WE CAN LEARN FROM EUROPEANS

January 22, 2008 Blog

Europe is far from perfect!

After living in Europe for nearly four decades, I can name many areas in which Europe could learn from America. Europeans, for example, have finally discovered peanut butter, but it is still hard to find the chunky kind. But this blog is about things America can learn from Europe. I will devote a later blog to what Europe can learn from America.

The same is true for America

I have written about European political solutions to some of the big problems America faces elsewhere on this website and will not repeat these here.

Transportation

I will start with the car service book, which comes with your new car. Every service is listed and items that need attention are listed for each service. You can do it yourself if mechanically inclined, or have the work done in a shop or dealership. If you choose to do the latter, the serviceman stamps your service book, giving a record of what has been done and when. In America, people buy a new car and run it until it breaks down. Then, they either have it fixed or trade it for a new vehicle. Except for oil changes and replacement of tires, most owners never take their car to a garage because the mechanic will ask, "What is the problem?" If you say that you are going on vacation and want to know if everything is okay, you are offering him a pile of money for unneeded things. He will do a complete tune-up, replace the wiper blades, battery and belts; rotate or replace tires, change the transmission oil and coolant whether it needs it or not. I buy second hand cars, but in America, I never know if or when the timing belt/chain was replaced. 

When traveling by car on main highways in Europe, you are never far from help in an emergency. Telephone call stations are located at regular intervals along the highway, usually 4 kilometers apart. Anyone can call for assistance, report an accident or poor driving conditions. Arrows on guardrails and markers point to the nearest phone.

Car radios in Europe have features that we in America can only dream of. Stations with traffic reports give a signal identifying themselves. If a motorist is tuned in to such a station, he or she can listen to a CD or nothing at all and not miss the traffic report. The radio automatically turns on to a preset volume level, interrupting the CD. The feature can be turned off if desired. Also, the type of station is identified in the digital display by the type of content (news, classic, rock, local etc.). If you drive out of range of your classic music station, for example, the radio automatically seeks the next station of that genre.

Another neat feature - at least in Austria, is the possibility of obtaining "Wechselkennzeichen." The German language has many long words that are simply several words run  together. This word means swappable license plates. If you have two vehicles, but only drive one at a time (like summer and winter cars or an RV) you register both with the same tags and insurance. The tags can be switched back and forth between cars.

While still on the subject of transportation, I would like to mention the excellent public transportation systems. Children and students get to their schools with the same public transit that workers use to get to their jobs. The kids are expected to walk a mile if needed. After all, they will be working somewhere after graduation and should get used to this.

Banking

The unified Eurocard  system is recognized by all banks and nations in Europe. It is accepted in all automats and most businesses. If your salary is deposited regularly in a bank account,  you are allowed up to a month's salary overdraft without penalties. You only pay a modest monthly interest on the overdraft. This eliminates the need to keep larger sums of money for an emergency.

Finally, I think America should finally adopt the metric system. It almost happened back in the seventies. The kids got on to it quickly, but some politicians figured that lazy seniors would vote for them if they threw a traditional wrench in the works. America is about the only nation in the world that still uses this antiquated system. As a result, we can't compete with the rest of the world and buy everything from China. A tool and die worker once told me that they had to pay 20% more for milling machines that operate with our measuring system. Some people tell me it won't work, but they use metric in photography, in finances, in hospitals and with computers. Why should it be more difficult to measure with millimeters instead of a quarter, eighth, sixteenth or thirty seconds of an inch?