Driving

I'm curious as to how have our American friends coped with Driving in the UK?

Driving on the 'wrong' side, Manual transmissions, Smaller cars, narrower and bendier roads, rediculous petrol prices... and of course the infamous 'roundabout'.

I only recently found out that some American states have 'rotaries', which are basic roundabouts. How do the citizens of those states cope with them? How do drivers from other states cope?

I guess it depends on where you are coming from. 

I am very used to driving on narrow winding roads (coming from a rural mountain town, many places were not excatly straight, wide, paved roads). 

Manual transmission?  I've always driven a "clutch".  Of course, being left-handed, it is a lot nicer in the UK. 

As for the wrong side of the road?  Well, it's just nice to know that you won't get a ticket for it in the UK, where in the states you get a sobriety test for driving on the left!

Gas prices?  Well, you don't drive as much as in the states so it balances out.  Car sizes?  In addition to my "farm truck" and other big rigs used in a rural farming community, my little Honda CRX took me places, so I'd say I'm used to the small cars, too.

What I am not used to is the limited parking in the city!  I never knew that parking could be such an issue!

It wasn't a problem.
When i was 15 and doing my driver training in the US, my dad would not let me get my licence until i could drive a manual.  He didnt want me let out into the big, bad world only knowing how to drive an automatic.

I rode buses (upper deck, right hand side, just above the driver!) for a while, which got me used to how the roads worked.   
Took a few lessons, but the lessons (in London anyway) were so dear,  that i couldnt afford to keep having them to get the amount of practise i wanted, so i went out and bought a car while i was on my provisional so that i could get more experience.

For me, that was the key...  being able to go out and practise whenever i wanted.

I too learned to drive on a manual.  And we lived in MA(Worcester) for a while before we moved here.  If you can drive there, you can drive anywhere. 

I grew up outside Washington DC, which was laid out on a European plan in about 1800.  It has a number of traffic circles.  Most American visitors to the city had never seen a traffic circle before, and it was not rare to see a car with out-of-state license plates going round and round as the driver tried to figure out how to get off the circle.

The adjacent state of Maryland has recently built two at least sets of traffic circles at overpasses to substitute for the traditional cloverleaf.  Even local drivers can find them a bit of a challenge.  Once I saw someone who had gone the wrong way and pulled up on the verge to get his bearings.

Roundabouts must be the single biggest challenge for Americans in the UK.

Jim
moving to the UK in July; taking driving lessons there

Are the laws for traffic circles in the US the same for roundabouts in the UK?

Are the laws for traffic circles in the US the same for roundabouts in the UK?

In NJ it is not the same.  There you have to give way if you are in the roundabout to drivers getting onto it.

bvamin

If there are no traffic lights on the circle, in Maryland and DC you must yield to the traffic on the circle (same as UK).

Jim

Andrea had a go at driving the UK yesterday in my car (a very nervous time for me) and apart from driving to close to the parked cars she was fine.  She has yet to master the roundabout but thats coming on her May trip.

On the flip side of this thread, I have tried to drive in the US a number of times.  On the whole I have done OK but the first time i did it, it took me around 1 week to master it.

I find driving here difficult.  Perhaps it is because I come from a state with straight rds which made driving easy.  How do you unlearn all your habits to pass the test if you have been driving for 20 yrs?  I have been taking lessons which helps.  The roads are so crowded here but the drivers are more polite than in the US.

The roads aren't too bad.  It's the other drivers you have to watch out for!   

I also lived in the DC area for a few years but there they don't seem to practice the same island etiquette as they do in the UK. I nearly hit someone going around DuPont Circle. I think there they just follow the I Was Here First rule.

Driving here wasn't a problem. My husband didn't drive so I was sort of thrown into the deep end of the pool. No problems, not tickets or mis-haps. Not as bad as I expected.

Now the main problem I have is going back to the USA and forcing myself to drive on the Right side of the road.

It's more or less a non-issue for me. I just rented a car one day and off I went. Yeah, there are things that are different, but you can encounter that state to state, too. I figured if I can drive from Washingnton DC to Colorado and back, and all the different types of roads in all those states, I can drive here. Being on the left doesn't phase me and so far I've switched back and forth with no problems.

It's more or less a non-issue for me. I just rented a car one day and off I went. Yeah, there are things that are different, but you can encounter that state to state, too. I figured if I can drive from Washingnton DC to Colorado and back, and all the different types of roads in all those states, I can drive here. Being on the left doesn't phase me and so far I've switched back and forth with no problems.

Yeah but people from Baltimore are superior aren't they? 

Matt

Yeah but people from Baltimore are superior aren't they?

Matt

Who me?!