I wonder why ?: More Britons target foreign move

[snaw]

You seem to be qualified to speak on everything snaw. Having come from a working class background you are therefore the voice of the poor. Having lived abroad yourself "you should know". Are you also an expert on masturbation?

What, unlike your good self? That's a bit rich. Pot kettle black and all that.

Easy to take it out of context if you want, but the context was a conversation about why people leave the UK. Given I have, and spent a number of years in the countries which are the most popular destinations, then yeah I think I might know a bit more about it than your average poster on this board.

And yes, given I come from a schemie background, with family still in it, I think I might have more of an insight into that world than most other posters on this board.

I do admit to copping one off now and then, but in that case I don't think I've got any more expertise than many of my fellow posters, but I'll bow to your superior expertise in this area - I'm sure no one can outdo an IT recruitment consultant in his natural territory.

[Mordac]

How come we have the safest roads in Europe, then?

Because most of the time you can't go fast enough to crash.

[sasguru]

Maths never was my strong point

Opinions are worthless without evidence.
I think I'd like to leave the country due to the increasing lack of rigour the education system is producing

[DimPrawn]

It's hard to kill yourself when the roads are either gridlocked or crawling at 15 mph.

However, I'd like to see the number of stats for those injured and for number of claims due to accidents that do not result in death.

[BlasterBates]

I haven't lived in the UK for years, but when I come home for visits it hardly appears to have changed. The thing is people always moan, I remember in 70's and 80's the country was going to the dogs, then in the 90's there was 3 million unemployed, but things were going to get better, then in May 1997 everyting was perfect on one weekend, then there was an election, and it went downhill again. So it appears that the good old days in the Uk was restricted to a couple of days in the spring of 1997.

[hyperD]

How come we have the safest roads in Europe, then?

Sweden, Britain and the Netherlands had the safest roads in Europe, essentially because they had the best seat belt-wearing rates, the lowest drink-drive rates and because traffic laws were vigorously enforced.

However, this has been increasing over the last few years which probably explains why the Government's preferred supplier of propaganda, the ONS, hasn't given and stats since 2001. And Europe has been proactive in reducing road deaths in the last few years so some more up to date stats would be interesting.

The lane discipline on Europe's roads is much better behaved than the UK; in EU most people overtake and then move back again and no-one sees this as a problem. In the UK, it's hog the middle lane time or sit in the outside and never look in your mirrors, and for heavens sake, the UK road driver's mantra: don't let anyone overtake you.

My reply was hinting at the quality of driving in Europe vs the UK.

[hyperD]

http://www.abd.org.uk/safest_roads.htm

This is a non-govt body, but I think you'll find the same whichever source you look at. Deaths are well recorded and hard to fiddle as the stats come from the death reason on the certificate.

Check the small print:

Source: www.eurorap.org. Based on the most recent 3 years worth of data up to 2000.

[bobhope]

To be fair, my experience is that driving is safer in the UK. Drivers in Europe seem to have no concept that tailgating 2 metres behind somebody at 120kph is not the safest way to drive. Of course, not being able to go above 15mph in the UK helps.

[VectraMan]

The lane discipline on Europe's roads is much better behaved than the UK; in EU most people overtake and then move back again and no-one sees this as a problem. In the UK, it's hog the middle lane time or sit in the outside and never look in your mirrors, and for heavens sake, the UK road driver's mantra: don't let anyone overtake you.

My reply was hinting at the quality of driving in Europe vs the UK.

It's true, but then people also drive much closer in Europe and generally much more agressively. I think the overall standard of driving is much better in the UK, but lane discipline is a major issue. Perhaps we really are too polite? Hog the outside lane in France or Italy and you'll have someone in a knackered old car driving two feet behind, with one wheel on the grass verge indicating, flashing their lights and beeping their horn. Brits just queue up like lemmings.

Grass is always greener?

[Pondlife]

It's true, but then people also drive much closer in Europe and generally much more agressively. I think the overall standard of driving is much better in the UK, but lane discipline is a major issue. Perhaps we really are too polite? Hog the outside lane in France or Italy and you'll have someone in a knackered old car driving two feet behind, with one wheel on the grass verge indicating, flashing their lights and beeping their horn. Brits just queue up like lemmings.

Grass is always greener?

IIRC in France you re legally required to indicate whilst overtaking whereas in Germany diving behind someone with your indicator on could be classed as aggressive driving.