Cyprus-Forum.com

[Oracle]

So, has Milti learned how to drive properly yet?

I have a sneaking suspicion that he has been banned from driving (over the limit ), and that's why he has a chauffeur...

[Get Real!]

So, has Milti learned how to drive properly yet?

I have a sneaking suspicion that he has been banned from driving (over the limit ), and that's why he has a chauffeur...

Has he? But wouldn't a chauffeur look rather silly in a Morris Minor?

[miltiades]

So, has Milti learned how to drive properly yet?

I have a sneaking suspicion that he has been banned from driving (over the limit ), and that's why he has a chauffeur...

Has he? But wouldn't a chauffeur look rather silly in a Morris Minor?

As a matter of fact I'm very proud of my 1966 Ford something or other not quite sure .
Not wishing to temp faith , I first started driving way back in 1966 , passed my test 4 years later after 11 attempts the examiners just had to pass me.
The same year I drove to Greece then caught a plane to Cyprus where I stayed a few days. Returned to Greece got a boat and went to Samos where we stayed a few days in Pythagorion , the birthplace of the Great , "mi mou tous kiklous taratte" Pythagoras , a small picturesque seaside village . We then went on to Rhodes , by boat again , a few days there and returned back to Piraeus , along the way listened on the wireless the world cup final that England won. A memorable day !
Did the journey again with my wife in 1969 along with our Koumbaros and Koumera who went on to catch the ferry from Piraeus to Cyprus .
My self and my wife had taken 3 months break from work and spent the time touring Greece taking in a few of the islands in the Aegean.

Drove back to UK safe and sound in my 1966 Ford , still have it !!!

ps. I know how much GR looks forward to my real life stories , I will tell him about my arrival at Victoria station in 1961 , I'm sure he looks forward to that !!
ps no.2 : intentional discrepancies have been included to allow GR a little ..brain exercise !

[cyprusgeoff]

It's fairly easy to see how most of the bad driving and law breaking comes about and how it has become part of the Cypriot way of life.

Certainly over the 12 years that I've known it's become the normal thing for 12 to 16 year old boys to race through the villages on mopeds and scooters, untaxed, unlicenced with no MOT or insurance and nothing is done to stop them.

The police look on with amusement (because they probably used to do the very same thing at that age)

If a group of people regularly break the law and have little or no regard for the law how would you expect them to become law abiding citizens and drive their vehicles decently when they become adults?

The things that we teach our children today makes them into the people with some values of tomorrow. (Well we can but try)

The parents of these youths know what they are doing, the police know what they are doing and everybody in the various villages know but nothing is ever done about it.

I see in the press that two of these idiots ran head on into one another the other day, put themselves in hospital and by the time the police attended the accident scene the bikes/mopeds/scooters had been spirited away and hidden.

Nothing will ever change until people want it to change and I'm sorry to say, Cyprus has the police force it deserves.

[Paphitis]

Milo wrote:

I care not that you care not Paphitis but about Cyprus you don,t care enough IF you think that the random slaughter on the roads here is ok as long as Cypriots keep their personality and character.

First of all Milo, welcome to CF.

I have read one of your posts in another thread and feel very sorry about your friend. You have my sincere condolences.

Unfortunately Milo, some countries such as Greece, and Italy have far worse traffic conditions than Cyprus. And they have been EU members for a very long time.

I believe that the Greek, Italian, and Cypriot way of driving is more environmental and has more to do with the amount of traffic congestion on narrow roads. It is these conditions which almost force people to drive in a certain way, because let's say you wish to change lanes, then you literally might have to push your way in. In Australia, however this is generally not the case as our road conditions in our cities permit us to always take the safer options and not take any unnecessary risk.

So of course there are many accidents in Cyprus. But this would have more to do with the general traffic conditions and congestion and certainly not reflect on the standards of Cypriot drivers.

Milo wrote:

I,m not doing the dictating either just another eu citizen telling you that things have to change to protect innocent lives of passengers other drivers and pedestrians and the change will come.

Have they changed in Italy and Greece? How long have they been EU members?

Milo wrote:

You are part of Europe in which all countries have their own uniqueness character and personality. How can that possibly change just cause new laws come in stopping the numpties from driving badly and moreover dangerously. You still bang the same drum with no answer to the death on Cyprus,s roads

That is the thing. There are just as many numpties on Australian roads as there are on Cypriot roads. Australian road rules are probably quite stringent and yet we still have a massive road toll, probably mostly due to the vastness of the country and the standard of our road network in rural areas.

