next time you fix a hole please follow these simple instructions from every other country in the world with roads.

Before preparing the road as outlined below, section off a portion of road and set up traffic control to allow workers and work to be undisturbed by motorists.

#1. remove the fu&&ing cobble stone from below the area of the opening.

#2. dig below the cobble stone 5 cm and fill the entire area with crushed rock. no less than 5cm deep

#3. pound the rock in place with a leveler.

#4. Cover the crushed rock with a mixture of Tar and Asphalt while it is heated and in a liquid / maluable state. (Maluable means, you can squish it around easy)

#5. Make sure that you have calculated the rating of the road (30 Tons for all romanian roads regardless of their true rating) and divide that by a factor of 500 to the power of 1/8th to compensate for structural reinforcement that is how many centimeters of asphalt you HAVE TO use for the hole to be covered for more than 3 hours.

#6 DONT ALLOW ANYONE TO DRIVE ON THE FUCKEN THING FOR AT LEAST 1 HOUR for every 10 degrees it is outside, example if it is 20 degrees outside, you should leave the asphalt to set for 2 hours.

Hope these tips were easy enough to read.

My top ten tips for driving in Romania are as follows:-

1) Ensure your vehicle is in peak physical shape. The tyres, suspension, cooling system and brakes all have a hard time. Check you have a spare tyre and the jack & brace is present.

2) If hiring a car in the winter, for the modest additional charge snow chains are worth having with you, just in case. We hired a Dacia Logan at Christmas 2007 and extensively used the chains when the whole country was covered in deep snow (even the capitals airport was closed for 24 hours).

3) Know the speed limits and observe them, even if everyone else doesn’t. In particular, be careful when driving through long sprawly villages where Police often lurk at the entrance or exit with radars. The lack of speed signs makes it hard to know when a national speed limit changes to 50 or 70 Kp/h.

4) If you can’t see the road ahead is clear don’t risk overtaking. Too many people take silly risks just to save a few minutes.

5) If you need to cross from the west to the east, or are overlanding to Bulgaria and beyond, the ring road (marked “CB” on maps) around Bucharest is well worth taking. Yes, it is very bumpy and has subsided due to heavy trucks, but you avoid the crazinesss of driving through the centre of Bucharest.

6) Fuel stations offer all types of fuel and even LPG is not hard to find. Most stations accept credit cards, howevr, it’s worth having some cash just in case. Diesel is chaeper in Romania than most of Europe, including Hungary. The price of Romanian diesel is about £0.90-£0.95 per litre, against approx. £0.97-£1.00 in Hungary. It is worth filling cans/tanks if you’re heading back to Western Europe.

7) The drink drive limit is ZERO and this is generally respected by most driving members of the public.

8) If you plan to explore off the beaten track I wholeheartedly recommend the DIMAP 1:250,000 Road Atlas. Dimap are Hungarian cartographers who produce accurate and clear mapping. You can buy from their website. In the UK, the same mapping is sold in a Road Atlas published by Berndt & Freytag (sourced from Stanfords in London).

9) When you drive in Romania you needd to be focussed at all times and drive in a defensive manner ie. maintain adequate stopping distances, indicate in good time, select the appropriate lane early, be patient and take special care at junctions

10) If you have time and a good map, the smaller roads are highly recommended. You’ll not only lose the transcontinental trucks in your rear view mirror, but will start to slow down and enjoy the fabulous rural scenery.

Yes, driving in Romania is challenging, however, it is also very rewarding and in the main, the people are warmhearted, friendly and generous, especially towards foreigners (Hungarians and Russians excepetd!).

If you can learn a little Romanian it will stand you in good stead, otherwise, marry a Romanian as I did!

Funnily enough, we’re driving to Romania in a ’94 Hymer motorhome next week.

Drum Bun!

There are some things I object to:
1… romanians are better drivers then what I’ve seen in Canada or Austria (2 countries that I know a bit better)
NOT driving accordingly to the rules doesn’t make you a bad driver, although you may be in a hurry (95%) or plain stupid (5%). Now the reason I consider 95% of romanians driving like that are in a hurry is because our infrastructure is just the basic 70′ roads … in the US of EU when you need to make a 300km trip you know you’ll be there in 3 hours… in romania this takes a bit over 4 and a half WITH speeding.
so this is the first and foremost important rule about driving in romania:
EXPECT ! everyone to be in a hurry and overtake you even if it seems physically impossible ! it’s a jungle, survival of the fittest… if you know you’re a lame slow driver, don’t bother !!! visit some other place, we don’t want you clogging up the roads over here !
now once you are settled with this rule and fully understand it you may also want to consider some other stuff:
2nd don’t get intimidated if a cop stops you, if he starts making shi|t up ask to go with him to the station, call someone who can properly translate for you… hell you could even try threatening the guy that you’ll call a news station to report his actions… DON’T let yourself get intimidated, it’s not about the law, it’s about who has the biggest bal|s, this thing still lingers even after 20 years of capitalism.
3rd rule … if you have to drive during the night you should be careful about youngs doing road races (yes, just like in the movies… I used to do it myself, 200km/h in the city was my record, I’m not joking). if you find yourself in the middle of such an event try to let them go even if they may be rude to you.
4 … winter means mayham in romania, most of the roads aren’t properly marked and if they are covered with snow or ice they are potencial deathtraps, especially if you hit a pothole, so beeing extra careful during winters would be advised

now what I have to say about the old Dacia 1310… well I had one too, after I got my license, I drove it for almost 2 years between 2005 and 2007 and I have to say that it shaped me into a pretty good driver, I managed to get unharmed out of a couple of pretty gruesome stuff (winter, speeding, others speeding) and all in all it taught me how to react to certain situations. now it’s 2009, almost 2010 and most of those cars have been taken off the streets, including mine :(

also I would like to add something about what some romanians commented here, those that pointed out in which ways west and cetral romania is better… that’s just a preconception some romanians have, they like to think they are more civilised and so on then people from Bucuresti or… god forbid Moldova, but it really isn’t true…if we look at it statistically, on the roads, more deaths occur in the western part of romania then the rest…in other words, don’t worry ! it’s pretty damn dangerous anywhere on the road, in romania :D

yes, almost forgot, when walking, in romania, you’d better be more alert then an airport air traffic controler !!! there is no telling when someone might zoom over you even on the sidewalk, and also NEVER !!! cross the street without checking, even if you have a green light ;)

so… all that beeing said, I wish you all the best when visiting romania !