The previous weekend I took the car, my girlfriend, her bunny (nothing kinky in your mind, ok?), and one of her friends and we headed towards Nova Zagora. We started our trip on a terrible weather – it was snowing like there’s no tomorrow. But, as most of my friends already know by now, I do like challenges and especially when it comes to driving. The worse the weather conditions, the bigger my appetite for driving.
It was a longer trip than usual, due to the weather conditions, but we managed to get there safe. It took us around 4 hours to drive 260 km – 200 out of the total was on the Trakia highway. On our way back, the weather turned out to be much better: mostly cloudy and a bit of rain from time to time. The coming-back-home trip took us a little more than 2 hours and a half.
Therefore, we have: 200 km of highway + 60 km of national roads – roughly 2h30min. I should specify that I didn’t push the pedal to the metal, and the first 40 km were driven by my girlfriend, who drives carefully and more than under the speed limits.
Having these said, I wonder why in Romania the officials postpone the postponing of the postponement of the construction of highways. I guess Romania doesn’t actually need fast and safe ways to get from one point to another. We like to stick to the national roads, which cross every single village where the speed limits are around 50 km/h. I shouldn’t add the fact that there is a new business in the villages called stationary radars, which is being implemented all over Romania.
In case the officials don’t know why it is actually good to have highways, I will point out a couple of reasons here (you’re more than welcome to add some I am missing):
- highways are faster; they can accommodate more cars and trucks at the same time
- they are also safer: the 2 ways are separated by the metal bars, and the highway is usually surrounded by a fence which doesn’t let wild animals cross the highway (or you can’t stop and make yourself more comfortable)
- road assistance is available almost on every point of the highway: in case you have problems with your car, there is always someone there to help or tow you
- gas stations/stores/restaurants are also built around highways; i.e. more people employed, more businesses developed
- during bad weather conditions the average speed of driving is higher than on a normal road – the highway is wider, which means that one can drive faster and in safer conditions; also, one doesn’t have to slow down when there is a car approaching from the opposite direction.
