{"id":261,"date":"2009-09-15T23:59:00","date_gmt":"2009-09-16T03:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/?p=261"},"modified":"2009-09-15T23:59:00","modified_gmt":"2009-09-16T03:59:00","slug":"is-driving-in-sweden-stressful-i-dont-think-so","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/is-driving-in-sweden-stressful-i-dont-think-so\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Driving in Sweden Stressful? (I don’t think so!)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u2019s just that I\u2019d rather gnaw my leg off than drive there.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

For the most part, people in Sweden drive carefully and have good road manners. And even those who complain about driving in Stockholm<\/strong> or Malm\u00f6<\/strong> admit that such complaints wouldn\u2019t even register on a grander, European scale.<\/p>\n

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<\/strong> in Swedish history. A.k.a. H\u00f6gertrafikoml\u00e4ggningen<\/strong> – “The right-hand traffic diversion.”
\nThe H stands for H\u00f6gertrafik<\/strong> \u2013 right-hand traffic.<\/p>\n

This photo was taken on Kungsgatan<\/strong> in Stockholm<\/strong> on the morning of September 3 in 1967, after the traffic switch. Fun, wasn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Now, THAT was what I would call stressful!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

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…<\/p>\n

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