Driving mad in Mallorca

"It’s not just me who finds driving on the island increasingly tense"

Electric scooters and drivers are testing one another’s patience. | LUIS TEJIDO - LT - EFE - EFE

Humphrey CarterPalma28/10/2021 10:40

I was fortunate to have been driving motorbikes and vehicles off road under age, so passing both tests in the UK was second nature, although I did learn my highway code, something which is taught in Mallorca - but you would not know. And it’s not just me who finds driving on the island increasingly tense.

So too do my friends from the mainland, where driving standards, respect for fellow drivers and following the highway code is on par with the UK. But, now there appears to be another peril on the roads. While having to allow for the total ignorance of indicators, roundabout positioning, overtaking on the inside and people hogging the middle lane where three are available, urban drivers have to keep an eye out for electric scooter riders.

A friend of mine who has been a cabbie in Palma for many a decade told me the other day that he, and many of his colleagues, are sick and tired of the mounting number of people “moving” around the city who have no understanding of the highway code what so ever. How can they, he asked, when most of the people zooming around on electric scooters are not old enough to drive, so they have no concept at all of how to proceed.

He said that driving an eight hour shift in Palma is extremely stressful, it involves full time concentration with all eyes on and off the road but what drivers in general can’t predict is the appearance or behaviour of a scooter.