera and then speed up again. They'll calculate your average speed between those 2 cameras : distance traveled vs time passed.
It's called Section Control.
Where i am from It's mostly in tunnels (Austria on Autobahns). Those are make at the beginning and the end a picture. When you too fast i think you know it when the mail arrives.
My dad has a few tricks to avoid them:
Stand still somewhere between then and then continue driving 200km/h (he actually reached that speed once)
Ignore the second one by going into another road where the intersection is between the two cameras
Teleport past the cameras or never let yourself be seen by one of the cameras
they mail home the fine, they dont care if your face shows or not@@supermaximglitchy1
@@xXDrocenXx In UK and Ireland, we call them Average Speed Cameras. They are very common in the UK. In Ireland we only have 2 so far, one in a tunnel and other on one small stretch of motorway. They are planning more though.
@@supermaximglitchy1 you could never use that trick in Italy, here they're called speed tutor or just tutor, and they put those on the stretch of road where there is no place for you to stop, no small parkings, no resting spaces.
Chip & Pin DOES NOT mean credit card only! Americans are obsessed with credit card. This side of the pond, our cards can be credit or debit - both are equipped with chip and PIN. This is why cashless payment is so widespread in Europe.
And then there are all the garbage telephone Apps for paying for parking.
One thing they should have pointed out is that you may be unable to hire a car if you don't have a credit card. The hire companies take out a huge insurance deposit from your card which is refunded after you return the car undamaged. Last time I went to UK I could not hire a car as I only have a debit card.
@@Phiyedough But if you are in the UK, WTH do you need to hire a car? Don't Americans have legs? Or is public transport too demeaning?
@@keithparker5125 I'm British but living in Croatia. I still own a cottage in a rural part of Scotland. I wanted to hire a car so that I could do some work on that cottage. It would be possible to drive my own car there but it is quite old and I was not sure it would make it so I flew to UK.
@@Phiyedough Your need for a car is legitimate - there are not many bus services with a 10-minute frequency in the Highlands. Unfortunately, every tourist video that I have seen about the UK emphasises the need to hire a car which is complete and utter bs.
You say "Why are your roads so curvy". I would say why are your roads so straight. When I last visited the US we did some States by car and what a shock, the roads are so mind blowingly BORING for mile after mile. Same road same scenery, for HOURS. No wonder there are so many road accidents in the US-------the drivers go to sleep!
Next you'll say the shortest distance between 2 points is not a line... roads aren't curvy to make it interesting for you, straight roads are better and cheaper. Even in your country.
@@bencze465 Your Country is MUCH smaller than Russia yet they have curvy and interesting roads. The US is so poorly thought out. By the way, check Google Earth, nearly all your roads are NOT straight, but still boring.
Those long straight roads are mainly in the middle, where the terrain is flat and where a lot of those roads were built before there were towns. If you visit the Northeast, on the other hand, where it's full of towns that were founded long before the automobile, and where the terrain is hilly or even mountainous, you'll find plenty of twisty roads!
Reminds me of when I looked at citrus trees in California for HOURS :D
@@bencze465 Straight roads have more accidents - that makes them more expensive, not just in money.
@Ryan Wuzer: You jokingly said that if you get a ticket, they wouldn't be able to find you in Indiana. In Europe, they will find you, and if you don't pay, they go as far as to freeze the funds you have in your bank account, or put an embargo on your salary or assets (car/house). In some countries you can even be thrown into jail, randomly, for 2-3 days for not paying. Hell, if you own a company, they will transfer your debt to the company. If you die, they transfer the debt to whoever inherits your stuff.
basicly there isn't escape😂
Can't even escape in death. The fine is inevitable. Except if they can't proove who was driving, then suddenly they can't do anything. 😆
.. and as he said in the video, the company you hired the car from will get the ticket - which means they will withdraw from your credit card.
In the Netherlands, you can indeed be thrown in prison for traffic fines. You will be released a few days later, but the fine still stands! The punishment is not a substitute for not paying, but only for not paying on time.
if you are pulled over and not a resident of the country you drive in, they are going to demand that you pay the expected fine immediately. No escape.
If it is a fine from a speed camera, as already pointed out by others, your rental car company will be billed and they will get back to you.
We have just came back from three weeks of roadtrip in US (east coast over 4000 Miles driven).
The 2 biggest differences I fought with during that were:
1) Many, many drivers in US have no idea how to use blinker or what is it for and mainly... how to turn it off... It was crazy. Blinking left, driving str8. Not blinking at all, overtaking on right. Blinking right, and then after 10 minutes of straight driving, turing right.
2) People in Europe are overall much more polite to each other. You see that guy in the middle lane is trying to get right, so he can leave the highway. In Europe you slow a bit, so he can do it without any dangerous. Meanwhile in US "Ahh f**k them, not my issue". Same with anything else. Absolutely no comradery between drivers.
Most of the Americans driving here in the UK on their visit mention how unusual that little acknowledging wave is ,driver to driver or driver to pedestrian
They also speed all the time by at least 10miles, many even 20 miles, it's crazy. That's 30km/h.And it's the majority not just a few people.
There are big differences in driving culture depending on where you are in the U.S. I'm from the Netherlands and I lived in New Jersey for many years, and I found the drivers there to be much nicer than those back home. They drove a lot less aggressively, hardly any honking, flashing lights, or tailgating. Very chill. It took a while to get used to Holland again when I got back!
@@MarianneExJohnson I have drove fron New York City to Orlando (Florida) to Buffalo (Niagara Falls to be precise) and back to NYC - With many stops on the way Princton in New Jersey - Havent seen much of a difference :/ And also lot of cars from different states everywhere so I am not sure you could really differenciate it
So driving in the USA is like driving in Greece 😂
The Landscape you see in the Video is not Germany, its Austria, Tyrol to be exact.
And some France and Italy.
Came yo the comments for this. Are there anywhere in Germany such a mountains??? 😂
@@evr134 Sure, vor example "Zugspitze, "Alpspitze" or "Kreuzeck". maybe you have heard about "garmisch partenkirchen" ? Most are in South Germany (Bayern/Bavaria) on the Border to Austria.
@@StonedSoldier1974 But nothing above 3000m, right? What I know is that there are no good ski resorts in Germany.
@@evr134 Well, not easy for me to answer....in the case of skiing, i`m NOT a typical austrian, so i don`t really know much about ski resorts, wherever they are, sorry mate
I'm danish and last year I got a $670 ticket for driving 70 km/h in a 50-zone with a trailer. They just mail the ticket to you if you are a resident. If you rent a car, they mail the ticket to the rental company, which then gives your info the authorities. They do pull you over if they see you breaking the rules or just to make a random check - they are allowed to do this, without any reason. If you are pulled over for speeding, get a ticket and are a foreigner, they will have you pay on the spot and if you don't have cash they'll follow you to the nearest atm so you can pay right away. If you can't pay they'll take your car.
In Germany, you actually can't pay with cash.
Damn, 670 for 20 kph... police must be making great profits...
@@bencze465 In reality, those 20km/h can be a lot, if you take into account the speed at which you drive. And yes, in this case, it is 40% more than allowed.
