My husband and I drove through Britain a few years ago, and had no problem at all. Of course, I was the navigator, so my job was relatively easy. He had little problem adjusting, although the first day was a bit stressful. After seeing a big lorry (truck) coming towards us, he quickly got the idea of which lane to drive in! <BR> <BR> He does drive manual, and had little difficulty getting adjusting to those changes. <BR>What was helpful, however, was picking up the car the day after we arrived, rather than picking it up at the airport. Our first stop was Bath, so we took the bus there from the airport, and picked up the car the next day. I think he it helped him to have a night's sleep before getting the car.

This is very funny I have to say. I agree with all the other (British) threads ! We started driving on the LHS for historic reasons, don't know what excuses you guys have ! <BR>I'm currently living in Austria and so I can now drive (a "proper" (ie manual) car) in both countries (UK and Austria)and on both sides of the road. I don't see what a big problem it is, the majority of people from the UK go on holiday to mainland Europe and just get on with driving on the other side of the road !!! <BR>Just one sensible point though : <BR>In the UK we have 2 different driving tests for cars, 1 manual (stick-shift) and 1 automatic. If you take your test for an automatic car then you are not allowed to drive a manual in this country. If you take the manual test, then you can obviously drive both types (as an automatic is just a bigger version of a kid's dodgem car !). <BR>I don't know how this affects overseas drivers, but..... I would imagine that it is probably illegal for someone who has never driven a manual car before to suddenly do so in the UK ! As I said, I don't know for certain, but be careful if the car hire company suddenly switches you to a manual car (and think about the safety of the general population too !!)

Speaking as Tony's token fellow Scot (and Frank! Hi Frank!)<BR><BR>I thought he was being a bit tough. But really, Charles, if the most recent question is not a troll, you should give up the day job and go for it- it's a cracker!<BR><BR>Buy a map. Or look at one online

There is a small paperback book called "Driving in Britain" which is published in Canada. It's a quick read with lots of illustrations and covers things like road signs and general traffic rules. You can find more info about it on www.roundabout.net

Sweden switched over at 5 p.m.--brilliant planning. <BR> <BR>Anyway, driving on the left is made much easier if you rent an automatic car, as many have said. It's not a lot more expensive, and you will enjoy your holiday much more. <BR> <BR>I've has the misfortune to ride in a car with many American drivers here in Ireland. Almost all say that driving on the left is easy, and almost all have almost killed me on at least one occasion. They are overly confidant, and that makes them dangerous. <BR> <BR>Please learn from their mistakes: When you're in the mountains, and it's foggy, this is not the time to drive fast. This is the time to drive slow. When you are on the motorway, this is not the time to drive slow, this is the time to drive fast. When someone is passing or trying to pass you, pull over as much as you can to the right. Be careful cresting hills on small country roads. There are often cyclists, walkers, animals, etc., on the other side. If you do rent a standard car, USE THE HANDBRAKE! NEVER roll backwards! UK drivers who roll at all during their driving test are flunked.

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I just read keith's driving lesson with gratitude. Golly gee, things are so different over there than they are here in the USA. Here we always speed up when it's foggy in the hills and slow down when we get on the highways. And we never use a handbrake on hills. It's standard procedure to roll backwards until we hit the car below. We also turn our headlights on during the day and off at night. Boy oh boy, I guess we can't do anything right.

What realy confused me was why all their cars had 5 reverse gears and one foward.

By all means pay the little bit of extra and get an automatic. It is difficult enough just concentrating on driving on the other side of the road without having to worry about changing gears. Another word of advice is to try to limit your night time driving until you get acclimated.

