A forigner complaining A forigner complaining

Yes that's me I am afraid. Sometime driving in Denmark makes me sad. O.K. I shouldn't complain, and sorry for doing so in English, but it is probably easier for a reader to decipher than my atrocious spelling in Danish (reading is O.K.).

I shouldn't complain because when in Rome... Things are different here, the habits I have from 20 years driving MCs in London are not appropriate in Copenhagen. Driving to the front of every queue is mandatory in London.

It is much more dangerous here than in london. If spotted by car drivers, the chances are they will stop taking it out on the wife and pull out in front of the offending MC if overtaken, after all they are bigger. But it kind of saddens me when driving from London to Copenhagen. It takes me more or less the same time to get across the 40km of London as it does 10 in Copenhagen. In Belgium they are really bad drivers, but at least they try not to hit you if they see you. In Germany, if there is traffic on the motorway it is great to see how the lanes part, with the specific intention of letting motorcyclists through. And why shouldn't the German drivers get out of the way, a motorcycle will never slow a car down in Germany as it will never be in the way long enough.

In Denmark that is not true, there is competition between the two. A motorcycle will slow a car down as much as another car will, because instead of getting out of the way is obliged to take up the whole road and contribute to congestion that makes even Rome look like an efficient road system.

It saddens me that when complying to local habits I am actually put in danger by not following the so called dangerous behavior such as filtering and overtaking stationary cars, that is, as I understand legislated against in Copenhagen. In traffic the motorcycle is not as large as a car, and when it stands in a queue it cant take the whole of the road.

The so conformity behavior of motorcyclists is bait to any frustrated motorist, used to bicycles and mopeds. Somehow cars are compelled to reduce breaking distance to almost nothing when a queue approaches, in the expectation of driving to the left or the right of the two wheeled obstruction.

I guess their actions are not strictly overtaking on the inside, because the cars rarely get past the front of the motorcycle, but I rue the day when I get stopped by a policeman for overtaking on a double white line and have to explain that my position in the road was to enable me to see better through the traffic and that the car on my inside actually pulled up after me and I did not overtake it. Not sure how that will go.

Are the expectations of two wheels meaning moped also the reason I am constantly flashed when driving to the center or outside of the carriageway?

Just yesterday I had to pull over to the left and check that my back and break light were functioning as the car behind me was sure that I was blocking the road unnecessarily and should pull in to the left instead of pulling up behind the other cars at the red light.

So for me trying to oblige the local habits makes me feel as if I am putting my self at risk. This is in direct contrast to London driving, where if a car does not leave room for the MC to drive between lanes or on the outside so as they can leave the queue at the lights first, the MC rider will naturally bang on the window of the car and carefully explain explain the erroneous ways of the driver.

Once again, sorry for just turning up and complaining, but I had to get it off my chest, and I really wonder if there is anyone who sticks up for motorcyclists rights, or if I have to take on my own personal a one man campaign to explain to other motorists (probably by putting my head through their window for personal education), the lot of, and the injustices given, to the motorcyclist in Denmark.

Grr

Rant over.

Tim