driving on left?
 

My husband, daughter and I will be coming to UK from the US for the first time this summer. We only have 10 days and want to see as much as we can (within reason). Our current debate is whether or not to rent a car when we head out into the countryside. Obviously we would have more flexibility and it may not be too uneconomical since there are 3 of us. My question is, how weird is it to drive on the unfamiliar side of the road. Do most people find it difficult or does it seem to be easy to adapt to it?

It's not bad but it takes getting used to. I personally think that choosing an automatic gives you one less thing to worry about, as shifting with the opposite hand is an added thing to think about.<BR><BR>I've done the switch both in Australia and in Ireland and it's fine. I grew up driving on the right, in the US. My wife grew up driving on the left in Australia, and she would tell you that I'm a menace, but I haven't hit anything yet! Close, but so far so good.<BR><BR>The main things to remember are: <BR><BR>How close you are to the shoulder. It feels like you're too close. Count on your passenger to watch the side until you're comfortable. Let them nag.<BR><BR>In roundabouts (there are plenty), mind that you yield to the right. Timing is key as stopping often isn't required or expected.<BR><BR>At four way intersections where you are turning, especially onto a divided roadway, be extra mindful to turn onto the correct side. Seems obvious enough, but after awhile of feeling comfortable, habit can kick in. I swear she still brings that up from time to time. he he. No harm, no foul.<BR><BR>It really does sink in pretty quickly and you can see so many more off the path places when you have a car to get around in. All this is to be ignored though if your name is an indication of your whole itinerary. Do not drive in London. Don't need to, don't want to.

Don't forget the driver is already sitting on the &quot;wrong&quot; side of the car so you are constantly reminded of the difference. As long as you think &quot;driver to the center&quot; you will be find. We have never found it to be a problem going from the US to the UK, so you too should be fine too. As far as the automatic is concerned, I'm not even sure where it would be possible to rent a standard shift car in the US, so that is not an issue -- your rental will surely be an automatic.

I found it much easier to drive on the left than the right side, as did my husband. His problem was getting used to the stick shift, because your mind is geared to using the other hand. For me, that was also easier, but I'm left-handed, so maybe that made a difference. It also helped that I lived in England for a few years, so I knew where to look when crossing the road as a pedestrian.<BR><BR>I agree with Clifton that the switch will be much easier if you get an automatic. It doesn't cost that much more. What does cost much more is getting a car with air conditioning, assuming that you can even find one! The petrol is also much more costly, and it's per liter vs. per gallon. You will also need to learn English terms of art -- the boot, bonnet, estate car, etc.<BR><BR>The round-abouts are pretty simplistic, except Hyde Park Corner, which I would suggest avoiding altogether.<BR><BR>Another thing: country lanes. High grass, low visibility, and generally the width of a car and a half! It gets dark late in summer, but I would not suggest right off the bat going to a country pub down a country lane in the evening!<BR><BR>Finally, always remember, on the motor route drive in the left lane, pass on the right. Do NOT stay in the right lane, it's for passing only, and you will get a car coming up right behind you flashing their lights to get out of the way!

When you make turns, be careful as you may turn into a street on the wrong side!<BR><BR>The directional indicators/turn signal is different in the UK and Japan. It is on the right. In the USA and Canada, one uses their left hand to switch on the turn signals. Depending on the car, you might switch on the wipers instead!

The only thing you have to keep in mind is (as the driver) when you look outside your drivers side window you should be looking toward the middle of the road.<BR>If you are not you are in a one way street or more likely in trouble!!<BR><BR>Cheers<BR>Ned

All great tips...as I've logged about 2000 miles in the UK, my advice is...get an automatic for sure. Especially if there is even a couple of miles of driving in city. I love driving in the UK so much more than the US. Roundabouts are great, wish the US would get some of those...and in the UK, people actually know how to use the passing lane. Have fun, I miss it already!

