Found this on the BBC and it tickled me.... love the advice about driving round trains - do they mean trams?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A412912

No, trains. Some train lines (such as BVB, AOMC, ASD to quote but a few) have their rails installed "tram-wise" on the road.

If they actually meant driving etiquette the unofficial ZH/AG rules are:

1) Never let anybody in when you have a chance, this is a sign of inherent weakness.

2) Drive as close as possible to the preceding car, (especially on freeways), as a rule of thumb is that you shouldn't be able to see the license plate of the vehicle in front of you.

3) Don't even think about stopping at pedestrian crossings, this will confuse/irritate any people/cows/goats waiting to dodge the oncoming wheels.

4) Everyone else on the road is a "Dubel" and must have learnt to drive in a small African nation.

I'm sure that other forum users will have their own ideas to add....

Sounds very similar to the Basic rules for driving in Boston

The driving around trains bit is definitely true in the upper Valais/Vaud (Aigle comes to mind). And having recently come back from a holiday in southern Italy which included two days of driving around Naples, I must say the drivers in ZH/AG, Boston, or the rest of the western hemisphere for that matter, seem impeccably well-mannered and sedate in comparison.

-HM

Strange - the rule in Liechtenstein seems to be exactly the opposite - let everyone in from any side turning possible no matter how much it holds up traffic on the main road.

Oh. and never, ever, under any circumstances use your indicators. Actually I think they have them disabled from new here in case anyone shows weakness.

http://www.englishforum.ch/complaint...ing-rants.html

a complaint from some time ago but worth revisiting?

The drivers in my town are just plain retarded. They just make my blood boil all the time. I am used to driving in a big city with "French" drivers, so I drive "agressively", I do not mean cutting people off or anything, I always let people in from side streets and pedestrians cross, however I am just more... hmm... situationally aware. For the locals... every day is Sunday, they take their bloody sweet time to make maneouvers and drive 10 under the limit, block traffic when they have to turn and refuse to drive extra 20 meters to a roundabout, etc.

well, you're in Switzerland now, not in a French city.
Methinks the recommendation is to drive defensively, not 'aggressively'.

[quote=Rabina;139098]

3) Don't even think about stopping at pedestrian crossings, this will confuse/irritate any people/cows/goats waiting to dodge the oncoming wheels.

quote]

Really? In my experience absolutely everyone stops for pedestrians. Even people who could easily have driven across the crossing, stopped, reversed back to the other side again and still not have caused you to slow your gait to wait for them to get out of the way.

...complains the noise polluter. Live and let live ...

I've done my share of driving in various countries but I honestly have to say that CH has by far the best driving culture I've seen. People stop for pedestrians and give way.

Nothing beats motorcycling in KL during rush hour though..

Yeah, well I think swiss drivers suck on the highway - they just won't stay off the fast lane, while they do even less than 120.

That's a worldwide problem. Just watch the Swiss on the German freeways when they get a chance to push the pedal to the floor, the A5 up to Karlsruhe is a case in point as is the A81 road up to Stuttgart. Very scary.

... I am from KL and this is definitely a true fact .....

About the driving culture , I think it is Cantonal ( eg. The guys in Aargau have no idea ! ) .

In Germany things are ok, but here - it amazes me more and more ..

Maybe their minds are on something else in that case.

Oo-er, missus..!

Sorry, it's been a slow morning..

I moved to Zurich from Milan and seriously, I thought I moved to heaven.

Anyone complaining about the driving in Zurich should go to Italy for a while, you'll surely start appreciating what you have here.

If Zürich is driving heaven, the Rome is hell !

Rome was frightening, I left my car at the hotel to feel safer and took the bus... the bus almost crashed on cars 2 times on my short bus trip...

SO TRUE!
THE SWISS DRIVERS ARE THE WORSE IN THE WORLD IM SURE. THERE SIMPLY IS NO TOLLERANCE . . . . I've driven all over the world, but the swiss take the cake for sure.

Damn nice place to live tho!