Commenting on the Bulletin website, readers have responded.
“The practice of staying in the nearside lane while going 270° or 360° around a roundabout in Spain is sheer lunacy, and invites being T-boned by a driver going straight on.
The Spanish are horrendous drivers. They spend more time looking at the passenger on their right during some heated discussion than they do looking at the road ahead.
"In Menorca, not a day goes by without another report of a car being rolled over, on perfectly good roads, in perfectly good weather with perfect visibility.
It’s time that Spain sorted it’s own house out, in all imaginable areas, before looking to milk the people of money who keep their country viable”.
Another posted: “As a holiday home owner in Majorca, it drives me mad that no one uses their indicators at any time so this article mentioning tourists is a joke. The Spanish are truly dreadful drivers, very inconsiderate and never show any manners. But I’m afraid that also applies in general.”
And the comments do not stop there. One reader reacted by posting: “This is Hilarious. By far and away the biggest offenders are Spanish drivers. Most don’t indicate at all and some indicate left and then right on roundabouts when going straight on, which is insanely confusing and probably worse than not indicating at all. A few indicate after their manoeuvre too. The best way to mange all this is to treat every other road user as a moron and be duly extra cautious.”
Happy motoring this summer!
7 comments
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Johnny CIt does feel like Russian Roulette here too at times. It’s the crazy risk taking when overtaking that I regularly witness and sometimes experience far too closely. Seems like it’s just a matter of time.
I have just arrived in Sicily having driven from Mallorca. Italian drivers are infinitely worse. They drive like the Spanish but 4 times faster. Driving on the motorway at 130 km/h (the speed limit) with a queue if cars in front of me, I constantly had a car (always a BMW or Audi) sitting right on my bumper flashing it's lights. Driving in Italy is like playing Russian roulette but with 5 bullets in the cylinder and 1 empty chamber.
Haha, that’s just SO funny! My personal experience, as someone who lives here, but travels to the UK regularly, I seriously believe that I’ve witnessed the worst cases of horrible driving precisely in the UK! Even when driving “normally “ I find motorists in the UK seriously aggressive! The Mallorcan drivers are mere pussycats in comparison….
As someone who spends half his time in Mallorca and the other half in London, I'd say that the average standard of driving is actually better on the island. Of course, it's pot luck whether one confronts a complete imbecile in either location, but having driven for decades in both, I feel well qualified to make that judgement.
The principal fault of drivers including the Spanish is not giving way and not indicating their intentions. Roundabouts are a huge source of annoyance to good drivers when bad drivers criss-cross their way (dangerously) in and out. Moving lanes, turning and overtaking should all be signalled with the indicators provided in all cars.
Personally, now I realise the driving standard on the island is extremely poor, it makes me smile how bad it is. I have just got in the zone expecting the unexpected, and know, that even if it makes their life easier, they will never let you out. Ultimately, the condition of most cars says more than any words. Still love it though.
So, you writers actually do read comments? I once knew an English bloke who spent more time complaining about other drivers than paying attention to his driving. The same bloke, who, driving 70kmh in the middle lane of the via cintura (was 120km limit at the time) complaining that hogging the middle lane would be illegal in England (while he's hogging the middle lane). Then as drivers are whizzing by him on the left and right... "See that? Gotta be a German. Or a Spaniard! Bloody foreigners drive like shite!". There are stupid drivers of all nationalities (and the other one is always the stupid one). Anybody tried to drive in Milan lately? Traffic lights, stop signs and signaling are just "opinions" there. Mallorca would seem very orderly by comparison.