<BR>Other drivers are for the most part highly cosiderate and will give you a short blast of their horn when you make a mistake.

Most people don't have too much trouble adapting, but pick a quiet area for your first experience of driving on the left. As an American living in England, I feel that the real danger comes in emergency situations when your reactions take over. These days I have more problems readjusting to driving on the right when returning to the US.<BR><BR>Public transport is pretty good in the UK, so there is no real need for a car unless you plan to go off the beaten track. Having a car in London is a disadvantage rather than an advantage.

I also found driving on the &quot;wrong&quot; side of the road to not be a problem. I don't necessarily agree about the automataic though. We rented a standard and had no problem. Do you drive a standard at home? If you haven't driven one in years you might have trouble but otherwise I wouldn't worry. The main thing is that to get an automatic in England you have to rent a larger car, they don't come in the smaller ones. And small is good in UK as the roads are much more narrow than you'd expect. That was the hardest part, not the being on the left. <BR><BR>And to those of you who like roundabouts - come to New England, we have tons of them. We call them rotaries here.

Hi Londonbound,<BR><BR>This issue has been debated quite a lot on this message board. Normally I would suggest doing a text search for previous answers but what you'll find is some say do it, others say don't. Having an automatic I agree is almost mandatory as most of us in the US are not used to driving a stick shift normally. <BR><BR>The real issue is where do you want to go. Places like Bath and York are very easy to get to by train and the train service in the UK is excellent. I agree it's more convenient to come and go at your own pace. Driving on main motorways is quite simple since there's usually a large median in the center. The English are more mindful of &quot;passing&quot; laws (drive on the inside-the right-lane and pass on the left) however they also drive much faster (if there's not heavy traffic!) The most difficult thing I've found is the roundabouts if you're not sure of directions. If one of you is a good navigator and the other is a confident driver, go for it.

WE have never had a problem driving on the WRONG side of the road--<BR><BR>Just be careful in the round-a-bouts when you get into some of the larger towns, and you will be just fine....<BR><BR>Definitely get an automatic and NOT a huge car--smaller cars are the norm in England and are way easier to manuever...<BR><BR>Pack lite! (lol)

Thanks to everyone for your replies. This was very helpful. My husband will be making the decision since, out of gallantry, he does the majority of the driving.

That being the case, you should &quot;bone up&quot; on your navigating skills! Here's a website for driving directions<BR>http://www.theaa.com/travelwatch/planner_main.jsp

Definitely get an automatic. I am from the US and I drove for the 1st time on the &quot;wrong&quot; side of the road in Ireland last year. It is initially strange to have your passenger sitting to your left and make sure that passenger is a good navigator!! He was constantly telling me I was drifting too far over. He was also a wonderful help with the roundabouts, which can be very dangerous if you don't &quot;work&quot; them correctly. Also when making turns be cautious of what lane your car needs to be in, your natural instinct will be wrong! <BR>I was afraid of driving there at first, however the sight of a car coming head on toward you in the lane you're accustomed to be driving is a very persuasive learning tool! You'll do fine!<BR>

When I lived in the UK, and friends would visit from America, I found most of them to be overly confidant about driving on the left. They all said that it was easy, and they all almost killed me more than once.<BR><BR>For some reason, they all would drive way too fast on the hilly, winding roads, and then slow down on the dual carriage ways. Still have never figured that one out.<BR><BR>Just take it easy, and remember not to stop coming up to a roundabout if there are no cars on the circle--you'll probably get rear-ended if you do.

