<p>Those of you who have braved driving on the other side of the road – how did it go?</p>
<p>Would you do it again?</p>
<p>I am in the early planning stages of a trip. We might fly into Edinburgh, then drive toward Newcastle and also take a day trip west toward Hadrian’s Wall.</p>
<p>I have quite a bit of experience driving on the left, dating back to my student days in Dublin in the 1970s. Because the steering wheel is on the right, the driver begins to accommodate rather quickly. The main problems have to do with maintaining adequate distance from parked cars on the left in crowded towns and with right turns. Roundabouts can also be a challenge for the novice. Overtaking (passing) can be a bit frightening but necessary if you find yourself behind a farm vehicle or someone towing a caravan. </p>
<p>Unless you are very skilled with a standard shift I would recommend that you pay extra for automatic so that you can concentrate on the road. I would also recommend taking or renting a GPS navigator. You should also familiarise yourself with the types of road you will be using. M roads are motorways–like freeways or interstate highways. A roads are like two-lane state highways, usually well maintained. Watch out for speed cameras. B roads are smaller, sometimes much smaller, sometimes only one-lane wide. If you find your self on a one-lane road you may have to pull off or reverse to a passing area so that an oncoming vehicle can get by.</p>
<p>Smaller roads are more common in rural areas and in the Scottish highlands. You can usually avoid them but your GPS may direct you on to them occasionally.</p>
<p>Once you get used to it, it’s really a lot of fun and the best way to see Britain and Ireland.</p>
<p>Have a good trip.</p>
<p>The hardest part is left turns. I have driven a lot in the Virgin Islands where you drive on the left but the steering wheel is on the left, too (normal location), so it wasn’t as bad. You really have to concentrate, though.</p>
<p>Thanks Irishdoctor!</p>
<p>The car I drive every day is a standard transmission, but I am right handed.</p>
<p>Is it a challenge to shift with your left hand? Is the clutch in the same place?</p>
<p>I second the advice to rent an automatic. Also advise not driving a rented car through the big cities like London. We rented a car at Heathrow about 20 years ago and had a great trip driving through Devon and Cornwall. It can be the best way to see the countryside.</p>
<p>The clutch is in the same position and the gear pattern is the same. On some cars you have to pull up on the gear shift to put it into reverse. Check the owners manual. Driving standard shift is actually a lot more fun in Britain. The gear ratio is different and you have to change gears more often. It feels as if you’re driving a sports car even though you’re driving a slow and safe speed. I have a weakened left arm from an old fracture but I find that I am able to shift with that arm quite easily.</p>
<p>Agree - get an automatic so you can focus on steering and the traffic and not changing gear. </p>
<p>The A1 is the main road from Edinburgh to Newcastle and although is an ‘A’ road and well maintained is not a dual carriage way, so like a 2 lane state highway. It can also be really busy with trucks. There are several other routes through the Borders, via Jesmond, Kelso etc, also on 2 lane roads, but which will be much less busy.</p>
<p>The roads are also much narrower here, especially on those 2 lane roads… </p>
<p>As posted above, the judging of distance on the left hand side, esp with narrower roads and passing parked cars can be a problem to start with until you get used to it</p>
<p>There is no equivalent of right turn on red (which here would be left turn on red)</p>
<p>Roundabouts (esp multi lane roundabouts, and there a couple you will need to negotiate to get out of Edinburgh) are notoriously difficult for American drivers from my experience - I was frightened to death of them to start with… pay attention to drivers who don’t indicate!</p>
<p>The Borders however are beautiful… and if you go through Northumberland along the coast you can see Alnick Castle and Lindisfarne… both stunning… it can be cold and rainy and windy though…</p>
<p>We rented a manual and H was able to drive it fine, but he’s very mechanically inclined. I did all the navigating with maps. I also helped talk him around roundabouts to help figure out which lane and which outlet to choose.</p>
<p>This was in Ireland. We drove all over the countryside, a bit in Galway (just to get there, didn’t use the car while there), and when we got to Dublin, we turned it in. Just getting through the city to the b/b and to drop off the car was enough city driving for us.</p>
<p>Tried this 8 years ago in Manchester. I’ve never been so scared in my life.</p>
<p>^^^ musica, that’s what I’m afraid of, although I suppose it is difficult to assess how well one will adapt!</p>
<p>Here in Massachusetts we have a number of rotaries so I have some experience with them…</p>
<p>It took a bit of getting used to but driving around England/Scotland was fun! And I rented a stick shift–it all made sense that the “H” was backwards. Take it easy, pay attention, you’ll be fine.</p>
<p>Just (pretty much) agreeing with everyone …</p>
<p>Overall it’s not all that bad and it’s amazing how quickly you adjust to being on the other side.</p>
<p>Turning can be tricky as I head to the right side of the road on autopilit … every turn I take I repeat “stay left - stay left - stay left”.</p>
<p>The roundabouts are backwards but fine as long as I repeat “look right - look right - look right” … and I’m driving a automatic.</p>
<p>Biggest suggestion … DO NOT get a standard transmission … you are using opposite hands … in addition, in most cars opposite feet. My worst case scenario was a standard transmission going into a busy rotary so no slack starting up with everything backwards.</p>
<p>Overall I find it fun (but I love to drive anyways)</p>
<p>We are doing so in July and have done so before.
