I thought it would be a good time to ask a question I've always wondered about...
Whether traveling eastward or westward across the pond, how have you adjusted to driving on the opposite side of the road?
I've been to Edinburgh and to Wiltshire several times, but only as a passenger, thinking that my ingrained reflexes while driving might kill me; but now I'm thinking about visiting Westmeath (my Old Sod) and maybe joining in some sessions there. I'd need to hire a car.
So, all ye from the USA who have driven in Ireland or the UK, or those in the reverse, how was it for you?
Just remember to keep left. I just came back from Ireland a couple of weeks ago and drove all over Clare, Cork, and Wicklow. The car I rented had a sign on the dashboard that reflected onto the windshield: Drive on the left -- in three languages!
One minor mishap in the Sally Gap in Wicklow -- my mirror and the mirror of the oncoming car smashed. Only the glass was broken, though, so not really a problem. I'm sure its a really common problem.
I always get a manual transmission because its so much cheaper than an automatic. For the first day or two, I reach for the gear shift and find that I have rolled down the window.
we have huge problems here, tourists stop to take photos of the scenery, get back in their cars and drive on the right hand side (left hand side here). They also have a tendency to dive to the right and cause head on collisions. It doesnt halp that some of the road rules dont make sense such as give way to your right EXCEPT and few people are sure what those exceptions are. Most of the exceptions were not thought up by clever people with a healthy dose of common sense.
I rented a car on my trip through the Highlands last year and I would say after 20 minutes you are pretty well accustomed to it. I never felt relaxed, like I would on a long drive here, but there was no issue with safety. For a day, your passenger may scream at you to get "move over", but it gets better each day. Just remember that left, right, left changes to right, left, right.
Take your time at complex intersections, it's tougher to remember which lane is yours when you have several options. And remember that you can go around a roundabout more than one time, if you need to review your options--just stay to the inside until you're ready to take one.
I used to get horrified by the old Irish habit, especially in rural areas, of driving in the middle of the road, and only moving out of the way quite late on when another car was actually about to hit them.
It was explained to me by a friendly local thus:
"Well now, you guys drive on the left. In Europe they drive on the right. But we're easy going people - we like to compromise!"
I found driving on the other side to be much easier than I had anticipated aside from always turning on the windshield wipers instead of the turn signals. However... driving in South Dublin is something I hadn't prepared myself for at all. It's a virtual maze of streets without signs and the names change every few blocks and many are one way. I was staying at a friend’s house in Kenilworth Square once and decided to go visit a friend who lived out in Bray. I asked Edaine, (whose house I was staying at,) how to get to the Bray road and she instructed me on a detailed circuitous route and then declared, "Sure it's easy... you'll be grand." So off I went, and before I was 2 blocks away I found myself hopelessly lost. After trying to guess my way to the Bray Road for a while, I gave up and decided to just return to the house, but that ended up being just as difficult.
I went to a petrol station and got a map of the area and I would hunt for an intersection that had street signs and then find my place on the map. I would plot a course, but since most of the street signs seemed to be out of eyesight or missing all together… and the one-way streets would force me into the opposite direction -- it wasn't long before I was hunting for another intersection with visible street signs to get my bearings straight once again.
After about 3 hours I finally found my way back to Edaine’s house and she asked how my friend in Bray was “getting on.” I told her the story of how I was lost and how I went to the petrol station and got the map etc. She scratched her head and looked at me as though I had just arrived from outer space and said, “Why didn’t you just find a pub and ask someone there?” It made me wonder how anyone in Ireland ever manages to find their way home.
It's a good question...but actually - I believe more tourists are killed as pedestrians because of the driving on the other side of the road thing than in driving accidents. (They look the wrong way and step straight out into the path of a car or truck).
I think the best advice is 'don't panic'. It's roundabouts and major intersections that get people nervous but generally you just have to follow the traffic....and if you've got it wrong and realise it mid turn...don't stop! You can correct it a few metres, yards, miles, kilometres on.....safely.
"So, all ye from the USA who have driven in Ireland or the UK, or those in the reverse, how was it for you?"
Greg, if you drive in the reverse on the wrong side of the road over here, the men in the stripey cars with the flashing blue light will be after ye!
On a more sombre note, it was a mistake of this kind that led to the tragic death of Micho Russell, a passenger in a car, on the Gort road, a few years ago. So, you can never be too careful.
There is a proposal that we (in Britain) should change to driving on the right in order to integrate with our mainland European cousins. To ease the changeover it will be introduced in two stages beginning with trucks and lorries. We'll see how that goes before implementing the change with other vehicles.......................................................
