European Countries with the Most Reckless Drivers

it is interesting how they measure reckless - not necessarily driving behaviour such as speeding or cutting across lanes but rather drinking, seatbelts, phones, etc.

No Belgium (7) or Netherlands or Luxembourg (8) in the top 5? Huh?

I am a bit surprised by these results. I have driven in 7 of these countries and didn't expect countries like Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Czech Republic to be included in this list.

My perception of driving in Europe (some of the driving was over 35 years ago, when I lived in Germany, was as follows:
1) Germans can be a bit aggressive about driving but always seem to follow the traffic laws. I never saw a difference between Germans and Austrians, expect of course that Austria doesn't all unlimited speeds on its autobahns.
2) Italians seemed more likely to break the traffic rules; I remember times seeing them driving on sidewalks of just not strictly following the rules.
3) Found the British to be very polite and not aggressive in their driving, which was helpful, since I was driving on the left and not used to that.

As far as what travelers should know about driving. I would advice them to be more cautious than normal. Many European countries love to have traffic cameras that can catch you driving too fast or not wearing your seat belt. I got a speeding ticket in England going 35mph in a 30mph zone. Cost was 40 GBP. I was decelerating due to entering a small village. In the USA most police won't even stop you if you are only going 5mph over the speed limit.

Also, in places like Italy, there are many restrictions on entering some of these old cities with little room for cars. Only pre-approved drivers can enter these places. Fines can be severe.
Also, careful not to drive in designated bus lanes.

If driving in Germany, stay in the right lane, if you are not going too fast. German law requires you to yield to faster vehicles by moving to the right.

Its as much a social ranking as anything, or the number of accidents per 1000 or something similar would have been included.

I just got back from Montenegro where the roads are treated a little like how in the west a crowded sidewalk might be treated. Weave, right or left side, or up the middle around the others doing the same thing in the opposite direction and then work your way areund the accident about ever 10km after taking a good long look. But apparently its safer than Serbia.

I'm all for people getting out and exploring the country, but I have to admit, some of the things I read on here about drivers from North America in the UK really scare me. Driving on the left seems to really throw a lot of people and it ends up with damage to the car. There was quite a lengthy thread the other day about how shredding two tyres had inconvenienced the OP. I didn't want to discourage them from getting back in the saddle and driving in Scotland again, but to be honest, stuff like that really make me wonder how safe it is on average coming with US or Canadian driving standards and habits. What got to me a bit was the inability to put their hands up to bad driving and blame "the roads", the rental company etc. Also, "I got a flat tire in the Highlands" seemed to be parlance for "I left a trail of shredded rubber down the road because I skelped a wheel or two off an immovable object at some pace". :)

There's a couple of other instances that have been mentioned on here that really freaked me out, but I don't want to labour the point in this post.

GerryM

I've posted that we had a flat tire in the Scottish Highlands a couple years ago. The tire was definitely not shredded and we weren't driving reckless. It wasn't until the tire was taken off the car that the shop could find the problem.

But, I agree with you that the poster with 2 flat tires in 1 trip makes you wonder of their driving abilities.

I can understand that people in the UK don't speed because the roads are too bumpy nowadays. You have to limit your speed otherwise you can't keep your car in one piece.

I've posted that we had a flat tire in the Scottish Highlands a couple years ago. The tire was definitely not shredded and we weren't driving reckless

Apologies for lumping you in with the OP in that thread. I had assumed you suffered much the same fate. I definitely didn't assume anyone was driving wilfully recklessly which I know is the title of this thread. I doubt anyone from here would be doing that.

It's a way different driving culture in The UK. It takes some adjustment to drive in that culture if you're coming from North America.

There's a lot more give and take with other drivers I feel and you have to get used to that.

Quite a lot of the roads are narrower, and you need to get used to the width of your car on the left to make sure you don't whack the kerb or a ditch when you're dealing with traffic coming the other way. I talked about it the other thread, but slowing down is a better strategy than to take a plunge to the left to avoid oncoming traffic. It's a lot easier to place your car in the lane somewhere tight if you're on the brakes or have slowed down already.

I've never driven in North America, but from what I know of it, you need to be a lot more on top of your observations in The UK. Keeping a much closer eye on what's going on around you, both as far as you can ahead and in your mirrors.

The "first rule of the road" in The UK is KEEP LEFT, but not so far left that you shred your tyres on jaggy things :)

Speaking to an American

it's a way different driving culture in The UK

but

I've never driven in North America,

Too funny.

We choose to not drive in Europe when we travel and rely on public transportation which is extensive and fabulous compared to our part of the world where the population density and size can’t support a similar network. My home town has too many impatient and speed crazy drivers. We are currently in the UK on our 10th+ trip and are very much enjoying the politeness of drivers!

GerryM, thanks, no offense taken. I was just pointing out that sometimes a flat tire is just that, a flat tire.

And I agree with you that the driving culture is very different in the UK and the US.

The metrics are: Road Fatalities (rate per million inhabitants), and percentages of drivers who reported driving after drinking alcohol, exceeding speed limits on motorways/freeways, driving while sleepy, using hand-held phones while driving, and driving without wearing seatbelts.

