My last trip was around Europe and just over 3K miles. In Italy a few roads were ............a "challenge" shall we say, but nothing too bad.

Having been back to work for a bit now on the daily commute on my trusty yam 250, I'm getting death threats most days now !

Today some bloke parks his car on a blind bend which was a bit scary to start with, but as I swerve past he opens the door and gets out causing me to swerve my swerve. A swerve-swerve is not a good at any time of the day, but at 7.30am just aint good for you even below 30mph !

I think up until now I have just accepted that you have to ride defensively and expect to swerve-swerve all the time. It wasn't like that in Europe? Is it just me or do uk drivers just not think any more? I might add it aint just young drivers. It makes me so angry !!!!!!! Argh!!!!!!!!!

( sorry bad day had to get it off my man boobs )

I have held this view for some years; UK drivers are oblivious to most other traffic on the roads, especially anything on 2 wheels.
In contrast, French traffic is very aware of motorcycles closing on it and almost always moves over to allow bikes to pass, even when there is a no-overtaking section of road; the drivers expect and encourage bikes to pass, which is quite feasible while still remaining on the correct side of the lines. Throughout such manouvres, the driver of the car being overtaken has eye contact on the bike via his/her mirrors. I have just returned from riding the full length of France and this has been my experience throughout. In fact, those drivers I had to be most wary of were on British plates, driving in the same manner that we all know in the UK.

I am past any stage of being angry about this; I just go abroad and spend my disposable income there.

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Dave

That´s the price of living in Essex.....you meet a certain kind of people there and I totally agree with you. They put the ´n´in cuts. They are selfish and dangerous.

What is a swerve-swerve?

The selfish, the vain and the terminally obtuse will always be with us. Perfect example of that yesterday in my local Sainsbury's. Woman drives in and dumps her Merc right in the middle of the car park. Gets out with two primary school age kids and just walks off. Not only had she cut off access to about a third of the car park, she'd also blocked in Sainsbury's delivery lorry. The store has a "parking attendant" there two (random) days a week. Not yesterday though, which presumably she knew.

The only rule on UK roads today is that thou shalt not go past a yellow painted box more than 10% above the posted speed limit. Drunk, stoned, incompetant, stupid, on the phone, shaving, shagging, without insurance, stolen car, dead body in the boot, all the above, no one will do anything until you actually crash.

Treat UK drivers accordingly and you'll live longer.

BTW, I'd wonder why you passed within a doors distance of a parked car? (or maybe you didn't). Get well out in the road out of range of swinging metal or slow to a speed where you can blow the horn, stop safely and then give the dental profession some extra work with your tyre lever. (OK, maybe not the last bit). If you are within a doors width at speed you'll also be at risk of collecting kamikaze pram pushers and that creates serious paperwork.

Andy

Oddly I found drivers pulling aside to let me filter through congestion almost as soon as I'd crossed the boundary from London to Essex. They're much friendlier those orange folk.

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I'll happily jump on a bike and drive around happily somewhere like India (aside from the drunken truckers) but I'm very reluctant to do the same in the UK.

Seems to be a culture here of 'if you're in my way, then I've got the right to run you over' - doesn't make a difference if you're walking you dog, riding a bike or driving your car.

That's my experience of the cities anyway, I'm not sure about rural areas... I've lived in rural Ireland on and off and found people ever courteous and considerate to other road users.

I've had car drivers moving aside to let me pass, which I appreciate when travelling to work.

Having said this, I've had car drivers pull out whilst looking directly at me, pull to one side whilst queuing to stop me filtering; the best was a pickup driver who saw me coming (or am I being hopeful he bothered to look?) and pulled out of a service station anyway! I let rip with the horn (I was rather annoyed!) and all I got was the finger! I've come to the realisation that if I can't hurt them, they don't really care if they hurt me. The guy who taught me to ride used to say "assume that everyone's out to kill you!"; he has a point!

I've also heard from a Police officer that he's had car drivers on the 'phone WHILST BEHIND the Police car! If they don't care what the Police think, what help do I have?!

I agree that I've never felt any of this 'abroad', with the possible exception of a brief visit to northern Italy - mental!

I'm sure I'm not the only one who's played around like this, during nearly 30 years of commuting into central London by bike. It used to happen a lot around the 80s but don't see it much now:

You're filtering past slow-moving traffic and you and the traffic stop.
The driver to one side of you gets it into his head that you want to get into the gap in front of him (usually you never do) so moves forward aggressively to close any gap right up.

I used to play their game, by inching forward with front wheel pointing a little to the gap. Sometimes it would drive them crazy and they'd inch forward in lurches, as close as they dare to the back of the car in front.
Over the years I determined to get these sorts of drivers to hit the car in front, by mimicking their actions until my way forward became clear so I'd nip off and give them a wave.

Well, I only managed it once. Gently inching forward with front wheel pointing a little towards the gap (but never looking directly at the car and keeping clear of its mirrors) provoked the car driver to lurch forward maybe 3 times, smacking right into the back of the car in front.
Being careful to avoid the opening door of the car in front as the driver got out, I gently pulled away with the usual wave.

Can you still do that sort of thing/are there still those sorts of aggressive drivers in London's traffic? It's a longish time since I rode into town regularly.

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TTR250 - London to Cape Town

I find the French are really good at getting out of the way, as mentioned already, this surprised me as based on cultural stereotypes you would expect them to be rude and discourteous, on the road at least, it seems this isn't the case.

Italy is much worse than the UK though, there are no two ways about it. I get what you are saying about the Italians being more aware of bikes, because there are so many scooters around the city, but they are still overly reckless. In my latest video blog I have 2 clear examples of reckless Italian driving (shameless plug, check out the link below) - I could provide plenty more form the hours of gopro footage I have. I would struggle though to find many examples from the UK, f I could get any. Comparatively I would have about equal amounts of Gopro footage from both.

Worst driving in Europe was probably Montenegro - I wasn't surprised the other day when I was watching TV in Portugal and the had a show on talking about just how bad driving in Montenegro is.

I have to say I think the UK is quite high up the list in terms of good driving in Europe.

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www.thegreatgallivant.com - video blog of my current year long trip around Europe on the F650GS Twin