DRIVING ON HIGHWAYS - HIGHWAYS - REGIONAL - CITY
We will start your information by driving on roads that you will be driving now in the summer with your holidays
ENTRANCE TO THE ROAD NETWORK
ACCELERATION LANE-LEA-ERISMA
A- To clarify the characteristics of each road:
- MOTORWAY: Speed limit 130 km and has 3 traffic lanes, an EMERGENCY lane and a central elevated bridge, also has special spaces for parking
ATHENS-LAMIAS is a motorway at the points where there are green signs and an expressway where there are blue signs
- RAPID TRAFFIC Speed limit 110 km. It has 2 traffic lanes, an emergency lane and a raised bridge in the middle. Such roads are Athens-Patras and Athens-Lamia where it has blue signs.
- PROVINCIAL ROAD: Speed limit 90 km. It has 1 or 2 traffic lanes in each direction and may or may not have a central median. The signs are blue. However, it does not have an EMERGENCY lane but it does have a shoulder, which is slightly narrower than the emergency lane. (see differences below)
The road from DIONYSOS to Nea Makri is considered a provincial road and will have blue signs or e.g. the road connecting 2 towns or 2 villages in the countryside if it has blue signs and not green or black and white
- CITY HIGHWAYS: Speed limit of 70 km. It has the same specifications as the highways outside the city
Such roads exist in big cities. B.C. in ATHENS it is KIFISIAS, SIGROU, MESOGEO, PARALIAKOS, etc. and they will have blue plates.
- City streets speed limit 50 km/h Roads with 1 or 2 lanes in each direction with or without a median
These are roads that will have blue signs
B-MISCELLANEOUS between lane EMERGENCY which we meet on highways and expressways and of ERISMATOS which we meet mainly on country roads.
- Emergency lane exists to facilitate drivers who wish to change a tire or repair a mechanical breakdown. We are not allowed to drive on the LEA for any reason except for a few meters to stop to repair the damage. If we have passengers in our vehicle, we ask them to go behind the bars and not circulate inside the LEA. BEWARE there are many UNCONSCIOUS and STUPID drivers, who drive permanently inside the LEA. Place a TRIANGLE approximately 150m into the LEA and behind your vehicle. We are also not allowed to stop in the LEA to answer the mobile phone or to rest, there are special areas for this purpose. Don't forget that in LEA there are frequent emergency vehicles FIRE FIGHTING and FIRST AID
- Rest it exists for the same reason that the LEA exists (see Figure 5). ATTENTION!! the LEA and the ERISMA have a continuous left lane, so it is forbidden to drive to the right of the continuous line, Nevertheless - on the shoulder only - to facilitate traffic and especially the overtaking of other vehicles and on the condition that there is only one vehicle to the left of the shoulder (see picture 5), we can momentarily use the shoulder to overtake us and then return to the traffic lane. Be careful because agricultural machines or even small motorcycles drive very often in the countryside, although it is illegal, but they do not
The speed limits I quote are the maximum. If there are signs showing any other limits, we will follow those signs until there is a sign to remove the existing one. Since we're talking about speed limits, make sure you don't exceed 29 km/h from the maximum, because it's a misdemeanor and you'll get license plates and license plates for about 1 month, for example 130 + 29 = 159 km/h, don't exceed this number.
The KOK gives some definitions for the above roads, however we will not focus on the process of legal definitions, but we will deal with the behavior we must have in real conditions.
C- HOW WE DRIVE ON THE UPPER ROADS
First of all, let's clarify that in KOK there are only the distinctions I mentioned above. The word NATIONAL ROAD is not mentioned anywhere in the KOK. A National Highway, as we usually say, for KOK can be a Motorway- or Expressway or even a provincial road.
In picture 1 above you see a highway, which always has an acceleration lane. The acceleration lane differs from the rest of the traffic lanes by the thickness of the line and by the distance that exists from cut to cut. Notice image 2 above and image 1 below, how much thicker the line is compared to the traffic lane. The same applies to the deceleration strip in picture 3. In picture 4 you see a line that is forbidden to step on under any circumstances, unless there has been an accident. You will find the striping in image 4 at the beginning of the acceleration strip and at the end of the deceleration strip, see image 1 and 3 point 1 and 2 respectively (Enlarge the image), which means that you cannot press the specific striping at these points.
When you enter a highway, you should move in the acceleration lane, until you get the mileage of the vehicles moving in the highway (right-hand traffic lane, see also figure 1) and especially as long as the left lane delineation (that is, yours) is dotted, see figure 1.
At the point where the continuous striping begins you should have entered the immediate left lane (see figure 1 vehicle path 1). In order to have a successful and smooth entry, the speed of your vehicle should be slightly higher than the speed of the vehicle in front of which you intend to enter.
However, if there is only 1 vehicle next to you, there is no point in getting in front of it.
Therefore if the person next to you is driving at 130kph then you have to break the limit to have a successful entry otherwise it is better to wait for the person next to you to leave and continue the entry attempt.
In any case, be sure to adjust the speed so that you are not forced to stop.
In the event that there is heavy traffic (traffic jam), place the left wheel of your vehicle on the left line of the acceleration lane and after you have activated the left direction indicator, start entering step by step the immediate left lane on the condition that they will allow you to do so - give the time and space to the person next to you to react.
I'm sure some noble will let you into his lane. But be careful because the responsibility is yours
Don't forget to activate your left turn signal as soon as you enter the acceleration lane and the moment you are ready to enter the 1st right lane turn your head to cover the dark spot of your mirror
Here I would like to identify you and recommend that, if you are driving on the highway and in order to facilitate those entering from an intersection, it would be good to move to the middle lane (picture 1 Middle Lane) until you pass the intersection, so that the enterers can enter the right lane of the highway, without difficulty, and then return to the right lane of traffic. It is considered a very good circulatory treatment
Happy Travels
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