How difficult would it be for an American to drive in the U.K. for vacation?

I’m a good driver but I’ve always driven on the right side of the road. Have you gone on a driving vacation where you have to drive on the left? Is it really hard and dangerous, or would it be a reasonable thing to do?

Oh, drive IN the UK.

Nevermind then.

I read it exactly the same way!:slight_smile:

Here’s a non-scholarly “handy tips” site that says:

Official U.S. Embassy advice for Americans driving in the UK.
Personally, having never been there or driven there, I can only say “I wouldn’t do it” unless I actually moved there, and even then I’d only drive in uncongested areas until I had the hang of it. In addition to the left-right difference, simple things like differences in road signsand converting kmph to mph would be so alien.

I’ve known a lot of people who did it (either in the UK of some other country that drives on the wrong side) and all report you get used to it surprisingly quickly.

PS- Take a practice Driving Theory testhere. (God it’s hard to believe there’s a country where it’s called “Driving Theory”- I have so got to go there.) The UK Driver’s test is evidently a lot harder than the US versions.

You get used to driving on the other side of the road pretty quickly, especially if there are other cars on the road. Things that an American driver might find hard in the UK are:
(1) Most cars have a manual transmission. If you’ve only driven with an automatic transmission that takes time to learn.
(2) A lot of roads are more narrow and winding than the equivalent American roads would be.
(3) Don’t drive in the centre of London, for many reasons (including the congestion charge).
(4) You need to get used to roundabouts. Apart from driving round them clockwise, you must give way to traffic already on the roundabout.

You will find that your biggest problem comes when you get back home: you’ll have to be very careful to drive on the correct side of the road.

I did it in while on vacation in Australia, and it wasn’t difficult. I did find that I had to concentrate on driving more than usual; sometimes when I was going through an intersection or making a turn, I’d have to kind of consciously map out what I was going to do.

Yes, the biggest challenge, indeed, will be getting used to the wrong side of the road only to come home and have to drive on the correct side. :slight_smile:

all the road signs are in mph (or miles if indicating the distance to the next town).

Nobody knows what a kilometre is in the UK.

I’ll fourth (fifth?) the chorus saying it was pretty easy adjusting to driving on the other side of the road. What actually surprised me is that we (or at least I) tend to unconciously move to one side of the lane to avoid objects like cars parked on the side of the road But in the UK it’s completely reversed. So while you you’re constantly reminding yourself what lane to be in, you end up coming REALLLLLLY close to objects you never would in the states because your sense of compensation is completely reversed. I’m sure that too adjusts in time, but I was only driving there for a few days.

I took on this particular feat when I decided to rent a car and drive around england back a few years ago. It is doable, and it is stressful, but you can survive.

First: when you sign up for a rental, be sure to get an automatic. One less thing to have to worry about will be shifting with your left hand !

Next, don’t plan to use the car in the large cities (like London). You’re better off using the underground or cabs in the city. So I would only recommend a car if you need to travel outside the big cities.

I talked to some people, and one guy told me that if you just think “the driver is closest to the center of the road”, you will be okay. That is, since you’ll be seated on the right, then you need to drive in the “left” lane in order to keep the driver closest to the center. Seemed to make sense.

Starting out is the most stressful, but once you get over the initial shock, it isn’t too bad. Next is the (damn) circles. These are VERY stressful. There’s an entire ettiquite (sp ?) associated with handling circles that we never figured out, and therefore got honked at…a lot. The good thing is that if you mess up, you can just keep circling :wink: For sheer madness, there are circles that also have traffic lights. Never did figure out the logic to that one, and fortunately these tend to have better directions painted in the lanes.

The easiest are the highways. Once you’re on, it’s pretty straight forward. Perhaps next easiest are the small country roads. Some of these are so narrow, there is no “left” or “right” lane - just The lane. So you can’t be wrong !

For spending 12 some days on the road, we only had one lapse where I instinctively pulled into the right lane. It was kind of funny, when we came upon a car coming directly at us, both my friend and I had the same reaction “What’s that idiot doing in our lane ??? !!!” But I quickly figured it out, and disaster was averted.

Hope this helps.

Whenever I’ve driven on the “wrong” side of the road, the hairiest moments have been on the less busy roads (fortunately, such roads are rare in Britain :)). It’s easy enough when you have other cars to lead the way and constantly remind you which side you should be on. But turn off into a quiet country lane with no traffic and if you’re not careful you might find yourself on the wrong side. The most dangerous moment is pulling out on to a road - you check for oncoming traffic, it’s all clear, you pull out, and wham, a truck coming from the opposite direction hits you.

My husband and I did it several years ago. It went just fine, but here are my tips–

Driving in London is not a good idea (we rented on the edge of the city to drive out, but then got back after closing time the next day, so had to drive the car into Southwark, where we were staying).

We found it invaluable to have me looking at the map and giving directions while he drove. I think it would be quite a bit more difficult to do alone, without a navigator as companion.

Hmm. Ignorance fought. (Since Europe and Canada use km I assumed the UK did.)

Nothing new to add, just agreeing with those who posted about the benefits of an automatic transmission, not driving in London and the difficulty dealing with the damned roundabouts.

I did most of my driving on that trip in Scotland and if you’re on the highway up in the Highlands be aware that people will drive at outrageous speeds.

I’ve done it quite a lot – about 20 trips in the last two decades. I’ve never gotten used to it. The problem is that English roads are horrid, English traffic is California-esque, and English drives are hyper-aggressive. My tips:

  1. Do not attempt to drive more than 200 miles in a day. Ever. This means you.

  2. Have your passenger remind you to drive on the left every time you pull out of a parking lot.

  3. Backing will be your biggest problem – you’ll loose perspective on where your passenger mirror and bumper are. Avoid parking garages, and any turning to the right while backing.

  4. Do not drive in the major cities. Instead, park and use mass transit.

  5. Above all, do not try to drive around the entire island in two weeks. Instead, pick a spot and stay there at least three days. Then move (no more than 200 miles!) to the next spot.

Roundabouts, oddly enough, are not that bad, except for when they paint a dot in the middle of the intersection and claim it to be a “roundabout”. I never really figured out how you are supposed to circle around a dot painted in the middle of an intersection. The locals seem to just charge over them.

Personally, I always rent cottages for a week apiece, and stay within 30 miles of home. The less you drive, the more fun you’ll have.

I will defer to those of you who have done it, but as someone who has beeen driven around a lot in England, I think driving there looks hard as hell. The roads are tiny, and people seem to have no problem coming within inches of you. To me, that is worse than the other side of the road thing.

I am a fairly lousy driver. I live in the city, do not own a car, and only have the occasion to drive a few times a year. I am also cursed with a relatively poor sense of direction.

That said, I have done two driving trips, mostly sticking to country lanes in Wales. I adjusted much faster than I would have thought. The signage is on the whole very good, and most of the roundabouts made perfect sense. I only got turned around perhaps once per trip. I did not drive casually: my wife and I drove all over the country, often several hundred miles at a time.

I liked it so much, I did it again two years later. I had no trouble renting a car with an automatic transmission, for what it’s worth.

The only problem I kept having while driving around New Zealand for ten days was constantly turning on the windshield wipers instead of the turn signals.