It might be added that at some busy intersections in the UK, and I dare say in Ireland, important lane-switching directions are painted on the road; by the time you get to proper signs, it's too late to switch to the lane you ought to be in for your intended destination. The only way to sort this out is to travel and/or "learn" the road when there's not much on it - at peak hours you haven't a chance of seeing the directions on the tarmac, they're covered with cars...
I found that the two trickiest situations in which to remember which side to drive on are:
1. when you turn off of a one-lane road onto a two-lane road;
2. when you pull out of a parking space in a parking lot.
Phantom's story could just as well have happened in Boston.
Colum Sands has a great song about asking people directions. (I think it's just called "Directions".)
Once, while hitching from Dublin to Clare, I was picked up by a man in a Chrysler. Halfway through his life story, we came to a particularly winding section of road, somewhere in Co. Galway, I think. At perhaps 50 yard intervals were signs saying "SLOW" and "DO NOT PASS", and a long line of drivers in front of us wer obediently crawling along at 20 mph. Amid informing me that this was officially the most dangerous stretch of road in Ireland, with X-number of deaths in the last 3 years, my driver proceeded to overtake all ten cars in one go - at his habitual speed of 60+ mph!
I can sympathise with impatience, and I can understand a bit of recklessness now and again. But it occurred to me that, if any other driver had taken it upon themselves to ignore the signs, or commonsense, at that moment, we would not have stood a chance.
The only trouble I ever had was with those multi-lane roundabouts in Edinburgh that spiral inward as you go around them---if you don't find the turn you want the first time, you have to make sure to move into the lane on the right so that you don't run out of lane! I had a Scottish person warn me about those, but the experience of it was nerve-rattling.
Driving through the Highlands is a piece of cake. No traffic, stop for a few sheep, pull into the turn-outs for oncoming cars on the one lane roads---lots of fun!
One doesn't actually operate motor cars. Never owned or driven one. That's the car driver's job. One normally uses the tube, buses, cabs, trams, trains and boats and planes.
Anyway, the problem for me is the crossing of the road.
When one is on the Continent or in the Amerikan Empire's homeworld, nearly being killed each time you step off the pavement (sidewalk) is common. If you have spent most of your time in London, then one instinctively, habitually and unconsciously glances to one's right and remembering to look the other way is a bugger ("Polari, Mr. Horne!") .
Don't a hundred USA/ European grockles a year cop it in London because of this problem? Of course visitors from India, Australia, Japan et cetera do not have the problem, as they drive on the right side of the road, that is to say the left. The right side of the road is the wrong side.
I'm not ready for *driving* on the wrong side yet. I had to learn how to cross the street without being run over. (Look to the right!) Now I'm still in my cycling stage.
My other problem is that I can't handle manual gear-shifting. Even on a mountain bike.
This summer I'll be visiting Britain with a coach-party again...
Like others have said, it is easier than one might think. I found the key was to remember, just like in the U.S., to keep the driver's side of the car closest to the middle of the road. I found the most problem was when not in the car. You have to remember to look a different way when crossing the street.
nowadays, with electric windows , it is better. some years ago my main problem was that, rather than changing gear ( which i normally do using right hand) i often ended up grasping the window knob and .....lowering my side window!!!!
I didn't have any trouble driving on the "other side" except for roundabouts (traffic circles). I always got the more expensive automatic transmission because it was one less thing to bother with. While it didn't necessarily have anything to do with driving on the left or right, it was downright terrifying to see a vehicle bearing down on me from the middle of the road, or so large (buses and trucks) that they didn't fit into one lane. Shoulders? What shoulders?
There are a huge number od accidents involving foreign tourists particularly leaving Dublin and Shannon airports, some of them unfortunately fatal. Driving in Dublin in particular has become very aggressive.
There is a very limited amount of motorway (highway) in Ireland and the main orbital route arounf Dublin is being upgraded for the next 3 years. Delays of up to 2 hours are not uncommon at peak traffic times.
Outside of Dublin the sineage is poor to nonexistant. Standard of driving or rural roads can vary from the elderly cap wearing pipe smoking road hog to the flat out boy racer.
It should also be noted that our speed limits are in Kilometers per hour (kmh) and presently there is no tollerence of speeding or drink driving since the introduction of random breath testing.
I hope that this does not put you off driving in Ireland. Our country is a beautiful place with spectacular scenery but driving is not for the fainthearted.
the first two days it felt like being on drugs: everything should be familiar, but things are just...moved around. Working the stick shift with my left hand wasa bit odd.