This ”study” seems pretty flawed. The road fatalities metric is factual. All the other metrics are self-reported. If they had used official metrics like speeding citations and convictions for drunk driving, it might be different.

I find it really hard to believe that drivers in Sweden are ranked as more reckless than drivers in Italy when Sweden has the lowest number of road fatalities of the European countries. I felt very safe crossing the street in Stockholm; I can’t say the same about Rome or Naples.

Russia...

Based on my experience with taxi drivers, I vote for Poland.

1. I thought Naples alone would raise Italy to the top of the list.
   Admittedly, I haven't driven in Italy yet but taking a cab in Naples or even crossing the street was like a real life version of Disneyland's Mr Toad's Wild Ride.

2. I've driven in England, Scotland and France and all have me some
   unique challenges that I don't have at home. But driving on the left
   wasn't one of them. I thought it was fairly easy to get used to.
   
   One thing that threw me off is that at home a yellow line separates
   traffic going in opposite directions and the white line separates
   lanes going in the same direction. This caught me by surprise in
   Inverness when I assumed I was on a one-way street. Luckily I was
   in the correct lane but was looking to move over.

   The narrowness of some rural roads is something I'm also not used
   to. One track roads on Mull, or narrow two-way roads in the
   Dordogne region in France had me nervous at times when the roads are
   hilly and twisty and I can't see far in front of me.

3. Study up before you get there. Each country has its own signs,
   lines on the road and courtesies. I especially noticed on Mull who
   had studied in advance and who hasn't.

I've found driving in France to be more fraught than driving in Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, Ireland, Scotland or England. Nonetheless we're planning to drive for almost 4 months in France this summer.

Maybe I should have my head examined.

This is self reported, so in part it’s measuring self perception rather than hard facts. Does a driver perceive themselves as reckless or not? In some places a degree of recklessness might be a desirable quality, with drivers therefore more likely to admit to a bit of bad behaviour.

In the UK there are heavy sanctions for transgressions like using a mobile phone so I think it would be quite unlikely for anyone to admit doing it, even in an anonymous survey.

Wow, a lot of impressions here. Interesting.

Some of my impressions.

Somehow a running gag is that Rome and Paris are often described as traffic outlaw zones when Europeans talk about driving in Europe. I have only been to Paris and well ya, little bit unsorted on the large places and some opportunistic drivers - but OK.

In Germany I perceive a difference between the larger cities such as Frankfurt or Hamburg (more aggressive) and driving in the smaller cities such as Bamberg, Rendsburg, Wismar or Schwerin which seem like the country-side much more relaxed and patient. I did not mention Berlin because it seems to have a lot of traffic although the car density is by far the lowest in Germany. And of course the drivers from around Berlin needs to be counted on top.

In total Germany's North has less people than the South, so except the summer holidays the situation is more relaxed. Most often I use A24 and A14 which are very often free and widely unlimited. Traffic jams are a problem in Germany - especially in summer month and around the holidays people spend the most time in traffic jams (article with concrete numbers from 2024).

Of course we have drivers from our neighboring countries on German streets and most of them drive accurately, e. g. drivers from Poland, the Netherlands or Belgium. People from the Nordics often drive very relaxed but from there we have some Autobahn tourists who see our freeways as race track. This trend from 2000s / 2010s seems to be interrupted in the last years. The over-average technical quality of buses and trucks from Eastern Europe are still a problem which is now also moving more and more to Poland - their standards and checks improved significantly.

Since the speeding fines and checks were increased the numbers of violations feel going down. Ignoring red-light and other traffic rules is a real problem in cities, esp. with high ratios of e-scooters and bicycle users.

A final tip for travelers: this brochure of ADAC gives you an overview of German street signs in German language. I recommend DeepL for translation.

From my experience, the further south you go towards the Med the worse the driving becomes. The driving in the south of France is far worse than that in the north. Italy and Greece is often bad along with parts of Spain however I've noticed the islands to be much calmer to drive on compared to the mainland, I actually find driving in Mallorca to be quite pleasurable.

I've had no issues in Germany, drivers tend to follow the rules and everything is orderly and polite. I loved driving through the Black Forest region where traffic was fairly light. My only issue in Poland was a particularly exuberant taxi driver and another from Afghanistan who was more interested in talking to me instead of watching the road.

Austria, Estonia, Latvia, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Belgium were all fine. Romania, Hungary, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Montenegro and Turkey were a bit more chaotic.

this brochure of ADAC gives you an overview of German street signs in German language.

the linked brochure didn't have descriptions of signage, rather the short abbreviations for registration cities.

Well, there are a few European countries that don’t seem to be included, but maybe there’s no data to compare. If it had merely designated Riga, I would agree - after 13 instances of meeting a car blatantly coming at me in my lane while passing a car in theirs (such that I was forced to move to the shoulder) in a duration of 30 minutes while driving in. But elsewhere I drove in Latvia was fine.

