Craziest taxi driver ever... where I least expected it

Craziest taxi driver ever… where I least expected it

Published: September 20, 2013

I’m in Brussels this weekend for TravelMagic, and just landed this afternoon. It’s actually my first time visiting Brussels. I’ve passed through the airport before, but have never actually gone into the city, so I’m quite excited. My perception of Brussels was always that it’s quite civilized and “first world.”

And it absolutely is. Except for the taxi driver we had from the airport to the hotel. I’ve taken taxis where they’re supposed to be nuts, like in Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City, though they couldn’t hold a candle to this guy. The funny thing is he was an older guy that looked incredibly composed. But of the 20 minutes I was in his car, I think my eyes were closed for half the time and I was giggling uncontrollably for the other half.

As we exited the airport the speed limit was 50km/hr. How fast was he going? 140km/hr!!!!

And the concept of slowing down to turn corners was clearly unheard of to him, since we were sliding in our seats like crazy.

The best part was when we got close to the actual city. He said “sorry, Friday night, lots of traffic.” I said “oh don’t worry, not a problem at all.” He said “I make it go away.”

Huh? After about five seconds he crossed over into the tracks used by the streetcars (completely separate from the street) and drove on those at about 100km/hr. Eventually a streetcar actually came into our path, so he drove over the barrier and back onto the road.

Then we got onto a road where we didn’t have the right of way at any of the intersections, and were supposed to yield to traffic heading in the other direction. Not only did he not yield, but I don’t think he even looked whether there was traffic coming from the other direction. Well, at least till we had a near accident which was only prevented thanks to the car in the other direction slamming on its brakes and honking.

Whew… it’ll be public transportation for me for the rest of this trip!

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ralf Guest

September 22, 2013, 2:05 pm

@gene134. That rule is obsolote. You always have to yield to the right in Belgium, unless otherwise indicated. Also, depending on the infrastructure, the road is often shared between cars and streetcars. Traffic rules are not well enforced in many parts of Belgium. But if you do get caught, fines are very hefty. Personally, I just hate nearly everything in Brussels, including the traffic and driving behaviour. IMO, the city is an insult for Belgium, which is otherwise a nice country.

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gene134 Guest

September 22, 2013, 11:33 am

'Priority to the right' is indeed common in Europe, the odd thing in Belgium is/was however that if traffic coming from the right slows down/stops, it loses its priority, whereas in the rest of Europe traffic coming from the right never loses its priority. So the trick is to 'play chicken' by not slowing down and forcing the traffic coming from the right to slow down instead, so you are the one who will have priority... Don't know if they finally fixed this silly rule however

London Drivers Guest

September 22, 2013, 11:00 am

Craziest drive I've ever experienced was in Instanbul. Enjoyed your story. thanks for sharing

Miguel Guest

September 21, 2013, 7:44 am

" but IIRC Belgium actually has an odd traffic rule where traffic on the street has to yield to traffic entering from the right," That's quite common around the world, it's not exactly a Belgian idiosyncrasy.

Lisa Guest

September 20, 2013, 9:49 pm

OMG, I just had a flashback to my high school trip to Russia. The Moscow cabbie drove on the trolley tracks and cut across traffic and I was sure we were going to die. I'm not religious, but he made me consider converting just so I could cross myself.

Craziest taxi driver ever… where I least expected it

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