@@bencze465 No they don't mess around though it's not the police that gets the money but the state. Also, if you drive above twice the speed limit and speed is above 100km/h they'll take your car and sell it on auction. A Norwegian found out the hard way when they took his Lamborghini Huracán Spyder and sold it.
Isn't it the case that if you are a foreigner the police won't let you go until the fine is paid?
In country areas, the cows are going to be coming out of the fields onto the roads to go back to the farm for milking. Once in the morning and once in the evening.
Also, cows completely different than deer. Deer jump in front of your car at dawn or dusk. Cows just don't care if they're on the road. In Austria, there are sometimes "forest pastures" where the cows graze in the forest. If there's a road going through that forest, cows like to just lay on the road. Easier to get around since there are not dozens at once, but more unexpected.
In the UK we also have National Parks where local farmers allow their animals to graze freely. So for instance on Dartmoor you can be driving and find Sheep or Cows, or both in the middle of the road and they are often reluctant to move.
In Germany, right on red is indicated either by a small sign with a green arrow pointing to the right, or by an additional separate green traffic light turned on as long as turning right is allowed. With the traffic light you'll be safe usually. With the arrow sign you have to watch traffic coming from the left which would have priority.
And one key point that a lot of drivers still get wrong, and sadly not only foreigners: You have to stop at the red light first. It still is that pedestrians crossing will have green and therefore right of way. So with the green arrow on a sheet metal it is STOP - OBSERVE - DRIVE.
The green light arrow on the other hand only turns on when a turn is safely possible, as no other traffic will interfere - pedestrians have a red light and traffic from your left will also see red in that case. Usually this is combined with a clearing left arrow for the traffic on your right then.
Different in Denmark. Here green arrow means that there is no other traffic crossing your turn lane. It is basically the same as a green light, just only for the people turning - and the arrows can be both for left and right turns.
@@ClintDawg I think OP got it the wrong way around, arrow means no other crossing traffic. Smth really common is having a Yield sign on turning right, sometimes even a stop sign, which is basically turning right on red (but more akin to a slip lane)
@@lyaneris No, OP is entirely correct.
Right turn on red is decidedly not a good invention. I thought it was a stupid idea when I learned to drive in California - back in the mid '60s, and I still think the same...only more so. It may well be good for cars; it is a dreadful risk to pedestrians and cyclists.
What's pedestrians and cyclists doing crossing our roads anyway? Can't they afford a car?
@@someoneinthecrowd4313 If your question is a joke, then fine but there's quite a lot of US Americans who cannot afford a car, so...
@@someoneinthecrowd4313 lol, "don't you guys have phones ?"
Even for other cars it could be dangerous:
A car coming from the left could hit you if neither him or you pay attention
@@someoneinthecrowd4313 Firstly, a car is expensive, a bike is not, and walking is obviously less so.
In any case the US has a serious infrastructure problem when it comes to bike lanes and sidewalks, the whole country was made for cars, and not people.
Oh you can get pulled over for speeding. They sometimes set up checks and have someone down the road pull you over if speeding. They also follow you and measure your average speed, typically on the motorway.
They do it everywhere here. 20,-- Euros if you pay bash.
And IF you are actually pulled over for speeding, then because you did exceed the limit by far. And it ends up that you can still drive home, but you can expect a ban for driving for a month or more. That's how it is in Germany. In Austria or in Switzerland, you are fined with an amount depending on your salary, in Switzerland they throw you in prison and may even take away your car (for good).
@@wolfgangpreier9160 I swear the cheapest ticket you can get in Denmark is like 70€ but those are mainly for pedestrians and bikes, most tickets you get in your car would be like 160€.
Here we really want to deter people from driving recklessly thus the punishments are quite severe, however I really do think that it works, and if you have low income, there are ways to get your fine lowered, since they don't want to bankrupt you.
I swear in my entire life, my parents have got less than 5 tickets, and most of them would be parking tickets, or in different countries.
@@wolfgangpreier9160 Heh. Bottom ticket here in Norway is ~98€ and top one is ~1360€. Top one is only applicable on roads with 90kmh or more and you doing 35-40 over.
@@Gazer75 That is a fair punishment. IMHO of course.
I've seen many videos on TH-cam showing how they drive in America. One thing Americans must learn when driving in Europe is LOOK WHERE YOU'RE GOING. No apologies for the caps, in Europe it's kinda important.
And avoid eating and drinking as you drive. It is treated as an offence.
That's me, yelling at American drivers in movies and TV shows, right before they inevitably crash into whatever suddenly appears on the road XD
It's not just done for effect?
@@jpoortman No, that's right. American films, as you'd expect, are made to be realistic to Americans. There are videos on here, made by Americans who've moved to Europe. They've become somewhat enlightened about how to drive. One that sticks in my mind is a guy who moved to the Niederlands and was full of praise of the way Europeans pay attention to the road.
@@etherealbolweevil6268 Oh.. I do that all the time XD
Only on the highway of course, whenever it's safe to do so. Never had any issues.
@@etherealbolweevil6268in what country is that an offence? And is that actually enforced?
Here in the UK you can't hide from a speeding ticket. The camera will pick up your licence plate which then they can just run through the DVLA system of registered vehicles and bang, that vehicle is registered to a certain address and owner and that's where the ticket goes to.
They can use ANPR cameras to read your licence plates and find out other stuff too like if you have a valid MOT certificate of roadworthiness, if your car is road taxed or if the car is insured which is also a legal requirement.
They are now bringing out some new, really advanced cameras that can see inside the vehicle and give crystal clear images of what the people inside are doing. So if you are doing anything illegal like using your mobile phone whilst driving, even if it's in the centre console, they can see you doing that and then it's a fine and points.
There's literally cameras everywhere.
Even less able to dodge in other countries because in most countries the plates don't belong to the car but to the driver. As in, no matter how often I switch cars, as long as I have a car to my name, the license plate in question is mine.
He's an american, not a british driving in britain.
@@bencze465 And if he's driving a hire car, the hire company will just add a fee and pass the fine on - while letting the police know your details. Computers can talk to each other, these days...
@@wessexdruid7598 and in probably all rental agreements there's somewhere a point that if you get a ticket while driving the rental car, they can just charge your credit card for the fine.
If you have an American driving license, rent an automatic car. They do not have a license for manual cars. If you come to Southern Europe, don't worry about the cows, wild boars are more common.
this doesn't only happens in southern europe.
In Normandy, nortern part of France along the Channel, you could get... cows, sheep, goats, chiken, rabbits, deers, wild boars, and even foxes ;)
In fact, from my grand mother back garden, there's a hill covering the whole front of it. to the left there's a family of deer that seems to love that spot, while on the right there's a grazing field with sheep and horses
Speed ticket in Norway
10 km to fast = +- € 385,00
20 km to fast =+- € 970,00
30 km or more, 3 months visit in States Hotel (Jail) So inform the folks back home that your stay is getting somewhat longer 😊
In Finland the ticket would be based on your income. The higher your income the higher your fine.
THAT is insaaaaane!
That is a lot!
(note to self: never think of speeding in Norway)
Wait HOW MUCH ?!!
