Great list. Just last night I was driving back to Modi'in from Tzur Hadassah on a unlit curvy road. For some reason this dude decided to tailgate me with his brights on. I was already driving ten km over the limit. I slowed down to give him ample opportunity to pass me but he didn't take it. Of course he only decides to pass me when an oncoming car is coming and he almost caused a severe accident. Blood boiling indeed.
You could do another entire post on creative parking.
in florida the little old jewish people drive big boats and you can't even see the top of their heads over the steering wheel. i assume they have dashboard windows.
Oh Ashley, how I sympathize. I don't drive, but have often found myself shrieking at friends, as they drive us somewhere, "I can't *believe* s/he did that!"
Although my many hair-raising experiences on the roads of India did Israeli drivers in perspective. Ever ridden in a bus driven by an illiterate guy with cataracts, who has a tea-towel wrapped around his head and a joint sticking out of his mouth? On a narrow, winding mountain road with no guardrail along the precipice? At night? (I could go on..!)
And then there's the old classic when the guy idling next to you rolls down his window and asks you how much you'd be interested in selling your car for.
What? You're meant to indicate on a roundabout?
Israel?? I thought you were describing drivers in Encino, CA. !!!
as a Canadian visitng Israel last summer I was mortified by the drivers in Israel...no wonder it has one of the highest rates of traffic accidents!
All I can add is that if you haven't driven in Vietnam, or had a toothless (but smiling) Vietnamese driver scare the crap out of you as oncoming trucks brush past your rickety old minibus, you just haven't lived...Israel is peanuts next to Vietnam, though it still drives me crazy (no pun intended).
> Lane control: Fast lane? Ah, OK,
>that means I can go extra slow and
>even appear oblivious to the cars
>flashing headlights behind me.
I think the opposite is more prevalent: driving in the left lane on Ayalon South at 20 kph above the speed limit, and constantly having idiots coming up to tailgate and blink their brights at you.
On our first trip to israel, driving up North, I was astounded to see drivers ahead of me making blind passes on curving roads where they could not possibly know whether death awaited them. After awhile I realized they were not being quite so reckless - they were looking UNDERNEATH the car in front of them at the roads ahead, in advance of the hilly curve, so they knew the road was at least partly empty before making that blind pass.
- The Precision Blogger
I drove in Israel as a tourist and I have learned the following: (1) Drivers are lousy & rude because they are tested by driving school instructors, not officials of the country's motor vehicle ministry. There's a lot of 'protexia' and bribery: ie: Morons with money can purchase a driver's license in some cases. (2) The police officers can't drive either --there's no point in setting an example when POLICE RUN RED LIGHTS w/o ANY BLUE-LIGHT EMERGENCIES and speed MUCH FASTER than 80 km/h through residential areas. (3) Israeli drivers believe they purchased their 'wheels' from an amusement park, so it can therefore be used as a 'bumper-car' to conveniently push other cars around with. (4) Changing lanes is somehow illegal... not sure why, but if you try (and are too slow), then someone will take the law into his own hands and try running you off the road. (note: happened very often) -- best advice is to drive a car with a lot of damage already on it b/c it shows you are an experienced Israeli driver who has spent much time on the roads (ie a safe driver).
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