The US auto manufactures pay millions to lobbyists and politicians to keep regulation 'pressure' as low as possible and profits high as possible. Your 'trucks' are a prime example.
12:42 "you can put whatever you want on your license plate" is exactly what's wrong. License plates are not an accessory, they are there to identify your car. It needs to be easily readable, no fancy backgrounds, colors, fonts and nothing obscuring the letters. If you get hit by a car, you want to be able to give the cops the full license and not be like "I think it starts with a B??"
Recently, someone here in Belgium bought an imported CyberTruck. As a result, the Ministry of Mobility released a statement that, at the moment, the Cybertruck can NOT be legally driven on the Belgian roads. Most important flaw is the 'sharp' edges on the car. European cars are designed to be as safe as possible for the passengers AND the pedestrians, in case of an accident. That Tesla does not meet those requirements.
@@stef6811"normal" lisence allows to drive up to 7.5 tons. Cyber Truck has problems to be certified as a "normal" car. But certification as a truck is possible.
Also, EU-spec cars are usually driven by people who have had to take serious driving lessons and a scrupulous examination both in traffic rules and in driving to get a license. That guarantees better outcomes than putting licences in the bottom of cereal boxes for 16-year-olds.
I'm In New Zealand, and Americans fresh off the plane, would never pass a Licence test here lol. There is "Written" and practical tests, and there is 3 stages to the licencing. It takes you like 2 years to progress through all steps. You can't even drive after 10pm on the 2nd stage "Restricted" licence. We also have restrictions on what transmissions you can drive, if you do your 1st practical in a manual (stickshift) you can drive anything, if you do it in an Auto - you can Only drive autos until you get your Full licence.
Depends. I made my license in germany and when i drive on the roads and see what people here got a driving license i think the way you get the driving license needs to be harder its to easy to get. The inflation needs to go down on the driving license. Poor people cant afford it anymore but more rich people can. Gladly skill cant be bought with money :)
@@flashback0994 i disagree. i drive often in the netherlands, belgium, chech, poland, and the germans are the best drivers. i admit, its almost exclusively highway experience. romanians, and polish truckers are the worst lol
The turn signal thing kind of baffles me, since it's just a better and safer way to clearly communicate your intentions with other cars in traffic, when you use different colors. That this style over function argument even exist is weird.
@@Dreyno That might just be their horribly large turning circles lol. The looks I get when I turn my 5 metre long, old RWD Volvo around on a dime are priceless :D
One thing he forgot to mention is the always-on LED light in the front. Some European countries have a "headlights should always be on" rule since deccades. Since about 10 years, it is mandatory for new cars to have these strips of LED lights that are always on (actually: they turn off when the actual headlights are turned on). It greatly increases visibility, especially on country roads where detecting approaching opposing traffic matters a lot. Even in bright sunlight it's much easier to detect. A few months ago I drove through the US and noticed that no car has these nice visibility enhancing lights.
What you describe is the solution of car manufacturers when the EU mandated daytime running lights as mandatory. Automobile companies reacted to this by introducing led strips, which have a longer life and low consumption and increase the visibility of cars even during the day. Automakers turned it into an aesthetic element. Then they gradually added tilting of the lights, angled lighting and, for example, blinkers that not only flash but also have the effect of movement. That's why European cars are expensive, because they have a lot of safety features and have to meet a lot of demanding standards. The average BMW costs 3x more than the average American car, but even the average European car is still more expensive than a comparable American car. On the other hand, European cars have better efficiency and performance.
Before that, i started driving with my headlights on all the time because i had people pull out in front of me. I remember bikers used to alwas drive in daylight witb full beam on too tk increase their visibility. I think it is a good thing you have the LeD daytime running. It makes sense and is worth it as probably saves several accidents every day
@@macflod Biker here who always ran with headlights on and had motorists constantly telling me they were on! Finally new bikes were required to have headlights constantly on by default and motorists were still telling me they were on.......
The thing that still annoys me about this, is that the rear lights are not on in this case. You drive into a tunnel, the car infront has it on automatic and you just can't see it for multiple seconds because the car doesn't detect tunnels so well. Or if it's manually adjusted, they just don't switch it on... Most crashes are from the back. They might often ocvur at lower speeds, but you could reduce them in so many occassions with this simple measure.
Overall road safety in the USA is non existent compared to places like the UK with regular requirements such as the MOT, speed cameras, ANPR to instantly flag up vehicles with no MOT or Insurance or Road Tax. Just look at the death trap for pedestrians that is the Cyber Truck. That would never ever pass a UK MOT with all those straight sharp edges.
@@michiel1362what you stated might be wrong as you say you get billed automatically? But an MOT is a physical inspection of the cars vital safety features, so it would be impossible to do it automatically without your car first being checked for what needs fixing.
Cultural problem of 'We are the best' limits the possibility of seeing that others can have better solutions. On all things in life... A simple visit to another continent can open eyes.
..but alas, they've voted against that honesty yet again. "We are the best" might be too deeply engrained already and as they say: hubris comes before the fall. I hope that doesn't hold true - for them and us, their allies.
The reason turn signals are Amber in the UK or Europe is so basic, it couldn't be more obvious, Brighter for one thing, you notice them far quicker, you know a car or any other vehicle is about to turn, Red is only used for braking, it also means we know the difference, Amber for turn, red for stop. Having the same colour for turning and stopping is a major hazard in and of itself. It's dangerous as hell. This is also why reversing lights are white/clear. You know that person is reversing.
I totally get that, but it is unfortunate that compared to decades past when indicators were spatially distinct because they had to be because they used bulbs and had to be a certain size to work, *some* EU car designers have chosen to wrap a thin line of orange LEDs around a red brake light to the extent that they are *way* less obvious unless they are the only thing a driver behind is looking at, which isn't what a driver behind really should be doing. In my opinion, in the interests of safety, car companies should employ someone whose only job is to look for that kind of thing happening and slap the offender in the face until they reconsider their design decisions. Just because something is possible doesn't mean that it's a good idea.
Depends on the car, think certain brands indicators are an optional extra such as bmw, as many of them dont seem to have them. On side note, indicators on wing mirror = expensive repair if it gets hit or damaged.
@@Ascelot What are you talking about ? Indicators are a standard on all cars here in the UK and Europe, there may be some countries where they might be an optional extra, but not in most places. Cars have to have them or they cannot be sold over here. Again, depending on the country you are in, they can be expensive, but not everywhere, it also depend on the supplier and who you buy them from.
@@davewilson4493 Indicators are Spatially distinct, one on each corner of all cars ! They are not set on top of the roof. LED's are cheaper to use and these days, more reliable, the main point is that they are very BRIGHT, so that you notice when they come on, again, that is the whole point of having them in Amber, not red or any other colour. If you are behind another car and the turn signal is not bright, you might not realise that car is about to turn left or right. The reason behind how they work today is so that they DO GET NOTICED, otherwise, what is the point of having them ? The drive SHOULD be noticing if the lights on the back of the car are working correctly, as we don't yet have the capacity to read minds while people are driving. As for your last paragraph, what utter nonsense !
@@bravobr9725 Thank you for that, but you seem to miss my point. I'm not suggesting that all new cars are bad from an indicating perspective, , just that some recent ones are objectively worse than average stuff from the previous ew decades. Back when only bulbs were used, there were necessarily distinct and fairly large square/rectangular/whatever areas on the back of a vehicle, each with a bulb and reflector in, so brake/rear lights and indicators were properly spatially distinct even if right next to each other. Now, some vehicles seem to have a thin line of orange/amber indicator LEDS running some way around a chunkier red brake/rear light, and it's much harder to see if the indicator LEDs are actually on unless you are watching them at the instant they turn on or off if the red part is on. From a distance, the orange line and red part blur together, especially when the sun isn't in a great place. Distinct meaningfully-sized areas of different colours (even distinct areas of the *same* colour) turning on and off would be much easier to notice at a glance than a red block gaining a thin amber edge. With the old-school setup, even if you just glance for an instant when an indicator is lit *and* ignored the colour, you'd still see two lit areas on one side, and one on the other - you don't even need to witness the turning on to understand what is happening. If I'm driving in a multilane highway, it isn't easy to simultaneously look directly at at the lights of 3 different vehicles in different lanes front of me, and given how eyes work, distinguishing relatively subtle size/colour changes in peripheral vision is just harder than noticing a decent-sized area suddenly lighting up - colour vision is concentrated in the centre of the eye, and is rather less good elsewhere, and "red blob over on the left/right maybe got slightly bigger and *migh*t be a bit more amber around the edge" is just harder to notice than "big new blob on the left/right just lit up!". I have seen cars recently where I can be looking directly at a turn indicator strip wrapped around a red rear light and it takes actual effort and concentration to work out whether it's actually lit, especially if a vehicle is braking or there's glare around. I could have had a better indication from much larger distances with a more conventional light layout. Sure, I've been driving for 40 years, and maybe my eyes aren't as great as they were when I was 18, but if I have 2 vehicles in front of me, and I'm having to put real effort in to work out if one is indicating at all whereas it's super easy to tell if another one at the same distance is indicating without even looking at it, that's really not a *me* problem. I shouldn't have to be staring at an indicator on some random vehicle and concentrating on it just in case something happens. Neither I or anyone else I know had to do that before, and if some designer thinks people should have to do it now so they can make a more cool rear end, then I can only hope they are forever condemned to ride around in their own designs, and are last in line for rescue when stuff happens. If a person driving normally and scanning ahead of them for hazards and keeping an eye on their mirrors can't still easily notice indicators flashing in their peripheral vision, or at least notice them as easily as they would have on an older car, then the indicators are going backwards in terms of function.
@@ExecuorNope. The requirements in the EU are much higher for pedestrians and lower for manufacturers fleet CO2 emmissions. Tesla Cybertruck is a death trap for kids, pedestrians, bicyclists and small cars. Sharp edges, hard surfaces. Forbidden in EU - and that is great!
@@Execuor Either you're not in Europe, or you know little about the stringent safety regulations governing cars. I believe there is little or no regulation in the US vis à vis pedestrian safety in the event of a collision, and I thought it would be important to have that highlighted; maybe it would spur people on to start a petition to have that ridiculous omission corrected. ;-)
Yes, in this regard i remember seeing a video about the requirements that doesn't exist for pickups, so you can drive a car that has it's bumper at head level, where you can't even see in front of the car.
@@voodoossjin the UK there are sidelights on cars (contrary to the name, they are not on the side of the car), which are basically headlights with reduced power. these have to be on at all times, unless headlights are being used.
@@randomwaffleronly newer cars have daylight running lights, older cars didn't and there's no requirement to use the sidelights in daylight. The only trouble with the DRLs is the idiots who don't put their other lights on in the dark (they think the lights are on), so the back's dark.
Huh, weird. You must have had one of those heavy rains. I was caught in one on the highway and could see maybe 5 meters ahead at most-similar visibility to fog. But since I was on the highway, I couldn't slow down in case another car came up fast behind me. So the best option was to drive at an optimal speed and be as visible as a Christmas tree.
@@40_Sandra if you drive at optimal speed, no other car should come up fast behind you, unless you drive a truck. Problem with rear fog lights, besides they reflect on the rain and wet road (with many cars in this situation, everything gets blurred), is 99% of people switch them on and forget them until they turn off the car, no matter the evolution of conditions. Personnaly, I handle those rear lights as I do with front lights (switch dimmed/full lights). If I'm followed by a car close enough, I switch the rear fog lights off, and only switch them on again when I'm isolated. But nobody does that.
@ I drive 120 km a day, and I can tell you, yes, people do switch them off. Some areas on the highway are covered in fog in the morning, and then there is a sudden clearing. I often see people switching them on and off regularly. Have a bit more faith in people, lol.
One of our clients recently purchased and imported a Cybertruck. Took him 3 months to make it road compliant. On the very first time he took it out, he got pulled over and instantly got it impounded. The reason - the category of license he owns allows him to drive vehicles with up to 3500kg gross weight. The Cybertruck was register at 4160kg gross weight, which requires a completley different (HGV) license. Basically you have to be a professional truck driver to be able to drive those on the roads here. So now he is taking HGV license courses which on their own are €2200 and require a mandatory psychological exam before you can even attempt the final exam. As for the red turn signals - these are completely illegal here. You can import the car, get it safety inspected and eco-taxed, but then you get a temporary or so called transit license plate, which is valid for 30 days. In these 30 days you have to convert the car to comply with all the local laws. That means no red turning signals, mandatory daytime running lights, working sidemarkers, working ABS and exhaust with catalytic converts. If any of those doesn't pass the inspection, you lose your transit plate and get a fine of €350. Only after you pay the fine you can get another transit plate, which is valid for another 30 days and if you don't fix the car by the 2nd place runs out of time, they impound the car and good luck taking it back.
