Driving in England

We have driven many times in England, Scotland, and Ireland and have NEVER run into any rude or crazy drivers on the "wee roads" (B roads and even smaller) Of course, there's always a possibility but I don't think you will have much trouble. Kent and Salisbury are pretty developed parts of the UK. The really tiny back roads are in Cornwall and Scotland. Who is "she"?

Hi

I live in Kent and once you are off the motorways/main roads we do have some very narrow single and two lane country roads. They can be nerve racking even for us because of the number of bends in the road. However we don't drive too fast and are ready to pull to one side to let oncoming traffic pass. I have heard American visitors comment on the speed of the traffic in the UK eg on a road with two lanes the maximum speed allowed is 60mph. Although people are supposed to drive to the conditions, maximum seems to be taken as mandatory by some drivers!

Where are you planning to visit? It may be that you will not have to use the very small roads. It would be a shame if you did not feel able to visit some of the beautiful places we have in Kent.

I love driving the wee roads. I don't think that the drivers are any more aggressive than here. In fact, in the countryside I think they are fewer problems. If you know the rules of the single track road you should do fine. The rules are that the first car to a passing place waits for the oncoming car to pass. Traffic coming up the hill has the right of way. These are the rules in Scotland and I suspect that they apply in the south as well. Pam

Hello. We were in England for five weeks back in 2001 and I drove all over in a rental car while we were there. We had no trouble but I did have one run in with a man when I went through a roundabout and suddenly he was beside my car ranting at me (there was a stop light beyond the roundabout). I never did figure out what I had done wrong but I did not roll down the window. I told a friend from the UK about this experience and he said the chap must have been from Liverpool to be that excited. (No offense to any Liverpoolians out there). Roundabouts were the only part of driving there that I really feared. I just did not know how to negotiate them well. The general orientation of the car is backward from ours in the US though and I was constantly running the car into curbs on the passenger side. Most of the drivers I encountered were very pilote and patient with me though. We are returning to the UK this fall and I plan to take public transportation as much as possible and leave the driving to the people who live there.

Denny,

I've driven in the U.K. on a number of occasions, and have a few thoughts that might help.

I always take a few minutes to become familiar with the vehicle before departing the hire agency. That way I can ask questions of the staff if necessary.

Take the FULL CDW if your budget will allow!

I've encountered some "impatient" drivers, usually on the Motorways. If you're in the wrong lane you'll get a flash of the headlights!

The smaller country roads are very narrow in some cases, and often it doesn't appear there's adequate room for two cars to pass. I usually pull as close to the curb as possible and allow the other car to get by.

Many of the smaller country roads go through small villages, and many of these have automated radar devices to monitor the speed of vehicles. If you're not doing 30 MPH, you WILL be reminded. My GPS unit was providing alerts for the speed zones, although I'm not sure how it "knew" about them?

Be sure to review the protocol for roundabouts! Some of these are larger and equipped with stop lights to control entry into the roundabout. Some are smaller and just operate with the usual protocol.

I've found that it's a good idea to travel with a GPS unit (one with Euro maps of course) along with a good Map (always good to have "backup"!). The GPS units aren't infallible, but it really helped me on a couple of occasions.

BE SURE to check on the parking regulations in each place you stop. I've seen cars with "The Boot" and towed, and that gets to be VERY expensive! Paying for a Car Park is a good investment! Some places use a small cardboard clock on the dash to indicate parking duration.

Have a look at This Site, This Site or This Site for a few tips.

Happy travels!

Excellent information and a big help, Ken. Thanks for the websites. I was surprised when we rented a car in France last year that no information about signage, rules of the road, etc. was provided. I thought, at least "Do not enter", "One Way" or a few do or die basics, but zip. As for the tires, Linda, I can imagine hitting a few curbs myself. It will be an adventure I guess for sure. I remember a ditty they told us as pedestrians in London..."Left is right, right is wrong, if you don't look right we pick up what's left" It will probably replay in our brains for the entire week. (that is right, isn't it?)

Thanks all for the advice and words of encouragement. "She" is a young American woman living here with her English husband, and described her reactions to British drivers on the many trips home she has taken with her husband. Maybe they were nearer London from whence he hails. We will be driving the last week in May. And yes, we shall be undaunted. The sites in Kent are the reason we decided to drive. I was playing with Google Earth and saw the roundabouts on the "travel the route sorta flyover" and they do look challenging! I am sure we'll take it slowly and carefully and hope our tires hold out. Thanks again for all the information.

" hope our tires hold out."

All public roads are sealed/tarmac, if that's what you meant. Only private roads would be gravelled.