Unfortunately, you can never legislate against stupidity.

So Cypriots are not bad drivers at all. They have just learned to drive in a certain way in order to get from A to B on roads which are often narrow and extremely congested.

If Australian Cities had the same roads as let's say Nicosia or limassol, then you will find that all Australian drivers will be driving exactly the same way as Cypriot drivers. And as a matter of fact, they already do in the more congested places such as Melbourne and Sydney CBD.

[New to Cyprus]

That is the thing. There are just as many numpties on Australian roads as there are on Cypriot roads. Australian road rules are probably quite stringent and yet we still have a massive road toll, probably mostly due to the vastness of the country and the standard of our road network in rural areas.

Unfortunately, you can never legislate against stupidity.

So Cypriots are not bad drivers at all. They have just learned to drive in a certain way in order to get from A to B on roads which are often narrow and extremely congested.

If Australian Cities had the same roads as let's say Nicosia or limassol, then you will find that all Australian drivers will be driving exactly the same way as Cypriot drivers. And as a matter of fact, they already do in the more congested places such as Melbourne and Sydney CBD.

There are plenty of behaviors common on the roads in Cyprus that simply cannot be explained by the roads being congested. Drivers cutting me off, or worse, swerving around me when I'm trying to be polite and let another driver onto the road, are just exceedingly rude. And the view that drivers coming off of side streets onto a main road have the right-of-way is epidemic.

Then there are safety issues (not wearing seatbelts, driving with a kid on their laps, etc.), etc., that are only dangerous to themselves. And then plenty of problems peripheral to driving itself, such as the frequent use of two parking spaces by one car, when one space will do.

I just don't see how any of these problems relates to road congestion.

[Paphitis]

That is the thing. There are just as many numpties on Australian roads as there are on Cypriot roads. Australian road rules are probably quite stringent and yet we still have a massive road toll, probably mostly due to the vastness of the country and the standard of our road network in rural areas.

Unfortunately, you can never legislate against stupidity.

So Cypriots are not bad drivers at all. They have just learned to drive in a certain way in order to get from A to B on roads which are often narrow and extremely congested.

If Australian Cities had the same roads as let's say Nicosia or limassol, then you will find that all Australian drivers will be driving exactly the same way as Cypriot drivers. And as a matter of fact, they already do in the more congested places such as Melbourne and Sydney CBD.

There are plenty of behaviors common on the roads in Cyprus that simply cannot be explained by the roads being congested. Drivers cutting me off, or worse, swerving around me when I'm trying to be polite and let another driver onto the road, are just exceedingly rude. And the view that drivers coming off of side streets onto a main road have the right-of-way is epidemic.

Then there are safety issues (not wearing seatbelts, driving with a kid on their laps, etc.), etc., that are only dangerous to themselves. And then plenty of problems peripheral to driving itself, such as the frequent use of two parking spaces by one car, when one space will do.

I just don't see how any of these problems relates to road congestion.

Yes of course.

Everyone in the UK wears a seatbelt. They also leave their little babies at shopping centres or at somebodies door step because they can't cope, but at least they properly restrain the baby in a baby seat on the way to its dumping ground...

How awful Cyprus must be for you!

[New to Cyprus]

Yes of course.

Everyone in the UK wears a seatbelt. They also leave their little babies at shopping centres or at somebodies door step because they can't cope, but at least they properly restrain the baby in a baby seat on the way to its dumping ground...

How awful Cyprus must be for you!

You'd prefer to pretend that drivers in UK aren't far safer and Cypriots drive just fine then?

[purdey]

I have had three accidents in Cyprus. Twice I have been rear ended and once I did the same to someone else. All very pleasant after the accidents, no threats, bad language or arguments and all sorted by respective insurance companies.
I have yet to have an accident in the UK which in my opinion does not mean the driving is any better, I have just been lucky.

[Get Real!]

You'd prefer to pretend that drivers in UK aren't far safer and Cypriots drive just fine then?

I suggest you learn to adopt to this country because the probability that they’ll all change to your way of thinking is next to zero, and the same goes for everyone else out there who thinks they’re gonna change Cyprus.