The world’s five worst driving countries

5x5 British drivers are, of course, the best in the world, and one of the lesser joys of travelling is to take to the road in places where The Highway Code is a concept that even Google couldn’t translate. Here are the places where I’ve found the five worst drivers.

1 Sri Lanka It’s several years since I endured the terror of being a passenger in Sri Lanka, where underpowered vehicles compete to overtake overladen vehicles on hilly two-lane roads in spaces barely large enough for a put-putting tuk tuk.

2 Russia There are a lot of reasons for Moscow’s incredible traffic jams, but somewhere above abysmal road layouts must be the Russian fear of appearing weak if you fail to assert yourself in a confrontation. Changing lanes becomes a battle of wills because no driver can conceive of letting another in front of them until their wings are within millimetres of touching, compounded by the need to repeat this battle as you cross five crowded lanes in order to reach your turn.

3 China Traffic lights and other signs are really only advisory in China if there’s any chance of inserting yourself into traffic — or across it—without a collision. Giving way is once again an alien concept unless you’re forced to yield by another vehicle occupying the space. It’s an exciting world for drivers, pedestrians, and whatever category moped users think they are.

4 Dubai The city-state’s cosmopolitan blend of drivers with wildly incompatible cultural philosophies serves to make every journey eventful, whether it’s entitled Emiratis charging at full speed into your rear-view mirror regardless of the traffic in front, or exhausted taxi drivers who often don’t know where they’re going and are paid so little they can only make a living by going very fast or taking the long way round.

5 Australia You’re unlikely to have a hair-raising taxi ride or suffer a damaging superposition of vehicles, but the heavily-enforced adherence to very conservative speed limits is very likely to induce a sense of frustration in British drivers, who are used to a more relaxed interpretation of the rules based on the context or when and where you’re driving. And Melbourne has hook turns.

* Sorry there are no pictures today. Normal service will resume shortly.