France is :
- < 20 km/h : 135 € in built up area, 68 € anywhere else
- < 50 km/h : 135 € (you also lose points on your driver's license but I don't know if it applies to Americans, they can confiscate your driver's license from 30 km/h up)
- >= 50 km/h is considered a criminal offense so you end up facing a judge that can give you a fine up to 1500 € the first time and up to 3750 € after.
Yes, the stop sign is almost as universal as the middle finger 😂😂😂
IIRC in the 1960s there still was a different stop sign, but it was replaced by the octogonal one, from I think the USA. This way it was easier to identify if, for example, it was covered with snow.
@@antonijaume8498That's right. I remember those old stop signs: circular with a red border, with a triangular yield sign inside of it, only with the word STOP instead of YIELD. They were replaced by the American-style signs in order to make them easier to recognize.
Except we barely use them in Europe. The signs, I mean.
@@afau111 😂
@@RuiLeTubo Yield signs are way more common, stop signs are only used if it's a problematic intersection (and the penalty for not coming to a full stop is quite high)
he missed so much points that i am in awe. Like if u pass a red light in big cities, there are cameras and u deffinetly get a ticket, which is not low. If i remember correctly, if u do it more times than X, they could revoke your license.
Only true if you're a citizen of that country. Say, french officials can't tell US officials what to do with your license. Most countries in EU have agreements on what to do with these situations but I highly doubt that's applicable for americans.
In some countries that X = 0. License revoked first time you run a red light.
@@alexanderahman4884 The quickest way to get one's license suspended in Finland happens where there is a crosswalk for pedestrians and two lanes for cars going in same direction. One car stops to let a pedestrian cross the street. A car in the other lane drives past and does not stop. No point system needed, police can suspend the license right away.
@@m1k1a1 Same in Sweden.
@@aleks5405 yes... to be more precise, they can forbid you from driving in that country but you are still able to drive back in your homeland. Only the country that gave you the license can revoke it fully, although serious offenses are most likely reported to the country which may decide to do something about you.
He seems to forget one important rule: when on a highway, drive in the right lane - when you’re done overtaking a slower vehicle, switch back to the right lane.
he said that. left is only for passing point.
@@KingKayn-kh8qi Which was rather confusing (or superfluous) as the video is filmed on a narrow 2-way road.
And no overtaking on the inside.
@@etherealbolweevil6268 You’re right! Those are ‘twins’.
Say that to italians...
In Belgium, they learn you to drive defensifly. expect the unexpected. Don't be mad if something happens, just try to be prepared. When getting your license, you are not the king of the road, you are just being granted to participate in traffick.
not in Brussels. they are wild in there
@@Queerz4Palestein there is the theorie you're taught, and then there is reality, i know
That’s a far better way to teach how to drive regardless I think. When I was learning, I was told to presume everyone else is an idiot!
@@serinadelmar6012 That's how I teached my American wife when she started driving over here. I was anxious about her driving but because I know that there are lots of idiots on the road.
@@serinadelmar6012 indeed, expect the unexpected. Every other driver could for example possibly be a morron checking his cellphone...
other drivers could underestimate the driving conditions
etc
Living in a place in Europe with many US citizens and military, I can tell you that they are certainly not fit for the roads here.
Part 1: Back in 2015 we lived in a house from 1790. There were narrow streets to parking spaces for the building.
On 4 occasions the US American in front of me just gave up and surrendered to the tight corner. There were cars behind me and no one could turn each time.
In the end, taking a huge risk, 4 out of 4 times the US Americans were so relived when I asked them if I should move their car around the turn. The biggest car, I'm not kidding, was a Hummer. In that case I needed the help of another neighbor waving me around the corner.
Part 2: So many Americans couldn't figure out road signs and basic driving rules which lead to MASSIVE collisions/accidents at crossroads. Where once was a smooth flow of traffic, they city installed traffic lights everywhere. Ironically the warning on some crossings were written in English only.
Most important is ... most of us drive a stick
Less so nowadays with hybrid cars and electric cars becoming more prevalent.
@@ffotograffydd the fact a car is electric or hybrid has little to do with its transmission. 😂
Electric motors don't have gears bud
@@serinadelmar6012 No? Try buying a manual hybrid or electric car.
@@serinadelmar6012 Quite the contrary, it has everything to do with the transmission. Basically instead of a ICE linked to a clutch and a mechanical gear box (or a converter) you get an ICE with a very narrow range of operation coupled with electric motors/generators via planetary gears. The whole thing is controlled by a computer. That way you get rid of the losses in the transmission and clutch; the ICE is optimized for higher MPG and you get regenetative braking.
How would it be manual ?
It is quite simple: Practically all signs are without unnecessary text so a person from Portugal will also be comfortable when driving in Greece or an Italian in Finnland.
Yes, and it's not just european like the video wants to claim, but almost universal with notable exemptions like Argentina, Australia, China, India etc.
It's because of the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic of 1968
Qualifications for driving in Europe as an American is usually "have your passport and driver's license with you when you rent the car"; one would be expected to take responsibility and exercise due care and caution when getting behind the wheel of a car and you can count on most EU countries' authorities to take road safety pretty seriously, although the European south is quite a bit more... lax.
Some countries like Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, or Spain require you to have your license on you or in the car when on the road; for those countries it's a good idea to get an IDP (International Driving Permit) which is just a translation of your license just in case police stop you and need to check it. Having it isn't exactly a legal pre-requisite but it can significantly help the interaction and you can get it from your national automotive association (I think it's AAA) in the US, usually for an admin fee (I'd expect about $30) and a couple pictures. Make sure not to cross borders with a rental unless explicitly allowed in the rental contract and you have the requisite cross border insurance certificate known as a Green Card.
I am not sure if it is still the case, but some "eastern" European countries, e.g. Czech Republic, Slovenia, and/or Slovakia, do not recognized the US driver's license if you do not have the IDP with you as well. This could also lead the police to seize the car as you are not a legal driver. This was explained to me when I was renting a car in Austria and warned not to drive over the "eastern" borders. This was in 1999 and there can have been changes in the last 25 years, but is worth checking.
@@jhc5760 Czechia and Slovenia seem to require it, Slovakia allows US licenses to be used for 90 during a tourist visit and I’m sure there are other differences. I know my country of origin, Greece, does not require US Driver’s license holders to obtain an IDP.
It is always best to plan an itinerary first, at least to the country level, and check the requirements for each individual country.
In Finland the vehicle you used to get your driving license determines whether you're allowed to drive stick or not. US driving licenses are assumed to have been acquired with an automatic transmission, thus you won't be able to drive manual legally over here unless you have all the required extra paperwork with you.
In France, having your permis with you is required as well. If you don't you'll get a fine and you'll need to get to a police or gendarmerie office within 5 days to present your licence.
Vignette in Switzerland: The toll sticker for Switzerland might seem to be expensive for a day, but a tour through France might come close to this for just one way...given, it is not a short trip 🙂
You could end up paying these 45 € in just a few hours
The Swiss Vignette is actually one of the cheaper ones in Europe - 40 CHF or 44 EUR for a whole year -, in neighbouring Austria you'll pay 96.40 EUR. (There are versions for shorter periods, but they are quite expensive as well - 11.50 EUR for 10 days, 8.60 just for one day.) And the Swiss Vignette is only required in major roads. So if you stay on minor roads on your day trip, you'll be fine.
