Probably most big cities have their own traffic-related quirks that make life challenging for visitors dumb enough to bring their cars. Paris, for instance, has insanely large traffic circles (roundabouts). Everyone has heard of the Arc de Triomphe, but how many people know that it's also the world's largest roundabout, a traffic nightmare during rush hour? (To get a sense of the level of insanity, you can find some YouTube videos, like
this one or
this one, on the subject.) The Google Earth image here is a great view from above, but unfortunately it was taken at a pretty calm hour of the day.
Ditto for our personal favorite, the giant obstacle course surrounding the Place de la Concorde (just down the Champs Elysées from the Arc). This one has, in addition to the lawlessness of the enormous expanses of pavement without lane markings of any kind, crosswalks and traffic lights every so often. So you have to simultaneously follow the rules of the road and the rules of the jungle to drive there. (Crossing it on foot is no picnic either!)
But the traffic circles of Paris are pleasures we have never experienced from the inside of our little Opel Corsa. On the other hand, on our recent trip to Belgium, we got a heaping helping of the kind of automotive insanity Brussels can dish out. We had always assumed that when turning left at a green light, it was only necessary to yield to
oncoming traffic, but in Brussels there are places where you also have to look behind and to your left, in case you're turning across an entirely separate road just parallel and to the left of yours
that also has a green light. But the easiest quirk to point to in Brussels is the tram tracks that are often part of the only lane of traffic. Admittedly, this isn't too different from sharing the road with buses, which we're all used to -- but still, there is something about driving down train tracks that seems less than safe. And just imagine how much more dangerous it would be if everyone driving down the tracks were also holding cell phones to take pictures!
Probably most big cities have their own traffic-related quirks that make life challenging for visitors dumb enough to bring their cars. Paris, for instance, has insanely large traffic circles (roundabouts). Everyone has heard of the Arc de Triomphe, but how many people know that it's also the world's largest roundabout, a traffic nightmare during rush hour? (To get a sense of the level of insanity, you can find some YouTube videos, like this one or this one, on the subject.) The Google Earth image here is a great view from above, but unfortunately it was taken at a pretty calm hour of the day.
Ditto for our personal favorite, the giant obstacle course surrounding the Place de la Concorde (just down the Champs Elysées from the Arc). This one has, in addition to the lawlessness of the enormous expanses of pavement without lane markings of any kind, crosswalks and traffic lights every so often. So you have to simultaneously follow the rules of the road and the rules of the jungle to drive there. (Crossing it on foot is no picnic either!)
But the traffic circles of Paris are pleasures we have never experienced from the inside of our little Opel Corsa. On the other hand, on our recent trip to Belgium, we got a heaping helping of the kind of automotive insanity Brussels can dish out. We had always assumed that when turning left at a green light, it was only necessary to yield to oncoming traffic, but in Brussels there are places where you also have to look behind and to your left, in case you're turning across an entirely separate road just parallel and to the left of yours that also has a green light. But the easiest quirk to point to in Brussels is the tram tracks that are often part of the only lane of traffic. Admittedly, this isn't too different from sharing the road with buses, which we're all used to -- but still, there is something about driving down train tracks that seems less than safe. And just imagine how much more dangerous it would be if everyone driving down the tracks were also holding cell phones to take pictures!
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