These vans are the most dangerous cars on long car trips to and from Romania. I've done quite a few of them and I don't think there was a single year when I wasn't either nearly pushed off the road by one who misjudged how much time it would take to overtake or where I've seen one of them upended in the ditch or in some other curious location (the one that I remember most clearly was one that had overtaken me about an hour previous that had somehow managed to cartwheel and land with the rear wheels over a pretty steep drop on top of the guardrail).
These guys should really drive at least with two drivers on those long trips if they are going to do it nearly non-stop, 3 hours of sleep really isn't enough to maintain your driving abilities, that's just playing the lottery.
The corruption (both the Hungarian and the Romanian variety) described in the article is very real, I've seen this many times up close and it is a source of much frustration with me. If not for that element Romania would have a much better chance to keep its talent and to move ahead.
Some of them have 2 drivers. They have to split the money.
And granted, this was one of the longer trips. The trip to Germany would be shorter so more doable for one person.
But yeah corruption is probably the biggest problem those countries face. It is entrenched top to bottom -- lowest traffic cop to highest government offices. And notice, how it is not that the driver necessarily has to be unsafe or break the rules, once the cop expects to be paid, he will go out of his way to make their lives extra miserable to teach them a lesson.
100 hours of solo driving in 4 days should be simply classed as 'reckless' and should result in your license being taken away before you kill a bunch of people. Especially when also transporting passengers.
There might already exist laws against this in at least one country he's traversing, but I'm sure that's just part of the risk for him and doesn't affect anything else unless he's caught which is unlikely.
I'm pretty sure they have rules for truck drivers in Germany (at least those 18 wheelers). I recall a documentary about that topic on a German TV channel. However, I think these rules don't apply to him because he is not an official driver (his business does not sound very official at least).
I strongly think that there should be very strict regulations on how much they may drive. He may not have been in an accident but the cars behind his might due to his irresponsible behavior.
That's exactly how it happens. Overtaking in blind corners with fairly big vans (these things exceed 3 tons fully loaded and they're 6.6 meters long) and then ramming their vehicle back into the lane they're overtaking if they run out of room counting on the rest of the drivers to absorb their mistake.
And if that doesn't work then too bad for you...
The first time this happened it scared the crap out of me, now I'm more prepared and I will keep a very large truck in front of me on the most risky parts of the passage, they rarely try to overtake that combination, it's just too long.
Defensive driving gets a totally different meaning on those roads.
> I strongly think that there should be very strict regulations on how much they may drive.
And how will that be enforced ... how, exactly? Short of proactive electronic monitoring in every single vehicle on the road in Europe as a prerequisite for driving anywhere at all, that is.
The entire premise of this operation is that you throw caution to the wind and save money because it's an extra ~$200 and you're making around $3/hr, if you're lucky enough to be employed.
As far as I know big trucks have meters that monitor how long you have been driving (at what speed).
While I have no idea what that costs, you should be responsible for what you are doing on the road. And if commercial driver think it is a good idea to drive 100h in just 5 days, such reckless behavior has to be stopped. If you want to save money and sacrifice your on health, that's your decision but endangering others is a no-go.
I'd also be reckless (and forbidden) to drive without working breaks even if they have worked well enough for you so far. If you don't sleep enough, your reflexes will be pretty bad and that is just as bad as not having functioning breaks.
And how much would that cost him? Maybe 200€ per trip more. The cost would not only be split among the passengers but also among his legally smuggled goods. And I think he is making enough money if he gives each passenger tobacco that he sells for a lot of money and even has someone's paycheck for half a year with him.
> As far as I know big trucks have meters that monitor how long you have been driving (at what speed).
Most freight companies have an existence and operations outside the grey market. They can be subjected to this sort of regulation. An independent guy with a van? Enforcing that will be a whole lot harder. He won't install it. Or he'll install it and disable it, or otherwise thwart its well-functioning. If you set up checkpoints to verify that the device is installed and functioning he'll detour around them, over rural highways.
And if the lawless independent guys with a van can undercut the lawful one, they'll get the business.
Depending on countries driving above a certain number of passengers means you have to have a special license. That is why he is probably carrying only so many people. If he could get by he would probably stuff some people in the trunk too.
I saw this in another one of those countries, basically after the public transportation collapsed, individual drivers would use vans and basically suppliment existing routes. Before regulations those could be very unsafe, and superoptimized for maximum number of people (very few chairs -- more standing room, chairs squeezed togethers, and so on).