Regulations. I bought an American kitchen appliance and I noticed it was getting bad reviews from Americans and good reviews from Europeans. I started noticing that this is often the case and I was always curious about it until I was at a conference and I met an importer. So I mentioned this and asked why that would be. He laughed and asked what the minimum warranty is in Norway and I said five years by law. He explained that the same product is sold with a one year limited warranty in America and then asked where I would sell my first rate products. So when you hear Americans complaining about the quality of American made things, it's not actually that the quality has declined, but that other countries have raised their standards and American manufacturers sort their products by production quality and export the first rate and sell the second rate domestically.
As a child living in Europe, we all looked to the US as some idealised World to aspire to. That hasnt been the case for decades. Right now, you couldnt pay me to even transit through the USA.
Not having driver education is so weird to me. In the Netherlands i had to take a theoretical exam, have driving lessons from a certified instructor and have a practical exam before I can get my licence and drive.
Trump's tariffs will price European cars out of the American market and you'll be left with crappy dinosaur cars. And don't bet on American car manufacturers upping their game when they realise that they've got a captive audience.
Trump's tarrifs would start a trade war with the EU and China. Companies like Ford, Boeing, Apple etc.. quite like selling stuff abroad so don't be surprised if those tariffs never happen.
For some that is true. But european manufacturers produce in the USA for a long time. BMW was for a very long time the biggest car exporter of the USA, i haven't recently checked if Tesla overtook them. All the X models used to be produced in Spartanburg and would then be exported to Europe and the rest of the World. That changed somewhat with the iX models.
@@Soordhin Where are the parts for the US made European cars coming from? How about the US brands as well? They come from low cost economies outside the US. Is Trump going to hamstring American businesses at the same time or just pick and choose a few companies (which would be illegal).
8:50 Rear fog lights on both sides of the car where banned in Germany / Europe, because they often were mistaken as braking lights. Cars suddenly unnecessarily (!!!) braked when the 2 fog lights of the car ahead appeared out of the fog and caused accidents. So nowadays only 1 fog light is allowed.
@@T0MT0Mmmmy In Germany you have to study rules every day to be up-to-date😅 I remember me, 90s, upgrading my car with a fog light. Of course: no certification☝️It had to be installed 30cm away from the braking lights, me 15cm. And nowadays? Germany = ridiculous. But I guess everything is EU-wide now.
German brands do it for maximising their profits from simpler rear light assembly as always. It was the same with smaller right mirrors on VAG cars in the past. They will just say it's like that because it's safer.
@pasinissila8227 that still means simpler light assembly with fog light at the left side and reverse light at the right side or ONLY ONE standalone fog light.
In Australia daylight running lights are required by law, have been for over a decade. If you're driving an older car without drl's it's recommended you drive with low beams on
Yes, there are standards in Europe that require vehicles to have lower noses, which is all part of pedestrian safety - a lower nose means (a) you aren't going to "lose" a child or person in a wheelchair that passes in front of you, and (2) if you do hit someone, they are more likely to get bounced upwards rather than dragged under the car. The white car in this video would be fine, but behemoths like a Ram, Yukon or Escalade are generally not. But even for cars, they tend to have lower noses because that's more aerodynamic, and that improves fuel efficiency, which is like a thing we have over here. In the UK, license plates have to conform to standard design specifications around size, lettering and colour - a standard plate is in a format that identifies where and when the car was first registered for use, eg "LX22JPS" where the L stands for London, the 22 is the year 2022 and the other letters are random - or you can pay extra for a vanity/personalised plate. With a vanity plate, the design is still exactly the same, but you choose a letter and number combination, as long as it doesn't include anything offensive or obscene and doesn't pretend to be from a newer year than it actually is.
Same in Poland XX yyy zz, where XX/XXX is state-city letters, yyy are random(most likely iterated) and zz are some kind of "series". It iterates from AA to 99
By far the biggest safety feature not seen in the USA is the lack of a compulsory annual test for roadworthiness. How can it make sense to just take to the road with brakes that might be defective, tyres that are old/worn or windows with cracks in them?
In the UK we have a death rate of 2.9 citizens per 100,000 per year by way of motor vehicle deaths, in the USA, the figure is 12.9 per 100,000 ... ie: you are over 4 times more likely to die in a RTA in the United States than in the United Kingdom ...
With the wider and straighter roads in the USA, less dense traffic because of the size of the country, you would expect it to be the other way around. Biggest issue must be driver competence.
Joel it's like everything else in America so far behind the times. Compared to the rest of the world the build standards of cars and safety features are way better than anything in America.
@@GuyWets-zy5yt You think that it's wrong? Name me one topic where the US safety standards are better than in Europe? Enjoy the cancer food by the way. US principle? safe until proven dangerous. Europe in general? Dangerous until proven safe.
in UE, espacially in France, our license plate customisation is 0, the only thing you can customize, is the "state" number, and the font (less than 10 legal fonts), no color, no custom text, nothing, and i hate it, they would make lo of money if we could at least have custom plate text/number
In Europe, every light on a car is in different color so just based on that you have a decent idea what the other car is doing... For example, you are in a column standing and you see a dude in front turning white lights on... That means he is going into reverse, so consider using a horn cos he might not have turned around and didn't see you. Don't ask me how I know. Let's just say that the guy kept going despite me holding the horn like crazy... Side indicators are a must, but not necessarily on the mirror. Front side is quite OK. Back in the day, it was allowed to have position and brake lights in the same spot, different lightbulb only. However, now it is not allowed, they must be separated and there must be 3 stop lights
It reminds me of paper money. In the EU, every value has a distinct, different color and different lines on the side so visually impaired people can feel what type of bill it is. In the USA, it's all green without any features for disabled people.
It's a pity that the extremely important safety issue of having asymmetrical high beams was not raised. There is no such requirement in the US. After all, asymmetrical lights that do not blind other drivers and additionally illuminate the roadside are a key safety issue.
Indicate left, left light comes on. Brake, left light goes out, right light comes on. Continue to brake, now the left light comes on. WHICH WAY ARE YOU TURNING!
don't know about the netherlands but in Germany rear fog lights are prohibited to be used in any other condition than fog and when it's foggy only when visibility drops below 50m. then the maximum speed you're allowed to go is 50kph. You are not allowed to use the rear fog lights in heavy rain for instance. This light is extremely bright and it relies on there being sufficient "stuff" (moisture) in the air to be scattered enough to not blind the following driver. The front fog lights may be used at any sort of visibility reducing factors, like heavy precipitation or smoke etc. 12:40 again, not speaking for any other countries but in Germany you can get your custom license plate, it just needs to follow the overall pattern. The first one to three letters are being determined by where you registered your car. B for Berlin. DD for Dresden. HAL for Halle. then the following 1-2 Letters as well as the 1-4 numbers at the end are up for your customization 13:08 one thing about the country: usually you'd need a Country code sticker when you take your car out of your registered country. (white oval with the country code in black inside.) within the EU, as the license plates are standardized, they put this country code onto the license plate itself. So the country code with the EU flag isn't just there for decoration or portrayal of unity, it's there for legal reasons. The white CrownVic in this video for instance would not be allowed to drive anywhere but the Netherlands. If he wanted to take it outside the netherlands, he'd need to place one of those country stickers onto the car. This is not necessary with the plate that's on the bmw.
@@tomasbriceno2319 I call fog lights "The perfect idiot driver detector". If there was an additional "use when you don't know what to use" light (or idiot light), they would turn that on too. I found my first idiot of this season in September, after a heavy storm, driving at M-50 in the full front face sun with the ground completely wet and reflecting it. I almost hit it because I couldn't see its brake light between the brightness of her rear fog lights. The worst thing is that in driving schools, that's what they teach. And if you correct the teacher based on your more than 20 years of experience, they tell you that the rule is so ambiguous that it's better to err on the side of vice than defect. But hey, you can drive on a cloudy day or in light rain at 1pm and hardly anyone turns on their lights.
@ 10.06 There's nothing wrong with driving with your headlights on in the middle of the day, especially if like me, you drive an older car that doesn't have DRLs.
In driving school here in the Netherlands they even teach you to drive with your headlights on it feels weird to me without always everywhere anytime
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Isn't it mandatory, to drive with the headlights on, not matter what time of the day it is? I do not have a driving license, but I know at least some regulations. PS. I live in the EU.
I would ask you to watch crash tests on American cars and European/uk cars, you will see such a massive difference in the safety of them. It's actually really shocking to see how some of them just disintegrate.
The side marker/indicator turn signal is really important for cyclists. For example, is the car approaching the traffic lights slowing, and driving next to you, because of traffic in front, or because they are about to turn.
Interesting video , I didn't realise there was so much difference in spec. One thing that does amaze me is that it's not a requirement by law in every US state to have an annual vehicle inspection once the car reaches a certain age. Here in the UK once a car is 3 years old it requires a rigorous safety inspection every year by law to reduce the chance of accidents. I would imagine there are thousands of accidents and some fatalities in the US every year due to worn tyres , brakes or other serious mechanical defects. If you are caught driving here with no M.O.T your car is seized and you get points on your licence as this also makes your insurance void.
honestly, the mot is just nice to have for peace of mind and vehicle maintenance. I get a service with my mot every year so any tyres, oil and whatever else that needs sorting is done. fix the car before it becomes a problem.
In Sweden, it's not that the insurance isn't valid if the car haven't passed the annual inspection since we insurance our cars, not the drivers. However, they get illegal to drive if they don't pass the inspection and you would for sure be in trouble if you got caught driving a car that's illegal to drive.
At BMW, the left turn light, has a different function! As soon as you enter the left lane, the left turn signal indicates that you want to pass the car in front of you. And a BMW driver ALWAYS wants to overtake! At higher speeds the headlight flasher activates to emphasize the driver´s need to be the fastest on the road!
@@ZafWitness Yeah, it seems I'm a dummy and you're a smartass. Can you tell me off the top of your head the gearchange pattern of a Kawasaki H2 750 and why it's different?
I have been working for the European Commission and the regulations for cars and other vehicles are issued in what is called UN-ECE regulations, which are rules ment to cover all United Nations members, but unfortunately only covers some. They are made to simplify (unify) the rules for vehicles and their components so that companies producing these just need to follow one single set of rules for all countries to which they apply. The rules are certainly not always perfect but they make testing and investigation much more simple. I have proofread thousands of pages of these rules in Danish, but of course in the European Union they are published in all 24 of the official languages. The rules are under constant scrutiny and if they found out that the rules don't apply to all situations or that technology has developed, they are changed to accommodate this. I don't understand why North America doesn't use the same rules, but I assume this is due to market protection and the feeling of superiority.
Safety features on a vehicle shouldn't be a luxury add on, that's just insane. Having driven extensively in north America and Europe, Europe is by far a safer place to drive.
10:17 little hint from germany, in these autumn days, where everything is grey around you, headlights "on" is a huge improvement, when it comes to visibility...especially, if you wann turn left into another road and have to cross the oncoming traffic....best part, having your headlights not on in a light-grey car in these weather conditions, makes you nearly invisible to the oncoming traffic and the other way around....i really highly recommend, that it will be a "must" to have them on, no matter what time of day it is. another good example....you drive down a road and facing sun-down, so the sun is pretty much near the horizon, if another car is coming up to you, with no lights on, you will not see it, until it is too late....if it has its lights on, you will see it in time, cause, the headlights (not talking about the high-beams) are brighter than the sun.....keep that in mind
A little hint from Finland, we used to have mandatory headlights and rear lights as default for that exact reason. These days the EU regulations don't mandate the use of rear running lights, and most European car makers do not have them on by default. Skoda is an exception, even though it is a VAG car every Skoda in Finland has also the rear running lights on at daylight settings. VW does not. Audi does not. Let's not even talk about the others :D In my opinion as EU mandates front running lights, also rear running lights should be mandatory, especially here in the nordics. Not because it's dark in winter, but because in summer we have 24/7 of light. Car manufacturers make very good sensors to detect when it is dark and headlights are needed, but they usually do not cope well with the nordic midnight sun that shines right in your face over the horizon. :)
Re suspension: US and Euro spec cars can be different due to environment (bad roads, etc), preference (comfy vs sport), and the weight of the car (added safety features, comfort features ect). Typically US spec cars have higher ground clearance and longer suspension travel for added comfort over long distance straight road driving. In Europe, roads are normally maintained to a higher standard and feature a lot of curves and corners. Therefore, the car's suspension and steering are setup accordingly. I'm surprised that FL would make driving with your hazards illegal in bad weather even though rear fog lights are not common/compulsory on cars. How else are people suppose to see each other?
I think that European car makers pay a lot more attention to detail. And where American people purchasing a car are more interested in the quality of finish inside the vehicle, in Europe we are usually more interested in the quality of the ride and how the car drives.
