Is Driving in Sweden Stressful? (I don’t think so!) Posted by Transparent Language on Sep 15, 2009 in Culture
After reading the blog post about buying a car in Sweden, one of the readers (who also happens to be my good friend) sent me an email ranting about how frustrated and stressed she is when it comes to driving in Sweden. I emailed her back saying that she had no clue what she was talking about, and if she wants to see what frustration REALLY is, she should try driving in Italy or Greece. And for the record, I love both Italy and Greece, it’s just that I’d rather gnaw my leg off than drive there.
Sweden is a shockingly civilized country when it comes to driving culture and behavior on the roads. Of course, as in all other places, there are always possibilities of running into (or rather, colliding with) some jerk with a bad case of road rage, but personally, I must say that such incidents are rare. For the most part driving in Sweden is nothing when compared to, say, Bangkok, or Paris.
Even some of the most notorious foreign drivers I know (like ahem, ahem, the one writing this blog post), once in Sweden, they try to fit in and do their best not to stand out. They will stop at a crosswalk (or pretty much anywhere else too) as soon as any pedestrian makes even the vaguest of motions indicating the desire to cross the street. Of course, sometimes the pedestrian might be drunk and simply trying to stay upright and on the sidewalk, but still, if it looks like he/she wants to cross the road, the brakes will screech and the traffic will come to a halt.
For the most part, people in Sweden drive carefully and have good road manners. And even those who complain about driving in Stockholm or Malmö admit that such complaints wouldn’t even register on a grander, European scale.
And speaking of driving, did you know that back in the olden days, that is, before September 1967, Sweden had left-hand traffic? Yep, the switch was made on September 3, 1967, and this day is known as Dagen H in Swedish history. A.k.a. Högertrafikomläggningen – “The right-hand traffic diversion.”
The H stands for Högertrafik – right-hand traffic.
This photo was taken on Kungsgatan in Stockholm on the morning of September 3 in 1967, after the traffic switch. Fun, wasn’t it?
Now, THAT was what I would call stressful!
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Comments:
Abbe:
Who can ever complain about the traffic in Sweden???? someone who has lived in Alaska?
Congrats for the blog! keep writing! 🙂
Charles Anderson:
Based on my experience, driving in Sweden is easier and more relaxing than in many of the United States, especially Washigton. The roads are better, the traffic more sane and drivers more cooperative. If Stockholm is a problem, you should try Seattle.
Mark:
Bit silly they changed over, really. It’s obviously much safer to drive on the left.
Cornelis:
On the opposite, driving in Sweden is very relaxing. When we have visitors from Holland with us when we drive into town for shopping they sometimes think we are alone on the world. But imagine what driving would be like with a swedish population of over 170 million?
Sophie Gabriel:
It is always be safer if all can drive according to traffic rules.
Justin:
I randomly came across this. As someone who lives in a America and dates a Swede and constantly going back and forth. Driving in Sweden is so much fun and not stressful at all. 2 things you need to learn. 1. some signs. 2. roundabouts.