Key differences in driving styles between britain and US seem to be - <BR> <BR>Brits RIGOROUSLY observe the slower-traffic-keep to-the-inside-lane rule <BR> <BR>You can NEVER turn against a red light in the UK <BR> <BR>Brits are MUCH better at parking (and parallel parking)than US drivers <BR> <BR>Many Americans drive cars that are far too large for them (Brits can`t afford to!) <BR> <BR>Drinking coca cola and eating burgers at the wheel is very rare in the UK. And the prevalent US trend of chatting on mobile phones while driving is not so evident <BR> <BR>Brits drive more aggressively and are intolerant with what they see as any incompetence on the part of other drivers <BR> <BR>Vehicles joining a road in the UK always try not to slow down or interfere with drivers already in the lane. US drivers often just pull out. <BR> <BR>4 Way Stops don`t exist in the UK. Nor do drivers come to a halt at YIELD lines(they just slow down). <BR> <BR>Brits don`t freak out when they see a school bus! <BR> <BR>Awareness of what is going on around them seems to be higher among Brits than US drivers. e.g. UK drivers move over to anticipate a fast moving car coming up behind and pull into the middle lane of motorways before service stations to allow entering traffic to merge. This kind of spatial awareness is less common in the States. <BR> <BR>...oh, and signposting and directions are much, much better in the UK, though the roads themselves are wider and better maintained in the US. <BR> <BR>I love both countries. Really! <BR> <BR>Joe <BR> <BR>

I've driven on the left side in England, Sweden and St Thomas Island. I've never had much of a problem driving, but I've almost gotten killed as a pedestrian looking the wrong way when starting to cross a street. By the way the Swedes switched on New Years day in 1968 (or 67). It was incredably smooth acording to the news reports. <BR>

Perhaps the question might better have been phrased, how difficult is it to adjust to a change in driving habits? Some people adjust easily to change, others find it more of a struggle. <BR> <BR>We splurged on an automatic for the UK even though we are both comfortable with a stick shift at home. I didn't find the change difficult so much as a little tiring...one has to concentrate a bit more. I found motorways and B roads easy; oddly enough, it was the A roads that were the most stressful. Some of these simply had more traffic than what they were originally designed for.

Beth, <BR> <BR>"We, the colonies, made the decision not to (drive on the left)" ??????? <BR> <BR>Well, the former colonies of Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia did NOT make that decision. Please, the USA is NOT the only former colony of Britain.

We rented a car in Britain. I had driven my Honda standard in Canada for 15 years, so I was confident. Shifting was no problem, you get used to using the other hand if you are used to shifting. The trickiest most embarassing thing? Couldn't find reverse! On the Vauxhall, you have to pull up a ring under the shift knob while going into reverse. <BR>The place you are most likely to forget which side of the road to drive is off-road, in parking lots and the like. <BR>British drivers are too damn polite compared to N.America - we were in the lane that wasn't blocked, and people kept zipping past us in the lane with the blockage - and being let in! Never happen here! <BR>Yes, you need a navigator to tell you what to do in roundabouts. Plan ahead - what road do you need? A36? Watch for the sign 200 feet before and try to read it - are you doing a quarter, half or 3/4 turn? Plan ahead. (Maybe it's a funny one with 5 or 6 spokes). It's fairly easy when you get the hang... you can't enter the circle if someone's already there... <BR>A hint - the M-series motorways have rest stops just like the fancier Interstates. Many of these have newer motels. We found these very handy! You can usually get a room, or call their 1-800 type number to reserve. Only 40 Pounds/night for a Motel halfway between where you came from and where you're going. We stayed near Lockerbie, and it was a 2 hr. drive to Edinburgh in the morning. <BR>Avoid driving in big cities!!! <BR>

www.roundabout.net <BR>There, I've posted the web address for the very helpful book on LH driving, printed in Canada. We used it before a recent trip to the UK and found it very helpful. <BR>My husband did all of the driving and thought it was quite a lark. He is left handed and thought everything was absolutely wonderful Although I never drove, and do consider myself a competent driver here in the US, I am sure I would've had much more trouble than he did. I highly recommend getting the book. You will not believe it when you go into one-two-three roundabouts in a row. I thought the book was kidding, but they really do exist!