One of my main gripes with North American spec vehicles is handling. The Moose / Elk maneuver on most vehicles is compromised due to the perceived requirement for overly soft ride. Hence unsettling experiences on tight ramps and expansion joints
The main safety issue, I believe, is our MOT laws. Every car in the UK has to pass an annual check to prove it's roadworthiness. In the States you can drive a literal time bomb around the streets. I think the US licence plates can be fun, but a car is not a toy, it's a potentially dangerous piece of heavy machinery. Our plates are designed to be easily read by speed cameras amongst other things. If you really want to, you can always have bumper stickers., which have the advantage of being removable when you grow out of them...
The US doesn't need speed cameras. They have a cop at every turn and intersection ready to come chase you down as if you're the country's biggest criminal.
We can personalize our plates in Eu as well.. But we get fined at least in Sweden if we do not use headlights 24/7 or use foglights in clear weather confitions. By the way, we have got more "High" vehicles in Eu as well but most of those is a "pure copy" from us. Unfortunately we copy most things from Us nowadays. Does not look good at all.
7:37 Here in the UK we just bought a very cheap 2008 Honda Jazz (Fit) for my son to learn to drive. Indicators are built into the mirrors even on that old banger, hardly a luxury vehicle.
For around €1000 you can have a personalized, custom license plate printed in the Netherlands. You can determine your own text yourself. However, there are some restrictive conditions attached. For example, you may use a maximum of 8 characters on the license plate. You are also not allowed to just have only numbers made on your license plate.
Love how he said the American car has remote start.... But that's mainly because we do not require it , we have the option but mainly useless as most of our cars are manual . Yes 98% of the eu can drive stick compared to the 5% that can in the USA. For the ride height: we have a lot more curvy roads in Europe so our cars are made for handeling. The lower they are the better they handle in tight turns . But we have a minimum ride height of 10cm of the ground for street cars measured from the chassis. Also the front license plate need to be at a certain minimum height of the ground
When we lived in Europe, we had a US spec Ford Granada and an EU spec Audi 80 (the old "Fox" here in the US). The Ford was an automatic but the Audi had a manual transmission, and Dad wanted to make sure I could drive either car. So I did. Which is why Dad also nicknamed me "Captain Whiplash" after our first outing in the manual Audi.
I am English,I was very surprised the first time I rented a car I the US. This was in the 80’s,The car hand book had 6 pages about seat belts ,including child like diagrams showing ways seatbelts protected you in various situations, most of which would seem obvious to a 10 year old. It was obvious car manufacturers had little faith in the people driving their cars.7 Hopefully this has changed, I have regularly rented cars in America,in fact ,consider it a perk of my visits. Apart from terrible road surface maintenance,I’ve always found driving in America a pleasure. But get rid of those time consuming bloody traffic junctions and embrace roundabouts!
Uk registration plates (lisence plates) have to be white at the front and yellow at the back. It's a small thing, but it makes it all the more clear whether the car is facing towards you or away from you. I am always surprised that in a car centric society like the US there are lots of safety features- both on the cars and on the roads themselves- that just aren't in place there.
About the fog-lights: It’s actually forbidden to have 2. This because if there are 2, it might be mistaken with brake-lights causing an emergency braking if you come from behind. It must be at the driver’s side too. In the middle of the car is also not allowed. Another feature that is obligatory on new build cars since 2017 is flashing brakelights when an emergency stop is happening. The moment the situation requires instant heavy braking (and ABS kicks in) the brakelights flash at increased strenght and intervals so that you, coming from behind, can react sooner and take precautions.
Don't worry, about 1/4 of Germans also don't know when to use fog lights. Actually you must only use it when visibility is below 50 m (164 feet) but under these conditions it is also illegal to drive faster than 50 km/h (31 mph) The reason is, that those are really bright and blind other cars when it's dark and the visibility isn't that bad.
Btw: That only applies for fog specifically. If the visibility is below 50 m because of rain you are not allowed to use rear fog lights. The reflections would be too bright
Luck that is only 1/4 of Germans. Here in Spain I call fog lights "The perfect idiot driver detector", wich use both front and rear at the minimun signage of fog or rain, and when dissappear, they also run with it on until them reach their destinations. If there was an additional "use when you don't know what to use" light (or idiot light), they would turn that on too. I found my first idiot of this season in September, after a heavy storm, driving in the full front face sun with the ground completely wet and reflecting it. I almost hit it because I couldn't see its brake light between the brightness of her rear fog lights.
@@DjNickpuntoes amazing I can't imagine how to not know this. At the moment there's always the talk about how (in Germany) the license is too expensive and too difficult. Because too many fail the test. And still, knowing simple rules like that are too much to ask for. I'm looking forward to self-driving cars and hope a driving license will be a luxurious Hobby, not something to be taken for granted.
In terms of the license plates: I really love my Swiss license plate. The front plate is always small which is important because it does not ruin the looks of the front of my car (Alfa Romeo 159), like the big EU plates. The back plates are relatively close to the EU sizes. On the left side there is the Swiss coat of arms and the other side is the coat of arms of the issuing kanton. Two letters for the kanton name, and 1 to 6 digits to the numbers. And yes, we are obsessed with lower numbers on number plates because they are more valuable and they can be sold for ridiculous prices. 😅
It’s always good to keep one difference in mind: car safety regulations in Europe: the highest survival probabilities for a pedestrian that you hit car safety regulations in the US: the highest survival probabilities for the driver. That’s a very different point of view.
Eh no, highest survival rate for all in Europe. In the US its money first. They allow that tesla microwave on the road called the cybertruck. Its a rigid frame, no crumble zone. The car deforming on an impact is not just pedestrian safety, its allows more of the kinetic energy to dissipate over a longer time which reduces the amount of g-forces put on your body were you to crash into a tree of a concrete wall. This increases the survivability of the people in the car. The cybertruck is illegal in EU due to this and multiple other reasons
Features like the side mirror indicators are standard on EU and UK cars, by law, some of the most basic models might not have them, but if you pay more they come as standard.
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Car specs regulation is used to prevent external manufacturers to drop a car from EU as is to the US market. The car always need a rework and be build for the US market. Many manufacturers don't do it as the gain is countered by the cost in redesign and specific manufacturing processes..
Isn't reverse parking illegal in some states as the pointing out front of the car in that state doesn't show a licence plate hence cannot be identified...whereas there are companies in Britain where NOT reverse parking is a disciplinary offence (as reversing out of a space with limited visibility is way more dangerous than reversing into an area with no traffic)... you have laws that insist you do the more dangerous thing.
Well, headlights in the middle of the day are mandatory in some parts of the eu. There is nothing wrong about is, just improves visibility. Not primarily for yourself, but others will notice you more likely if you have your headlights turned on.
In my country(EU) you can only use rear foglights in snowstorm and fog. And if another vehicle is behind you , you need turn it off since its blinding bright.
12:57 Here in Belgium you can get personalised plates (but they cost 1000€), but it has a 9 character limit, and has to adhere to certain rules like no foul language, or using characters in a sequence that are reserved for special plates (like diplomat plates that start with CD (Corps Diplomatique)).
Which is perfect because you can spot the idiots from afar this way and take extra precautions because they will not adhere to any traffic laws (nor will the rest of Belgium but it helps).
@@lidewijvos which one the CD or custimized licenseplates. because i have seen people with customized license plates drive way more precautious and adaptive than the average driver in belgium(as a dutch)
There is nothing wrong with the side markers, when they are executed nicely and ideally as a part of head/tail lamp or if they are at least symetrical front to rear. Also, they are retro reflective, so the car is easily visible from the side, when it's parked somewhere. Turn signals on mirrors are great, but I have to admit, most of the current US cars come with them already. Rear fog lamps are double edged sword. I live in Europe and they are being misused all the time. Pretty much the only moments, when fog lamps make sense is super dense fog or very heavy rain, especially on the highway. Flat driver's side mirror is a stupid thing and I see a retro fit kits being used to fix it. On older cars, I tend to use an extra wide angle mirror mounted inside the car just next to the outside mirror. I found that as great improvement and since it's inside, it's not dirty all the time. License plate style/size is just thing of a taste. There is no reason to make it bigger than necessary. Just look for front Swiss plates. They are tiny and yet nobody complains. European vehicles aren't usually lower. BMW and Audis are probably an exeption, they are highway wariors, so they benefit from being low.
In fact, using the fog lights without happening fog or heavy rain right now, is illegal - it's just blinding the cars following you... I've got a question vice versa: is it allowed in the US having amber turn signals?
I don't know if it's just a Germany or all EU: you can only use fog-lights in bad visibility below 50m (150f or so?) And if visibility is that bad, you can only go 50km/h(30mph) max. So if you see a car with fog-lights on at more that 50km/h you know they are breaking a law.
@@johan.ohgren rear. Front are not regulated. They are only there, so YOU can see more. Some cars use them as day driving lights, when you don't have your main headlights on. EDIT: I am wrong here. If they are used as day driving lights, they are dimmed. On the fog light mode, they are only allowed to be used, if there is fog, rain or snow, but it isn't specified how much
Lived in the Benelux back in the early 1980s. Even back then, there were some safety rules for EU vehicles that made real sense. We brought over a Ford Granada with us, and the first thing I had to do was use model paint (thank you, Chievres PX!) to cover the marker lamps that wrapped around the front & rear corners because cars weren't allowed to have that color marker lamp on the side. The second thing was to mount a manually operated bright red fog lamp on the rear bumper, that had to be not only a specific size but also a specific height above the ground; believe me, it came in VERY handy, and the fact that height-above-ground was always the same for every vehicle (within a very small window of differences) made it extremely easy to figure distance to whatever was otherwise hidden by the fog in front of me. We weren't affected by the need for side marker turn signals, but they -- along with the very specific "every light has *one* specific purpose and *one* specific color on *all* vehicles -- made life on the road a *LOT* easier. One thing I remember is that I used to complain about how chaotic the urban drivers seemed to be.... but now I pine for the kind of "chaos" I had to face in most urban areas compared to the alleged "driving" that the majority of Americans now seem to engage in. And yes, I've had to teach co-workers here in the U.S. about the difference between "fog lights" and "high beams" ...and why the parking brake is not the same as the standard brake ...and why they should not use high beams against oncoming traffic ...and ...and ...and
In Germany you can choose the license plate code (X-Y-#) online - if it is not already taken. Most people use initials + year of birth. Also popular are: B-AD, LOS-ER, SE-XY, ME-GA, GA-GA, PIR-AT, DA-MN, etc. and of course German funny words. The first code (X) cannot be selected and stands for the district or city.
Then there is Y which stands for military vehicles. There is an old quote "Y-Reisen: Wir buchen, Sie fluchen!" (Y travels: We book, you curse!") Also there are some illegal combinations: AH (Adolf Hitler), SS and SA (the infamous Hitler germany units), KZ (Konzentrationslager (Concentration Camp)), HJ (Hitlerjugend (Hitler youth))and NS (Nationalsozialismus (National Socialism/ Nazi)), especially combined with the numbers 18 (Adolf Hitler), 88 ("H31l Hitler") and 1933 (begin of Nazi reign)
In Germany some of those funny words are nowadays banned. I.e. you can't get a new plate with S-AU (pig) in Stuttgart (city in south Germany) anymore. So those plates slowly extinguish.
when i did my driving lessons we were taught you had to be able to recognise where a car is, what direction its facing and if it intends to manoeuvre from nothing but the lights in heavy fog. and with the British weather that was often the case.
Daytime running lights is the first most obvious feature the US needs to adopt. Driving in the US at dusk is nuts. So many cars with no lights on, blending in to the environment.
I bought a 2010 Ford F150 from Canada and in order to register the car in the European Union, specifically in the Czech Republic, I had to modify the rear turn signals and add a rear fog light. The rear turn signal must flash amber and is located in place of the reversing lights, the rear fog light is on the left by the towbar and the new reversing light is on the right. Without these modifications, the technical inspection would not have been carried out and I would not have received registration plates and a technical certificate in the country where I live.
I drive in Europe (I'm Italian) and also drove your landyachts in the US on every kind of road, in the late seventies and early eighties, never had a problem at all with the mentioned differences. Above all, it was much more exciting when each country was characterized by its differences.
8:51 it's partially incorrect: rear fog lights should be used for fog and when it's snowing but are not authorized when it's raining as they blind people behind you.
HEADLIGHTS ON DURING THE DAY This cause no harm during the day and has a surprising amount of visibility improvement. So much so that at least some UK police forces train their drivers to do this as it reduces chance of "I didn't see you" crashes. It is the same reason that more and more it is becoming mandatory for cars to be manufactured so that you can not turn off the running aka parking aka side lights when driving.
