Wrong side of the road

The 360 is safely tucked away in my garage back on CA. I'm on a trip too the UK, my second, and decided to rent a car. Never having driven on the wrong side of the road and car before. It's been quite challenging. My most suspenseful event thus far was taking a right hand turn into one of those god awful roundabouts. Scared the living hell out of a few brits today.
Does anyone here frequently move back and forth between right and left hand drive cars and which do you drive better in? I would assume it's whatever you have the most experiance with.

Cheers
Rick

 

It gets easier. I learned to drive on the right in Holland, when my parents moved to New Zealand. My dad took his old Alfas with, so when I went to visit I drove left side steering cars on the left side of the road. Then I moved to England where I drove on the left side of the road. I bought a Lancia there which I took back to Holland, driving a right hand steering car on the right hand side of the road. And now am in the US, where everything is back to normal. The funniest thing is your passengers confusion, when they automatically walk up to the side where they believe they have to get in.

Be most careful when you are tired, when you are distracted and when there is little traffic. That is when your concentration lapses and when you cannot follow the lemming in front of you to prevent you getting in trouble. I once ended up on the wrong side of the road on my motorcycle trying to find my way in England. The result was a very low speed frontal collision, but enough to send me over the handlebars and mess up the bike. Roundabouts are actually great when you get used to them. They allow a traffic flow that is much better than with traffic light controlled junctions.

 

I do a lot of hopping between LH/RH countries and cars. The one rule that absolutley works is this:
Always make sure the center of the road is by your side.

I know this sounds simplistic and obvious, but that is one of the reasons why it works so effectively. It doesn't matter which country you are driving in as long as you keep the median line beside your a**. It's a quick and easy check.
If you have to look across the car to see the center line, you are on the wrong side of the road!

Two places to be particularly careful of are one way streets turning onto 2 way and driving around and out of carparks. Get used to the roundabouts, you'll learn to love them! (Remember they are Giveway or yeild signs, not Stop. Stopping when there is no traffic will likely result in a rearward shunt.)

I've driven LHD cars on the LH side of the road etc too, but that gets even more confusing so don't worry yourself with it unless you take your car on the ferry to France. Just hire a car on the mainland..

 

What he said......FWIW Britain drives on the left due to the old 'jousting' days. Most, if not all Knights are right-handed and the opponents need to ride by the left in order to 'square-off'. The colonies, except Canada follows the RHD rules. Japan, however is not a British colony but they drive on the left hand side due to the same kind of combat..lances and dai-Katana...
I read about this trivia somewhere.

 

It takes a bit of getting used to. After driving for a couple of hours then you would adapt and get the hang of it, the toughest part is when you are first on the wheel which is pretty puzzling but keep focus and you'll be fine.

 

Thanks for the tips. Following some other chap is working well. Hopefully I don't end up following some other guy like me .

 

That's a great tip thanks!!! Now if I can only stop going to the wrong side of the car to get in .

 

Yeah, it takes a couple of years before you eliminate that one completely!

 

Unless you're in the U.S. Virgin Islands where they drive LHD cars on the left!

 

We go to England annually for Goodwood Revival. Every morning, I sit in the car for about five minutes before even starting it, just to think about what I'm doing. Sort of a Zen thing, I guess. I've just about mastered the roundabouts because my wife always tells me which exit to take, and where it is in relation to the car. Always maintain lane discipline on the motorways. Parallel parking is still a total cockup for me, though.

Be careful when you get back to the states. American drivers have more fatal accidents upon returing from the UK than they do while there. The reason is they tend to relax when they get home and aren't as alert as they were when driving in a foreign environment.

Also, know the rules of the road. The Brits pride themselves on their driving ability and aren't too tolerant of dolts sharing their roads.

Cheers!

Jack

 

I live part of the year in Hong Kong and Part of the year in California.....to tell you the truth, you never really get used to it.....just after spending 1-2 years in Hong Kong and Finally geting used to right hand drive, I have to come back to the Bay Area and learn driving on the left side all over again.....which messes me up by the time I get back to Hong Kong....never ends.....