Driving in Slovenia

The motorways are the safer roads in Slovenia. The younger and not so young drivers use the secondary roads like racetracks. They overtake dangerously and go over the white line regularly.  Last week while driving back from Croatia on the secondary road between Rijeka and Postojna I met two cars racing side by side and just with split seconds to spare the car on the wrong side of the road returned to its side of the road not before my whole family were screaming and watched our lifes flash before us. These type of incidents are a regular occurrence on secondary roads. The truck drivers use the whole road and might get back on their side of the road when they see you coming towards them. The secondary roads are very dangerous and I am not surprised that there is so many crashes on them. They are not properly policed. We try to avoid the secondary roads at all costs where possible.

The motorways are far safer but they are still dangerous as drivers do not keep a safe distance from the car in front in the fast lane. I always keep a reasonable distance from the car in front even if I am in a hurry and driving fast in the fast lane. This makes sense as I need more time to stop when I am driving fast and I do drive fast on the motorway. I have seen bad crashes on the motorway with one fatal crash a few years ago in winter when there was fog and a Mercedes S class ended up underneath the rear of a truck with its roof sheared off with all occupants obviously dead.

There would probably be no crashes on Slovenian motorways if people kept their distance.  I don't have a problem with driving fast safely. If you keep your distance you have a better chance to stop in time in case of an emergency.

Happy driving!

Kevin O'Donoghue
Ireland

Totally agree with Kevin's comments. I also note quite a lot of drivers in Slovenia using their mobile phones whilst driving, even lorry drivers too, which is scary. The obsessive tail gating that happens one the secondary roads is a sign of bad driving and it doesn't make me go any faster. One evening in a small village, which clearly has speed limits, I came out of the hairdressers with my kids and a car speed past us must have been doing over 100 kph. I would love to see more police on the secondary roads to deal with these idiots.

OK, while I agree that there are many bad and irresponsible drivers on Slo roads, I think you're all exaggerating a bit. Drivers here aren't much worse than in any other country. Generally speaking. I lived abroad 10 years so I have experience to compare.

When talking about Slo drivers you must also consider other factors: 1.our roads are badly maintained, narrow, and often winding, which makes passing other cars difficult, hence the stupid tailgating, 2. tailgating is the standard way to drive when wanting to pass a car because see point 1,  3. the exorbitant ticket fees really do nothing to discourage the habitual speeders and bad drivers.

You all sound afraid to be on our roads, which is sad. It's just not that terrifying in my opinion. What makes driving here tiring and scary is terrible asphalt and narrow roads. The highway is a bit better, but has its share of problems... Mainly overload. There should be 3 lanes minimum.

I've driven in many countries in Europe and I agree that most drivers tailgate on the motorway in other countries but that does not make the practice right or safe. I still contend that a lot of the local Slovenian drivers are loopy on secondary roads. In Ireland(where I am from) it is at least 20 years since I have seen people drive in this fashion with a blatant disregard for their safety and more importantly the safety of other innocent road users. I enjoy living part time in Slovenia but I do find the roads to be quite dangerous.

I had a great time driving around for a day in Slovenia. I had no problem renting a car in Lake Bled and took a road trip to Lipica through Llublijana and back.  I am from a rural area in the USA and found the driving to be very similar both on the major highway and the secondary roads. The signage was the same standard ( metric, however), speeds and traffic flow were the same.  The rental car was a very reasonable cost and exactly the same process as at home.  People were happy to help me with driving directions.  It was all very painless. 

There are some differences.  I had parking problems.  I got a parking ticket that was equal to the cost of my daily car rental!  Parking is rare and tight.  Finding and fitting into parking spaces in the cities was a squeeze for me. Luckily, the rental car had parking assist features of bells and whistles and lights and signals to help,  the cars in Europe tend to have manual transmission which I am used to, but many USA driver are used to automatic transmission.  The rental car had a feature to help prevent rolling backward down hills at stops which was nice in the mountains and cities. 

The scenery was beautiful and the drive was lovely.  The weather changed drastically with the terrain.  I got caught In a mountain hail storm that brought the major highway to almost a standstill, but it was over in a flash . A few minutes later the  terrain was flat, hot and sunny. I had a great time driving that day.

Earlier I took a van ride with a tour company through Triglav national park.  Fantastic!  Worth doing, but worth paying a Slovene to drive.  The park was full of very steep hair pin turns on cobble stone pavement on very narrow passes.  We saw a tractor trailer rig stuck on a tight curve.  At one point the van drove onto a train to take advantage of the train tunnels rather than taking the road through the high passes.  That was a trip! It was like being on a ferry.  So glad not to drive it myself and I used to live in the Rocky Mountains.