It is simply a matter of concentration.<BR>I live in UK and have driven many many times in France.<BR>It is a bit strange at first but as long as you keep the radio down and concentrate on the road while someone else navigates clearly you will be fine.<BR>One tip, stay out of the big cities until you are a little more confident.<BR>I find a run out on the motorway quickly instills enough confidence.<BR>I am sure your husband will be fine driving, after all he is a man..<BR>Lol<BR>Muck

Echoing other experiences here...driving on the left is not that difficult. Your mantra is: &quot;keep left, Keep Left, KEEP LEFT!&quot; Roundabouts are fun too ;-) for the beginner.<BR><BR>But driving in metropolitan London area is a feat that most visitors don't want to attempt. IF you rent a car, pick it up outside of London. The airports, luckily enough, work pretty well. You could also take a train to a smaller city (Bath, York, etc.) and pick up a car there for your trip in the countryside. <BR><BR>Finally, although distances are small in the UK, driving the backroads, and stopping at will, takes longer than you might expect for the distance covered. Focusing your rambles in an area, like the Cotswolds, or Yorkshire Dales, may be preferable to long distance point-to-point driving over a 10 day period.<BR><BR>Cheers<BR><BR>David White<BR>http://www.KidsToLondon.com<BR>

its easy---once you get the hang of it....suggest that you start from outside london and maybe even away from the airport....take a train into the country, say oxford and rent the car there...you will find it much easier on your nerves and easier to adjust....if anyone is left handed, let them drive first....

Over the course of the years I have driven many thousand miles in the UK with standard transmission. I am teribly right handed so that were ominious sound coming out of the transmission for the first few miles having learnetd the hard way don't get off the plane and start out, the combination of jet lag and driving on the left is scary.<BR><BR>I have planned each day's driving and written a short summary which was fastened to the dashboard.

Lots of good responses here, but I think Mclaurie means: &quot;drive on the inside-the LEFT-lane and pass on the RIGHT&quot; (see how confusing it is?)<BR><BR>The nice thing about roundabouts is if you miss your turn, all you have to do is go around again. The bad thing is even most British drivers don't know (or care) about signaling correctly when using a roundabout, so you have to be careful.<BR><BR>As for whether or not to rent an automatic, I would say this: if you drive a standard transmission at home go ahead and rent one in England. If you are used to an automatic, you have enough to remember when first driving in England without having to reaquaint yourself with clutch and gearbox.<BR><BR>It is true that automatics generally come only on the larger cars here in the UK, but that is not as big a disadvantage as some people make out. Yes, some of the roads are narrower here, but those same roads are used by double-decker buses and lorries (trucks), so I don't see how a large car would be a problem. I drive on narrow roads in my Range Rover every day with no difficulty. Sometimes you have to pull over when a lorry is coming the other way, but you have to do that in a small car as well.

Definitely rent an automatic if that is what he drives at home. We rented an automatic and it was a small car - I think a Fiat something-or-other. We got it at the Thrifty location at Heathrow, reserved in advance through Expedia. I was a bit nervous when I started out, but it was not as difficult as I thought it would be. As others have mentioned, the hardest part for me was tending to be too far over and having to have my husband remind me to get back closer to the line. Also, turning into parking lots and driving in a smaller town, I did bang the left front tire into the curb a couple of times. Other than that, your husband should be fine. Please do make sure that you are comfortable navigating and that you both have a firm idea of the basic directions towards your destination - my husband is not strong on his navigational skills (but scares me a bit when he drives even here in the US - doesn't have much depth perception), so that made it a bit more difficult for me to concentrate on driving on the left plus try to find my way. Good luck!

In my experiences adapting to driving on the left I found that even the standard transmission wasnt bad, since the foot pedals are the same it is just the gearshift that is on the opposite side (cant even imagine the problems if they had switched the feet!). Driving worked better as a team - driver and navigator, the latter giving very precise directions so that the driver only had to worry about driving.<BR><BR>I found that as a Canadian driver I was used to looking quite a long way ahead on the road - this didnt work in the UK, I kept &quot;anticipating&quot; curves and turning too early. Once I adjusted and started concentrating ahead at a shorter distance that I would in Canada this problem dissappeared.<BR><BR>One consideration you may find useful is to be careful of which type of car you rent - get detailed info on its function before you rent it! On our first trip where I drove we had a Peugot 306 which (among other problems) had the windshield wipers and indicators on the opposite sides of the steering column than I was used to. I spent 3 days trying to signal and ending up turning on the windshield wipers (fairly comic, but not helpful when struggling with roundabouts etc.!). On our last two trips we have rented a Ford Focus (5 door) and have not had this problem - everything has been roughly where I would instinctively/automatically look for it. This made a HUGE difference in my driving comfort level. Possibly the rental companies can give you detailed info on car setup when you are making your choice?

