In case you decide for the car, first we should get one thing out of the way: yes, there are cars here and everything that comes with it.
The country is a transit country, which means you´ll have to deal with an awful lot of trucks on the highways. There aren´t half as many lanes as in the U.S., but there are constructions all over the place. The worst is the D1 highway connecting the two biggest cities. It is undergoing a massive modernization at the moment. In many places it´s a construction site, sometimes a huge parking lot, unfortunately other times a car crash site. Especially this time of the year, when bad weather hits the drivers, the situation can get out of control really easily. It is a commong thing to get stuck in a 5-10 km long traffic jam. Sometimes it´s incomprehensible, once we were stationary for a full 25 minutes. We didn´t move an inch, but all of a sudden, by some miracle, the cars started to move. In less than a minute, we could accelarate to full speed and the highway was actually quite clear.
Driving in the city is another story, there are a million things to watch out for. Pedestrians, bikers, cars, the tram, trees, airplanes, space shuttles, U.F.O.´s and god knows what else. Than there are the colored zones restricting you to park anywhere near the center, so they force you to use the pucblic transport. The funniest thing is, that people are rushing mostly to one place. Would you guess, that that place is work? Who in their right mind would want to hurry to work?
I think I also must mention about this little problem, that occurs more often than not, potholes are a common thing. This sums up the whole ordeal:
The most common car that you will see here, is the Škoda. One out of two care are made by this Czech car manufacturer. Czechs love their Škoda, although they are getting better and better. Here are a few pics of the newest models:
Škoda Kodiaq
https://www.skoda-storyboard.com/en/skoda-vision-s-geneva-2016-front-view-3/
Škoda Superb
https://www.skoda-storyboard.com/en/?s=SUPERB&group=images
Lastly I´ve got to mention about the behavior of Czech drivers. It is getting better each year, many among us respect the current state of the roads, weather or traffic. But still there are some, who don´t keep a safe distance, who are overly aggressive or who try to punish others for whatever wrong they might have done. Just as anywhere else in the worlds, drivers here use their cell phones during driving which is one of the biggest problems, as you can imagine. It is a common belief, that the worst drivers are the owners of BMW and Audi, but it is statisticaly proven, that 90% of the confiscated driver´s licence belong to those, who can´t really afford to pay any fines. But overall, these are examples that you can encounter on the road, but it won´t happen so often.
So whenever on the road, think before the other and for the others. Have a nice trip :)
