Driving the other day, we were talking about some of the really bad habits that the locals have that can take some getting used to. For instance, when I was learning to drive, ooh about a hundred years ago [I am using hyperbole!!], I always remember the public service announcements that we used to get on UK TV, designed to make us all better members of society. Something that was drummed into me was the need to allow approximately one car-length for every ten miles per hour that one was travelling, assuming that there is a line of vehicles on the road, of course.
So, to spell it out, if the traffic is moving at fifty miles per hour, then you ought to allow five car lengths between you and the car in front. 'Simples.' This is, of course, to allow some kind of safe braking zone if the vehicle or vehicles in front have to brake suddenly. That way you stand a chance of stopping before you 'prang' the guy in front, or even worse, become part of a pile-up, in which you and several others get shunted both front and rear. The insurance company's nightmare.
Now, if you look in your rear view mirror whilst driving in a line of vehicles, and I'm sure many will identify with this, you can get quite alarmed if the vehicle behind you is so close that you can't even see its headlamps. It freaks me out even more if I can't even see any of its bonnet (OK, OK, 'hood' dudes), but what I can see of it begins with the wipers and goes upwards from there. If in such circumstances I were to slam on the brakes, even at a mere 25 mph, the driver behind would 100% smash into me, no contest.
And so I come to one of the not only most annoying, but downright dangerous, habits that most of the locals here have. Tailgating. Now, at this time of the year on Rhodes (and it gets worse every year with all the new hotels that are being thrown up along the east coast of the island) you can guarantee that, unless you're driving the 'Rodo-Lindou' main road at 3.00am, you're virtually certain to be in a line of traffic, often twenty cars long, usually behind a flippin' quad bike (Grrrr). Even at that speed the safe distance is a couple or three car lengths between each vehicle. Instead, you find that most Greeks are trying to kiss the rear bumper of the car in front with their front one. I know, they don't call them bumpers any more, but old habits. To me it often looks like a row of cars all towing each other along, they're driving that close to the vehicle in front.
See, there's little old socially responsible, not to say accident-paranoid, me, trying to keep a safe distance, and what does someone from behind do? They see that gap as a case of me needlessly keeping them from racing to their destination and so they'll slipstream me, like they do in Formula One, then, as soon as they get the minutest of gaps in the oncoming traffic, they'll duck out from behind, missing my offside tail light by a gnat's whisker, before slotting back in right in front of me, thus forcing me to drop back further to allow a safe distance behind this interloper. Net result, I slip further and further back down the 'queue' simply through trying to drive safely.
I can say, hand on heart, that nine times out of ten, if I'm in a queue of cars, and we can even be doing 90kph, which is around 56mph, I'll not be able to see the headlamps of the car behind me in my rearview mirror.
Small wonder that there are so many newly installed mini-shrines along the roadside verges here in Rhodes (and no doubt the rest of Greece I'd imagine). Fatal accidents are almost a hobby over here.
I happened to remark on a few of the newer of those shrines just this week. I said to her indoors as we crawled along, "At the rate we're going there will be a shrine every fifty metres for the entire length of this road before long. It seems that Greeks are able to create a serious accident just about anywhere, even on what we in the UK would consider safe sections of the highway."
The better half, evidently experiencing one of her more witty moments, replied, "Yea, and when they're so hidebound by the religious 'requirement' that they cross themselves each time they pass anything remotely religious within sight of the road, it's not surprising that there are so many accidents. Someone dies, they erect a shrine. Someone else passes, spots the shrine, crosses themselves while trying to talk on their mobile phone with the other hand and, bingo, another accident and hence another shrine. It's a vicious circle."
If it weren't almost funny, it would be tragic. I'm sure that people reading this will also have seen shrines right beside each other, we certainly have. Her quip makes some sense when you think about it, doesn't it.
Now, there will be some reading this who'll shout: "Stop knocking the Greeks!" Come off it, if you love someone it doesn't mean you can't see their faults, now, does it? We all have them, both individually and collectively (when it comes to national traits and habits). Sadly, the ones I refer to here are taking lives - and that's a fact.