"He sees it as a sport. He would like his daughter in Romania to grow up well, so that she can go to college later and live in a nice house. If he obeyed the German rules that wouldn't be possible. So he does what he must. And Germany does what it must. And Europe too. "
This article is too dramatic and generalizing too much.
Of course fewer and fewer Romanians are like this, things have changed there. And it's one of the most beautiful countries in Europe.
Romanians I know are programmers, start startups or work at Microsoft or Google, are quite hip, go to music festivals, take acid and travel around the world.
It's all a matter of perspective (and selection bias :).
A similarly biased selection of Romanians I've met in western Europe include an architect (UK) and a bank manager (Loire region of France). However, I actually spent a month cycling around Romania in 2010 and never saw any crazy vans. It was really pleasant, never had any problems, lots of educated people with perfect English, great food, wine and beer. Highlights were cycling up this - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transf%C4%83g%C4%83r%C4%83%C8%... - Brasov and Rasnov, plus the old tumble-down mansions on the backstreets of Bucharest, once known as the Paris of the East. Great country!
Those vans typically drive on the Bucharest-Pitesti-Catiulata-Sibiu-Deva-Arad-Nadlac route, outside of that you won't be seeing them but on that road they're impossible to ignore.
That's also a road on which you simply should not cycle.
Now that the M1 is open on a large part of those stretches it has gotten a lot better, there are still three dangerous segments left (along the river, up the black mountain and near Lugoj).
Yeah, Romanians do all kinds of stuff like everyone else, but none of that changes the fact that you're lucky if you're making 200-300 euros a month in Romania and that's simply not enough to live off of.
I completely agree. This is just one part / one face of Romania, and unfortunately this is how Romanians are known..
When I went to holiday last time to Spain, I figured out very quickly that I am treated much better when told to be from Hungary instead of Romania. There is a big disinclination toward Romanians in western Europe, probably because the mismatch with gypsies.
You know enough to make that generalization? Romania pop. 22m. came 13th in the 2015 Int. Math Olympiad while the UK pop. 60m. came 22nd. I mention this because there's a more interesting story among others which follows from that.
I'm pretty tired, as a romanian myself, of always pointing out how good we are at math and that NO, we're not gypsies. Something like, you know, gypsies are to Romanians what latinos are to US. Fk that! Like any nation on this earth, we have it all. From math semi-geniues, to a vast number of drunk-wife-beating-jerks.
OP was pointing out that Romanians are treated as brute work force, although there is a part of romanian imigrants that work in hospitals and IT and what not. It was not to say to Romanians are stupid or something, "like latinos".
The Romanians that try to make a spot for themselves abroad are quite frequently unfairly disadvantaged because of these perceptions, which annoys me greatly.
Romania has had at least 5% of its population emigrate in the last few decades (13% population decline since 1990). The median income in Romania is $400-$500 per month.
The parent's statement is neither offensive, nor out of line with reality. It also says absolutely nothing about the math skills of the Romanian people, rather it speaks to the inherent nature of all people to seek greater opportunity for themselves.
I read the GP post as complimentary out of admiration for their work ethic. But perhaps that's because all of the individual Romanians I work with happen to be skilled and hardworking people.
Flood of cheap grey labour from Poland started right after 1989. 10 years go Poles used ryanair or easyjet, not sweaty mini buses. Jobs also moved from legendary dishwasher to engineers and managers.
Ten years ago Poland joined the EU. The majority of people did not fly to the UK, they drove or took the bus. How many of these buses crash every year? The last major crash was around Easter in Germany.
No, hilarious is your not bothering to read the article properly. Budapest and Bucharest are each mentioned exactly once and appropriately in context.
"A Hungarian police car stops the bus shortly before Budapest, and once again demands €200"
and
" Others were back in Romania only briefly because they needed to take care of paperwork in Bucharest."
I don't understand why would anyone pay 120€ for a small van with only one sleep-deprived driver when for 115€ they can get on a regular bus with 3 drivers that rotate and respect European regulations for the number of driving hours in a day: http://www.booking.atlassib.ro/csp/onlinecardpayu/infocursep...
Just for the opportunity to transport forbidden items and the convenience of being dropped exactly at their destination?
These guys should really drive at least with two drivers on those long trips if they are going to do it nearly non-stop, 3 hours of sleep really isn't enough to maintain your driving abilities, that's just playing the lottery.
The corruption (both the Hungarian and the Romanian variety) described in the article is very real, I've seen this many times up close and it is a source of much frustration with me. If not for that element Romania would have a much better chance to keep its talent and to move ahead.