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Greetings from Crete: Driving a Fiat Like It's a Ferrari
Coming back to the hotel last night, we passed by a major traffic accident: a head-on collision involving several small cars. One was flipped over and crushed, and at least one other was completely destroyed. All in all, we counted six involved cars.
I've found that there are exactly three rules of the road to driving in Crete:
1) Ignore the speed limit
2) Ignore the double center line and pass at will
3) Drive off the side off the road, to allow faster (much faster) traffic to pass. Everyone straddles the right-side line or drives on the shoulder to let others pass.
Undoubtedly, the accident we came upon was caused by any combination of these three rules.
I'm reminded of a recent article saying that the deaths of most tourists were caused by traffic accidents, not heart attacks, shark bites, sucking leeches, crime, or malaria. In fact, the WHO estimates that over 1.2 million tourists are killed in traffic accidents every year, with 20-50 million injured.
You know how they say that the majority of car accidents happen within two miles of home?
Filed under: Europe, Greece, Savvy Traveler
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Justin Glow Sep 12th 2007 5:21PM
I think India follows the same three rules as well. Scary!
Brett Atkinson Sep 12th 2007 8:09PM
Driving in Bali I was told that if anyone crashed into me, it would always be my fault. The gloriously simple logic went something like this:
"If you weren't on the road, we could not have driven into you."
I still love the Balinese tho'