We were driving thru Switzerland in 2006 even before we entered Schengen, if it was that expensive, we would not go thru there. Actually in countries where you pay toll every 5 meters, I am pretty sure it's more expensive and very annoying. For me as Czech, it was really bizzare to see these toll stands for the first time in France and Spain, I never saw anything like that before.
40 CHF is cheap as f*uck. That cost of one big McMenu in switzerland.
@@andrejnepoviem4493 lol. But you are not wrong.
Ryan, they can't find you in Indiana, but if you drive a rental car, the rental company will find you and charge your card plus a fee.😊
Oh they can find him in Indiana. The US just hasn't caught up with Europe in using tech to locate and fine drivers in other countries.
And if you have unpaid fines you may be simply denied a visa next time.
French here. One detail regarding highway tolls in France: when reaching a toll plaza, DO NOT engage in toll booths that have a "T" sign only. They are for remote payment devices that allows subscribers not to stop for paying. Foreigners assume "T" is for Ticket, but it's not. Otherwise you'll get stuck there, trying to explain through a speaker phone you just want to pay while a long line of honking cars keeps growing behind you 😅
Do even ordinary cars have that? Here in Czechia, only trucks and some buses have to pay toll like that, there is no toll for normal cars, you have to buy sticker.
@@Pidalin Yes. Toll highways mean every driver must pay.
@@Pidalin yeah in spain you can have a Teletac, my hubby had one for years
@@Pidalin Yep, in France you can buy a device called "télépéage", then you apply for the corresponding company (there are several companies that manage highways).
@@pg5200 Is everything related to some broadcasting, wifi, tv and such things called "télésomething" in France? 🙂
About Europeans driving fast on curvy roads: that because most of them are locals, they drive there everyday, they are comfortable with them.
Many times I've been to some isolated area and I didn't dare go as fast as allowed because the speed limit really felt more like a speed challenge.
In Europe in the most of cases we have 'green arrows light' this light is an arrow that show you that you can turn on the left or on the right, otherwise you just stop at red light and wait the green to turn.
In Ukraine (where I live) there are green arrow signs near the traffic lights installed nearly everywhere for the same things.
There are some generalistions about the signs that apply everywhere:
Rectangular signs are informational
Triangular signs give you warnings
Circular signs (and the octagonal stop sign) are commnds (note the STOP sign is generally an octagon drawn inside a circle)
But informational signs can have indirect commands, like the "town sign" at the boundaries of the developed zones of towns and cities. That sign informs you that you're entering a town and that implies a speed limit of 50, if nothing else is posted.
And the "zebra crossing sign" is rectangular, has a triangle inside it and gives the command that you have to yield to pedestrians.
Before the octagonal stop began in the 80's we had a downward pointing red rimmed white triangle with the word STOP in in it. I think Europe in general adopted the US sign all across the board, because of ease of use and maybe because of the then stationed U.S.military personnel .
@@sergevereecke680 octagonal stop became the world standard because it's the only sign you can positively identify from the back side by shape alone. But yeah, I'm glad we did away with the yield-stop sign. And that we improved our intersection design so that stop signs are super rare, only used for the most dangerous intersections where stopping to look actually is needed for safety.
13:45 That's the Außerfern, a region in Austria close to the German border. At the other side of the border, you are close to Neuschwanstein Castle.
Magnifique
Dont drive over the limit in Switzerland, the ticket are realy very expensive😊😊
Same in Norway. if u drive 25km/h over the speedlimit of 60km/h we are talking of 1100eur fine. anything above that is loss of license. same with talking/using phone. 1000 eur.. and they are watching!
In Denmark the police can confiscate the entire car, if you're driving recklessly. And you're not getting it back - not even if someone else lend it to you (!!)
Most road vehicles drive on the right in the world [75%] whilst it's the reverse for trains - 75% 'drive' on the left.
Yes, that's because trains were invented by the Brits, who already drove their horse-drawn carriages on the left.
Its actually 65% of the worlds population drive on the right in 75% of the worlds countries.
@anglosaxon5874
What do you mean "trains drive on the left"?
Where I live they seem to drive on both sides.
@@RainerLP I was a train driver. UK/France/Japan/India/Parts of Switzerland etc. drive primarily on the left. Of course some tracks are bidirectional [not the main lines just junction area etc. Google it and it will give you a map. Edit: Some countries [Holland] do have both sides signalled but one side is still prefered over the other as it can cause problems if not checked [routing trains to certain destinations].
@@RainerLP Yeah, I'm confused too
Tickets based on income, yes, Finland, Switzerland and the Netherlands have that, and I think it should be adopted by ALL countries, beginning with the EU. Would be fair and efficient, and I'd really appreciate it.
Alright, can't help it: [COMMERCIAL] Want to visit Europe? Hate paying toll? COME TO GERMANY! We won't charge you. Never! (Except you're a truck. Terms and conditions apply.) [/COMMERCIAL]
Yeah, you're right, that video was really informative. I just frowned a bit when he talked about a "recommended" speed on country roads. There only is a MAXIMUM speed, and sadly, they differ. I live in 100 km/h Germany, but close to 80 km/h Czech Republic where I'm also quite often. See the problem?
I am Dutch. The Netherlands does not have speeding tickets by income. Just by speed and it also differs where you drive too fast. At roadworks the amount is double. Also in cities the amount is higher.
@@rudyloedeman5730 Thanks for the correction. I knew about Finland and Switzerland, checked with Google Search, and the Netherlands showed up, too. Thought maybe they changed the law, and copied that without checking. Should have been more careful and check twice, I'm sorry.
All roads have maximum speed and minimum speed. The video didn't told it and it's important because you can get a fine if you go too slow. And every country has it's max/min speed limits. Nearly all the same but they can differ in 10 km/h and be the cause of a fine
The rules for foreigners driving are maybe a bit strange: The first 6 months your US driver's license is valid in Europe (if you are older than 18), but after the first 6 months you have to get a European one.
At crossings without signs saying otherwise (especially in residential areas), the rule is: yield to the car at your right - except at a roundabout, then you have to yield to cars already in the roundabout.
Default speeds for certain types of roads in a country are usually displayed at the border crossings.
Just one correction -at least in Czech, but I am pretty sure its actually everywhere... or at least nearly everywhere. Technically, when on roundabout, you still have to yield to the cars joining from right HOWEVER on all roundabouts, there is triangle sign, meaning you are not on the main road. And its so engraved in all our brains, that even if the sign would be missing, you would still yield to the vehical on the roundabout.
@@SalterThe It's common sense, really: if you let others drive off the roundabout first, traffic flows and you'll get to where you're going. If people drive in front of cars already in the roundabout, traffic halts and may gridlock there.
