Last month, we went to France for the wedding of one of my wife's friends. I've driven in Europe before, but this time I was really bothered by the traffic lights. The standard, at least in France and Germany, seems to be to place the stoplights along the same line where you're supposed to stop your car. Of course, that means that if you're the front car, then you can't see the lights. They helpfully provide a little tiny copy of the traffic light lower on the pole, thus guaranteeing that you're forced to crane your neck over to the side for a minute or so.

In the U.S., the standard is to stick the lights on the opposite side of the intersection, and paint a big white line so you know where you're supposed to stop your car. The lights are far enough away that they're easy to see, and you're heads-up and paying attention to what's going on in the intersection. Seems very much more sensible.

Given how just about everything else, when driving around Europe, seems to be done in such a logical and thoughtful fashion, what happened with European stoplights? Am I missing something, or is this a bad idea that's just gotten stuck somehow?