Re: IML: Driving an Imperial in Europe

["Hugh & Therese" <hugtrees@xxxxxxxx>]

Which Europe are we talking about?  Cars there are not under powered.  The 
same Japanese cars that do well in the USA do well in Europe.  The word 
Europe is almost meaningless here as there are so many variations.  Driving 
in Greece is not the same as driving in Belgium.

So, I used to drive larger and more powerful vehicles than Imperials in 
Scotland and sometimes northern England.  Large panel vans and ambulances 
among others.  It was fine.  They have eighteen wheeler trucks there too. 
The suggestion is that Imperials are the biggest thing on the roads in the 
USA.  This is a very odd basis for a discussion.  Too much has been made 
about the differences between roads in "Europe" and in the USA.

In my recent experience, driving in Texas is a lot freer than it is in the 
UK.  The state there is very intrusive.  There are remote cameras all over 
the place that will cause you to receive a speeding ticket by mail if they 
"catch" you on the remotest roads.  I would not say that British highways 
are built for higher speeds than Texas, plus they have more restrictive 
rules, such as no passing on the inside lane, etc, etc.  The speed limit 
which the engineers have determined to be safe is the same in both places.

The tiny little village my mother comes from on the southernmost tip of 
Ireland hosts a gathering of big American cars every year.  They are wide 
but no wider than a tractor pulling a large load of hay.  I'd love to have 
known about Imperials back then.  Maybe I even saw one but didn't know it.

I have been a professional driver on both sides of the Atlantic.  The best 
thing you can do with any idiot who insists on driving too fast on public 
roads is to let them go by and away from you.  Statistics prove that those 
who think they can drive faster than is safe on public roads are putting 
others in jeopardy and I chose to let them thin the herd away from me. 
There are also subtle but significant differences between driving styles 
between cities, such as San Antonio, Austin and Houston, the places I have 
frequented most.  There are certain rules that get bent more in one place 
than another.  You see the same in the UK.  I have not driven a right hand 
drive car on a left hand road, or vice versa, which would be a challenge 
under any circumstances, I'm sure.

Hugh 




-----------------  http://www.imperialclub.com  -----------------
This message was sent to you by the Imperial Mailing List. Please 
reply to mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx and your response will be 
shared with everyone. Private messages (and attachments) for the
Administrators should be sent to webmaster@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To UN-SUBSCRIBE, go to http://imperialclub.com/unsubscribe.htm