I'm just back to the U.S. from a 1400 km spin through Ireland / No. Ireland. I've driven both a stick and an automatic on different Eire trips--the stick's 'H' pattern is the same as on U.S. cars (it's not reversed!) so that's not a huge factor.
Day One tip: simply focusing on following the cars ahead of you aids in settling you into the situation. Remember to yield to cars coming from right on a roundabout, and to curl left when entering the roundabout.
City driving, both north and south, I found to be a breeze (I'm an urban type). It's on the NARROW rural roads where you need to stay alert. Be ever-ready to slow down to allow oncoming vehicles time to finish passing. Be ever-ready to eyeball whether the stretch of road ahead is wide enough for both you and the oncoming lorry--slow way down if it's not. As others have noted, you'll be stunned and grateful when you find a road with shouders.
But heck--you'll do fine! Here's the admonishment: O nobly born, let not thy mind be distracted.
The night before I picked up a tiny red Fiat I got the best advice.
"Stay to the middle." In any country the steering wheels helps position you. If the steering wheel is on the right - the car is to the left & the driver is near the middle of the road.
"Stay to the middle."
One other thing: because of the NARROW roads, you'd probably be happier renting a smallish car. But tell everyone to pack light to fit all yer stuff in the car's dinky trunk! Er, boot.
Figuring out how to make right hand turns was easy. Figuring out complicated intersections like huge roundabouts with six roads merging was not. Took forever to get comfortable driving in Newcastle, though I can do it easy now. It also took a while to sort out where the left side of the car was. I still have "American" moments now and then, like going the wrong way on a mini roundabout; I didn't see the damned thing until I was committed to my course. There was no traffic, though if there had been I would have noticed the roundabout because people would have been going, well, around it.
The only place I have driven where the drivers are worse than ones in Washington DC and Eastern Massachusetts is Ireland. I have never been in a car and seen so many people being so completely stupid with cars in my life. Driving the M50 (when you are moving at all, which is sporadically) basically entails taking your life into your hands and hoping the lorry suddenly darting around you doesn't kill you or the guy in front of you he darts behind. Nor do people make good use of inventions like "passing lanes" or "turn signals" and they're quite passionate about not letting merging traffic cut in front them.
Don't get me wrong -- once I was away from Dublin driving around Ireland was fine.
On the other hand, an ex-boyfriend of mine, who was a Brit living in Colorado for a summer, managed to flip a pickup truck due to not quite knowing where the right side of his vehicle was or how to drive anything bigger than a Fiat.
Ive never had a problem driving(mani/stick) in Ireland for the last (12) yrs.. Its funny I said I could never drive in England, too fast and to much anxiety..Until this last Nov trying to get through 8 lanes of merging traffic on the M and a toll booth every 50 yrds...Anxiety an understatement... When that car stopped I wanted several pints and a smoke...
I think I'll aviod Dublin driving from now on....
Driving in Ireland was ok.. but as a Philadelphia boy, it's hard to get used to the 6 foot wide two way roads. Also, I love the stone walls... but I learned very quickly that they line ALL roads AND that some of those stone walls are overgrown with soft, non car-damaging brush... ha ha... joke's on me. I only clipped one rearview mirror in Westport. Sorry, whoever you are. I loved the bumper sticker I saw on one tour bus... "please forgive me, I'm an Italian driver"
Hey, we've got unique driving rules here in Central Oz.
Except for a couple of main highways, sealed roads consist of a single lane tarred road with usually wide gravel shoulders, so everyone travels along the tar until a vehicle comes into view approaching from the opposite direction. If the approaching vehicle is a road train (huge) or is bigger than you, you brake to slow down and when you are slowed down enough, you move totally off the tar to the left and wave to the road train or whatever as it goes sailing by with four (or usually many many more) wheels on the tar. If the vehicle is the same size as you you share the tar, half on, half off (and wave as you pass by). If the vehicle is smaller than you (eg if you are in a 4wd and its just an ordinary car (poor thing), you hog the tar and make them move totally off the tar and wave as you go sailing by.
If the road is unsealled, the roads are usually really wide and you drive so you find the best line of travel for your vehicle, only returning to the left if you are at a blind spot like at the crest of a hill, or something is approaching (either from in front or from behind). The unsealled roads have usually got corrugations and it can be like travelling over an endless washboard - you have to maintain a fair speed to negotiate them and reduce vibrations. And you really have to be able to read the roads. The number of tourists who come here, hire 4wd's, then roll them is huge - they just don't know how to drive 4wd's or to the conditions here, whether their experiences be left or right side of the road.