10:05 ALWAYS turn on the headlights (low beam obviously) during the day, being visible is a way to reduce head on collision to someone who is trying to overtake in the opposite direction
I have my headlights on all the time (dipped beam obviously). Matter of fact I once heard that it was mandatory in some country. I like the extra visibility and style lol
That is precisely why Daytime Running Lights (DRL) are now a thing. They negate the need to think about turning on headlights in poor visibility conditions. Here in Australia the benefit is not only in poor weather (which we don’t have as often as some other places) but also in driving on rural roads on a sunny day. We have lots of evergreen forests with large trees overshadowing the road, so this means that trees shade the road intermittently with other parts in bright sunshine, causing cars to “disappear” when they go into the shade of a stand of trees, unless they have DRLs, particularly the modern bright LEDs. I think that auto headlights will soon be a requirement here also, to get around the problem with newer cars that have permanently illuminated instrument displays causing the driver to think that their headlights are on when in fact they are not and they don’t remember that there is supposed to be a little illuminated icon on the instrument panel if the headlights are on.
Yeah I don’t know why he said that. It makes zero sense since most cars have day time running lights. Some idiots though have their high beams on all the time
@@DeepThought9999 DRLs are a good idea. The only problem is that some people forget to switch on their dipped beams at night because they see the back of the car in front illuminated by the DRLs and assume their night time lights are on. So they drive around with no rear lights on. If they are going to have DRLs then maybe they should just have similar for the back. Or just make the normal lights stay on permanently.
Not sure whether it has already been mentioned, but here goes nothing. European cars tend to be 'lower' as you named it to protect pedestrians in a head on collision. If you look at the Crown Vic, its radiator/front looks massive and relatively flat. Imagine being hit by that massive slab. The area of impact covers your shins and thighs and because it is flat you will be likely sent flying away from the car in potentially other hazards (oncoming traffic for example), whereas European cars are designed that you roll over the hood and the windscreen and losing momentum due to its 'wedgy' design... which also minimizes the zone of initial impact (with the most force) on your body... the hood and the windscreen are relatively 'soft' and absorb some of the force of impact, giving the pedestrian a better chance to survive/get away with lighter injuries.
Amber is far safer. And what if the brake bulb goes? At least there’s another one to show braking. But it means that one of the turn signals is disabled
@@stephenlee5929 If middle brake light doesn't work how do you know if someone is braking, turning or has their "park anywhere lights" (like they're known in US) on?
@@TesterAnimal1 I'm guessing these LED lights, (not bulbs?) don't cease to function. That's a major improvement. It's strange that Halfords and Amazon both refer to LED Bulbs.
Couple things: rear fog lights are obligatory in EU and UK and you must use headlights all the time in some European countries (daylights could be used during the day if they are fitted in the car). And one more big thing - in EU headlights must be asymmetrical
A long time ago I read an article in AutoWeek about daylight running lights also during armature club rallying (time and distance) to be recognized, so I've always driven with my headlights on as a safety factor, even during the daytime. Unfortunately, with so many vehicles driving with their headlights on the safety factor is significantly reduced. It's simple, we (U.S.) have terrible driver education. I'm sorry, but a license plate isn't there to be stylish and you can get smaller, square plates in England/EU. In the past, drivers wore hats, so car roofs were higher, maybe now it's just a habit?
I'd like to see turn signals added back properly to the front of the car. When there's a T intersection as a roundabout and you're a cyclist approaching from the left side of the "stem" trying to go across the road to the "top", you have to be practically under the car before you can see whether their blinker is on or not.
I used to think the "object in the mirror is closer than it may appear" was a thing made for movies, until my first visit to the US. We've never had that.
One of my pet peeves here in America is people driving with their DRLs on instead of their headlights. On older cars that don’t have DRLs, the dashboards aren’t backlit until you turn on the headlights, but newer vehicles will have them backlit all the time. Therefore, people don’t think about turning them on. I have automatic headlights so I just leave the setting on “auto” all the time.
Another thing he didn't mention about European spec cars is the eye level brake light. We don't just have the two lights at the side, there's also one in the centre (usually at the top of the rear screen). It's really useful when driving "nose to tail" in busy traffic on a highway in poor weather conditions. You can see instantly when the car ahead is braking.
Pretty sure they had those in the US long before they became mandatory in the EU. My first cars didn't have them, it wasn't a thing untill somewhere in the 90's over here and i remember seeing them in US movies long before that.
10:05 Using the headlights in broad daylight is an unwritten standard in The Netherlands, but it isn't mandatory in daylight. It makes you way more visible even during daytime.
In some countries it is even a written standard to drive with full headlights on 24/7. Sweden is one example and Denmark another. It can cost you 1000 Danish Kroner (about 135 €) if you just forget to turn the lights on as you might get used to driving without headlights when it is bright and sunny outside. In Germany for example most people don't use headlights in bright sunshine.
Norway was the only EU country where (back in the early 1980s) I specifically told my father *he* was doing *all* the driving. Y'all have some terrifying mountain roads, you know? LOL Those daytime headlights are *needed*.
In Europe and the UK we have more standard plates so cameras can more easily read them and fine drives who commit driving offences, jumping red lights, driving in bus lanes etc. Plus Police can tell if the car is insured and MOT’ed.
It is wild how little America depends on cameras for minor infractions. speed cameras and such much save so much money and catch a lot more illegal driving than a cop on a random road
In Portugal, you can use fog light in heavy rain situations but you have to turn them off whenever the heavy rain has passed or else you might get a ticket although I don’t anybody that had a ticket because they had the fog lights on during normal rainy periods.
In Germany, the rules are easy: If you decide that you need back fog lights, then the sight is so bad you have to lower your speed to 50 km/h max. So back fog lights are synonymous with 50 km/h speed limit.
10:06 in some parts of the EU like Bulgaria, you are legally required to drive with your headlights ON during the day. You will get pulled over and fined if you don't do so. The only workaround about this whole thing is simple. If your car is new enough to have DRL's, you're fine. Most of the cars here are 20-25 year-old models, so not all of them have DRL's.
@@unionmoon The reason is as simple as it is shocking: the States don't care about "lives". Same discussion with weapons. "Lives" don't matter. Take a short look at statistics of all kinds👉
It has nothing to do with them being deliberately lower, the suspension on USA cars is ghastly, they wallow about like a waterbed. European cars the suspension is much stiffer to stop things like the car wallowing about, it makes it safer when turning as the car grips the road better, less drag on the car. A simple way of putting it, American Suspension is like a soft feather pillow, whereas European Suspension is like memory foam, it's firmer and more responsive, goes back to the same shape and position. The size of a car also makes a difference as well.
The customisation of the license plate is everywhere honestly.. Here in Belgium (I think in some other countries too in Europe.) its been here for decades already. The size of the plate stays the same.. you cannot exceed an amount of number of characters.
@@module79l28 In france there are no custom plates. but in Belgium there is.. look around before saying nonsense ;) google is your best friend. You can customise a plate for like 1000€ lol
A lot of people semi customise their license plates in Germany. The first 1,2 or 3 letters must be for where the car is registered eg. B for Berlin, HH for Hamburg. The next couple of letters people of use their initials or first letters of their kids names ( ours has the first letters of our dogs’ names 😂) and the last numbers are any significant numbers you’d like - birthdays etc. If the combination is not already in use, you can usually register it for you car.
In our country (the Netherlands) it's not allowed to have a personalized license plate. But maybe the gonna allow it in the future. Our government has not yet fully decided on this.
I live in Northern Italy (aka IRL Silent Hill) and rear fog-lights are almost never needed, but in some situations in winter, expecially during night time, they are really useful, you can drive on some country roads where you can't go over 30km/h (20mph) because you just can't see further than your hood and having them is extremely nice. I actually prefer the central single fog light or just one on one side, makes it easier to distinguish from the brake light, where as if they are installed in the same fixture as the tail light and they are on both sides you can easily mistake it for the brake lights and just think the car doesn't have a third brake light or it's out. Even worse if they don't have a third brake light and you think it's just a double rear fog while the car is actually braking. I just don't get why in the US and Canada, two countries that literally live depending on cars, regulations are so stupid and not thought through
He forgot to mention the bumper difference. European models have sleeker front and rear bumpers. US "safety rules" require much larger bumpers, which will break the legs of the pedestrians.
I don't think 'breaking the pedestrians leg' is the requirement, but yes maybe the effect. The idea is that all vehicles have a bumper at the same height above the road, it basically means you have to design your cars based on your Trucks.
@@stephenlee5929 And to enable 'Paris parking'; gently push cars away until yours fits in between. Try to get your car out when it's locked in bumper to bumper... you have to do the same, create some space.
Spanish license plates are even easier to read than those on that BMW because they feature black numbers (4) and letters (3) on a white background, which provides the highest and best contrast possible. And no, they are not customizable in any way; they are designed to clearly and easily identify the vehicle, not as a decorative element.
The US auto manufactures pay millions to lobbyists and politicians to keep regulation 'pressure' as low as possible and profits high as possible. Your 'trucks' are a prime example.
probably because they are less willing to make safe vehicles and are stupid.
Trump makes their profits great again
more accidents means more money will be spent, auto manufacturers love this.
They are fine with regulation as long as it's a product they can sell, like backup cameras.
But you cannot put a price tag on pedestrian safety.
@to_loww but you can on pedestrian unsafety.
12:42 "you can put whatever you want on your license plate" is exactly what's wrong.
License plates are not an accessory, they are there to identify your car. It needs to be easily readable, no fancy backgrounds, colors, fonts and nothing obscuring the letters. If you get hit by a car, you want to be able to give the cops the full license and not be like "I think it starts with a B??"
The fact that safety is seen as a 'luxury feature' is what's wrong.
There’s only one font you can legally use
And also there are those states that doesn't want you to have the plate on both side, like why?!
Completely on spot. Vanity plates and state- regulated plates are one of the most stupid things they invented.
You can get a custom plate in EU also!
Recently, someone here in Belgium bought an imported CyberTruck. As a result, the Ministry of Mobility released a statement that, at the moment, the Cybertruck can NOT be legally driven on the Belgian roads.
Most important flaw is the 'sharp' edges on the car. European cars are designed to be as safe as possible for the passengers AND the pedestrians, in case of an accident. That Tesla does not meet those requirements.
Having spent a lot of time on the road in Belgium... BRAVO! That electric pedestrian slicer should never have come off the production line like that.
plus it will not pass EU/UK collision tests .
Its also too heavy for a normal driving license in Europe
@@stef6811"normal" lisence allows to drive up to 7.5 tons. Cyber Truck has problems to be certified as a "normal" car. But certification as a truck is possible.
Haha you need a trucking licence yo drive that. Pretty funny.@vector3d23
Also, EU-spec cars are usually driven by people who have had to take serious driving lessons and a scrupulous examination both in traffic rules and in driving to get a license. That guarantees better outcomes than putting licences in the bottom of cereal boxes for 16-year-olds.
I'm In New Zealand, and Americans fresh off the plane, would never pass a Licence test here lol. There is "Written" and practical tests, and there is 3 stages to the licencing. It takes you like 2 years to progress through all steps. You can't even drive after 10pm on the 2nd stage "Restricted" licence. We also have restrictions on what transmissions you can drive, if you do your 1st practical in a manual (stickshift) you can drive anything, if you do it in an Auto - you can Only drive autos until you get your Full licence.
@@katzicael Very similar in Switzerland.
Depends. I made my license in germany and when i drive on the roads and see what people here got a driving license i think the way you get the driving license needs to be harder its to easy to get.
The inflation needs to go down on the driving license. Poor people cant afford it anymore but more rich people can.
Gladly skill cant be bought with money :)
@@katzicael Some have drivers license only for a Camel or Mule, People say in the Netherlands 🤡 🙉🙈🙊
@@flashback0994
i disagree. i drive often in the netherlands, belgium, chech, poland, and the germans are the best drivers. i admit, its almost exclusively highway experience. romanians, and polish truckers are the worst lol
The turn signal thing kind of baffles me, since it's just a better and safer way to clearly communicate your intentions with other cars in traffic, when you use different colors. That this style over function argument even exist is weird.
Its strange, he seemed to be suggesting the turn signals on the BMW were working, I'm in the UK and have never seen BMW turn signals flash. 😁😁
@@stephenlee5929 Same thing in Finland - must be a BMW 'feature' ...
@@stephenlee5929BMW source their turn signals from the same company that make Audi’s parking cameras. They use the line as a centre to aim for.
@stephenlee5929 sorry, we BMW drivers can actually drive.... the Audi idiots can't drive, indicate or park.....
@@Dreyno That might just be their horribly large turning circles lol. The looks I get when I turn my 5 metre long, old RWD Volvo around on a dime are priceless :D
One thing he forgot to mention is the always-on LED light in the front. Some European countries have a "headlights should always be on" rule since deccades. Since about 10 years, it is mandatory for new cars to have these strips of LED lights that are always on (actually: they turn off when the actual headlights are turned on). It greatly increases visibility, especially on country roads where detecting approaching opposing traffic matters a lot. Even in bright sunlight it's much easier to detect. A few months ago I drove through the US and noticed that no car has these nice visibility enhancing lights.