@@blechtic You are not wrong :) I am just saying, that strictly speaking its not "law based" but its always directed by signes
Regarding roundabouts: At least in Germany, every proper roundabout has yield signs at its entrances, so yielding for vehicles that are already in the roundabout is even more clear. If there are no such signs, then there's also no sign for "roundabout" and in fact the whole thing isn't legally a roundabout, it's just shaped like one. In such a situation, vehicles entering the non-roundabout have right of way, as they're approaching from the right.
@MichaEl-rh1 of - There's nothing strange in that description. Its just like the USA.
You can tell by the design of the guide posts that he's driving in Austria. It's a white post with a red reflector and a black cap on top. German ones are white with a black stripe and an amber/white reflector in the black.
Also, it's freaking gorgeous there. Just saw Austria for the first time recently. It reminds me of my home in the PNW. Water, mountains.
Some parts were also recorded in France
Hello from Germany! European cars are made to handle well on winding roads, American cars are only good at going straight! Greetings Nephilim
@nephilim2582 - Hopefully you're joking. Otherwise you're really ignorant. Goggle Skyline Drive in Virginia, Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina, California's Coastal Highway or almost any route through the Rocky Mountains.
@@reindeer7752 😁🤗😂
On average, japanese cars mantian speed on winding roads better
I’m from the UK and I’ve driven some of Skyline Drive a couple of times. Both were in rental cars, and the second time was around 1992 and we were given a Lincoln Town Car. It felt like I was driving a swimming pool and luckily the Skyline Drive speed limit was 20 mph or I would have been through the (flimsy) barrier in an instant.
@@XMan-tu4iu I think the guard rails are for psychological reassurance. LOL. Its terrifying where there aren't any. I hope you enjoyed the area.
You do get pulled over for speeding occasionally, but on top of that we have those speed cameras. In Poland where I live, if you get pulled over you can either pay online, or even use your card to pay immediately (they have card terminals in the police cars)
here ins Spain we have mobile radars, helicopter radars, ( tram radars, ther put one and another one few km away so they calculate if you were too fast or not along that part), You you just get pulled over when they do random alcohol/drugs controls or they are looking for someone ( perhaps scaped a prision, a international terrorist, etc)
In Austria it depends, highway cops have a card terminal in their cars, in the city, cops will follow you to the nearest atm.
When you're driving in the Netherlands you will find different types of roundabouts. Some are a single lane, some two or three. And there's 'turbo' roundabouts in which you have to take the lane for your specific direction. Arrows on the road will guide you.
I'd also suggest trying to drive in and around Paris, you will be happy you survive😂.
Paris has its own way of making roundabouts (you don't yield to enter... except if there is a traffic light). I even found a roundabout once with traffic lights for the right lanes of the circle but not for the left lanes.
When you are driving in the Netherlands you may find a lot of city or especially city-center to have low speed limits or driving personal cars may be banned entirely in some areas. You are often better off taking a tram/bus/train
3 lane roundabout? Those are rookie numbers, friend. Gotta pump those numbers up. My town has a 6 lane roundabout.
@@TheSuperappelflap it was just an example (appelflappen, lekker man!)
@@Tuinierenopstrobalen Dont be a sore loser, go call your municipality and get them to build a 7 lane roundabout, or admit defeat.
To avoid swiss highway fees, just don’t drive on the highway. Just a little problem when you cross the border on the highway coming from another country, you need to leave the other country’s highway and cross the border on a normal road. As a tourist you probably don’t know where to leave. Rental cars usually have the sticker attached on it already
A lot of gas stations have shops, especially those near the freeway. They accept cash for feuling your car. Btw, the clips are either Austria or Switserland, not germany. I recognized one road that is the crossing from Oetztal (Austria) to Italy. (the one with the cows)
Timmelsjoch Alpine road its called.
Switzerland, there's a mix of signs in German and French.
Never buy fuel on the freeway / Autobahn directly. They tend to be up to 45 % more expensive.
@@mick-berry5331 I've seen some that are up to 65% more expensive. Not only fuel and AdBlue, but also general convenience stuff like drinks and junk food.
As far as I know a toll can only be charged if there is an other way to reach your destination for free - meaning there are always those tiny windy roads to avoid he toll roads. Cities often exempt highways passing through them from the toll just to avoid traffic jams. Just be prepared that it might take a lot longer using those free roads due to speed limits, their condition (mostly not that well/often maintained), the roads copy the terrain (little to none overpasses/tunnels), lots of cyclists, and yeah, the cows and sheep (both, animals and people) on those roads especially in the mountains.
Taking the detour is often nice if you, as a tourist, have the time for it since it can be the more scenic route.
I've visited Iceland a few times, passing Hvalfjördur fairly frequently. Usually we take the tunnel (which was a tollway back then) but at least once every visit we do the more than two hours longer drive all the way into the fjord.
The reason the cow crossed the road. Was because the chicken knew there was an American driving down the road.
In Germany, there are roundabouts with the signs telling you that they are roundabouts, and there are fancy roads which just happen to be circles with straight roads ending in that circle. And there are different rules for both of them concerning Right of Way. On a regular roundabout, the car in the roundabout has priority, but if it's just a road going in a circle wiithout a sign designating it a roundabout, then right goes first, which in this case means cars entering the circle go first.
(For a long time, Germany did not really warm to roundabouts, albeit some of their road infrastructure was built as such. Sometimes, even if it was already designated as a roundabout, the signs were removed, and it was turned into a regular road. And to make things even worse, Germany deliberately did not use the Roundabout sign on designated roundabouts, but instead put the white-yellow diamond sign for the priority road along the circle and a yield sign to the connection roads, turning it into a de-facto roundabout without calling it such.)
I think you are wrong about the roundabout. In Germany, and whole EU, formally the vehicle entering roundabout has priority. That's why there are 'Yield' signs just before the roundabout. To change the standard priority rules.
@@conda7774I am not, as I know several non-roundabouts in Germany, which just happen to look like roundabouts (Karlsruhe Oststadtkreisel is an example, another one would be Barbarossaplatz, Dresden). Additional, I have a German driver's license from 1997, just at the time, when Germany started to warm up to the idea of the roundabout.
@conda7774 I think you might have confused something...
The traffic with priority doesn't have to yield to the traffic entering the priority road.
Traffic in a roundabout drives anti-clockwise (unless you're England). This means that to a car already in the roundabout, all on comming traffic want to enter from the right.
Since we don't want traffic stopping in the roundabout, we give those already in said roundabout right of way.
So, the traffic in the roundabout has priority and the cars entering the roundabout have to yield.
The yield signs are there to remind us to stop for any cars in the roundabout that have right of way. Especially when the roundabout is on a priority road.
1- Switzerland
The cost of living in Switzerland is high, the anticipated monthly expenses for a family of four are CHF 7,078 and CHF 4,190 for an individual. These figures are not surprising given the country's reputation for being one of the most expensive in Western Europe and the world.2 days ago
Road signs are covered by the Vienna Convention, which is widely used in much of the world, countries as far from Europe as Mexico and South Korea have adopted aspects of it. The idea of having pictograms rather than words makes it very easy to interpret signs once you know the basic principles, and even if it's a sign you haven't encountered before you can often make a good guess what it means.
