Driving in Hungary

Maximilien wrote:

Respecting the road safety

That can be in part answered by simply looking at some national road safety statistics for European countries, where Hungary comes in third highest in deaths per 100,000 registered vehicles:

Country    Deaths per 100,000 registered vehicles
Serbia     33
Poland     20
Hungary     17
Czech Republic     13
Lithuania     13
Greece     12
Portugal     12
Belgium     11
Slovenia     10
Austria     9
France     9
Luxembourg     8
Finland     7
Germany     7
Italy     7
Denmark     6
Netherlands     6
Spain     6
Switzerland     6
Sweden     5
United Kingdom     5
Norway     4
Iceland     3

Personally I find that drivers here do not have much patience. For example, if anyone is "slow" (which often enough just means going the speed limit), many (maybe even most) other drivers here will take the earliest opportunity to pass that slower driver, even it means crossing a double yellow line, at the top of hill and in a blind curve with oncoming traffic. Adding to the problem are the large number of narrow, heavily traveled one lane highways that were essentially built for Trabants, with no inbuilt passing lanes for tens of kilometers at a stretch (it any at all).

I've never seen a double yellow line in Hungary!  I mostly don't stray too far from my village so most of my driving is in Zala or Somogy county. The general standard of driving in my area is quite good. There is the odd nutter like you would get in UK but as there is far less traffic than in UK they mostly get away with their bad driving. On the rare times I use the motorways I do sometimes witness aggressive driving but the offending vehicle usually bears German or Austrian plates. They may be good drivers bet many Hungarians are appalling pedestrians. Supermarket car parks are the worst place, they seem oblivious to the possibility of being hit by a car so they just go where they want, when they want, regardless of what anyone else is doing. It's not so bad now I'm driving a left hand drive car but when I was driving a 3.5 tonne right hand drive panel van with restricted visibility I had a few near misses! Some young women with pushchairs use them as psychological battering rams in a sort of game of chicken. I suppose it could be something in the Hungarian Highway Code, perhaps drivers and pedestrians are told to treat these car parks as giant zebra crossings?

I am from Melbourne, Australia and I have been driving here in Hungary for almost 3 years now and I find the average driver to be: erratic, fast, dangerous, and very selfish. The way they suddenly dart out from behind you and overtake while on coming traffic is heading towards us, so very dangerous! The way they stop on a major thoroughfare to let oncoming traffic through, even on the freeways, you will be driving along at approx 100km's +, and all of a sudden the vehicle in front of you will almost stop to let another vehicle onto the freeway........ Is there no such thing as give way and wait your turn? Who in their right mind slows down on a freeway to let someone on in front of them? Sometimes I think people must be on drugs with the erratic way they drive, seriously!

About drivers in Hungary they can be very macho! driving too fast and sometimes dangerously! but they do stop for women and children and can be very respectuous...
Better than in Paris for sure....

Hungarians I find are very remiss at using there indicators, other drivers have to guess which way they are going to turn,. Furthermore, I as a foreigner now residing in Hungary am told that it is compulsory, the law states that you have your headlamps on all day and night, many disregard this law,.

It is only on the open road that you are required to have lights on during daylight hours, not in towns, cities, villages etc. On my car the lights go off with the ignition so I leave them on all the time.

Sorry, I am referring to open roads, M0,M1,M3, etc,. Plus many 'A' roads,.

I learned to drive in Puerto Rico, where as in most Latin American countries, a car is treated not much different than a horse. That is, people take them everywhere, park them anywhere, pamper them rotten, and sometimes even talk to them. I've also driven a fair share in the north-eastern USA (between Washington DC and New York) and Florida. Having said that, I haven't been surprised by drivers here, and I find driving outside the big cities quite relaxing (except for the parts where roads are slightly better paved than plain dirt). Big city driving (BP, mainly) is not unlike driving in cities around Europe. In BP, for example, drivers either go too fast or too slow, never at a proper speed, and more often than not way too close for comfort. I'm an aggressive driver, to be honest, but I despise tailgating or being tailgated (if that is a verb). There is a general lack of patience in BP drivers as well.

On drivers: For the most part, drivers here seem to be much more aware drivers than Americans (unlike Latin American drivers which are generally nuts). Yes, you do run into the occasional distracted-by-cell-phone driver, and there seem to be a good number of "macho" drivers that MUST be compensating for a lack of... something. The latter seems to be a more general issue of national male chauvinism., though.