What you describe is the solution of car manufacturers when the EU mandated daytime running lights as mandatory. Automobile companies reacted to this by introducing led strips, which have a longer life and low consumption and increase the visibility of cars even during the day. Automakers turned it into an aesthetic element. Then they gradually added tilting of the lights, angled lighting and, for example, blinkers that not only flash but also have the effect of movement. That's why European cars are expensive, because they have a lot of safety features and have to meet a lot of demanding standards. The average BMW costs 3x more than the average American car, but even the average European car is still more expensive than a comparable American car. On the other hand, European cars have better efficiency and performance.
Before that, i started driving with my headlights on all the time because i had people pull out in front of me. I remember bikers used to alwas drive in daylight witb full beam on too tk increase their visibility. I think it is a good thing you have the LeD daytime running. It makes sense and is worth it as probably saves several accidents every day
@@macflod
Biker here who always ran with headlights on and had motorists constantly telling me they were on!
Finally new bikes were required to have headlights constantly on by default and motorists were still telling me they were on.......
drl in eu white in us&ca orange always on
The thing that still annoys me about this, is that the rear lights are not on in this case. You drive into a tunnel, the car infront has it on automatic and you just can't see it for multiple seconds because the car doesn't detect tunnels so well.
Or if it's manually adjusted, they just don't switch it on...
Most crashes are from the back. They might often ocvur at lower speeds, but you could reduce them in so many occassions with this simple measure.
Overall road safety in the USA is non existent compared to places like the UK with regular requirements such as the MOT, speed cameras, ANPR to instantly flag up vehicles with no MOT or Insurance or Road Tax. Just look at the death trap for pedestrians that is the Cyber Truck. That would never ever pass a UK MOT with all those straight sharp edges.
Yes but in holland you can’t own a car without insurance and roadtax,no mot you get the bill automaticly in your postbox
@@michiel1362 That's not true. Our MOT is called APK.
@@MrAronymous ja maar als ik dat schrijf weet geen engelse lezer wat ik bedoel
@@michiel1362what you stated might be wrong as you say you get billed automatically? But an MOT is a physical inspection of the cars vital safety features, so it would be impossible to do it automatically without your car first being checked for what needs fixing.
@@ITzDaveXD maybe he means bill as in fine for not having the MOT done bcs they can see it in the system ?
Cultural problem of 'We are the best' limits the possibility of seeing that others can have better solutions. On all things in life... A simple visit to another continent can open eyes.
So true
..but alas, they've voted against that honesty yet again. "We are the best" might be too deeply engrained already and as they say: hubris comes before the fall. I hope that doesn't hold true - for them and us, their allies.
similar problem many germans have.
@@Sventastic_78No comparison to US citizens never leaving their country and swimming in circles like the orange clown fish.
Which Continent should they visit? Italy or Paris?
The reason turn signals are Amber in the UK or Europe is so basic, it couldn't be more obvious, Brighter for one thing, you notice them far quicker, you know a car or any other vehicle is about to turn, Red is only used for braking, it also means we know the difference, Amber for turn, red for stop. Having the same colour for turning and stopping is a major hazard in and of itself. It's dangerous as hell. This is also why reversing lights are white/clear. You know that person is reversing.
I totally get that, but it is unfortunate that compared to decades past when indicators were spatially distinct because they had to be because they used bulbs and had to be a certain size to work, *some* EU car designers have chosen to wrap a thin line of orange LEDs around a red brake light to the extent that they are *way* less obvious unless they are the only thing a driver behind is looking at, which isn't what a driver behind really should be doing.
In my opinion, in the interests of safety, car companies should employ someone whose only job is to look for that kind of thing happening and slap the offender in the face until they reconsider their design decisions.
Just because something is possible doesn't mean that it's a good idea.
Depends on the car, think certain brands indicators are an optional extra such as bmw, as many of them dont seem to have them.
On side note, indicators on wing mirror = expensive repair if it gets hit or damaged.
@@Ascelot What are you talking about ? Indicators are a standard on all cars here in the UK and Europe, there may be some countries where they might be an optional extra, but not in most places. Cars have to have them or they cannot be sold over here.
Again, depending on the country you are in, they can be expensive, but not everywhere, it also depend on the supplier and who you buy them from.
@@davewilson4493 Indicators are Spatially distinct, one on each corner of all cars ! They are not set on top of the roof.
LED's are cheaper to use and these days, more reliable, the main point is that they are very BRIGHT, so that you notice when they come on, again, that is the whole point of having them in Amber, not red or any other colour.
If you are behind another car and the turn signal is not bright, you might not realise that car is about to turn left or right. The reason behind how they work today is so that they DO GET NOTICED, otherwise, what is the point of having them ? The drive SHOULD be noticing if the lights on the back of the car are working correctly, as we don't yet have the capacity to read minds while people are driving.
As for your last paragraph, what utter nonsense !
@@bravobr9725 Thank you for that, but you seem to miss my point.
I'm not suggesting that all new cars are bad from an indicating perspective, , just that some recent ones are objectively worse than average stuff from the previous ew decades.
Back when only bulbs were used, there were necessarily distinct and fairly large square/rectangular/whatever areas on the back of a vehicle, each with a bulb and reflector in, so brake/rear lights and indicators were properly spatially distinct even if right next to each other.
Now, some vehicles seem to have a thin line of orange/amber indicator LEDS running some way around a chunkier red brake/rear light, and it's much harder to see if the indicator LEDs are actually on unless you are watching them at the instant they turn on or off if the red part is on. From a distance, the orange line and red part blur together, especially when the sun isn't in a great place.
Distinct meaningfully-sized areas of different colours (even distinct areas of the *same* colour) turning on and off would be much easier to notice at a glance than a red block gaining a thin amber edge. With the old-school setup, even if you just glance for an instant when an indicator is lit *and* ignored the colour, you'd still see two lit areas on one side, and one on the other - you don't even need to witness the turning on to understand what is happening.
If I'm driving in a multilane highway, it isn't easy to simultaneously look directly at at the lights of 3 different vehicles in different lanes front of me, and given how eyes work, distinguishing relatively subtle size/colour changes in peripheral vision is just harder than noticing a decent-sized area suddenly lighting up - colour vision is concentrated in the centre of the eye, and is rather less good elsewhere, and "red blob over on the left/right maybe got slightly bigger and *migh*t be a bit more amber around the edge" is just harder to notice than "big new blob on the left/right just lit up!".
I have seen cars recently where I can be looking directly at a turn indicator strip wrapped around a red rear light and it takes actual effort and concentration to work out whether it's actually lit, especially if a vehicle is braking or there's glare around.
I could have had a better indication from much larger distances with a more conventional light layout.
Sure, I've been driving for 40 years, and maybe my eyes aren't as great as they were when I was 18, but if I have 2 vehicles in front of me, and I'm having to put real effort in to work out if one is indicating at all whereas it's super easy to tell if another one at the same distance is indicating without even looking at it, that's really not a *me* problem.
I shouldn't have to be staring at an indicator on some random vehicle and concentrating on it just in case something happens. Neither I or anyone else I know had to do that before, and if some designer thinks people should have to do it now so they can make a more cool rear end, then I can only hope they are forever condemned to ride around in their own designs, and are last in line for rescue when stuff happens.
If a person driving normally and scanning ahead of them for hazards and keeping an eye on their mirrors can't still easily notice indicators flashing in their peripheral vision, or at least notice them as easily as they would have on an older car, then the indicators are going backwards in terms of function.
Disappointed that he didn't go into the real safety stuff like crumple zones for passengers and pedestrians in the case of a collision.
Well you can't make a generalized comparisons of those because every car is different in that regard and anything he says would be anekdotal at best.
@@ExecuorNope. The requirements in the EU are much higher for pedestrians and lower for manufacturers fleet CO2 emmissions. Tesla Cybertruck is a death trap for kids, pedestrians, bicyclists and small cars. Sharp edges, hard surfaces. Forbidden in EU - and that is great!
@@Execuor Either you're not in Europe, or you know little about the stringent safety regulations governing cars. I believe there is little or no regulation in the US vis à vis pedestrian safety in the event of a collision, and I thought it would be important to have that highlighted; maybe it would spur people on to start a petition to have that ridiculous omission corrected. ;-)
Yes, in this regard i remember seeing a video about the requirements that doesn't exist for pickups, so you can drive a car that has it's bumper at head level, where you can't even see in front of the car.
That sort of thing is easy enough to find here on TH-cam, you only have to search for it to find it.
In many European countries the use of headlights during the day is mandatory.
Only if there is no DRL (daytime running light) installed.
@to_loww Nope, full headlights. You can double-check.
And you cannot turn them off while driving, when mandatory.
Same goes for motorcycles and mopeds, driving = lights on.
@@voodoossjin the UK there are sidelights on cars (contrary to the name, they are not on the side of the car), which are basically headlights with reduced power. these have to be on at all times, unless headlights are being used.
@@randomwaffleronly newer cars have daylight running lights, older cars didn't and there's no requirement to use the sidelights in daylight.
The only trouble with the DRLs is the idiots who don't put their other lights on in the dark (they think the lights are on), so the back's dark.
In France, rear fog lights are not allowed when raining, we just use them with fog or snow
Yup, rain reflects light and can be dangerous
Huh, weird. You must have had one of those heavy rains. I was caught in one on the highway and could see maybe 5 meters ahead at most-similar visibility to fog. But since I was on the highway, I couldn't slow down in case another car came up fast behind me. So the best option was to drive at an optimal speed and be as visible as a Christmas tree.
@@40_Sandra if you drive at optimal speed, no other car should come up fast behind you, unless you drive a truck. Problem with rear fog lights, besides they reflect on the rain and wet road (with many cars in this situation, everything gets blurred), is 99% of people switch them on and forget them until they turn off the car, no matter the evolution of conditions. Personnaly, I handle those rear lights as I do with front lights (switch dimmed/full lights). If I'm followed by a car close enough, I switch the rear fog lights off, and only switch them on again when I'm isolated. But nobody does that.
@ I drive 120 km a day, and I can tell you, yes, people do switch them off. Some areas on the highway are covered in fog in the morning, and then there is a sudden clearing. I often see people switching them on and off regularly.
Have a bit more faith in people, lol.
One of our clients recently purchased and imported a Cybertruck. Took him 3 months to make it road compliant. On the very first time he took it out, he got pulled over and instantly got it impounded. The reason - the category of license he owns allows him to drive vehicles with up to 3500kg gross weight. The Cybertruck was register at 4160kg gross weight, which requires a completley different (HGV) license. Basically you have to be a professional truck driver to be able to drive those on the roads here. So now he is taking HGV license courses which on their own are €2200 and require a mandatory psychological exam before you can even attempt the final exam.
As for the red turn signals - these are completely illegal here. You can import the car, get it safety inspected and eco-taxed, but then you get a temporary or so called transit license plate, which is valid for 30 days. In these 30 days you have to convert the car to comply with all the local laws. That means no red turning signals, mandatory daytime running lights, working sidemarkers, working ABS and exhaust with catalytic converts. If any of those doesn't pass the inspection, you lose your transit plate and get a fine of €350. Only after you pay the fine you can get another transit plate, which is valid for another 30 days and if you don't fix the car by the 2nd place runs out of time, they impound the car and good luck taking it back.
Regulations. I bought an American kitchen appliance and I noticed it was getting bad reviews from Americans and good reviews from Europeans. I started noticing that this is often the case and I was always curious about it until I was at a conference and I met an importer. So I mentioned this and asked why that would be. He laughed and asked what the minimum warranty is in Norway and I said five years by law. He explained that the same product is sold with a one year limited warranty in America and then asked where I would sell my first rate products. So when you hear Americans complaining about the quality of American made things, it's not actually that the quality has declined, but that other countries have raised their standards and American manufacturers sort their products by production quality and export the first rate and sell the second rate domestically.
As a child living in Europe, we all looked to the US as some idealised World to aspire to. That hasnt been the case for decades. Right now, you couldnt pay me to even transit through the USA.
Yeah, it was the so called "American Dream". Most people have woken up from it by now.
So true I visited in 1988 and it was amazing… but now it is shade of what it was back then…
may be by plane if it´s not a BOEING(TM)
Not having driver education is so weird to me. In the Netherlands i had to take a theoretical exam, have driving lessons from a certified instructor and have a practical exam before I can get my licence and drive.
The difference is that in Europe, physical people are considered more important than legal people(aka companies).
Trump's tariffs will price European cars out of the American market and you'll be left with crappy dinosaur cars.
And don't bet on American car manufacturers upping their game when they realise that they've got a captive audience.
Trump's tarrifs would start a trade war with the EU and China. Companies like Ford, Boeing, Apple etc.. quite like selling stuff abroad so don't be surprised if those tariffs never happen.