Remembering that directions are given to places not compass points is important ... and kind of essential when you're in a country that has grown organically - a lot of roads twist this way and that, and don't _have_ an obvious cardinal direction.
Default speed limits in the UK (for cars, it's different for goods vehicles, buses and towing) are 30mph in built-up areas, otherwise 60mph on single-carriageways and 70mph on dual-carriageways and motorways. Lower speed limits can be signed (with repeaters), and likewise higher limits in built-up areas. Once you know those basics, it is very easy to remember (although if you're doing a road trip through lots of different countries then you will need to be on the ball!) ... but also to note that there are plenty of rural roads where 60mph would be impossible let alone unsafe, so in many cases drivers are effectively left to make their own judgement on what a safe speed is.
There are police patrols who will pull you over for speeding in Europe but it is much more common to have cameras, either fixed cameras (including average speed cameras) or mobile camera vans that go do a different place each day.
The "toll" for Switzerland is only for motorways - you can drive on ordinary roads no problem, it's just if you are using the motorways that you need to buy your "vignette". Elsewhere, tolls are generally a lot easier than the USA because you get a tag when you join the toll road and then when you leave it you pay for the whole distance you've travelled, none of the rooting around for small change every time you cross a county boundary that I remember from the US (although that was a good few years ago so it might have improved with contactless payment or automatic tags since then).
What the voice-over forgot to tell you is that we have traffic groups dedicated lanes of transportation with their own stoplights on our roads in general, so basically all next to each other counting from the middle: usually 1 or more lanes for trams/busses and taxi's, 1 or more lanes for Trucks, Vans, Cars and Motorcycles, 1 or more lanes for Bicycles and 1 lane for pedestrians. Fully dedicated non interchangeable lanes with their own stoplights. So when you're down town you will have to look everywhere to see if the right turn you want to make is free of "other" traffic. because when your right turn stoplight is RED, it basically is RED for a reason--> many bicycles and pedestrians will use their GREEN stoplight to go while you're waiting on your RED stoplight to turn right. There is no difference in priority between a pedestrian, a cyclist, a car driver or a truck driver. and all other traffic for all that matters. So when you come from the right at an intersection; walking or cycling car driving anything driving....you will be given the right of way to go. On the other hand, even if you drive a huge semi truck, a pedestrian coming from the right will have the right of way and so even a Semi Truck will have to stop for a pedestrian. All traffic is equal, but there are two very exceptions: Pedestrians and cyclist are protected by law, so if you think you can skip their right of way and a collision occurs; the car/van/truck/bus driver is always guilty, even if the pedestrian or cyclist did not behave according to the local traffic law. The second exception is obviously all Motorcycles, Cars, trucks and busses carrying the Blue/Blue or Orange flashing lights especially accompanied with Siren This is why there is absolutely no turn on RED to right in Europe.
all fines should be based on % of income.
else, it's just like buying a cheap exemption from the law/rules if you're better off
A very well known TV celebrity crashed his car while being drunk in London a few years ago.He got points on his licence and the fine based on his salary was around £84,000.00!
Britain, Ireland, Malta and Cyprus (all islands) drive on the left. Also the similarity in signs is actually not to do with the EU. It's a huge international agreement that covers many countries across the world. Just not the USA.
I loved your comment about being 'qualified' to drive in Europe if you hire a car. The truth is that it IS very much left up to you to educate yourself. The car hire companies don't really help at all. More than that you can drive a manual with an American licence even if you took your test in an automatic which even WE are not allowed to do. If you take your test in an automatic here you are not licensed to drive a manual.
You don't have the right of way in a roundabout, it's rather right before left. So actually the cars entering the roundabout have the right of way
BUT
usually at every entry to the roundabout there is a Yield-Sign, that overrites the right before left. There are some roundabouts in Germany though, without the Yield-Signs and in these despite the roundabout sign, the cars entering the roundabout have the right of way.
Even most Germans don't know the rule.
There is a reason why our driving exam consists of a little more than driving around the block without shooting someone. 😄😄
You moan about paying " up to 3 dollars" on a US toll road !! Try using some UK toll roads !
Remember, AMERICAN EXPRESS is not widely accepted outside of the USA.
Haha, back in 2010 drove from Barcelona to San Sebastian, dropped something like €40 on tolls.
Around half of the roads shown in this video are in France, so a lot of the landscape you liked is indeed in my country.
About going fast on mountain roads, it really depends on who's driving. I go pretty fast on those roads and would consider normal drivers really slow, so I guess americans driving there would be a nightmare for me. Also, he says not to stress too much on those roads if people are behind you but it is common cortesy to let people faster than you pass by slowing down in places they can pass you and sticking to the right, or by stopping by the side of the road if possible, especially if there are numerous drivers behind you. It costs you a few seconds but can save minutes for multiple people.
Thanks for mentioning this! It really bothered me that he said don't worry! You'll be driving people crazy if you do that. Definitely slow or pull over to let people pass on roads like these. There's nowhere there for overtaking. Be considerate.
That's why France has a high traffic-related death rate...
in germany we have incorparated the green arrow sign( to the right) at some specific crossings with lights to signal that you are allowed to pass the red light after stopping at the crossing and assure your not hindering any other traffic.
They will be able to find you if you hire a car because the car hire company will have all your details. You can ignore it, but good luck renting a car next time you visit if you do. Respect the laws of the countries you visit, they apply to American visitors too!
and chances are quite high they have a clause in the contract stating that if you get a ticket, they can automatically charge that from your credit card to pay the fine. They're quite good at covering their rear ends.
I drive Europe a lot, best bit of advice is get a cheap sat-nav. They give you the area speed limit. Also don't get caught out by someone flashing you. In the UK it means come through the narrow point, I am waiting. In many places in Europe it means "I am coming and not giving way" Caught me out a few times in the truck.
Google maps will be more than enough
there is a kind of right on red, at least in germany. Generally it is not allowed but theres a sign you sometimes find on the side of a traffic light with a green arrow pointing right, that means for this traffic light there is right on red.
In much of Europe, that's a specific green light that lets you know.
Yes seen a few of these when I lived in Germany in the 70's & 90's.
Here an additional blinking orange light with an arrow is used.
@@sugoruyo The green arrow light and the green arrow sign have very different rules though.
The green arrow light says you can turn right without stopping and everyone who could be crossing your path has a red light, even pedestrians.
The green arrow sign says you have to stop and then you are allowed to turn right if no one is crossing your path. Basically treat the red light plus green arrow sign like a stop sign.
I lived in Poland, Czechia, UK and Germany and I have never seen anyone pulled over ever. Except for a random checks on country borders inside Schengen.
Thie video was more concentrated to the german system. You can pay in cash (in EUR) in most of the fuel stations but most that are next to the highway only take credit cards. The fuel stations indicate with an, in europe, universal number "E10" "E5" which fuel to take. Most countries always tell you wich speed to go if you enter a city or village, Germany doesn't do that, there you are expected to know the roads. Police will stop you if you go to fast but if there are already speed readers there normaly isn't a police car to stop you for speeding
Tyler! You finally started reading the comments! I’m so pleased as the fact that you don’t has been a recurring theme, this will add so much context to what you watch and help you with pronunciations etc. Brilliant 👍
Tyler? Wrong American 😅 Ryan reads and replies, Tyler doesn't
Tyler is Ryan's twin brother. Ryan has always interacted with his audience - Tyler doesn't, ever.
