First, some basic rules. For around 10 months of the year there are very few people on the road. It is, therefore, perfectly acceptable to drive for 12 months of the year as if there is no-one about. Now, if someone happens to be in the way when you cut your favourite corner, you have the right to shrug your shoulders and there is no need to apologise. Lets face it, they will soon be gone anyway.
Pedestrians at pedestrian crossings must give way to cars. Think of the crossing as a target area, rather than a safe place to cross the road.
There are certain things you must possess in and around your vehicle. Ignoring the legal requirements (we only worry about those once a year at inspection time), the key items are:
Dirt. Self explanatory. We are far too busy being busy to clean our cars. Especially if we have two kids who want to help by using the kitchen scourer.
Someone else´s aerial. I have no idea who first pinched someone else´s aerial in the supermarket car park, but they started a chain reaction that became an epidemic. Superglue has never been so popular.
Some form of "vote for" or protest sticker. It must be seriously out of date for any street cred to be gained.
Hubcaps (complete). Everyone knows hire cars have no hub caps and are silver. If you have a silver car with hub caps missing, you will be scorned.
Dents/damage. It is a little known fact that before the Army went to Iraq, to get the soldiers accustomed to driving in hostile situations they were sent to the Algarve, given hire cars, and made to drive around at either 9 in the morning, or after lunch. I have to admit, I have crashed every single car I have owned (and I few I haven´t) but never as regularly as since I lived here.
Roadworks
AAAAARRRGGH. OK, no-one likes roadworks but sometimes the "organisation" defies belief. We know that the roadworks need to be completed before the tourist season, fair enough, but it seems the pressure of working to a deadline gets too much sometimes. One example. I went to work, and tried to enter the motorway. It was closed, because at last someone has owned up and agreed it should have been tarmac in the first place, not noisy concrete. So, the diversion wants me to go west (I wanted to go east) along the motorway for about 30 km, turn off and come back on myself. This is bad enough, but when there is a perfectly good road which runs parallel to the motorway, and drops us off at the next junction why not send us there instead? Lets face it , it was good enough when there was no motorway. Absolute madness.
Roundabouts
Now this subject has been covered well at http://algarvianlife.blogspot.com/2007/05/magic-roundabouts.html but I can not resist to add my bit.
- The roundabout is not a car park. Ever. Ponte final.
- You do not overtake on a roundabout
- You do not stop on the roundabout and then motion traffic waiting at the stop line to join the roundabout.
- It is neither big nor clever to ignore your indicators whilst navigating a roundabout.
- Lane discipline. This phrase does not mean " I am in this lane and I will use it for whatever exit I choose, regardless of how much I cut someone else up. I will not ever use the other lane, that is my discipline."
If you have read my previous post you will know the speed limits are only advisory. There are some special tips I have picked up to avoid the radar controlled traffic lights.
Firstly, if you are approaching the lights and you drive on the wrong side of the road the radar does not pick you up. I have seen this first hand, and was amazed.
Secondly, if you go really fast, you get through the lights and the poor sod behind you gets caught at the red light.
Thirdly, if you do get caught they are not "real" traffic lights so you do not have to stop.
Driving etiquette
i have mixed feelings on this, as recently I have noticed people will sometimes give you a wave to say thanks, or even let you out of a side road. A sign of change in the Algarve?
That concludes today's lesson. Soon you can take your Algarve driving test, but a few more lessons to come first.
One last point. Before anyone starts whinging at this being a negative, anti-algarve drivers post (or anti-anything for that fact) think about this-How do I have such in depth knowledge of poor driving practices, and why does my Insurance Broker send me a crate of Champagne every Christmas?
