zvezdah1 said:
HI Miguel,
I found the exact opposite on a weeks ride on a motorcycle in Italy last year. The driver actually paid attention to the road, very courteous and had no complaints.
That said, I have heard Spain has some of the worst drivers in Europe
Chris
Congrats that your car's finally arriving.
this may be getting off topic, but i find it intereseting:
"bad driver" is ambiguous. and that's why i don't like its use.
bad driver can be used to refer to someone who lacks sufficient ability to control a car, even though he may be trying his best to respect the rules, common sense, share the road, etc.
bad driver is also used to refer to someone who is apparently incosiderate, selfish, rule-breaking, etc, but who nonetheless may possess and excercise great car control, and equally importanty, a great judgment in assessing acceptable risks.
since these two types sometimes appear similar in observation and sometimes (which is too often of course) lead to the similar disastreous consequence, why should we care about the distinction?
in attempt to be brief, let's say because "the spanish kind" of bad driving leads to racing wins, while "the other kind" (trying not to pick on any particular group) doesn't.
no, i am not condoning overly risky driving. i am just tying to highlight the distinction. i am motivated to do so partly because i could argue that the first kind of bad drivers i mentioned is "worse" than the second kind in their potential to create accidents. and also because i consider it an unfair insult to call the second kind with the same term used for the first kind.
i also want to admit that
the culture of bad driving, of either kind, spain being one example, will, in gross terms, be equally detrimental to road safety. and thus should not be favoured. however, an individual bad driver of the second kind, or a small percentage of them, in an otherwise "good" driving culture, does not necessarily pose a significant risk.
maybe i should also reveal that many of those who share the road with me would consider me a bad driver of the second kind. i would, of course, argue that they are only insignificantly more endangered with my presence on the road, and thus should not call me bad. or even further, i could suggest that they learn to enjoy driving, since then they would appreciate my enrichment of their driving experiences, but i don't, since that could lead to the culture of bad driving, dangerous no matter what kind of bad it is.