There usen't to be any speed limits on NT roads outside of the towns (and there aren't many towns either), I think because there really wasn't any way of enforcing speed limits - but that has changed now. It meant that you could do whatever along the Stuart Highway (which is a lovely wide two lane road) to the South Australian border, then suddenly got limited to 120 kph on the same road. Anyway, I think it virtually impossible to be out here without a vehicle - unlike you poor sods in the city!!
One thing though - you are hardly likely to run into any pedestrians in the bush!!! Just kangaroos, camels and cattle - and they don't know their left from their right - so you have to be aware and drive alertly from all directions.
PS: you pull over if a road train is bearing down on you from behind too. Might is decidedly right on our roads. Just like as in sessions jest kidding!
I just remember chanting "Stay to the Left" as we entered Irish traffic circles (whilst partner was chanting "we're gonna die!") and then driving around it several times, telling him I was not going to get off until he read a road number that matched something I saw on a sign......
As a driving instructor, I periodically have the task of teaching Keeplefties how to become Keeprighties.
That alone is not the main issue, as wherever you drive, the local style/attitude is the main factor.
It seems that the poor South Africans have the hardest time of it, as most of them have not been to any other countries, and so everything is a mystery.
Having driven in UK for fifteen years, as well as a number of other countries, I do have sympathies and some practical suggestions.
http://www.civenv.unimelb.edu.au/~rocco/Outback/Road_Train.jpg
This is a road train - lots of them, very big, go everywhere (sealed or unsealed roads), snake along, very difficult to overtake, avoid collision with at all costs. Don't look benhall.1 if you don't wantta. Tunes? Well, errrrh, could be if you come to visit.
Driving on the Opposite Side of the Road
Driving on the Opposite Side of the Road
I thought it would be a good time to ask a question I've always wondered about...
Whether traveling eastward or westward across the pond, how have you adjusted to driving on the opposite side of the road?
I've been to Edinburgh and to Wiltshire several times, but only as a passenger, thinking that my ingrained reflexes while driving might kill me; but now I'm thinking about visiting Westmeath (my Old Sod) and maybe joining in some sessions there. I'd need to hire a car.
So, all ye from the USA who have driven in Ireland or the UK, or those in the reverse, how was it for you?
# Posted on May 2nd 2007 by Greg the Piano Tuner
Re: Driving to distraction
it's fine but the main thing is to remember where you are the first time you get into the car each day...
# Posted on May 2nd 2007 by biggus dave
Re: Driving on the Opposite Side of the Road
Just remember to keep left. I just came back from Ireland a couple of weeks ago and drove all over Clare, Cork, and Wicklow. The car I rented had a sign on the dashboard that reflected onto the windshield: Drive on the left -- in three languages!
One minor mishap in the Sally Gap in Wicklow -- my mirror and the mirror of the oncoming car smashed. Only the glass was broken, though, so not really a problem. I'm sure its a really common problem.
I always get a manual transmission because its so much cheaper than an automatic. For the first day or two, I reach for the gear shift and find that I have rolled down the window.
You'll adjust.
# Posted on May 2nd 2007 by John Culhane
Re: Driving on the Opposite Side of the Road
we have huge problems here, tourists stop to take photos of the scenery, get back in their cars and drive on the right hand side (left hand side here). They also have a tendency to dive to the right and cause head on collisions. It doesnt halp that some of the road rules dont make sense such as give way to your right EXCEPT and few people are sure what those exceptions are. Most of the exceptions were not thought up by clever people with a healthy dose of common sense.
# Posted on May 2nd 2007 by Joze
Re: Driving on the Opposite Side of the Road
I rented a car on my trip through the Highlands last year and I would say after 20 minutes you are pretty well accustomed to it. I never felt relaxed, like I would on a long drive here, but there was no issue with safety. For a day, your passenger may scream at you to get "move over", but it gets better each day. Just remember that left, right, left changes to right, left, right.
Good luck!
# Posted on May 2nd 2007 by nofrets
Re: Driving on the Opposite Side of the Road
Take your time at complex intersections, it's tougher to remember which lane is yours when you have several options. And remember that you can go around a roundabout more than one time, if you need to review your options--just stay to the inside until you're ready to take one.
# Posted on May 2nd 2007 by John Galt
Re: Driving on the Opposite Side of the Road
I used to get horrified by the old Irish habit, especially in rural areas, of driving in the middle of the road, and only moving out of the way quite late on when another car was actually about to hit them.
It was explained to me by a friendly local thus:
"Well now, you guys drive on the left. In Europe they drive on the right. But we're easy going people - we like to compromise!"
# Posted on May 2nd 2007 by ethical blend
Re: Driving on the Opposite Side of the Road
By the way, I've heard a lot of people "drive on the other side of the road" in SF, don't they, PB?
