/ RANT

Driving

We take public transit. That’s because driving in Switzerland is next level difficult.

Driving in North America Driving in Switzerland
Stay to the right of the center line. Stay to the right of an imaginary centerline,
while avoiding the bike lane on your right.
Keep your eyes on the road ahead. Keep your eyes on the road ahead
and down side streets on the right
in case some asshole comes barrelling out
into your lane because “Rechts vortritt”
(right has right of way).
Wait for the advanced green left turn arrow. Enter the two lane roundabout at speed
switch to the inner lane
then switch to the outer lane
and signal a right turn to target an
exit port the exact width of your car.
Stop at pedestrian crosswalks
when signals are flashing.
Negotiate by head nods, hand waves,
telepathic vibes and eye contact
whether you’ll pass in front of or behind
pedestrians crossing at a zebra stripe road marking.
Stop and wait at the train level crossing
barrier gate.
Look left and right when crossing
tram tracks and gauge whether the oncoming tram
is slow enough to be able to accelerate across
or perhaps wait for 75 meters of slow tram to pass by.
Park in an empty football-field sized parking lot.
Pay nothing.
Locate the only sliver of parking space within
two kilometers of the store or venue
and wedge your car into a space exactly
equal to the length of your car.
Pay CHF8 per hour through an app that you must
have pre-loaded on your phone and
connected to your credit card.
Travel at the “suggested” maximum speed of
100km/hr (+20/-0).
Monitor the current speed limit on your in-car
navigation system because road signage
just says the previous limit is not applicable any more
and never say what the current limit actually is
and ensure you are three to five kilometers per hour
under the limit or face fines of 10% of your salary.

Photo by Julian Hochgesang on Unsplash

derrick

Derrick

A Canadian electrical engineer living in Switzerland, developing software for over 40 years, e.g. big data for electric distribution utilities and the cloud security space, but now retired.

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