My Romania > Killing Batteries » Sibiu, Romania - European Capital of Culture

[Killing Batteries] Certainly, efforts are being made (like in Sibiu, and in Bucharest sector 1 / city centre), but I can only give you one good advice: have eyes in the back of your head and be vigilant, very vigilant. Never assume that a driver is actually going to stop for a red sign or is looking out for pedestrians or cyclists, because that’s simply not the case.

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[Comments for Killing Batteries] Killing Batteries » On driving in Romania: Until recently, it wasn’t uncommon for drivers in Romania to acquire their license with a small bribe, a bottle of cognac and a wink, rather than training and testing.  Seeing their driving skills, I often wonder if anyone was trained. There isn’t a single driver in Romania who has any sense of their own mortality.  All driving is done at a frenetic, almost maniacal pace, even just to go to church.  Though the speed limit on the motorways is 100-110KPH, anyone going slower than 130 draws the ire of all but the horse-drawn carts and the older, ailing Dacias (like mine).  Even a few seconds behind a slower car is enough to drive a Romanian driver into a frothing rage.  With the horn blaring, high-beams flashing and middle finger at high salute, they will execute violent, high-risk passes on blind curves in bad weather, coming within inches of clipping other cars, horse carts and people (Romanians have this strange compulsion to walk in the road, even in the city where sidewalks are plentiful) in order to get past you and your sorry excuse for a car.  Essentially, the mentality of the Romanian driver is this:  If you’re not the fastest vehicle on the road, you’re not really trying.

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