# Posted on May 2nd 2007 by ethical blend
Re: Driving on the Opposite Side of the Road
I found driving on the other side to be much easier than I had anticipated aside from always turning on the windshield wipers instead of the turn signals. However... driving in South Dublin is something I hadn't prepared myself for at all. It's a virtual maze of streets without signs and the names change every few blocks and many are one way. I was staying at a friend’s house in Kenilworth Square once and decided to go visit a friend who lived out in Bray. I asked Edaine, (whose house I was staying at,) how to get to the Bray road and she instructed me on a detailed circuitous route and then declared, "Sure it's easy... you'll be grand." So off I went, and before I was 2 blocks away I found myself hopelessly lost. After trying to guess my way to the Bray Road for a while, I gave up and decided to just return to the house, but that ended up being just as difficult.
I went to a petrol station and got a map of the area and I would hunt for an intersection that had street signs and then find my place on the map. I would plot a course, but since most of the street signs seemed to be out of eyesight or missing all together… and the one-way streets would force me into the opposite direction -- it wasn't long before I was hunting for another intersection with visible street signs to get my bearings straight once again.
After about 3 hours I finally found my way back to Edaine’s house and she asked how my friend in Bray was “getting on.” I told her the story of how I was lost and how I went to the petrol station and got the map etc. She scratched her head and looked at me as though I had just arrived from outer space and said, “Why didn’t you just find a pub and ask someone there?” It made me wonder how anyone in Ireland ever manages to find their way home.
# Posted on May 2nd 2007 by Phantom Button
Re: Driving on the Opposite Side of the Road
It's a good question...but actually - I believe more tourists are killed as pedestrians because of the driving on the other side of the road thing than in driving accidents. (They look the wrong way and step straight out into the path of a car or truck).
I think the best advice is 'don't panic'. It's roundabouts and major intersections that get people nervous but generally you just have to follow the traffic....and if you've got it wrong and realise it mid turn...don't stop! You can correct it a few metres, yards, miles, kilometres on.....safely.
# Posted on May 2nd 2007 by FiddleFancy
Re: Driving on the Opposite Side of the Road
"So, all ye from the USA who have driven in Ireland or the UK, or those in the reverse, how was it for you?"
Greg, if you drive in the reverse on the wrong side of the road over here, the men in the stripey cars with the flashing blue light will be after ye!
# Posted on May 2nd 2007 by Here Lyeth
Re: Driving on the Opposite Side of the Road
On a more sombre note, it was a mistake of this kind that led to the tragic death of Micho Russell, a passenger in a car, on the Gort road, a few years ago. So, you can never be too careful.
# Posted on May 2nd 2007 by murfbox
Re: Driving on the Opposite Side of the Road
There is a proposal that we (in Britain) should change to driving on the right in order to integrate with our mainland European cousins. To ease the changeover it will be introduced in two stages beginning with trucks and lorries. We'll see how that goes before implementing the change with other vehicles.......................................................
# Posted on May 2nd 2007 by Gran Cassa
Re: Driving on the Opposite Side of the Road
I would take a bicycle for I never can decide which side to ride on.
# Posted on May 2nd 2007 by Lint - upon - Tweed
Re: Driving on the Opposite Side of the Road
It might be added that at some busy intersections in the UK, and I dare say in Ireland, important lane-switching directions are painted on the road; by the time you get to proper signs, it's too late to switch to the lane you ought to be in for your intended destination. The only way to sort this out is to travel and/or "learn" the road when there's not much on it - at peak hours you haven't a chance of seeing the directions on the tarmac, they're covered with cars...
This is not a wind-up, it's happened to me!
# Posted on May 2nd 2007 by nicholas
Re: Driving on the Opposite Side of the Road
"I would take a bicycle for I never can decide which side to ride on."
I found that I can only get on and off a bike on the side I'm used too ... I need the extra height of the pavement (sidewalk) !
# Posted on May 2nd 2007 by spindizzy
Re: Driving on the Opposite Side of the Road
"I used to get horrified by the old Irish habit, especially in rural areas, of driving in the middle of the road"
It happens a lot in Scotland too. Even in urban areas but this is only to avoid the speed bumps.
# Posted on May 2nd 2007 by Johnny Jay
Re: Driving on the Opposite Side of the Road
I found that the two trickiest situations in which to remember which side to drive on are:
1. when you turn off of a one-lane road onto a two-lane road;
2. when you pull out of a parking space in a parking lot.
Phantom's story could just as well have happened in Boston.
Colum Sands has a great song about asking people directions. (I think it's just called "Directions".)
