Driving in Spain
by Peter Brassey
More and more people are
now plucking up the courage to hire a car on their holiday to Spain. The
main obstacle in the mind of the uk driver who has never driven abroad
before, is the dread of driving on the opposite side of the road. Then
there are the controls to consider, steering wheel on the other side, gear
stick on the right, interior mirror not where it usually is. This is sometimes
enough to deter drivers who haven’t quite made their minds up.
Before I continue, I would
like to give some assurance to the nervous drivers who have considered
the points above and have decided to abandon the idea. Driving in Spain
isn’t difficult. The problem of driving on the opposite side of the road
is quite easily overcome. All you need to remember is that you (the driver)
should always be in the middle of the road, whichever country you’re driving
in. This advice, obviously only applies to cars with the correct right
or left hand drive for that particular country.
Once you have taken the plunge
and decided to give it a try, the next step is hiring the car. There are
literally hundreds of car hire companies operating in Spain. There are
the slightly shady characters operating from the back of vans in the airport
car park to the major players like Avis, Hertz, Easycar, Europa etc. Where
you hire your car from is entirely your decision but it’s wise to check
the prices from a number of different companies. There are now a lot of
websites offering price comparison from the main car rental companies.
Most people pick up their
cars from the airport. This is where the first problems usually occur.
Why is it that people hiring a car in a country they don’t know, will,
more often than not, decide to open the map after they’ve started to drive
off? The maps tend to be of the huge variety covering the whole of Spain
and Portugal. Unless the driver is on their own, the task of map reading
is undertaken by the passenger. As the map will probably contain the equivalent
of six sheets of A4, the opening stands a good chance of temporarily blinding
the driver. Leaving the airport perimeter, a quick decision will have to
be made on the direction to take and the driver, already stressed by this
journey into the unknown will start questioning the map reader almost immediately.
Which way, which way, quickly quickly, panic rises in the voice. The hapless
map reader with the map upside down and finger hovering somewhere over
Portugal will either respond truthfully saying they haven’t a clue or else
will guess the direction, which depending on luck, will either put them
on the right road or else take them back to the airport. Always study the
map prior to setting off!!
Spanish motorways are often
toll roads, which keeps them relatively quiet. They are reasonably well
signposted and easy to use but mistakes can happen. I met a guy the other
day who after picking up a car at Alicante airport had missed the turn
off for the coastal motorway to Benidorm and ended up heading for Madrid.
After approximately five kilometres he saw a turn off for Salida which
he mistakenly thought was a place (Salida in Spanish means exit) He hadn’t
heard of Salida and kept on motoring anticipating a sign for Benidorm.
After another 10 kilometres another turn off to Salida appeared and he
started to wonder why he had never heard of this place which must be quite
big. This continued for a further forty kilometres by which time he thought
that Salida must be the largest city in Spain if not the world and why
after thirty years of watching the news and reading the papers had he never
even heard a mention of it. He then decided to investigate this vast metropolis
and ask for directions to Benidorm which was slipping further and further
into the distance. Luckily the bemused toll booth attendant spoke English
and after explaining the meaning of Salida he directed the grateful driver
back to the airport to try again.
There are a few golden rules
when driving in Spain which I always follow. Always expect the unexpected:
Spanish drivers often do things which you don’t encounter back in the uk.
On three occasions I have seen drivers miss a turn off on the motorway,
switch their hazard warning lights on and reverse up the hard shoulder
back to the slip road. In Spain, the use of indicators is to say the least,
haphazard. Don’t rely on a car with its indicator flashing to actually
turn. When waiting to exit a junction don’t expect any cars turning into
the junction to indicate.
Traffic lights seem to mean
something different to the Spanish driver. In the uk amber generally means
stop. In Spain it doesn’t really mean anything. Most Spanish drivers will
never stop on an amber light. This means that if you stop, the chances
of being hit from behind are quite high. Always check your rear view mirror
before stopping on amber. It isn’t unusual to see three or four drivers
going through on red.
Roundabouts are a source
of confusion for many Spanish motorists. Being a relatively new concept,
the idea of giving way has never really taken off and it isn’t unusual
for drivers to drive straight on to a roundabout regardless of whether
anything is coming. In England this would almost certainly lead to road
rage but in Spain, because of the lack of understanding of roundabouts,
the driver who is already on the roundabout will have doubts about whether
he is in the right and will often stop to let the other driver on.
Zebra crossings unless painted
blue and white are meaningless in Spain. If you stop at a zebra crossing,
the waiting pedestrian will look genuinely shocked and confused.
There are other peculiarities
about driving in Spain which I don’t have the time to go into here like
half roundabouts, parking, horn sounding and quite a few others. Don’t
let any of these things put you off driving here. After a few days, you
too will be driving like a Spaniard. It’s great fun
About the Author:
Peter Brassey - http://www.apartrent.co.uk
|
