Ireland from a Polish perspective

Couple of times, on my blog, I mentioned that some of us - Polish emigrants - have inferiority complex typical for emigrants, and it is usually expressed in complains. Since I came to Ireland I have been listening to Polish drivers complaining on Irish ones. In fact Irish drivers are not the best in the world, and even I have seen so many times how Irish people drive their cars. Hover, it doesn’t mean that Irish drivers are worse than Polish ones. Let me say, we are both bad drivers, but we are not the same bad drivers, actually Polish and Irish drivers are like a two pieces of jigsaw, that could create one excellent driver.

Irish drivers lack of the imagination and awareness. Sometimes they seem to drive the car while sleeping. The most terrible behaviour on the country roads is the driving the car, truck or tractor in the middle of the road, having the whit line just in the middle between the wheels. On the country roads that bend like a snake it is very dangerous, especially when many Irish people drive fast new cars (consumption in Ireland is very high - typical for the society that used to be poor), so there is a lot of accidents. The next bad habit typical for Irish drivers is almost complete lack of knowledge when the indicators should be used. It is so often visible (or rather not visible) on the roundabouts. Yet another typical bad behaviour of Irish drivers is parking cars wherever they want to stop. Once - in Birr - I saw old lady who stopped her car on the junction, just before the traffic lights. She just turned off the engine, and went to the shop leaving the car on the regular strip of the street.
Those examples are quite typical and happens regularly. However Irish drivers have one feature that is not typical for Polish ones. It is a culture of friendly driving. Irish drivers let the other drivers go, do not challenge each other, do not try to prove who is the best. Many times being stock in traffic jam I saw the drivers who let go others who were leaving car parks, or driving across the main street. Being pedestrian I like very much the way how the Irish drivers treat people who are passing the street. Many times I just stopped close to the crossing zebras, thinking about something and then realising that the traffic just stopped. Usually when I come back from Ireland to Poland I have to take care about myself, especially when I am crossing the street. In Poland drivers don’t stop when somebody is closing to the zebras. Pedestrians are to wait, not the drivers. No body reduce speed if there is no body crossing. People on the pavements are not taken under consideration of the Polish drivers.  I saw many times when cars were taking over each other while driving through the crossing places. Actually Polish drivers treat driving as a challenge. The other drivers are the enemies, and one has to show them who is the best, so Polish drivers speed a lot, take over (sometimes 3 cars at the same time) etc. Polish drivers know nothing about the culture of friendly driving, so don’t expect that somebody will let you go if there is a traffic jam. No body will care about you. Living and driving in such reality  you have to be at least good driver, so we are, but comparing to the Irish drivers, we are not better at all.

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