# Posted on May 2nd 2007 by GaryAMartin
Re: Driving on the Opposite Side of the Road
Once, while hitching from Dublin to Clare, I was picked up by a man in a Chrysler. Halfway through his life story, we came to a particularly winding section of road, somewhere in Co. Galway, I think. At perhaps 50 yard intervals were signs saying "SLOW" and "DO NOT PASS", and a long line of drivers in front of us wer obediently crawling along at 20 mph. Amid informing me that this was officially the most dangerous stretch of road in Ireland, with X-number of deaths in the last 3 years, my driver proceeded to overtake all ten cars in one go - at his habitual speed of 60+ mph!
I can sympathise with impatience, and I can understand a bit of recklessness now and again. But it occurred to me that, if any other driver had taken it upon themselves to ignore the signs, or commonsense, at that moment, we would not have stood a chance.
# Posted on May 2nd 2007 by CreadurMawnOrganig
Re: Driving on the Opposite Side of the Road
The only trouble I ever had was with those multi-lane roundabouts in Edinburgh that spiral inward as you go around them---if you don't find the turn you want the first time, you have to make sure to move into the lane on the right so that you don't run out of lane! I had a Scottish person warn me about those, but the experience of it was nerve-rattling.
Driving through the Highlands is a piece of cake. No traffic, stop for a few sheep, pull into the turn-outs for oncoming cars on the one lane roads---lots of fun!
# Posted on May 2nd 2007 by kennedy
Re: Driving on the Opposite Side of the Road
One doesn't actually operate motor cars. Never owned or driven one. That's the car driver's job. One normally uses the tube, buses, cabs, trams, trains and boats and planes.
Anyway, the problem for me is the crossing of the road.
When one is on the Continent or in the Amerikan Empire's homeworld, nearly being killed each time you step off the pavement (sidewalk) is common. If you have spent most of your time in London, then one instinctively, habitually and unconsciously glances to one's right and remembering to look the other way is a bugger ("Polari, Mr. Horne!") .
Don't a hundred USA/ European grockles a year cop it in London because of this problem? Of course visitors from India, Australia, Japan et cetera do not have the problem, as they drive on the right side of the road, that is to say the left. The right side of the road is the wrong side.
# Posted on May 2nd 2007 by yhaalhouse
Re: Driving on the Opposite Side of the Road
I'm not ready for *driving* on the wrong side yet. I had to learn how to cross the street without being run over. (Look to the right!) Now I'm still in my cycling stage.
My other problem is that I can't handle manual gear-shifting. Even on a mountain bike.
This summer I'll be visiting Britain with a coach-party again...
# Posted on May 2nd 2007 by kuec
Re: Driving on the Opposite Side of the Road
Like others have said, it is easier than one might think. I found the key was to remember, just like in the U.S., to keep the driver's side of the car closest to the middle of the road. I found the most problem was when not in the car. You have to remember to look a different way when crossing the street.
# Posted on May 2nd 2007 by Jiml
Re: Driving on the Opposite Side of the Road
I was once crossing the road in Holland and made eye contact with the caged bird that was 'driving' the car that stopped for me...
# Posted on May 2nd 2007 by kookabat
Re: Driving on the Opposite Side of the Road
nowadays, with electric windows , it is better. some years ago my main problem was that, rather than changing gear ( which i normally do using right hand) i often ended up grasping the window knob and .....lowering my side window!!!!
# Posted on May 2nd 2007 by fiddlemax
Re: Driving on the Opposite Side of the Road
I didn't have any trouble driving on the "other side" except for roundabouts (traffic circles). I always got the more expensive automatic transmission because it was one less thing to bother with. While it didn't necessarily have anything to do with driving on the left or right, it was downright terrifying to see a vehicle bearing down on me from the middle of the road, or so large (buses and trucks) that they didn't fit into one lane. Shoulders? What shoulders?
# Posted on May 2nd 2007 by Tracie
Re: Driving on the Opposite Side of the Road
Cycling on the RHS is a bit scarier than driving, I've found - but you get used to it.
# Posted on May 2nd 2007 by Rudall the time
Re: Driving on the Opposite Side of the Road
There are a huge number od accidents involving foreign tourists particularly leaving Dublin and Shannon airports, some of them unfortunately fatal. Driving in Dublin in particular has become very aggressive.
There is a very limited amount of motorway (highway) in Ireland and the main orbital route arounf Dublin is being upgraded for the next 3 years. Delays of up to 2 hours are not uncommon at peak traffic times.