@@Helge_Torp usually yes! Hence the comments 🤣 but I see lots of his likes on this particular video, long may it continue 🤞🤞😊
@@wessexdruid7598 Ryan, I don’t know! I’ll be looking him up after these replies though, thanks peeps 👍
@@hannah6272 are you drunk? This particular video is made by Ryan, not Tyler 🤣
You ADD as well? Me too! By the way, you will love driving in Europe. You’ll be doing just fine.
Be careful with tickets in Spain: non nationals must pay the fine on the spot. We get almost twice our population per year in tourism and it's the only way to deter them from driving like crazy
Thank you, I was having really rough day. Now I got myself good meal, beer and your video, that made me smile alot. Keep yourself and thank you for what you're doing and maily how you do it, props from Czechia 🍻
Might have been interesting, had motor mouth not constantly interrupted...
Sweden is unlike other european countries almost 99% a cashless society. But you do have to have a card with a chip or with NFC function. You can also just use you apple phone/watch or equivalent. Dont bring cash!
It's best to have some cash just in case.
allways ALLWAYS keep emergency cash in case somethings goes wrong you you don't have access too card options.
All it takes to interupt cardpayment is cyber attack or temporal loss of electricity
@@Solus749 True! But in Sweden only big stores take cash! Otherwise its by electronic transfer! You pay by an app, phone, or apple watch/phone or equivalent.
Fun fact: the road sign standard that is used in Europe (as well as the middle-east, some parts of Asia and a few African countries) was actually created by an American but the Americans were so used to their own sign system that they refused to use this intended-to-be international standard.
$3 expensive you said x)
In France, going from north to south will cost you about 100 euros just for tolls.
I think we have one if not the most expensive highway system in the world.
You have tolls up to 40-45 euros (and yes, you have to pay every time you go through. It's not a subscription)
He is driving in Switzerland.
Wrong. The footage is clearly from different regions (i.e. not just one) and 12:56 the Alpenhotel Ammerwald is located in Tirol (Austria).
also in Austria, Germany and France
Not exclusively, at 13:00 he's at the Alpenhotel Ammerwald in Reutte, Austria.
@@bardioc And Italy
No speed limit in Germany: This not only for the Autobahn, he called it A-road. There is no speed limit on all roads with four lanes, two in each direction. There is some legalese about the regulations available on the Internet.
Not all Autobahn sections are unrestricted
This is dangerously wrong and should only be applied if you're fond of crashing into construction sites at high speeds.
fun fact: in the Netherlands (and rest of Europe) we design highways differently than the USA. When possible, we swap straight road alignments for alternating curves with a radius of 40km. This helps to keep drivers alert by requiring steering input consistantly over long distances.
There is right on red in Europe, but only if there is a green arrow next to the traffic lights pointing right. The reason you don't see that as much, is if it is a really busy intersection, that isn't a good idea, and if it isn't a busy one, you are a lot more likely to just not have traffic lights to begin with, or a roundabout.
Usually that green arrow is also a traffic light, which is called an "additional" light to the normal ones and usually only a green arrow for turning right or left, and in some instances even for going straight.
If your spending a day or a weekend in Switzerland you'd just use public transport
If you travel to Switzerland $45 for toll is your smallest problem. 🤣
40 ish euros for highway access isn't bad even if for just a week. And also you can just disable highways in google maps and it will take you to where you wanna go on toll free roads, sure it will be a bit slower but if you don't want to pay you can do that most places I've been to around Hungary.
in europe some traffic lights have additional green light. if it's on, you treat the intersection as having stop sign, so after stopping you can keep going if road is free
I don't think Switzerland is bothered by the potential loss of tourists. They'd rather you came by train anyway.
This is a good video for driving in continental Europe, but the UK is quite different on a number of issues here. A speeding ticket is not cheap here, nor are parking tickets. We don't have many toll roads or crossings, but most (if not all) will not have booths at all. Instead you will need to pay online. And, obviously, the driving side is flipped, which means that the passing lanes, right-of-way and roundabouts are also flipped. And, as someone else pointed out, there are a lot of manual cars. In some parts of Europe, it may not be possible to hire an automatic, and those who do have them will charge more.
You sure can get pulled over for speeding, but most of the time they just enforce it with the Cams and not with a police officer.
One little thing. Road signs in Poland can sometimes up speed limit. For example, speed limit inside city is 50 during day. But i know at least two roads where it is raised to 70 by proper sign. It is ordinary speed limit sign but in that case it enchances instead limiting.
There is gradiation of rules (duno how to name it in english). So most important are orders given by someone "in charge". Like police oficer. Sometimes there is a need for some special treatment and oficer takes over. In that case you have to listen to him and ignore other rules. Then there are lights they are second most important. For example if you have green light you ignore stop sign. Light tells you to go so you go. Third level are signs. Those over the road but also those painted on the road. As i explained - when sign tells you limit is 70 you ignore common "50 in the city". And last and lowest are common rules. I use them where are no other in use. Like 90 kph limit for country roads. Or rule that in case basic crossroad car from your right has priority. It is important to remember that.
4:10 no a roundabout can be different depending on location. You can somewhat predict what it will be however. A roundabout right after a highway will definitely give way to cars. If there happens to be a bike path they have to yield. In cities it's more often the opposite depending on the country. In very busy areas with lots of pedestrian crossings cars most likely have to give way to pedestrians crossing. However if you - like he says - familiarize yourself with the rules you'll be able to figure it out pretty quickly.
Your videos would be really interesting if you didn't stop and start them every 5 seconds
Agreed, Ryan stops the video way to often to make comments then quite frequently restarts the video only to stop again seconds later to finish his comments, I don't mind him stopping but do wish it was less frequent and that he would not restart again unless he's finished that comment.
@@tomnicholson2115 I know that he's a reactor and I expect him to to stop and react to what he's watching, but boy, he's so over the top with it
I agree too! Often he stops the vid in the middle of a sentence, where he has questions, which would be answered, if he had listened to the end!
Sometimes i go crazy about that ;D
BUT: I like him a lot! His thoughts are faster than the answer comes. I guess, he have the same probs with ppl not comming to 'the point'. This maybe freaks him out :)
@@fliplefrog8843 yeah, that's what's so infuriating, I like a lot of the points he makes and his subject matter, it's just that.... 😂
@@fliplefrog8843 I like watching Ryan too, and do like that he stops to react, some reactors don't and it's so hard to hear them sometimes, but Ryan does over do it at times.