My experience driving in Europe is that the most reckless driving is found in Malta. As chaotic as Italy, with the added wrinkle of left hand traffic and lots of British style roundabouts thrown in.
Italians all drive as if they have an appointment with God.

As someone who lives in Germany I hate going back to the US. I like driving in Europe, where the large majority of the people on the road follow the laws to a point of obsession vs. the USA where everyone thinks that it's okay to do whatever they want as long as they don't get caught.

I also like knowing that all the vehicles on the road are inspected for safety annually, unlike in the US where as long as it can move people will attempt to travel. You can travel hundreds of miles in the EU without seeing a car that's broken down. And you never see cars that have parts missing, or are rusted out, or even with burnt out lights.

Driving in Europe is a privilege. You have to pay for driving lessons, you pay a much heavier insurance rate, and you have to maintain your vehicle. And if you fail to follow the law you can lose your driving rights, and your car, permanently. The US could use a lot of that.

I driven over 2 million miles on my cars in the USA, in all 50 states, and yes, some are worse than others. But a couple million cameras, law enforcement that actually enforced driving regulations, a legal system that took poor drivers off the roads, a system that ensured vehicles were safe to drive; those are things that it wouldn't hurt the USA to try.

As someone who lives in Germany I hate going back to the US. I like
driving in Europe

So Germans drive like Romanians, who drive like the Spanish who drive like Albanians? Worse yet, I just spent a few days driving around Montenegro and it was sheer chaos. So all Europeans drive the same? Thats not enjoyable.

the USA where everyone thinks that it's okay to do whatever they want
as long as they don't get caught.

I would have to ask a few in the S.F. Bay Area how their driving compares to those living in Biloxi, Mississippi?

Has anyone noticed an uptick in reckless driving in Europe post pandemic? At least where I live in Western Washington State the number of aggressive, multi-tasking drivers seems to have skyrocketed since 2020. I'm just curious if the same phenomena has occurred elsewhere in the world.

Correction of link to German road signs.
https://assets.adac.de/image/upload/v1741011782/ADAC-eV/KOR/Text/PDF/verkehrszeichen-adac-bro_gf82m1.pdf

Thanks for info, Nigel.

btw: sign 274 (speed limits) is valid for the whole vehicle, not per axis of the vehicle. ;-)

I've seen most of those over the years - but I am sure I have never seen 277.1 or 394.

Obviously need to travel more.

@Nigel,

Obviously need to travel more.

Isn’t that pretty much the answer to everything? Lololol.

I like to add a road sign from Norway (link to photo). Very successful sign or did anybody hear about traffic accidents with Norwegian trolls?

It stands at the road which approaches Trollstigen from the North.

uh oh

I like to add a road sign from Norway (link to photo). Very successful
sign or did anybody hear about traffic accidents with Norwegian
trolls?

Very few people have, and as anyone that has seen this movie knows, there is a reason for that. The government does a pretty good job of covering up troll-related incidents.

I've owned a lot of Saabs in the past, and a popular sticker for your bumper was "Made in Trollhättan By Trolls". It was said that the early 900s made by Valmet at Uusikaupunki, Finland (you can tell by the VIN) were the best Saabs ever, but all mine came from Trollhättan if I remember correctly.

My impression is btw. that reckless driving is down, and that drivers are better hehaved. As kids we once travelled to Italy in our new family car, and my dad told me that he could feel the eyes of all the other drivers on him: Look, there is a car without dents and scratches. Lets fix that!. Paris was notoreously chaotic too, and as the freeway network was not yet that well developed as it is now you could not really avoid it...

Nowadays traffic is seriously more civilised in Paris. Cars even stop for pedestrians. (and I noticed they also do that in Italy). Better driver training is one thing, and another thing is politics. Paris has successfully pursued a policy of reducing traffic in general;, and encouraging cycling for example. And most countries now have laws on the book that always hold the car driver liable in an accident involving a pedestrian or cyclist.

High speeds, poor, narrow roads and congestion do not necessarily imply recklessness. Recklessness is passing when there is no room for it, or taking a risk on a pass of numerous cars knowing full well that someone will need to brake to let you back in or to avoid colliding with you. That kind of follow me if you can style of driving is a highlight of any driving experience in Poland. In part this is due to the high traffic, mediocre roads and exuberant devil may care style that you have to see to believe. I would gladly drive in Milan before once again driving to Kwidzyn from Szczecin. Poland needs to be at or near the top of this list.....without question.

In Sicily I remember stopping for a railroad crossing, with the lights flashing red, and the barriers coming down, and being overtaken by one car after another, darting over the crossing between the barriers as if there was nothing to worry about.

Driving as if you have an appointment with God...

“ Has anyone noticed an uptick in reckless driving in Europe post pandemic?”

Interesting question, and yes, in London certainly, drivers do seem to be more erratic and crazy than before Covid. Just yesterday a driver in the right lane pulled out just before the traffic light turned green and turned LEFT across the middle and left lanes. No traffic cops around, of course.

Has anyone noticed an uptick in reckless driving in Europe post
pandemic?

No. If there has been an increase it's small enough that I haven't noticed it.