Just to reiterate what an earlier posted said, practice being the navigator. This helped me out tremendously since I drove and my mom navigated. I left it up to her to read the map and constantly remind me to stay left, especially when making turns into parking lots and in small towns. Highway driving was very easy, and just be careful on the smaller roads. The roads are very narrow and we saw a lot of cars parked along the road by their house which took up some of the space of the road. I definitely recommend getting full insurance coverage. Hopefully, you won't need it but it came in handy for me when we hit a huge pot hole and it tore up the tire and the wheel. Speaking of which, keep in mind that in the UK one of the lug nuts requires a special &quot;key&quot; to loosen it which is in the glove compartment. Have a great time! Renting a car and being free to go whereever we wanted allowed us a lot more freedom.

I find that I adapt quickly to it, and I don't drive an automatic at home, so even the standard tranny is OK after about 20 minutes. I find that the place I tend to mess up the most is on the really tiny rural roads in Ireland where there is only room for one car; I tend to pull over the wrong way when getting over to let someone by. I don't do central London, parking being the hassle it is, that does not begin to be worth it. In and out of Heathrow or Gatwick is as close to London as I want to drive.<BR><BR>The roundabouts *do* take some getting used to, and it is best to let your navigator tell you exactly when to exit the thing, while you concentrate on driving. Some people swear by using a clock system for roundabouts, but I lose track of where I am on the <BR>clockface once I'm in the circle. We prefer to simply count the exits; as in, &quot;turn out on the third exit in this one.&quot; Be careful of getting directions from locals in the UK; they will often tell you to keep straight, but neglect to mention that you will pass through one or more roundabouts on the way. To my US driving sensibilities, a roundabout constitutes a turn, the idea of &quot;going straight&quot; when dealing with one seems an oxymoron.

Not to add too much to an already long chain of responses but:<BR><BR>1. You don't seem to be thinking about doing this, but just in case. DO NOT drive in London. I've driven in lots of difficult cities (including even Rome, I'm proud to say) and I wouldn't THINK about driving in the center of London, mostly because the &quot;wrong&quot; side problem is severely exascerbated by the traffic and the complexity of the layout of London streets.<BR><BR>2. Definitely get an automatic.<BR><BR>3. In case you don't know, the gas and brake pedals are NOT reversed, so that part is easy.<BR><BR>4. When you pick up the car, try to spend 15-20 minutes just &quot;practicing&quot; --drive around a local neighborhood or something.<BR><BR>5. Driving locally is harder than driving on freeways. On the freeways you just have to give yourself time to think about making your exit. <BR><BR>6. It's a little weird and you need to KEEP paying attention to the fact that you're supposed to be on the &quot;wrong&quot; side, but it's really not too awful. Just don't let your driving mind go on automatic too much and think ahead when you're going to be making a right-hand turn. (On the other hand, it's kind of fun to make left-hand turns --- it feels like you're getting away with something.)<BR><BR>The first time I &quot;drove left&quot; was in Tasmania (which I recommend as a place to start, since there are only like 5 cars on the island.) I was concerned because I have some perceptual orientation difficulties (I still confuse right and left, and I'm in my 40's) (I was also on painkillers because of a dental problem that had cropped up, but that's another story) so I was being very careful to keep thinking about the fact that I needed to do everything to the &quot;wrong&quot; side. At some point, I found that I had taken this so much to heart that when the wind would muss my hair, I would push it back in place to the wrong side as well. The mind is a funny thing.