A free market is only hyper important to them whenever it serves their local billionaires apparently
For some that is true. But european manufacturers produce in the USA for a long time. BMW was for a very long time the biggest car exporter of the USA, i haven't recently checked if Tesla overtook them. All the X models used to be produced in Spartanburg and would then be exported to Europe and the rest of the World. That changed somewhat with the iX models.
@@Soordhin
Where are the parts for the US made European cars coming from? How about the US brands as well? They come from low cost economies outside the US. Is Trump going to hamstring American businesses at the same time or just pick and choose a few companies (which would be illegal).
@@gerardsavage1145 It will be quite interesting to watch, that is for sure.
And with Trump any notion of legality will not matter.
8:50 Rear fog lights on both sides of the car where banned in Germany / Europe, because they often were mistaken as braking lights. Cars suddenly unnecessarily (!!!) braked when the 2 fog lights of the car ahead appeared out of the fog and caused accidents. So nowadays only 1 fog light is allowed.
@@T0MT0Mmmmy In Germany you have to study rules every day to be up-to-date😅 I remember me, 90s, upgrading my car with a fog light. Of course: no certification☝️It had to be installed 30cm away from the braking lights, me 15cm. And nowadays? Germany = ridiculous. But I guess everything is EU-wide now.
You are wrong, in sweden both side fog lights are allowed
German brands do it for maximising their profits from simpler rear light assembly as always. It was the same with smaller right mirrors on VAG cars in the past. They will just say it's like that because it's safer.
Fog light when only one is meant to be on the drivers side and on the center side of the road for safety reasons
@pasinissila8227 that still means simpler light assembly with fog light at the left side and reverse light at the right side or ONLY ONE standalone fog light.
In Australia daylight running lights are required by law, have been for over a decade. If you're driving an older car without drl's it's recommended you drive with low beams on
Yep
The same reason your food is dangerous? Makes lawyers & doctors RICH IN THE US.
Yes, there are standards in Europe that require vehicles to have lower noses, which is all part of pedestrian safety - a lower nose means (a) you aren't going to "lose" a child or person in a wheelchair that passes in front of you, and (2) if you do hit someone, they are more likely to get bounced upwards rather than dragged under the car. The white car in this video would be fine, but behemoths like a Ram, Yukon or Escalade are generally not. But even for cars, they tend to have lower noses because that's more aerodynamic, and that improves fuel efficiency, which is like a thing we have over here.
In the UK, license plates have to conform to standard design specifications around size, lettering and colour - a standard plate is in a format that identifies where and when the car was first registered for use, eg "LX22JPS" where the L stands for London, the 22 is the year 2022 and the other letters are random - or you can pay extra for a vanity/personalised plate. With a vanity plate, the design is still exactly the same, but you choose a letter and number combination, as long as it doesn't include anything offensive or obscene and doesn't pretend to be from a newer year than it actually is.
Same in Poland XX yyy zz, where XX/XXX is state-city letters, yyy are random(most likely iterated) and zz are some kind of "series". It iterates from AA to 99
By far the biggest safety feature not seen in the USA is the lack of a compulsory annual test for roadworthiness. How can it make sense to just take to the road with brakes that might be defective, tyres that are old/worn or windows with cracks in them?
In the UK we have a death rate of 2.9 citizens per 100,000 per year by way of motor vehicle deaths, in the USA, the figure is 12.9 per 100,000 ... ie: you are over 4 times more likely to die in a RTA in the United States than in the United Kingdom ...
With the wider and straighter roads in the USA, less dense traffic because of the size of the country, you would expect it to be the other way around. Biggest issue must be driver competence.
Joel it's like everything else in America so far behind the times. Compared to the rest of the world the build standards of cars and safety features are way better than anything in America.
Most US cars are junk.
😄😄😄
@@GuyWets-zy5yt You think that it's wrong? Name me one topic where the US safety standards are better than in Europe?
Enjoy the cancer food by the way.
US principle? safe until proven dangerous.
Europe in general? Dangerous until proven safe.
And they just voted to make it worse. 🤷🏼♂️
@@TesterAnimal1 But think of the billionaires!
in UE, espacially in France, our license plate customisation is 0, the only thing you can customize, is the "state" number, and the font (less than 10 legal fonts), no color, no custom text, nothing, and i hate it, they would make lo of money if we could at least have custom plate text/number
In Sweden, you can choose a personal registration plate, it can be a maximum of 7 characters. But the same font is used as the regular one.
In Europe, every light on a car is in different color so just based on that you have a decent idea what the other car is doing... For example, you are in a column standing and you see a dude in front turning white lights on... That means he is going into reverse, so consider using a horn cos he might not have turned around and didn't see you. Don't ask me how I know. Let's just say that the guy kept going despite me holding the horn like crazy...
Side indicators are a must, but not necessarily on the mirror. Front side is quite OK.
Back in the day, it was allowed to have position and brake lights in the same spot, different lightbulb only. However, now it is not allowed, they must be separated and there must be 3 stop lights
It reminds me of paper money. In the EU, every value has a distinct, different color and different lines on the side so visually impaired people can feel what type of bill it is. In the USA, it's all green without any features for disabled people.
It's a pity that the extremely important safety issue of having asymmetrical high beams was not raised. There is no such requirement in the US. After all, asymmetrical lights that do not blind other drivers and additionally illuminate the roadside are a key safety issue.
Indicate left, left light comes on. Brake, left light goes out, right light comes on. Continue to brake, now the left light comes on. WHICH WAY ARE YOU TURNING!
And when one of your braking lights brakes, every time you brake it looks like you're turning... Our cars are just better
don't know about the netherlands but in Germany rear fog lights are prohibited to be used in any other condition than fog and when it's foggy only when visibility drops below 50m. then the maximum speed you're allowed to go is 50kph. You are not allowed to use the rear fog lights in heavy rain for instance. This light is extremely bright and it relies on there being sufficient "stuff" (moisture) in the air to be scattered enough to not blind the following driver.
The front fog lights may be used at any sort of visibility reducing factors, like heavy precipitation or smoke etc.
12:40 again, not speaking for any other countries but in Germany you can get your custom license plate, it just needs to follow the overall pattern. The first one to three letters are being determined by where you registered your car. B for Berlin. DD for Dresden. HAL for Halle. then the following 1-2 Letters as well as the 1-4 numbers at the end are up for your customization
13:08 one thing about the country: usually you'd need a Country code sticker when you take your car out of your registered country. (white oval with the country code in black inside.) within the EU, as the license plates are standardized, they put this country code onto the license plate itself. So the country code with the EU flag isn't just there for decoration or portrayal of unity, it's there for legal reasons. The white CrownVic in this video for instance would not be allowed to drive anywhere but the Netherlands. If he wanted to take it outside the netherlands, he'd need to place one of those country stickers onto the car. This is not necessary with the plate that's on the bmw.
Same in NL, you can get a ticket if you use them outside fog.
In Spain it's also formally forbidden to use the rear fog light on "normal" conditions, however this is a rule that is seldom enforced.
@@tomasbriceno2319 I call fog lights "The perfect idiot driver detector". If there was an additional "use when you don't know what to use" light (or idiot light), they would turn that on too. I found my first idiot of this season in September, after a heavy storm, driving at M-50 in the full front face sun with the ground completely wet and reflecting it. I almost hit it because I couldn't see its brake light between the brightness of her rear fog lights. The worst thing is that in driving schools, that's what they teach. And if you correct the teacher based on your more than 20 years of experience, they tell you that the rule is so ambiguous that it's better to err on the side of vice than defect. But hey, you can drive on a cloudy day or in light rain at 1pm and hardly anyone turns on their lights.
@ 10.06 There's nothing wrong with driving with your headlights on in the middle of the day, especially if like me, you drive an older car that doesn't have DRLs.
I always have my lights on.
In driving school here in the Netherlands they even teach you to drive with your headlights on it feels weird to me without always everywhere anytime
Isn't it mandatory, to drive with the headlights on, not matter what time of the day it is? I do not have a driving license, but I know at least some regulations.
PS. I live in the EU.
Some countries yes, but not many. And in some only during fall/wintertime.
In hungary u have to have lights on every time, except in built up areas like in town, but only if the weather is nice and its daylight
I would ask you to watch crash tests on American cars and European/uk cars, you will see such a massive difference in the safety of them. It's actually really shocking to see how some of them just disintegrate.
The side marker/indicator turn signal is really important for cyclists. For example, is the car approaching the traffic lights slowing, and driving next to you, because of traffic in front, or because they are about to turn.
Interesting video , I didn't realise there was so much difference in spec. One thing that does amaze me is that it's not a requirement by law in every US state to have an annual vehicle inspection once the car reaches a certain age. Here in the UK once a car is 3 years old it requires a rigorous safety inspection every year by law to reduce the chance of accidents. I would imagine there are thousands of accidents and some fatalities in the US every year due to worn tyres , brakes or other serious mechanical defects. If you are caught driving here with no M.O.T your car is seized and you get points on your licence as this also makes your insurance void.
In Denmark and Germany, the cars are inspected every second year (after the first 3 years for new cars).
@@gubsak55 Same in Spain but, after 10 years old the car must have the M.O.T, (TÜV) every year from then on.
honestly, the mot is just nice to have for peace of mind and vehicle maintenance. I get a service with my mot every year so any tyres, oil and whatever else that needs sorting is done. fix the car before it becomes a problem.
In that cas i can recommend you the channel "just rolled in" here on youtube. Absolutely stunning what pieces of junk are sometimes on the road.
In Sweden, it's not that the insurance isn't valid if the car haven't passed the annual inspection since we insurance our cars, not the drivers. However, they get illegal to drive if they don't pass the inspection and you would for sure be in trouble if you got caught driving a car that's illegal to drive.
8:00 Unless you're driving a BMW, because everyone knows BMW drivers don't use turn signals XD
It's not that they don't, it's they can't. I've never driven a car with indicators that operate like a BM. Took me a while to catch on.
@@elemar5 You probably shouldn't operate a motor vehicle at all, if you are so slow to understand a cars indicator, no matter the make and model.
At BMW, the left turn light, has a different function! As soon as you enter the left lane, the left turn signal indicates that you want to pass the car in front of you. And a BMW driver ALWAYS wants to overtake! At higher speeds the headlight flasher activates to emphasize the driver´s need to be the fastest on the road!
@@ZafWitness Yeah, it seems I'm a dummy and you're a smartass.
Can you tell me off the top of your head the gearchange pattern of a Kawasaki H2 750 and why it's different?
@@elemar5 Is that a funny make of car?
I have been working for the European Commission and the regulations for cars and other vehicles are issued in what is called UN-ECE regulations, which are rules ment to cover all United Nations members, but unfortunately only covers some.
They are made to simplify (unify) the rules for vehicles and their components so that companies producing these just need to follow one single set of rules for all countries to which they apply.
The rules are certainly not always perfect but they make testing and investigation much more simple.
I have proofread thousands of pages of these rules in Danish, but of course in the European Union they are published in all 24 of the official languages.
The rules are under constant scrutiny and if they found out that the rules don't apply to all situations or that technology has developed, they are changed to accommodate this.
I don't understand why North America doesn't use the same rules, but I assume this is due to market protection and the feeling of superiority.
The european plate also has a reflective layer on it , adding to visability as well
Safety features on a vehicle shouldn't be a luxury add on, that's just insane. Having driven extensively in north America and Europe, Europe is by far a safer place to drive.
10:17
little hint from germany, in these autumn days, where everything is grey around you, headlights "on" is a huge improvement, when it comes to visibility...especially, if you wann turn left into another road and have to cross the oncoming traffic....best part, having your headlights not on in a light-grey car in these weather conditions, makes you nearly invisible to the oncoming traffic and the other way around....i really highly recommend, that it will be a "must" to have them on, no matter what time of day it is. another good example....you drive down a road and facing sun-down, so the sun is pretty much near the horizon, if another car is coming up to you, with no lights on, you will not see it, until it is too late....if it has its lights on, you will see it in time, cause, the headlights (not talking about the high-beams) are brighter than the sun.....keep that in mind
A little hint from Finland, we used to have mandatory headlights and rear lights as default for that exact reason. These days the EU regulations don't mandate the use of rear running lights, and most European car makers do not have them on by default. Skoda is an exception, even though it is a VAG car every Skoda in Finland has also the rear running lights on at daylight settings. VW does not. Audi does not. Let's not even talk about the others :D
In my opinion as EU mandates front running lights, also rear running lights should be mandatory, especially here in the nordics. Not because it's dark in winter, but because in summer we have 24/7 of light. Car manufacturers make very good sensors to detect when it is dark and headlights are needed, but they usually do not cope well with the nordic midnight sun that shines right in your face over the horizon. :)
They forgot the most important safety feature? EU cars can drive around corners.