Outside of Dublin the sineage is poor to nonexistant. Standard of driving or rural roads can vary from the elderly cap wearing pipe smoking road hog to the flat out boy racer.
It should also be noted that our speed limits are in Kilometers per hour (kmh) and presently there is no tollerence of speeding or drink driving since the introduction of random breath testing.
I hope that this does not put you off driving in Ireland. Our country is a beautiful place with spectacular scenery but driving is not for the fainthearted.
# Posted on May 2nd 2007 by southpaw
Re: Driving on the Opposite Side of the Road
the first two days it felt like being on drugs: everything should be familiar, but things are just...moved around. Working the stick shift with my left hand wasa bit odd.
# Posted on May 2nd 2007 by matan_fiddler
Re: Driving on the Opposite Side of the Road
I'm just back to the U.S. from a 1400 km spin through Ireland / No. Ireland. I've driven both a stick and an automatic on different Eire trips--the stick's 'H' pattern is the same as on U.S. cars (it's not reversed!) so that's not a huge factor.
Day One tip: simply focusing on following the cars ahead of you aids in settling you into the situation. Remember to yield to cars coming from right on a roundabout, and to curl left when entering the roundabout.
City driving, both north and south, I found to be a breeze (I'm an urban type). It's on the NARROW rural roads where you need to stay alert. Be ever-ready to slow down to allow oncoming vehicles time to finish passing. Be ever-ready to eyeball whether the stretch of road ahead is wide enough for both you and the oncoming lorry--slow way down if it's not. As others have noted, you'll be stunned and grateful when you find a road with shouders.
But heck--you'll do fine! Here's the admonishment: O nobly born, let not thy mind be distracted.
# Posted on May 2nd 2007 by NEW Pure Drop® Ear Canal Oil
Re: Driving on the Opposite Side of the Road
The night before I picked up a tiny red Fiat I got the best advice.
"Stay to the middle." In any country the steering wheels helps position you. If the steering wheel is on the right - the car is to the left & the driver is near the middle of the road.
"Stay to the middle."
# Posted on May 2nd 2007 by Ben Steen
Re: Driving on the Opposite Side of the Road
One other thing: because of the NARROW roads, you'd probably be happier renting a smallish car. But tell everyone to pack light to fit all yer stuff in the car's dinky trunk! Er, boot.
# Posted on May 2nd 2007 by NEW Pure Drop® Ear Canal Oil
Re: Driving on the Opposite Side of the Road
Figuring out how to make right hand turns was easy. Figuring out complicated intersections like huge roundabouts with six roads merging was not. Took forever to get comfortable driving in Newcastle, though I can do it easy now. It also took a while to sort out where the left side of the car was. I still have "American" moments now and then, like going the wrong way on a mini roundabout; I didn't see the damned thing until I was committed to my course. There was no traffic, though if there had been I would have noticed the roundabout because people would have been going, well, around it.
The only place I have driven where the drivers are worse than ones in Washington DC and Eastern Massachusetts is Ireland. I have never been in a car and seen so many people being so completely stupid with cars in my life. Driving the M50 (when you are moving at all, which is sporadically) basically entails taking your life into your hands and hoping the lorry suddenly darting around you doesn't kill you or the guy in front of you he darts behind. Nor do people make good use of inventions like "passing lanes" or "turn signals" and they're quite passionate about not letting merging traffic cut in front them.
Don't get me wrong -- once I was away from Dublin driving around Ireland was fine.
# Posted on May 2nd 2007 by DrSilverSpear
Re: Driving on the Opposite Side of the Road
"The left side is the right side.
And the right side is suicide."
# Posted on May 2nd 2007 by Upsetter
Re: Driving on the Opposite Side of the Road
On the other hand, an ex-boyfriend of mine, who was a Brit living in Colorado for a summer, managed to flip a pickup truck due to not quite knowing where the right side of his vehicle was or how to drive anything bigger than a Fiat.
# Posted on May 2nd 2007 by DrSilverSpear
Re: Driving on the Opposite Side of the Road
Oh yeah - the other thing that's really hard to remember is which side of the car to get into.
Generally, it's the times when there's nobody to follow when you have to be thinking for yourself.
# Posted on May 2nd 2007 by GaryAMartin
Re: Driving on the Opposite Side of the Road
Ive never had a problem driving(mani/stick) in Ireland for the last (12) yrs.. Its funny I said I could never drive in England, too fast and to much anxiety..Until this last Nov trying to get through 8 lanes of merging traffic on the M and a toll booth every 50 yrds...Anxiety an understatement... When that car stopped I wanted several pints and a smoke...
I think I'll aviod Dublin driving from now on....