<p>We flew into Glascow, rented a stick shift, and drove all over Scotland every day for a week. I even managed a round-a-bout leaving the airport, shifting with the left hand, first thing. Honestly, it wasn’t a big deal to drive the car. Had a wonderful time. It’s a great place for driving around and sight seeing. Some of the roads are just incredible.</p>
<p>We only had one near-death experience – on the very last day pulling out of a gas station in Glascow on the way to the airport. Got confident and stopped paying close attention. Pullled out of the gas station, looked both ways up and down a divided road, and proceded to turn right – into oncoming traffic that would be coming at us as soon as their light turned green! Yikes. A quick U-turn up onto the sidewalk and back down got us very quickly headed in the proper direction, but it definitely got my attention. I was mad at myself. I had gotten complacent and we were talking about some castle we had visited when I should have been focused on the driving thing.</p>
<p>The lesson is to recruit all of your passengers to help you pay attention at intersections. Their responsibility is to not get talking about other things. Divided road intersections are a place where you really need to pay full and attention and actively think about what you are doing.</p>
<p>My H has rented cars for business trips to the UK, and, after some initial trepidation, has done ok. He always gets an automatic and a GPS unit with the car.</p>
<p>When my company had some work going on near Manchester, there were pools set up to see what was the shortest period before there was an accident - at least one never made it out of the airport garage. </p>
<p>H highly recommends taking lots of photos of the car when you pick it up & return it. Colleagues have had bills show up for damaged/lost hubcaps and wheels and minor dents well after the fact.</p>
<p>I won’t do it.</p>
<p>I have a friend who is originally from England, and even he has trouble driving over there. He said that the best solution he has found is to tape a piece of paper on the windshield that reads “STAY ON THE LEFT”. It has saved him from numerous accidents.</p>
<p>Do you remember the very first time you drove a car on the road? Do you remember how much you had to concentrate just to make sure you stayed in your lane and in order to make a turn at an intersection? Do you remember how it seemed that there was all this …car, i.e. sheet metal, sticking out to one side of where you were sitting and you had to concentrate to not hit anything with all of that metal?</p>
<p>That’s what it was like all over again for me the first time I drove on the wrong side of the road - i.e. the side the Brits drive on 
For the first day I had to really concentrate. As long as there were some other cars on the road it wasn’t too bad because they’re a reminder of the direction of the lanes but when there’s no traffic you really need to make sure you’re in the correct lane. This is especially true on right turns where our tendancy is to hug the right lane when making a right but over there you need to go into the far lane on a left.</p>
<p>After a day of driving it was much easier and after 2-3 days it was fairly natural but an occasional reminder to yourself still helpful.</p>
<p>I agree with the others - if you’ll have a passenger then tell them up front that it’s okay if they remind you to stick left and to help you on the turns and by all means to remind you if you’re heading into the wrong lane on a turn or out of a roundabout. Don’t get irritated at some ‘back seat driving’ on their part and view it as helpful. After all, they have some skin in this too (literally). My W would say “put me in the ditch” meaning that her side of the car needed to be on the ‘ditch’ side or edge of the road. That’s opposite to what we’re used to.</p>
<p>I found driving the stick no problem at all so I don’t necessarily agree with the posters who are saying to get an automatic but that’s just me. I’m also right-handed but it didn’t matter at all that the stick was on the left and I was shifting with my left hand. That required no adjustment for me and I like driving a stick.</p>
<p>Parking can sometimes be a challenge at first - especially parallel parking since it’s backwards from what you’re used to. After a few days of it you should be okay though.</p>
<p>You’ll probably find after a couple of days that you’re driving fine but when you go up to the car, especially first thing in the morning, you’re approaching it from the wrong side - i.e. you’re approaching the left when you need to be on the right. Your passengers can get a laugh at you out of this.</p>
<p>On subsequent trips to the UK and Australia it wasn’t as much of an adjustment. I still needed to think about it at first but I got used to it much more quickly than the very first time.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t hesitate to rent a car there if I was you assuming you’re very comfortable with driving in general. I always rent a car when I’m in Europe on vacation because I like the flexibility to go where I want when I want including smaller towns.</p>
<p>The last time I was there we flew into Manchester and then drove through northern England (including a stop at Hadrian’s Wall), then all through Scotland, then into Northern Wales, then back to Manchester. I got lucky, I think, because they handed me an Audi A5 diesel manual shift for the rental car. It was a nice car to drive and seemed to go a long ways between fillups.</p>
<p>I did it years ago, though went north to Fife from the Edinburgh airport, and survived the experience. The worst part was the roundabout on the way out of the airport. But that was before there were roundabouts in the US. Finally, after this recent trip to France, I do feel comfortable in roundabouts. </p>
<p>Find reverse before you do anything else with the car. As someone posted, you have to pull up with some cars. I nearly burned out a clutch while attempting to park a car on a hill in reverse on a trip several years ago. Also, just don’t park on hills…</p>
<p>Get a mental picture of where you’ll turn when arriving at each intersection. Know that your instincts will be wrong, and that stone walls are a real visual barrier at times. I rented a car all those years ago to drive my Scottish grandmother around to visit friends. She was unable to use buses by the age of 92, and hated being stuck at home. So I drove all over those hills and rural roads, scared I’d kill us both, while visiting other aged pensioners she’d known for decades. A precious, precious time, as I never saw her again after that trip.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the pointers and encouragement!</p>
<p>My husband and I have been on trips before where my husband drove on the “wrong side,” but that was about 20 years ago, and I personally have never tried it.</p>