Re suspension: US and Euro spec cars can be different due to environment (bad roads, etc), preference (comfy vs sport), and the weight of the car (added safety features, comfort features ect). Typically US spec cars have higher ground clearance and longer suspension travel for added comfort over long distance straight road driving. In Europe, roads are normally maintained to a higher standard and feature a lot of curves and corners. Therefore, the car's suspension and steering are setup accordingly. I'm surprised that FL would make driving with your hazards illegal in bad weather even though rear fog lights are not common/compulsory on cars. How else are people suppose to see each other?
And to think when I was a child in the 80s, my teacher said that America was 10 years ahead of the EU. How wrong he was.
My teacher said that America was 200 years and 8 hours behind us ! 🇬🇧
Indicators on the mirrors were a luxury like 15-20 years ago.
I think that European car makers pay a lot more attention to detail.
And where American people purchasing a car are more interested in the quality of finish inside the vehicle, in Europe we are usually more interested in the quality of the ride and how the car drives.
Rear fog lights are not allowed in rain (even not in heavy rain) conditions. Only fog, and only then when there’s less than 50m (yards) of visibility.
I work in automotive lighting & can't tell you the amount of headaches we have trying to homologate for US/Can vehicles.
One of my main gripes with North American spec vehicles is handling.
The Moose / Elk maneuver on most vehicles is compromised due to the perceived requirement for overly soft ride.
Hence unsettling experiences on tight ramps and expansion joints
Actually, me as a german i do like the amber side markers and red turn signals. It looks kinda exotic. Our opinions are contrary on this one 😂
The main safety issue, I believe, is our MOT laws. Every car in the UK has to pass an annual check to prove it's roadworthiness. In the States you can drive a literal time bomb around the streets. I think the US licence plates can be fun, but a car is not a toy, it's a potentially dangerous piece of heavy machinery. Our plates are designed to be easily read by speed cameras amongst other things. If you really want to, you can always have bumper stickers., which have the advantage of being removable when you grow out of them...
The US doesn't need speed cameras. They have a cop at every turn and intersection ready to come chase you down as if you're the country's biggest criminal.
MOT is not just a UK thing. Speaking from NL.
@@MYoung-mq2by
Is not the NI also in the UK ?!
@@brigidsingleton1596 he said NL ( Netherland ) not Northern Ireland
@@brigidsingleton1596 The Dutch are not on an island, they are on the lowland
We can personalize our plates in Eu as well.. But we get fined at least in Sweden if we do not use headlights 24/7 or use foglights in clear weather confitions. By the way, we have got more "High" vehicles in Eu as well but most of those is a "pure copy" from us. Unfortunately we copy most things from Us nowadays. Does not look good at all.
7:37 Here in the UK we just bought a very cheap 2008 Honda Jazz (Fit) for my son to learn to drive. Indicators are built into the mirrors even on that old banger, hardly a luxury vehicle.
For around €1000 you can have a personalized, custom license plate printed in the Netherlands. You can determine your own text yourself. However, there are some restrictive conditions attached. For example, you may use a maximum of 8 characters on the license plate. You are also not allowed to just have only numbers made on your license plate.
Love how he said the American car has remote start....
But that's mainly because we do not require it , we have the option but mainly useless as most of our cars are manual . Yes 98% of the eu can drive stick compared to the 5% that can in the USA.
For the ride height: we have a lot more curvy roads in Europe so our cars are made for handeling. The lower they are the better they handle in tight turns . But we have a minimum ride height of 10cm of the ground for street cars measured from the chassis. Also the front license plate need to be at a certain minimum height of the ground
When we lived in Europe, we had a US spec Ford Granada and an EU spec Audi 80 (the old "Fox" here in the US). The Ford was an automatic but the Audi had a manual transmission, and Dad wanted to make sure I could drive either car. So I did. Which is why Dad also nicknamed me "Captain Whiplash" after our first outing in the manual Audi.
I am English,I was very surprised the first time I rented a car I the US. This was in the 80’s,The car hand book had 6 pages about seat belts ,including child like diagrams showing ways seatbelts protected you in various situations, most of which would seem obvious to a 10 year old. It was obvious car manufacturers had little faith in the people driving their cars.7
Hopefully this has changed, I have regularly rented cars in America,in fact ,consider it a perk of my visits.
Apart from terrible road surface maintenance,I’ve always found driving in America a pleasure. But get rid of those time consuming bloody traffic junctions and embrace roundabouts!
Uk registration plates (lisence plates) have to be white at the front and yellow at the back. It's a small thing, but it makes it all the more clear whether the car is facing towards you or away from you.
I am always surprised that in a car centric society like the US there are lots of safety features- both on the cars and on the roads themselves- that just aren't in place there.
They’re also highly reflective in the UK.
@@ronniel5941 they are across europe too
About the fog-lights: It’s actually forbidden to have 2. This because if there are 2, it might be mistaken with brake-lights causing an emergency braking if you come from behind. It must be at the driver’s side too. In the middle of the car is also not allowed. Another feature that is obligatory on new build cars since 2017 is flashing brakelights when an emergency stop is happening. The moment the situation requires instant heavy braking (and ABS kicks in) the brakelights flash at increased strenght and intervals so that you, coming from behind, can react sooner and take precautions.
Don't worry, about 1/4 of Germans also don't know when to use fog lights.
Actually you must only use it when visibility is below 50 m (164 feet) but under these conditions it is also illegal to drive faster than 50 km/h (31 mph)
The reason is, that those are really bright and blind other cars when it's dark and the visibility isn't that bad.
Btw: That only applies for fog specifically. If the visibility is below 50 m because of rain you are not allowed to use rear fog lights. The reflections would be too bright
Luck that is only 1/4 of Germans. Here in Spain I call fog lights "The perfect idiot driver detector", wich use both front and rear at the minimun signage of fog or rain, and when dissappear, they also run with it on until them reach their destinations. If there was an additional "use when you don't know what to use" light (or idiot light), they would turn that on too. I found my first idiot of this season in September, after a heavy storm, driving in the full front face sun with the ground completely wet and reflecting it. I almost hit it because I couldn't see its brake light between the brightness of her rear fog lights.
@@DjNickpuntoes amazing I can't imagine how to not know this. At the moment there's always the talk about how (in Germany) the license is too expensive and too difficult. Because too many fail the test. And still, knowing simple rules like that are too much to ask for. I'm looking forward to self-driving cars and hope a driving license will be a luxurious Hobby, not something to be taken for granted.
And you got that number from where? Out your ass?
In terms of the license plates: I really love my Swiss license plate. The front plate is always small which is important because it does not ruin the looks of the front of my car (Alfa Romeo 159), like the big EU plates. The back plates are relatively close to the EU sizes. On the left side there is the Swiss coat of arms and the other side is the coat of arms of the issuing kanton. Two letters for the kanton name, and 1 to 6 digits to the numbers. And yes, we are obsessed with lower numbers on number plates because they are more valuable and they can be sold for ridiculous prices. 😅
It’s always good to keep one difference in mind:
car safety regulations in Europe: the highest survival probabilities for a pedestrian that you hit
car safety regulations in the US: the highest survival probabilities for the driver.
That’s a very different point of view.
Eh no, highest survival rate for all in Europe.
In the US its money first.
They allow that tesla microwave on the road called the cybertruck. Its a rigid frame, no crumble zone. The car deforming on an impact is not just pedestrian safety, its allows more of the kinetic energy to dissipate over a longer time which reduces the amount of g-forces put on your body were you to crash into a tree of a concrete wall. This increases the survivability of the people in the car. The cybertruck is illegal in EU due to this and multiple other reasons
@ One could be - on top - that it’s extremely ugly.
car safety regulations in the US: "extra money spent on production just to keep someone alive :c"
Those safety regulations do the pedestrian no good when you put it in reverse to finish the……….I’ve said too much 😐
@@Dreynou meant, when u backed up to see, what it was, right?😅
Features like the side mirror indicators are standard on EU and UK cars, by law, some of the most basic models might not have them, but if you pay more they come as standard.
Car specs regulation is used to prevent external manufacturers to drop a car from EU as is to the US market.
The car always need a rework and be build for the US market.
Many manufacturers don't do it as the gain is countered by the cost in redesign and specific manufacturing processes..
Isn't reverse parking illegal in some states as the pointing out front of the car in that state doesn't show a licence plate hence cannot be identified...whereas there are companies in Britain where NOT reverse parking is a disciplinary offence (as reversing out of a space with limited visibility is way more dangerous than reversing into an area with no traffic)... you have laws that insist you do the more dangerous thing.
Well, headlights in the middle of the day are mandatory in some parts of the eu. There is nothing wrong about is, just improves visibility. Not primarily for yourself, but others will notice you more likely if you have your headlights turned on.
In my country(EU) you can only use rear foglights in snowstorm and fog. And if another vehicle is behind you , you need turn it off since its blinding bright.
12:57 Here in Belgium you can get personalised plates (but they cost 1000€), but it has a 9 character limit, and has to adhere to certain rules like no foul language, or using characters in a sequence that are reserved for special plates (like diplomat plates that start with CD (Corps Diplomatique)).
Which is perfect because you can spot the idiots from afar this way and take extra precautions because they will not adhere to any traffic laws (nor will the rest of Belgium but it helps).
I thought it meant “cretin dangereux”?
@@lidewijvos which one the CD or custimized licenseplates. because i have seen people with customized license plates drive way more precautious and adaptive than the average driver in belgium(as a dutch)
@@lidewijvos a personalised plate is also much easier to remember by innocent bystanders, witnesses and police.
There is nothing wrong with the side markers, when they are executed nicely and ideally as a part of head/tail lamp or if they are at least symetrical front to rear. Also, they are retro reflective, so the car is easily visible from the side, when it's parked somewhere.
Turn signals on mirrors are great, but I have to admit, most of the current US cars come with them already.
Rear fog lamps are double edged sword. I live in Europe and they are being misused all the time. Pretty much the only moments, when fog lamps make sense is super dense fog or very heavy rain, especially on the highway.
Flat driver's side mirror is a stupid thing and I see a retro fit kits being used to fix it. On older cars, I tend to use an extra wide angle mirror mounted inside the car just next to the outside mirror. I found that as great improvement and since it's inside, it's not dirty all the time.
License plate style/size is just thing of a taste. There is no reason to make it bigger than necessary. Just look for front Swiss plates. They are tiny and yet nobody complains.
European vehicles aren't usually lower. BMW and Audis are probably an exeption, they are highway wariors, so they benefit from being low.
In fact, using the fog lights without happening fog or heavy rain right now, is illegal - it's just blinding the cars following you...
I've got a question vice versa: is it allowed in the US having amber turn signals?
Some American cars have amber turn signals. Also from American brands, both are allowed.
I don't know if it's just a Germany or all EU: you can only use fog-lights in bad visibility below 50m (150f or so?) And if visibility is that bad, you can only go 50km/h(30mph) max. So if you see a car with fog-lights on at more that 50km/h you know they are breaking a law.
There is not a law about using the fog lights here in Georgia (states)
@@Schwuuuuup Is that front or rear fog lights?
@@johan.ohgren rear. Front are not regulated. They are only there, so YOU can see more. Some cars use them as day driving lights, when you don't have your main headlights on.
EDIT: I am wrong here. If they are used as day driving lights, they are dimmed. On the fog light mode, they are only allowed to be used, if there is fog, rain or snow, but it isn't specified how much
Lived in the Benelux back in the early 1980s. Even back then, there were some safety rules for EU vehicles that made real sense. We brought over a Ford Granada with us, and the first thing I had to do was use model paint (thank you, Chievres PX!) to cover the marker lamps that wrapped around the front & rear corners because cars weren't allowed to have that color marker lamp on the side. The second thing was to mount a manually operated bright red fog lamp on the rear bumper, that had to be not only a specific size but also a specific height above the ground; believe me, it came in VERY handy, and the fact that height-above-ground was always the same for every vehicle (within a very small window of differences) made it extremely easy to figure distance to whatever was otherwise hidden by the fog in front of me. We weren't affected by the need for side marker turn signals, but they -- along with the very specific "every light has *one* specific purpose and *one* specific color on *all* vehicles -- made life on the road a *LOT* easier. One thing I remember is that I used to complain about how chaotic the urban drivers seemed to be.... but now I pine for the kind of "chaos" I had to face in most urban areas compared to the alleged "driving" that the majority of Americans now seem to engage in. And yes, I've had to teach co-workers here in the U.S. about the difference between "fog lights" and "high beams" ...and why the parking brake is not the same as the standard brake ...and why they should not use high beams against oncoming traffic ...and ...and ...and
In Germany you can choose the license plate code (X-Y-#) online - if it is not already taken. Most people use initials + year of birth. Also popular are: B-AD, LOS-ER, SE-XY, ME-GA, GA-GA, PIR-AT, DA-MN, etc. and of course German funny words. The first code (X) cannot be selected and stands for the district or city.