# Posted on May 2nd 2007 by lamh trom
Re: Driving on the Opposite Side of the Road
Driving in Ireland was ok.. but as a Philadelphia boy, it's hard to get used to the 6 foot wide two way roads. Also, I love the stone walls... but I learned very quickly that they line ALL roads AND that some of those stone walls are overgrown with soft, non car-damaging brush... ha ha... joke's on me. I only clipped one rearview mirror in Westport. Sorry, whoever you are. I loved the bumper sticker I saw on one tour bus... "please forgive me, I'm an Italian driver"
# Posted on May 2nd 2007 by pastrings
Re: Driving on the Opposite Side of the Road
Hey, we've got unique driving rules here in Central Oz.
Except for a couple of main highways, sealed roads consist of a single lane tarred road with usually wide gravel shoulders, so everyone travels along the tar until a vehicle comes into view approaching from the opposite direction. If the approaching vehicle is a road train (huge) or is bigger than you, you brake to slow down and when you are slowed down enough, you move totally off the tar to the left and wave to the road train or whatever as it goes sailing by with four (or usually many many more) wheels on the tar. If the vehicle is the same size as you you share the tar, half on, half off (and wave as you pass by). If the vehicle is smaller than you (eg if you are in a 4wd and its just an ordinary car (poor thing), you hog the tar and make them move totally off the tar and wave as you go sailing by.
If the road is unsealled, the roads are usually really wide and you drive so you find the best line of travel for your vehicle, only returning to the left if you are at a blind spot like at the crest of a hill, or something is approaching (either from in front or from behind). The unsealled roads have usually got corrugations and it can be like travelling over an endless washboard - you have to maintain a fair speed to negotiate them and reduce vibrations. And you really have to be able to read the roads. The number of tourists who come here, hire 4wd's, then roll them is huge - they just don't know how to drive 4wd's or to the conditions here, whether their experiences be left or right side of the road.
There usen't to be any speed limits on NT roads outside of the towns (and there aren't many towns either), I think because there really wasn't any way of enforcing speed limits - but that has changed now. It meant that you could do whatever along the Stuart Highway (which is a lovely wide two lane road) to the South Australian border, then suddenly got limited to 120 kph on the same road. Anyway, I think it virtually impossible to be out here without a vehicle - unlike you poor sods in the city!!
One thing though - you are hardly likely to run into any pedestrians in the bush!!! Just kangaroos, camels and cattle - and they don't know their left from their right - so you have to be aware and drive alertly from all directions.
# Posted on May 2nd 2007 by Clear Drops
Re: Driving on the Opposite Side of the Road
PS: you pull over if a road train is bearing down on you from behind too. Might is decidedly right on our roads. Just like as in sessions
jest kidding!
# Posted on May 2nd 2007 by Clear Drops
Re: Driving on the Opposite Side of the Road
I just remember chanting "Stay to the Left" as we entered Irish traffic circles (whilst partner was chanting "we're gonna die!") and then driving around it several times, telling him I was not going to get off until he read a road number that matched something I saw on a sign......
# Posted on May 3rd 2007 by dragonfiddle
Re: Driving on the Opposite Side of the Road
As a driving instructor, I periodically have the task of teaching Keeplefties how to become Keeprighties.
That alone is not the main issue, as wherever you drive, the local style/attitude is the main factor.
It seems that the poor South Africans have the hardest time of it, as most of them have not been to any other countries, and so everything is a mystery.
Having driven in UK for fifteen years, as well as a number of other countries, I do have sympathies and some practical suggestions.
But, um, are there tunes involved in any of this?
# Posted on May 3rd 2007 by oldstrings
Re: Driving on the Opposite Side of the Road
What's a "road train"? What's a "traffic circle"?
Nah. On second thoughts, I'm not that interested.
# Posted on May 3rd 2007 by ethical blend
Re: Driving on the Opposite Side of the Road
http://www.civenv.unimelb.edu.au/~rocco/Outback/Road_Train.jpg
This is a road train - lots of them, very big, go everywhere (sealed or unsealed roads), snake along, very difficult to overtake, avoid collision with at all costs. Don't look benhall.1 if you don't wantta. Tunes? Well, errrrh, could be if you come to visit.
# Posted on May 3rd 2007 by Clear Drops
Re: Driving on the Opposite Side of the Road
Baby, You Can Drive My Car; Pink Cadillac; Little Red Deuce Coupe; You, You're Driving Me Cra
# Posted on May 4th 2007 by oldstrings
Re: Driving on the Opposite Side of the Road
Maybe you need to change your strings oldstrings?!?
# Posted on May 4th 2007 by Clear Drops