Were I a younger man in the throws of deciding what kind of business to open in order to have a full order book, maybe I'd start a business supplying marble...
So, to spell it out, if the traffic is moving at fifty miles per hour, then you ought to allow five car lengths between you and the car in front. 'Simples.' This is, of course, to allow some kind of safe braking zone if the vehicle or vehicles in front have to brake suddenly. That way you stand a chance of stopping before you 'prang' the guy in front, or even worse, become part of a pile-up, in which you and several others get shunted both front and rear. The insurance company's nightmare.
Now, if you look in your rear view mirror whilst driving in a line of vehicles, and I'm sure many will identify with this, you can get quite alarmed if the vehicle behind you is so close that you can't even see its headlamps. It freaks me out even more if I can't even see any of its bonnet (OK, OK, 'hood' dudes), but what I can see of it begins with the wipers and goes upwards from there. If in such circumstances I were to slam on the brakes, even at a mere 25 mph, the driver behind would 100% smash into me, no contest.
And so I come to one of the not only most annoying, but downright dangerous, habits that most of the locals here have. Tailgating. Now, at this time of the year on Rhodes (and it gets worse every year with all the new hotels that are being thrown up along the east coast of the island) you can guarantee that, unless you're driving the 'Rodo-Lindou' main road at 3.00am, you're virtually certain to be in a line of traffic, often twenty cars long, usually behind a flippin' quad bike (Grrrr). Even at that speed the safe distance is a couple or three car lengths between each vehicle. Instead, you find that most Greeks are trying to kiss the rear bumper of the car in front with their front one. I know, they don't call them bumpers any more, but old habits. To me it often looks like a row of cars all towing each other along, they're driving that close to the vehicle in front.
See, there's little old socially responsible, not to say accident-paranoid, me, trying to keep a safe distance, and what does someone from behind do? They see that gap as a case of me needlessly keeping them from racing to their destination and so they'll slipstream me, like they do in Formula One, then, as soon as they get the minutest of gaps in the oncoming traffic, they'll duck out from behind, missing my offside tail light by a gnat's whisker, before slotting back in right in front of me, thus forcing me to drop back further to allow a safe distance behind this interloper. Net result, I slip further and further back down the 'queue' simply through trying to drive safely.
I can say, hand on heart, that nine times out of ten, if I'm in a queue of cars, and we can even be doing 90kph, which is around 56mph, I'll not be able to see the headlamps of the car behind me in my rearview mirror.
Small wonder that there are so many newly installed mini-shrines along the roadside verges here in Rhodes (and no doubt the rest of Greece I'd imagine). Fatal accidents are almost a hobby over here.
I happened to remark on a few of the newer of those shrines just this week. I said to her indoors as we crawled along, "At the rate we're going there will be a shrine every fifty metres for the entire length of this road before long. It seems that Greeks are able to create a serious accident just about anywhere, even on what we in the UK would consider safe sections of the highway."
The better half, evidently experiencing one of her more witty moments, replied, "Yea, and when they're so hidebound by the religious 'requirement' that they cross themselves each time they pass anything remotely religious within sight of the road, it's not surprising that there are so many accidents. Someone dies, they erect a shrine. Someone else passes, spots the shrine, crosses themselves while trying to talk on their mobile phone with the other hand and, bingo, another accident and hence another shrine. It's a vicious circle."
If it weren't almost funny, it would be tragic. I'm sure that people reading this will also have seen shrines right beside each other, we certainly have. Her quip makes some sense when you think about it, doesn't it.
Now, there will be some reading this who'll shout: "Stop knocking the Greeks!" Come off it, if you love someone it doesn't mean you can't see their faults, now, does it? We all have them, both individually and collectively (when it comes to national traits and habits). Sadly, the ones I refer to here are taking lives - and that's a fact.
Were I a younger man in the throws of deciding what kind of business to open in order to have a full order book, maybe I'd start a business supplying marble...
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