Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Driving in Brussels

I think one of the most telling characteristics of any place is  the answer to the question "what's it like to drive there?"

Brussels is one of the most densely populated cities in Europe.  Belgium as a country has more than 860 people per square mile.  Add to that the street grid that is not only East/West and North/South, but diagonal streets on every corner.  There are NO stop signs in Belgium.  Instead they rely on the rule that any auto entering the street from the right has right-of-way.  This holds true for dirt roads entering from fields, country lanes and regular streets.  I thought I understood this until I discovered that the "priority right" as it is called, also holds true even if the car entering from the right hand side is turning left.

Likewise they use traffic circles instead of red lights at intersections.  These are not so bad, unless they are too small to accommodate the amount of traffic.  You basically yield when entering the round-about...but not always.  I have a round-about near my house where anyone entering from the right thinks they have priority over those already on the round-about.

All this is confusing enough, except the streets themselves are not generally wide boulevards, but narrow streets barely wide enough for two cars to pass.  And they often weave among obstacles, meandering through the city like an afterthought.  If you are driving on a two lane road there may only be a single lane ahead, or if you think you are on a wide single lane street, you will find people driving beside you - there are no lines! How do you know?

So with the prevalence of priority right you would think you can make right hand turns easily?  Nah!  If you are stopped at a red light, you may NOT turn right on red AND there is probably a bus lane to your right where you are not allowed to drive

Left hand turns are another cluster.  Very seldom are there left hand turn lanes, if they exists there are even fewer left hand turn signals.  What happens is that anyone wishing to make a left crowds into the intersection, sometimes going around the back of cars from the other direction turning left.  When the light turns red, then all those who were able to fit into the intersection can make their left hand turn.

Driving 3 miles in the city can take anywhere from 20 to 40 minutes on a good day.  It once took me an hour and a half.  You must yield to all pedestrian, bicyclers, even the people driving "hover rounds" on the streets...you never know what will jump out in front of you next.

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