Inconvenient Annoyances

In terms of gears, I think I usually drive in 3rd on the 20mph roads.
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I tend to do better in 2nd so I don't go too fast, but really should be in 3rd.  20mph is right at the between spot... at least to me it is, but my lovely husband gives me a hard time for not shifting up a gear soon enough.  hmph!

Our next car will likely be an automatic. I don't usually like automatics in small cars.....but all we usually do is drive locally. Traffic is crap so all you do is spend your time shifting from 1st to 3rd.....I never was a "boy racer", so a wimpy automatic will do for city driving. It took my wife a while to get used to the Subaru Forester we had back in the US....but eventually got so she liked the simplicity (automatic) of it.

I drove standard shift in the US most of my life there until the last car which was an automatic.  I loved that car!  Automatics are so much easier to drive - particularly in a city like San Francisco.  When I've mentioned getting an automatic here there's a distinct bias against them - like you're caving in and becoming soft or something.  When we married my husband had a standard VW Golf (which I now drive too), then as soon as he got his retirement money he succumbed to the desire to buy a (used) Mercedes SLK (I think that's right) - also a standard.  I think he was making sure I couldn't get an automatic since it would be ridiculous to have 3 cars - we don't even need 2!  The stinker! 

To be fair, I could be wrong about his motivation, it is a really cool little roadster, that Mercedes.   

There is nothing like a large driving offense/penalty to correct your driving. People act like doing the speed limit is hard.....suck it up...remove pressure from the gas pedal...it's amazing how that reduces the speed of your car. 

There is nothing like a large driving offense/penalty to correct your driving. People act like doing the speed limit is hard.....suck it up...remove pressure from the gas pedal...it's amazing how that reduces the speed of your car. 

I disagree completely- there's nothing like old age to correct your driving. 

Agree on the speed thing, especially at 20 and 30. 

Sorry about that guys...looks like I should have started a thread on "Inconvenient Annoyances about Driving" haha because it looks like we could go on forever about this! :-P

To go with the sign issue, I also have some issue with where lights are placed. In some areas I've been to (some, not all by any means), they're in a weird place where you only see until you get closer (kind of like the signs). I don't drive here yet, but to be honest I'm terrified to do so.

I disagree completely- there's nothing like old age to correct your driving.   

This would come back into my opinion on not lowering the voting age.....I keep thinking back to how many 16 year olds were put under the pressure of their peers......and they fell like bricks under the peer pressure.

I love trams!

I love trams!

Just provide them at a reasonable price......and put them everywhere. But it's hard to beat a good freight train......

Sorry about that guys...looks like I should have started a thread on "Inconvenient Annoyances about Driving" haha because it looks like we could go on forever about this! :-P

To go with the sign issue, I also have some issue with where lights are placed. In some areas I've been to (some, not all by any means), they're in a weird place where you only see until you get closer (kind of like the signs). I don't drive here yet, but to be honest I'm terrified to do so.

My favourite signs are the ones behind overgrown foliage.  This year our council decided to stop maintaining medians and the like to "promote bees"... Or cost savings!  The place looks shockingly bad now!  We have an American counsellor (is that the right term?) who comes to our monthly meet ups and she said the new grass cutting policy has received more complaints s than any other change ever made.  They are back peddling fast but it still looks looks awful while they try to undue the overgrowth!

You can work out what the speed limit is based on the road you're on... Which you probably learned on your speed awareness course.

- if it's a single carriageway and there are no speed limit signs, but there are street lights, it's 30 mph

- if it's a single carriageway and there are no speed limit signs, but there are no street lights, it's 60 mph

- if it's a dual-carriageway and there are no speed limit signs, it's 70 mph

- if the speed limit is anything different from above, it's a legal requirement to have speed limit signs posted at specified intervals along the road (i.e. 20, 40, 50 mph).

So if you can't see a speed limit sign anywhere, you use the type of road you're on to work out if it's 30, 60 or 70 mph.


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But then we have to actually think about something other than actually driving...

haha. I know you can figure out but I'd much rather a sign every so often to tell me.

Speaking of speed limits.... am I the only one who finds traveling along at 20mph difficult?  I have such a hard time staying under the limit and figuring out which gear to be in - 2nd or 3rd.  The car just doesn't want to do it!  (Not that I'm anthropomorphizing or anything of course.  )  Even my British husband has a tough time with that one.

In the US the limits are often on the 5 - so 25 mph instead of 20 (notice this with money too, but that's another subject), which is still hard sometimes, but I guess I'm more used to that one.  Loads of areas up here have 20mph limits.

I absolutely hate it. During my driving lessons I'm constantly being told to shift up from 2nd to 3rd once I hit 20 because it's 'eco-driving' and the test person will be watching for that. It's absolute crap. Why does that even matter? Isn't it more about being safe?

One thing that hasn't been brought up is visitors driving in the UK.

My family has rented a car in the UK (before I moved here) and I'd guess none of us had any idea what the speed limit ever was. We just kept up with traffic. When there's no traffic.... uhhhhh 

I know we should have known... but unless it was written on a sign, it was easy to forget/never learn. It was probably written somewhere in the car rental info, but... well, we're on holiday!

When we started driving on a recent trip in Sweden & Norway, the first thing I did was flip to the driving section of my guidebook for speed limits. Probably should have done the same thing in the UK.

Helpful hint: the Google Translate app lets you translate stuff using the camera or by typing it in. Very handy for road signs in non-English speaking countries and you can download languages for offline.

One thing that hasn't been brought up is visitors driving in the UK.

When I read this I immediately thought of National Lampoon's European Vacation at the Roundabout scene 

We have an American counsellor (is that the right term?)

Nearly!  It's 'councillor'.   

I absolutely hate it. During my driving lessons I'm constantly being told to shift up from 2nd to 3rd once I hit 20 because it's 'eco-driving' and the test person will be watching for that. It's absolute crap. Why does that even matter? Isn't it more about being safe?

YES!!!  Drives me batty when my husband gives me a hard time about that too.  (rather poor pun intended  )

One thing that hasn't been brought up is visitors driving in the UK.

My family has rented a car in the UK (before I moved here) and I'd guess none of us had any idea what the speed limit ever was. We just kept up with traffic. When there's no traffic.... uhhhhh 

I know we should have known... but unless it was written on a sign, it was easy to forget/never learn. It was probably written somewhere in the car rental info, but... well, we're on holiday!

When we started driving on a recent trip in Sweden & Norway, the first thing I did was flip to the driving section of my guidebook for speed limits. Probably should have done the same thing in the UK.

Helpful hint: the Google Translate app lets you translate stuff using the camera or by typing it in. Very handy for road signs in non-English speaking countries and you can download languages for offline.

Speed limits in other countries is one thing I refuse to worry about.  I like to think I've got enough experience to follow the signs if they exist, drive the same speed as traffic, or pick a safe speed.  Especially if we are in our own car, it's unlikely they are organised enough to issue a ticket.

However, I am extremely careful about driving after alcohol.   Many places have a %0 limit for alcohol and I'm not going to a foreign jail.