Denny,

I learned to drive in the UK and its not so bad. Drivers there are the same as drivers anywhere else in the world [well apart from some other European cities!]
What I would mention is watch out for all the speed cameras. They are literally everywhere. I went back last year and I couldnt believe how many there are. If you want to know what the look like just google UK Speed cameras and you can get the images..they all look the same though some people actually make their own up out of cardboard boxes and put them on poles outside their houses thinking it will slow traffic down!
Anyway, if you do end up getting a ticket, dont worry about it. My wife got one two years ago, we got a nice $75 letter from the hire car company [talk about gouging]. The letter was actually from the local Police Department. All you do is phone the number on the letter and explain that you are an American Citizen and they will erase the ticket [unlike those Italian tickets I have read about][[they erase it because they have no reciprocal agreement with the US government to suspend your license etc so they can't put points on your license etc]

A lot of smaller UK roads, especially those in the country side have small dips in the side hedges where you can also pull over to let other cars coming towards you through..all very sensible. You will be fine driving there.
PETE

We once stayed at a B&B in Bath the host of which was also a driving instructor. He told us that it's not just us visitors. They have to replace tires on the left side of their cars every month because of students hitting curbs. I thought it amusing that on one of our trips to the UK we found curbs where one really didn't expect to find them. Often in more rural places. Wish I could remember where. We've only ever met the odd aggressive driver on the Motorways. Have a great time, and tell us how your trip went when you get home.

I second all the advise given, especially getting full CDW. We never take out the CDW in the states as we are fully covered by our own policy. We were not fully covered by our policy or our credit card in the UK. We decided to add the CDW before we left to the UK, and after our first drive I was really glad as it gave me peace of mind. Our left tires saw a lot of curbs, too. It did get better once we got used to things and the country roads in Kent are worth it to have a car.

We ended up buying this street map and found it really helpful.

http://www.amazon.com/Kent-Street-Atlas-Maps-Atlases/dp/1843481650/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239834067&sr=1-2

We'd study it before we would go somewhere and have our directions written out on a post-it. One thing that surprised me is that there isn't any good spot to read a map once you leave to your destination. There are not spots to pull over like in the US.

I think a GPS unit would be good too. I've read a bit about using a GPS in the UK and I think that would be nice as well.

I have not found British drivers to be especially aggressive. The rural roads are lot narrower than in Australia or USA. I found the roundabouts to be very confusing for navigation. Some had as many as 6 exits, and you would have to make a quick decision about which one you had to take.

The most intimidating situation I found (when I was living there) was not aggressive drivers, but having to drive down narrow roads in suburban London, and finding a double decker bus heading in my direction. I would normally pull over in such situations. I don't whether this will affect you in Kent which is close to London.

Apart from the 4WDs, you are likely to meet or, sometimes worse IMO, have to follow farm vehicles for what seems like miles. Take along a bird spotting book to help pass the time if that happens to you!

My daughter grew up in Canada and just returned from Korea. I learned to drive in Scotland. We dabated the skill of the "terrible" Korean drivers and the lack of accidents she witnessed. I pointed out that driver outside of North America drive on their senses rather than depending on the traffic signs to regulate the traffic. As proof I pointed out that in two weeks of driving in Scotland recently I only saw two "stop" signs. Everywhere else they used yield signs and traffic circles.

Driving is different and people drive fast, but with a lot of skill. As someonoe said, aggressive drivers are a very small minority. Just be prpeared for narrow, twisting roads and learn to use traffic circles or "roundabouts" as they call them over there.

Iain, "I pointed out that driver outside of North America drive on their senses rather than depending on the traffic signs to regulate the traffic." Nobody stucks more to traffic signs than Germans, Swiss and Austrians. The driving style in both the US and Canada is so much more "liberal" than in the German speaking countries. Had the East Germans instead of building a wall just painted a white line on the streets, people most likely wouldn't have crossed it either...

One post above mentioned the round abouts "confusing for navigation". You don't have to exit the first time around, take your time look for the exit you want then exit the second time around if you have to. When you want to enter a round about remember that the cars in the round about have the right away.

"You don't have to exit the first time around, take your time look for the exit you want then exit the second time around if you have to."

Wasn't there a film starring Chevy Chase with just such a scenario, except that they were at it all day! BTW I used to work in an office that overlooked that very roundabout.

Yes, Chevy Chase got pushed over into the inside lane and spent all day going around the same roundabout. He's also the one who knocked down the stones at Stonehenge, when he backed his car into one of them and a domino effect resulted. After they got the stones upright again (that was some effort), they moved the parking lot across the road.

Denny,

Regarding the "signage" in France, next time you're driving in a non english-speaking country, you might want to get an International Driver's Permit. These are available from AAA for about $15 (not including the cost of the Passport photos that are required) and are valid for one year. Not only does this provide a translation of your "home" D.L., but a nice chart of signs, etc. is provided. The I.D.P. is mandatory in Italy.

Cheers!

Thanks again for all the responses...the help has been invaluable! And for the record...while playing with my new digital camera I got some pretty good panoramic shots of us circling the wagons in a French roundabout as we sought the correct exit. What fun! PS I was not the driver :-)

Big Ben, Parliament. Big Ben, Parliament. :)