Reflecting on time spent driving in Europe

Recently on vacation in Italy, I was reminded of why I enjoy driving there—on both city and rural roads.

Simply put, Europeans are better, more educated drivers who really enjoy the driving experience.

In North America, as we all know, driving can be a mind-numbing experience, with artificial speed limits to help our police officers collect taxes.

But I digress.

Highways in Italy, and around most of Europe, have much more realistic speed limits, reaching as high as 130 km/h on Italy's Autostradas.

A city like Rome is home to lots of roundabouts, and traffic may look crazy, but drivers are well aware of each other and it's simply a matter of making eye contact with other drivers and away you go.

I loved it!

I also enjoyed the Citroën C4 Picasso I rented.

It offers lots of luggage and passenger space, but what really impressed me was the A pillar, or lack thereof.

Because there is so much emphasis on passive safety in vehicles today, A pillars have become huge and impede visibility, especially when making a turn.

To remedy this, Citroën has added a pane of glass where the old no-draft window used to be.

This proved to be very helpful, especially when using roundabouts, driving around and around deciding which exit you'’re supposed to take.

Hopefully this is a trend that will continue, and perhaps make its way this side of the Atlantic.

Jim Kenzie is going to have a segment on the subject of visibility in the next few weeks on Motoring TV, so don't miss it.