On road conditions: Most main roads between towns (except for motorways) are either in very bad shape (uneven surfaces, potholes/craters, non-chamferred sharp turns, etc.) or varying levels of neglect (badly faded lines, cracks, etc.). Very few roads seem to be well kept. I'm mostly annoyed by the number of potholes on main roads and having to drive like I'm drunk to keep my car from falling apart. Sadly, I'm used to driving in these conditions, so my opinion is biased towards tacit acceptance of my existence. There is also the issue of trucks having to share the same lanes as cars. Many main roads are permanently indented and sometimes passing a caravan of backed up trucks, busses, and cars can take a good half hour, especially if going through a town.

On traffic lights: Where to begin... I cannot stand, for the love of God, when a traffic light is red for no logical reason. The number of traffic lights that are not programmed smartly (probably just on a timer) is disconcerting. Spending 2 or 3 minutes waiting for your light to turn green where there is no pedestrian crossing nor an intersection hurts my brain.

On pedestrians: Yes, they think they can win a match between your car and themselves. It annoys me a good bit when you stop to let pedestrians through and they spend about 12 seconds looking elsewhere, and when you start moving again, they cross the road. Gaaahh! The amount of pedestrians crossing is too high and detrimental to my mental health. In Pécs, a big university city, "zebras" are places every 100 meters. At least. (not really, but there are many). It took me a while to get used to the fact that pedestrians always have the right of way here, and had a few scares in the meantime.

The one thing I don't miss from driving in the Eastern USA is the absurdity that happens when there is rain or any sort of bad weather; people slow down at least 20mph as soon as the first drop of rain hits the road. Driving around Washington DC in bad weather, for example, will extend your commute by 50%

I haven't witnessed a large number of car accidents here, though the ogling that occurs when there is an accident and the ensuing backup is frustrating.

I know what you mean about the traffic lights. There is one set in my town that seems to stop everyone for a while then lets everyone go at once, including pedestrians on a crossing! The lights themselves are often also mounted very high up and sometimes I have failed to see them because I've got the sun visors down. At least the layouts and priorities at junctions are generally quite logical. I also drive in Croatia and some junctions there are very confusing. They tend to give priority to traffic on a minor road so if you are going straight on you have to stop and wait for traffic entering from a side road. I also agree with your observation about phone users. I understand it is a driving offence to use a hand held phone but loads of drivers do it, especially van drivers.

What I find frustrating in Hungary, once at the light's you need to reverse a few metres to even see them, being so high. Yes also plenty drivers with hand held's and Yes big penalties in plenty EU countries,. Try driving in Ukraine, the pot holes are huge where somebody has put a tree, thereby warning you,. Plus International rules at roundabouts do not apply, totally confusing,.!!!!!?   Here in Hungary the road sides crumble and sink, due to there being no kerbside, hence the only part of the road smooth "ish"...!!  being down the middle,.  One really good thing in the UK, you can sue the local authority for not taking care of roadways, if it results in damage to your car,. Maybe this law could be adopted by the Hungarian government.

fidobsa wrote:

I've never seen a double yellow line in Hungary!

You are of course correct. I slipped into the American vernacular for "no passing zone".

fidobsa wrote:

I know what you mean about the traffic lights. There is one set in my town that seems to stop everyone for a while then lets everyone go at once, including pedestrians on a crossing! The lights themselves are often also mounted very high up and sometimes I have failed to see them because I've got the sun visors down. At least the layouts and priorities at junctions are generally quite logical. I also drive in Croatia and some junctions there are very confusing. They tend to give priority to traffic on a minor road so if you are going straight on you have to stop and wait for traffic entering from a side road. I also agree with your observation about phone users. I understand it is a driving offence to use a hand held phone but loads of drivers do it, especially van drivers.

The lights are all on timers.  There's no traffic monitoring I can see. In the UK, they have sensors on the lights and embedded in the road to measure the traffic flows.

The give way to the right rule is - in my mind - something akin to a piece of suicidal Napoleonic legislation possibly even a crime against humanity.  No-one knows which street has priority or not.  It's Russian Roulette as far as I can see. 

If they are on the phone, then you can usually see - wandering around, driving slowly, distracted.  They should invest in hands free, costs almost nothing.

Strange thing about driving here is that people politely warn you of police with radar guns but then cut you up the next minute. In the UK, you never know if it's road rage pending or just bad driving.  Best to drive defensively all over.