"The most beautiful connection between two points is a curve" marketing slogan for the Porsche 911/993 from the 90's
As an European when i got to experience driving in America i was blown away by a few things. First was how cheap fuel was. Then i understood why everyone there loves a big V8 motor... When you can fill up for 1/3rd or in some extreme cases 1/4th of the cost of fuel here, of course it wouldn't be an issue. I didn't want to ever stop driving. Then sadly i got to experience driving on an US highway and chaos is the best i could describe it. I remember on one interstate i had defaulted to me EU driving habit and was patiently waiting for the guy in front of me who was doing 50mph in 80mhp to get back into the right lane. Was holding there for good 3-4 minutes. Then someone passed us on the right, my initial reaction was "WTF?!?!?" and then instantly snapped out of EU driving mode, right turning signal, 2 gears down and my first ever underpass on a highway... and it was completely legal. Took a good look at the guy i had to pass, because was interested what was keeping him from doing the speed limit or notice me behind him and he was having a full on 3 course lunch with desert. Absolutely insane. I had been already driving for 12+ years back then and probably got close to 1mil km, but it was the first time i saw anyone having a proper launch, using fork and spoon, eating out of a boxES, again while driving. And that made me take a closer look at everyone i'd pass and what were they doing. The majority were barely physically present behind the wheel, let alone mentally. People talking and texting on their phones, watching TV on their multimedia, few had their laptops open in their laps. Very very VERY few people were actually focused on the driving itself. Then in urban areas, unless it was at a redlight, no one bothers to stop at a crosswalk, no matter how many people ware waiting to cross. Across EU even when someone i close or near enough to the crosswalk, the cars would come to a stop to let them cross. In the US i saw a few pedestrians almost being ran over by a car, while using the freaking crosswalk.
As for the speeding cameras - they implemented those for 2 reasons. One was to fight corruption, because a traffic patrol officer was the 2nd most "well paid" job after customs inspector and the other was that many people would simply fly by the patrol and wouldn't stop. And when people are speeding here, we are properly speeding. The 100mph "high-speed chase" you get on the TV guys is just the average highway cruising speed of like 50% of the cars here. I know in the US they can start chasing you with properly powered vehicles, but 99.9% of the police cars here are a joke with under 200hp and can barely catch up to anything. Plus our highways have much more exits and entrances. Basically every 5 to 10 or so kilometers you can have an exit out of the highway and when you fly by a patrol, by the time they get up to speed to start closing on you, you would've had already at least 3 chances to turn off the highway and disappear in the next small town. One thing that's pretty common across Europe but i didn't see in America is flashing low-high beams when there is an accident or a patrol ahead. Here we use it to warn other drivers of an approaching patrol, a camera or an accident, so everyone could drop down to the speed limit, because let's be honest, the actual, real cruising speed is about 20-30km/h above the speed limit.
The reason stop signs and yield signs are the same all over the world is because they are the only ones with eight sides/a triangle pointing downwards.
This is by design, so drivers from the other side can see that you have to give way - just by the outlines of the sign!
And yes, those narrow windy roads are two-way roads, and yes you are allowed to pass on them (as long as there isn't a full (not-dotted) line in between the lanes, or there isn't a sign specifically telling you not to)
6:45 that wrong , there are speed limits on the german autobahn too...not the entire autobahn is speedlimit free
And some countries also have low emission zones (LEZ) in their cities, where you car needs to certain emission class to be allowed to enter, here in Belgium there is no sticker and as a foreigner you need to register your car in advance (or you’ll get fined), but in germany and france you need to get a sticker that indicates what zone/level you are allowed into.
As for the cows: in spring farmers are walking to the mountain/summer stable with the herd (some drive there other walk as part of the tradition) and in the autumn they're coming back down from it back to the winter stable. So it may block the road for some time, oftentimes the cows are wearing some nice ornaments.
One relief for American drivers should be that rental cars usually are automatic gear and come with a navigation tool. I'm pretty sure those also usually have an English option.
A note on the "removal of limits" sign: While mostly applying to speed limits it also lifts other limits like the prohibition of overtaking.
On the right on red: Where it's safe there will be a green arrow. This can be a light in which case you are free to go or a simple sign in which case you need to be very careful. Stop at the line, stop where you can make sure that the way is free (if you couldn't from the line) and only then you may go. The simple sign is getting less common because people fait to understand/honour it.
You can get pulled over by the police for speeding but it's not very common. They usually only do it if they feel your drving dangerously fast. And of course they have to happen to catch you. Much of the speed control is automated though.
The thing is the rental company will get the ticket and they will get their money from you. If you try to hide, good luck renting a car again.
Diesel has been historically cheaper in Europe because of tax breaks or rather lower taxes on it. I think those have been adjusted over the years.
Depending on the region bycicle is a good alternative to car. Maybe not in the mountains but in the flatter parts for sure. Takes a bit more planning maybe.
When the crossing is suitable, we do have a green right arrow for going right so traffic will be smoother. So in some cases we do go right when the others have to stand still.
11:50 Yes, but... The annual highway toll sticker for switzerland costs about as much as the 2months tourist sticker in austria if i am not mistaken.
Out annual one costs 2-3 times what the swiss annual costs. But in austria you can have a 1 day, 10 days, 2 months, or a year sticker. While in switzerland there's only the "1 year"
And in both countries its "calender year" if you go for the year sticker. the shorter ones in austria are from when you buy them, the yearly is valid from dec 1st of the previous year to jan 31st of the next. So it's actually 14 months worth of highway driving.
Edit: i almost forgott: he mentioned that speeding is relatively cheap: That's definetly not the case in general.
It greatly depends where you speed and how much. The same speed can cost 70€ in one country, and 700 in the neighbouring.
Oh and several countries including italy and austria: if you are speeding way too much, they can take the car away from you and auction it off.
And if it's a rental car, they can get you banned from that too. (it's what's happening if you are going around 50-80 kph too fast)
-Also important: Do *not* refuse a brethalizer/alcohol test by the police! Example: if you refuse that test in austria, it's by law treated the same way as if they caught you with 1.6 per mill alcohol blood level. -> our limit is 0.5 in motorized vehicles and 0.8 on bycicles 0.0 for anyone driving as their job and people who have their license for the first 2 years)
here in Spain you MIGHT get pulled over for whatever reason, including speeding. Usually there is a cop car a few hundred meters, maybe a Km or 2 farther than the speed camera, the camera clocks you and then the cops will pull you over. Also we have a few (maybe just 2) helicopters checking for imfractions, they are called Pegasus.
Also is very different to drive, for example, in Madrid / Barcelona where sometimes looks like people won they licenses in a raffle, than it is in smaller cities like Palencia or Soria...
there is the vienna convention on road traffic. this regulates the signs etc with all participating countries. the US is not participating fully.
so, it is a bit complicated.
this is not a thing of the EU but a different treaty with over 100 countries. and it actually does not specify the side where you have to drive.
the minimum speeding ticket in denmark is around 200 usd , also police will stop vehicles if you break the rules, and if you get pulled over, and do not resident in Denmark or Scandinavia you will be asked to pay the fine at the spot, but speed traps are more common .
3:10 yes, you can. But… not a stick, if your license only says automatic. Unless you can secretly drive a stick and no one notices anything weird anyway. Then no one’d ever ask.
In germany we in fact do have a 'right on red' rule. It is not a universal rule, but is indicated by a small black sign with a green arrow on it, which is mounted directly on the traffic light. It is to be treated like a stop sign when the traffic light is red.