COC-K xx, S-AU xx, S-EX xx, DAU-x xx (stands for itself) ...
@@Andi_de MI-LF or BI-ER can often be seen here in the region. ;)
Then there is Y which stands for military vehicles.
There is an old quote "Y-Reisen: Wir buchen, Sie fluchen!" (Y travels: We book, you curse!")
Also there are some illegal combinations: AH (Adolf Hitler), SS and SA (the infamous Hitler germany units), KZ (Konzentrationslager (Concentration Camp)), HJ (Hitlerjugend (Hitler youth))and NS (Nationalsozialismus (National Socialism/ Nazi)), especially combined with the numbers 18 (Adolf Hitler), 88 ("H31l Hitler") and 1933 (begin of Nazi reign)
In Germany some of those funny words are nowadays banned. I.e. you can't get a new plate with S-AU (pig) in Stuttgart (city in south Germany) anymore. So those plates slowly extinguish.
Don't forget BI-ER, one of my favourites. Although people will constantly tell you Bielefeld doesn't exist lol, so that might be a side effect.
when i did my driving lessons we were taught you had to be able to recognise where a car is, what direction its facing and if it intends to manoeuvre from nothing but the lights in heavy fog. and with the British weather that was often the case.
Daytime running lights is the first most obvious feature the US needs to adopt. Driving in the US at dusk is nuts. So many cars with no lights on, blending in to the environment.
I bought a 2010 Ford F150 from Canada and in order to register the car in the European Union, specifically in the Czech Republic, I had to modify the rear turn signals and add a rear fog light. The rear turn signal must flash amber and is located in place of the reversing lights, the rear fog light is on the left by the towbar and the new reversing light is on the right. Without these modifications, the technical inspection would not have been carried out and I would not have received registration plates and a technical certificate in the country where I live.
I drive in Europe (I'm Italian) and also drove your landyachts in the US on every kind of road, in the late seventies and early eighties, never had a problem at all with the mentioned differences. Above all, it was much more exciting when each country was characterized by its differences.
Yep, but you Italians are not the best examples of drivers in Europe. You are too fantaisist like americans.
8:51 it's partially incorrect: rear fog lights should be used for fog and when it's snowing but are not authorized when it's raining as they blind people behind you.
Lobbyism is more rampant than ever in the US.
HEADLIGHTS ON DURING THE DAY
This cause no harm during the day and has a surprising amount of visibility improvement. So much so that at least some UK police forces train their drivers to do this as it reduces chance of "I didn't see you" crashes. It is the same reason that more and more it is becoming mandatory for cars to be manufactured so that you can not turn off the running aka parking aka side lights when driving.
America, home of the free. Which actually means every outside influence is met with negativity, even if it's better, no matter how simple.
Known as NIH (not invented here)
As a German I always thought that the red turn signals looks great but after seeing that and thinking about it I’m fine with the orange ones 😂
10:05 ALWAYS turn on the headlights (low beam obviously) during the day, being visible is a way to reduce head on collision to someone who is trying to overtake in the opposite direction
I have my headlights on all the time (dipped beam obviously). Matter of fact I once heard that it was mandatory in some country.
I like the extra visibility and style lol
Yeah, having the headlights on is a legal requirements in a few countries. Iceland is one of them.
That is precisely why Daytime Running Lights (DRL) are now a thing. They negate the need to think about turning on headlights in poor visibility conditions. Here in Australia the benefit is not only in poor weather (which we don’t have as often as some other places) but also in driving on rural roads on a sunny day. We have lots of evergreen forests with large trees overshadowing the road, so this means that trees shade the road intermittently with other parts in bright sunshine, causing cars to “disappear” when they go into the shade of a stand of trees, unless they have DRLs, particularly the modern bright LEDs. I think that auto headlights will soon be a requirement here also, to get around the problem with newer cars that have permanently illuminated instrument displays causing the driver to think that their headlights are on when in fact they are not and they don’t remember that there is supposed to be a little illuminated icon on the instrument panel if the headlights are on.
Yeah I don’t know why he said that. It makes zero sense since most cars have day time running lights. Some idiots though have their high beams on all the time
@@DeepThought9999
DRLs are a good idea. The only problem is that some people forget to switch on their dipped beams at night because they see the back of the car in front illuminated by the DRLs and assume their night time lights are on. So they drive around with no rear lights on. If they are going to have DRLs then maybe they should just have similar for the back. Or just make the normal lights stay on permanently.
Not sure whether it has already been mentioned, but here goes nothing. European cars tend to be 'lower' as you named it to protect pedestrians in a head on collision. If you look at the Crown Vic, its radiator/front looks massive and relatively flat. Imagine being hit by that massive slab. The area of impact covers your shins and thighs and because it is flat you will be likely sent flying away from the car in potentially other hazards (oncoming traffic for example), whereas European cars are designed that you roll over the hood and the windscreen and losing momentum due to its 'wedgy' design... which also minimizes the zone of initial impact (with the most force) on your body... the hood and the windscreen are relatively 'soft' and absorb some of the force of impact, giving the pedestrian a better chance to survive/get away with lighter injuries.
Amber is far safer. And what if the brake bulb goes? At least there’s another one to show braking. But it means that one of the turn signals is disabled
Same is true in Europe if one of you turn signal bulbs blows
@@stephenlee5929 If middle brake light doesn't work how do you know if someone is braking, turning or has their "park anywhere lights" (like they're known in US) on?
Bulb? Those were phased out a while ago.
LEDs don’t blow in the same way incandescent bulbs used to.
@@TesterAnimal1 I'm guessing these LED lights, (not bulbs?) don't cease to function.
That's a major improvement.
It's strange that Halfords and Amazon both refer to LED Bulbs.
@@TesterAnimal1they are already going out on a lot of newer cars also. Look at a Hyundai or Kia and I bet they have one led out already 😂
Couple things: rear fog lights are obligatory in EU and UK and you must use headlights all the time in some European countries (daylights could be used during the day if they are fitted in the car). And one more big thing - in EU headlights must be asymmetrical
A long time ago I read an article in AutoWeek about daylight running lights also during armature club rallying (time and distance) to be recognized, so I've always driven with my headlights on as a safety factor, even during the daytime.
Unfortunately, with so many vehicles driving with their headlights on the safety factor is significantly reduced.
It's simple, we (U.S.) have terrible driver education.
I'm sorry, but a license plate isn't there to be stylish and you can get smaller, square plates in England/EU.
In the past, drivers wore hats, so car roofs were higher, maybe now it's just a habit?
I'd like to see turn signals added back properly to the front of the car. When there's a T intersection as a roundabout and you're a cyclist approaching from the left side of the "stem" trying to go across the road to the "top", you have to be practically under the car before you can see whether their blinker is on or not.
I used to think the "object in the mirror is closer than it may appear" was a thing made for movies, until my first visit to the US. We've never had that.
One of my pet peeves here in America is people driving with their DRLs on instead of their headlights. On older cars that don’t have DRLs, the dashboards aren’t backlit until you turn on the headlights, but newer vehicles will have them backlit all the time. Therefore, people don’t think about turning them on. I have automatic headlights so I just leave the setting on “auto” all the time.
Another thing he didn't mention about European spec cars is the eye level brake light. We don't just have the two lights at the side, there's also one in the centre (usually at the top of the rear screen). It's really useful when driving "nose to tail" in busy traffic on a highway in poor weather conditions. You can see instantly when the car ahead is braking.
And the vehicle in front of the car in front.
Pretty sure they had those in the US long before they became mandatory in the EU.
My first cars didn't have them, it wasn't a thing untill somewhere in the 90's over here and i remember seeing them in US movies long before that.
10:05 Using the headlights in broad daylight is an unwritten standard in The Netherlands, but it isn't mandatory in daylight. It makes you way more visible even during daytime.
In some countries it is even a written standard to drive with full headlights on 24/7. Sweden is one example and Denmark another. It can cost you 1000 Danish Kroner (about 135 €) if you just forget to turn the lights on as you might get used to driving without headlights when it is bright and sunny outside. In Germany for example most people don't use headlights in bright sunshine.
In norway you have to have light on at all times
Especially in winter
Norway was the only EU country where (back in the early 1980s) I specifically told my father *he* was doing *all* the driving. Y'all have some terrifying mountain roads, you know? LOL Those daytime headlights are *needed*.
In Europe and the UK we have more standard plates so cameras can more easily read them and fine drives who commit driving offences, jumping red lights, driving in bus lanes etc. Plus Police can tell if the car is insured and MOT’ed.
It is wild how little America depends on cameras for minor infractions. speed cameras and such much save so much money and catch a lot more illegal driving than a cop on a random road
In Portugal, you can use fog light in heavy rain situations but you have to turn them off whenever the heavy rain has passed or else you might get a ticket although I don’t anybody that had a ticket because they had the fog lights on during normal rainy periods.
In Germany, the rules are easy: If you decide that you need back fog lights, then the sight is so bad you have to lower your speed to 50 km/h max. So back fog lights are synonymous with 50 km/h speed limit.
10:06 in some parts of the EU like Bulgaria, you are legally required to drive with your headlights ON during the day. You will get pulled over and fined if you don't do so.
The only workaround about this whole thing is simple. If your car is new enough to have DRL's, you're fine. Most of the cars here are 20-25 year-old models, so not all of them have DRL's.
Joel, respectfully, everything in Europe is better looking and better manufactured. America is about half a century behind.
Not behind.. They just went other way and are on their own timeline now.
@@kide81 If I have my own time slot and therefore am slower, am I not behind? And the fog lamp thing is really frightening.
@@kide81lmao, you serious?
No no we are not slow we just move at a different speed which isn't as fast.😂
And better in Australia!
@@unionmoon The reason is as simple as it is shocking: the States don't care about "lives". Same discussion with weapons. "Lives" don't matter. Take a short look at statistics of all kinds👉
It has nothing to do with them being deliberately lower, the suspension on USA cars is ghastly, they wallow about like a waterbed. European cars the suspension is much stiffer to stop things like the car wallowing about, it makes it safer when turning as the car grips the road better, less drag on the car. A simple way of putting it, American Suspension is like a soft feather pillow, whereas European Suspension is like memory foam, it's firmer and more responsive, goes back to the same shape and position. The size of a car also makes a difference as well.
The customisation of the license plate is everywhere honestly.. Here in Belgium (I think in some other countries too in Europe.) its been here for decades already. The size of the plate stays the same.. you cannot exceed an amount of number of characters.
The only customised plates I've ever seen in Europe are from the UK and Germany.
@@module79l28 In france there are no custom plates. but in Belgium there is.. look around before saying nonsense ;) google is your best friend. You can customise a plate for like 1000€ lol
A lot of people semi customise their license plates in Germany. The first 1,2 or 3 letters must be for where the car is registered eg. B for Berlin, HH for Hamburg. The next couple of letters people of use their initials or first letters of their kids names ( ours has the first letters of our dogs’ names 😂) and the last numbers are any significant numbers you’d like - birthdays etc. If the combination is not already in use, you can usually register it for you car.
In our country (the Netherlands) it's not allowed to have a personalized license plate. But maybe the gonna allow it in the future. Our government has not yet fully decided on this.
@@01jausten The precise rules are after first letters that indicate the location, one or two letters followed by between 1 and 4 numerals.
I live in Northern Italy (aka IRL Silent Hill) and rear fog-lights are almost never needed, but in some situations in winter, expecially during night time, they are really useful, you can drive on some country roads where you can't go over 30km/h (20mph) because you just can't see further than your hood and having them is extremely nice. I actually prefer the central single fog light or just one on one side, makes it easier to distinguish from the brake light, where as if they are installed in the same fixture as the tail light and they are on both sides you can easily mistake it for the brake lights and just think the car doesn't have a third brake light or it's out. Even worse if they don't have a third brake light and you think it's just a double rear fog while the car is actually braking.
I just don't get why in the US and Canada, two countries that literally live depending on cars, regulations are so stupid and not thought through
He forgot to mention the bumper difference.
European models have sleeker front and rear bumpers.
US "safety rules" require much larger bumpers, which will break the legs of the pedestrians.
I don't think 'breaking the pedestrians leg' is the requirement, but yes maybe the effect.
The idea is that all vehicles have a bumper at the same height above the road, it basically means you have to design your cars based on your Trucks.
@@stephenlee5929 And to enable 'Paris parking'; gently push cars away until yours fits in between. Try to get your car out when it's locked in bumper to bumper... you have to do the same, create some space.
Spanish license plates are even easier to read than those on that BMW because they feature black numbers (4) and letters (3) on a white background, which provides the highest and best contrast possible. And no, they are not customizable in any way; they are designed to clearly and easily identify the vehicle, not as a decorative element.
In the US you can build a car from the ground up in your workshop and drive it down the street. Not gonna happen in EU.