Driving

In a foreign country things are different, you know, foreign, this includes driving.

We have a little Fiat Punta that has been perfectly fine even without third gear. It has taken us many miles and doesn’t use much gas so we have been traveling around getting used to a different way of doing things.

Very few STOP signs in Finland, mostly just circles and Finnish drivers move fast.  We seem to be the holdup at most intersections as we try to decide which way we were supposed to go and if we are allowed to go there.

The bike/pedestrian lanes are so large we have almost driven on them a time or two.  Luckily we normally head out after rush hour and are back to the bnb before folks get out of work.  We’ve not been caught making quick u-turns at the bike paths.

There are also what Larry calls road mountains to slow you down around schools and busy intersections. These speed bumps will wear out your shocks in a minute if you hit them at high speeds.  There is always a sign to warn you that your head is about to hit the roof of your car!

Gas is expensive, cars are small.

The hardest thing to adjust to has been the idea that folks coming from a road on the right have the right of way. This means that one must look to see if the person coming from the right has a yield sign.  If he has that sign he must wait for you, if he doesn’t have a yield sign then he goes first.  In a country where just about everything makes perfectly good sense the idea that while driving in the city you have to watch for bikes, pedestrians as well as the road signs in front of cars coming from the right is just absolutely wrong. Good thing is that many roads are clearly marked as having the right of way so you don’t have to slow down at every intersection.