# UK driving practices/laws **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 1, 2003, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-driving-practices-laws/152161 "2003-02-01T21:00:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2003, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-driving-practices-laws/152161/41 "2003-02-04T23:32:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hello Again \* > \*\*(In the US, if you are parked in the northbound lane, you must be pointing north. To point south is a ticketable offense.) \*\* Ah, thank you. That would explain why when I park against the flow, I am usually the only one. I had wondered… ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2003, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-driving-practices-laws/152161/42 "2003-02-04T23:48:34Z")
Puffin crossings (Pedestrian User-Friendly INtelligent) have some sort of motion detector which keeps the lights on red while you cross the road. Toucan crossings are similar, but also allow cyclists to cross at the same time (i.e. “two can” cross :rolleyes: ). But these really represent the cutting edge of pedestrian crossing technology - Pelicans (PEdestrian LIght CONtrolled) and good ol’ Zebras (white stripes across the road) are far more common. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2003, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-driving-practices-laws/152161/43 "2003-02-04T23:56:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Usram \* > **Puffin crossings (Pedestrian User-Friendly INtelligent)** There’s a contrived pseudo-acronymn if ever I saw one (haven’t seen the likes of that since CEDRIC - the Customs & Excise Data Retrieval Information Computer) ---
**Author:** ![brad\_d](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@brad\_d](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brad_d)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-driving-practices-laws/152161/44 "2003-02-05T01:56:51Z")
Thanks, **Usram**. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-driving-practices-laws/152161/45 "2003-02-05T03:16:01Z")
The ‘inside’ lane… **Xerxes** , **wooba** , you’re saying that the ‘inside’ lane is the ‘slow’ lane, the one furthest from the centre of the road? That’s completely opposite to the way I think of ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ lanes, but then I usually call them the ‘fast’ lane, the ‘middle’ lane, and the ‘slow’ lane. ---
**Author:** ![wooba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/aeb1de/32.png) [@wooba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wooba)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-driving-practices-laws/152161/46 "2003-02-05T06:16:29Z")
Sunspace: I meant passing on the right of a car, regardless if that’s the far right (slow) lane or a middle lane… whenever possible I always pass cars on the left and then keep to the right… but in Toronto, that’s not very often ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Xerxes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/d2c977/32.png) [@Xerxes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xerxes)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-driving-practices-laws/152161/47 "2003-02-05T12:58:46Z")
> [@](#): > > The ‘inside’ lane… Xerxes, wooba, you’re saying that the ‘inside’ lane is the ‘slow’ lane, the one furthest from the centre of the road? Yep; in the UK if you viewed a motorway from above you’d see slow-middle-fast centre fast-middle-slow. ---
**Author:** ![keithnmick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90db22/32.png) [@keithnmick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/keithnmick)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-driving-practices-laws/152161/48 "2003-02-05T14:31:19Z")
Remember that you drive on the LEFT in the UK, Sunspace. ---
**Author:** ![brad\_d](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@brad\_d](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brad_d)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-driving-practices-laws/152161/49 "2003-02-05T15:40:09Z")
I don’t think the left/right difference has much to do with it - I agree with **Sunspace**. To most Americans the “inside” lane would be the one closest to the middle of the road, no matter which side a particular country drives on. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-driving-practices-laws/152161/50 "2003-02-05T16:26:42Z")
I try not to use the term ‘inside lane’, as it means different things to different people, even within the UK (outside=as far ‘out’ or away from the lane in which you start, or outside=the part of the road which borders the countryside or pavement(sidewalk)). slow-middle-fast(central reservation)fast-middle-slow is the configuration regardless of left or right hand drive - the fast lane is the one furthest away from the slip roads/on ramps. ---
**Author:** ![istara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e79b87/32.png) [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-driving-practices-laws/152161/51 "2003-02-05T16:37:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Duke \* > \*\*Private cars aren’t permitted to drive in the Oxford city centre anymore, thank God, but in the 60’s I heard that crossing High Street was like trying to cross the M1. \*\* They’ve changed it since I was there then. I remember once getting stuck for FIFTEEN minutes in the very centre, where the High Street turns left round into St Aldates. I only wanted to go to Cornmarket, and was right there, but the driver wouldn’t let me off in the middle of the road. He insisted in waiting until he had turned into St Aldates and parked at the bus stop there. Bit of a jobsworth, IMO, as the traffic was _completely_ stagnant in all lanes and keeping me waiting for a quarter of an hour felt tantamount to false imprisonment! This was during the notorious “bus wars” of the mid-late 1990s, between the Oxford Bus Company and Thames Transit. Re the Roman streets thing: many of our better roads are in fact Roman roads. If you look on a map of the whole of the UK you can actually see where they are (have a look round Cirencester) - they are as straight as a die, far straighter than any motorways or highways built today. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-driving-practices-laws/152161/52 "2003-02-05T16:52:20Z")
> [@](#): > > _originally posted by **brad\_d** :_ > To most Americans the “inside” lane would be the one closest to the middle of the road, no matter which side a particular country drives on. > [@](#): > > _originally posted by **Mangetout** :_ > I try not to use the term ‘inside lane’, as it means different things to different people, even within the UK (outside=as far ‘out’ or away from the lane in which you start, or outside=the part of the road which borders the countryside or pavement(sidewalk)). > > slow-middle-fast(central reservation)fast-middle-slow is the configuration regardless of left or right hand drive - the fast lane is the one furthest away from the slip roads/on ramps. That’s why I was careful to phrase my question the way I did, without reference to which side people drive on. Me, I like to drive on the _upper_ side on the road… 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-driving-practices-laws/152161.md?page=2)