Roads abroad are better than ours in almost every way, say UK drivers
Six-out-of-ten UK drivers rate foreign roads as better than at home - but our road signs are easier to understand
If you’re preparing for a jaunt overseas, take heart from research by the RAC that confirms what you probably already suspected. 62 per cent of drivers who have gone before, say that local roads elsewhere in Europe are in better condition than our own UK thoroughfares.
More surprising perhaps, is the 17 per cent of respondents who think UK roads are in a better state of repair than in neighbouring countries ‘on the continent’, and there’s a similar split when it comes to comparing motorways. According to the RAC, 57 per cent of drivers think there are fewer potholes on majour routes across La Manche, with 19 per cent giving the win to motorways here.
RAC Europe says it asked drivers to compare a range of five different aspects of driving in the UK and elsewhere in Europe, and the UK came out top on just one of them. When asked how easy road signs are to understand both here and abroad, 55 per cent reckoned there wasn’t much difference, 10 per cent said the continental Europeans do it better, but 30 per cent gave the nod to British road signs. Of course, familiarity and use of most respondents’ native language may have been factors in this.
Painted road markings were also up for driver ratings, and once again roads abroad took top marks with 37 per cent of UK drivers saying foreign versions are easier to read. 21 per cent throught UK road markings are superior, while 32 per cent said there was little difference.
The final question in the RAC survey addressed roadside litter, the scourge of many local councils in the UK who battle with fly-tippers, as well as ignorant drivers who chuck rubbish out of their car windows into hedgerows and verges. 34 per cent of the RAC’s respondents said the problem was less of an issue abroad, and only 11 per cent believed the roads over here to be more litter free.
“To hear drivers think they (roads) are significantly worse than elsewhere in Europe is shocking,” says RAC spokesman Rod Dennis. “If other countries can manage to have decent quality highways to drive on, why can’t we? It’s even more concerning from a safety perspective to learn just how many drivers think the UK’s motorways are plagued with potholes compared to the smooth surfaces of their European counterparts, as it’s these high-speed routes that carry most traffic.”
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