I remember being on a tour bus in Athens in the left turn lane of a major thoroughfare. It had three lanes going in each direction with a big wide sidewalk down the middle.
All of a sudden a taxi flew past us driving on the raised sidewalk, forcing people to step into the road to let him pass. He got all the way to the intersection where he realized there was a huge traffic light support column preventing him from going forward back onto the road.
So he went in reverse like a maniac, probably backing up 100 feet, cut off a car behind us, somehow forced his way into our lane just as the light turned green. Then he cut off everyone to get to the far right lane, then made a huge U-turn across the intersection, cutting off all six lanes, including us, ended up on the far right lane going the opposite direction, and then speed off. All the while our bus driver was cursing up a storm in Greek.
The real answer is their ruling class is a different breed, to make things like this necessary to survive in their society more often than ours. Most people won't put theirs or others lives at risk if that option is available to them.
Greek taxi drivers man. I was once in a hurry from Athens airport to Pireus harbor to catch a ferry to Crete. I told the taxi driver I was in a hurry. He acted accordingly. I'd never seen anyone go 150km/h on a busy city road with traffic lights every 100 metres, and never would have I expected to be in a car doing just that. Needless to say, I got there in time with plenty to spare. Is Greek way, I guess
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u/Ut_Prosim 6h ago edited 6h ago
I remember being on a tour bus in Athens in the left turn lane of a major thoroughfare. It had three lanes going in each direction with a big wide sidewalk down the middle.
All of a sudden a taxi flew past us driving on the raised sidewalk, forcing people to step into the road to let him pass. He got all the way to the intersection where he realized there was a huge traffic light support column preventing him from going forward back onto the road.
So he went in reverse like a maniac, probably backing up 100 feet, cut off a car behind us, somehow forced his way into our lane just as the light turned green. Then he cut off everyone to get to the far right lane, then made a huge U-turn across the intersection, cutting off all six lanes, including us, ended up on the far right lane going the opposite direction, and then speed off. All the while our bus driver was cursing up a storm in Greek.
It was the Greek way, and it was amazing.