Is Driving Different in Spain?

Driving and parking in Spain

You would think that driving would be similar all over the world but it isn’t.  You will know this if you have been to Paris or London or India.   The culture seems to impact the driving.  Spain is renowned for being hot headed and passionate in many ways and also the manana culture where nothing happens quickly.  So two sides of the same coin with little moderation – I would say the driving and parking is similar…

Motorway Driving

My comparison comes from the UK so please adjust to suit your home country.  Driving in the UK is essentially one long queue.  Especially at rush hour but also on the motorway.  You may hop up the queue a little faster than others but it is one moving (hopefully) traffic jam.  People generally take care and give other cars some space.

Here in Spain there is a lot of zooming – 30+ kmh faster than the speed limit.  Traffic is often light so you may check your mirror to see if there is anything coming in preparation for an overtake, put your indicator on and then as you check before pulling out there is a car zooming toward you.

We tend to only have 2 lanes on the motorways so no middle lane driving.   Other than those who zoom way faster than everyone else people do tend to pull back into the slow lane.

I find motorway driving in Spain easier than in the UK.

Motorway exit numbers do not run 1,2,3 etc.  They will be in order but there are often gaps.  So exit 1 may be followed by exit 4 then 9.  

Country road driving

Roads from town to town are generally excellent and pothole free.  Some of the country roads turn into gravel or dirt tracks and driving on ramblas (rain run off valleys, some people call them dry river beds) is really common.  You absolutely can drive on ramblas in an ordinary car with no bother.   We have had a Peugeot 307 and now a Skoda Rapid and drive on a lot of ramblas.  We have to cross or drive up one to get to and from  home..

Ramblas do flood but not often.  If someone tells you that a rambla is flowing, the best advice is to get off or home asap.  The water usually subsides within 24 hours and the local council will soon send a tractor/excavator out to smooth the surface.

Even when country roads have white lines or dashes in the middle people like to straght line corners, even if they cannot see whether anything is coming.  

Parking

Outside cities and tourist hotspots parking is generally plentiful and free.  In 5+ years of living here I have only paid for parking twice, once in Almeria city and once in the narrow streets of Baza.  However, what we don’t have much of, at least in these parts, are marked up carparks.  There are many tarmaced or gravel areas customarily used for parking but no wardens, no marked spaces and definitely no fines.

People generally park wherever they can.  Little regard is taken for other road users and it is common to see cars parked: around roundabouts, half in and half out of junctions, across zebra crossings, double parked on the edge of a parking bay (often vacant).  Anywhere at all.  Rather than get irritated it is usually best to chuckle to yourself and skirt around them.  Please do send in your pictures of the “best” parking you have seen.

Peculiar junctions

We have some odd looking junctions.  However I think most countries have their own style so going elsewhere just does look odd.  In Spain there is generally plenty of space so motorway cloverleaf junctions can be enormous and quite complex.  With Google and other sat nav systems these are generally easily navigated.

Junctions onto major roads often have a central sliproad type of affair too.   These do come in very handy as you only need to cross one lane of traffic at a time rather than waiting for traffic to clear in both junctions.

Roundabouts

Roundabouts function in a similar manner to elsewhere in the world.  Give way to the left and it is the  driver who is coming onto the roundabout who must give way.  Spanish trained drivers won’t use their indicators to give you a clue as to where they are going though.  They generally only indicate as they are exiting – if at all.

Random chats and country traffic jams

Living in Spain is a very sociable thing.   People like to catch up on life’s minutiae.  This also applies when one or both are driving.  It is very common to come across 2 vehicles stopped in the road with the drivers and passengers having a chat.  Even when someone uninvolved in the conversation drives up folk will finish the chat before moving.  Manana and all that.  We now do it too.

A country traffic jam is when you find a herd of goats, sheep or even Ibex or Wild Boar crossing the road and have to wait.  There are many goat and sheep herds which roam the countryside for food together with a shepherd, you might even see a baby.