First time driving on the wrong side of the road.

"THShorn92 - Left his car in America" (thshorn92) 07/06/2017 at 06:05 • Filed to: Ireland, what could possibly go wrong?

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I am taking a vacation with my wife and her family to Ireland next week. We are renting two cars to ferry us all around and I’ve been designated as a driver. Despite living in the UK for 7 months now, I’ve yet to get behind the wheel of a car. I’m confident in my driving ability and I have been in cars here enough to grasp the general idea. I am just slightly worried about my brain reverting back to American driving habits. Luckily we rented automatics, so although I can drive manual, I can focus on driving.

You guys have any tips that might be of use before I head off to Ireland?

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > THShorn92 - Left his car in America 07/06/2017 at 06:12

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I’ve driven on the wrong side of the road (the right, in case the rest of the world wasn’t aware they were wrong) in both RHD and LHD cars and you’d be surprised at how quickly you get used to it. It’s always useful to pay more attention when you approach junctions and roundabouts, but it’s not as difficult as you’d imagine :)

random001 > THShorn92 - Left his car in America 07/06/2017 at 06:34

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You’re gonna die. Sorry.

Cé hé sin > THShorn92 - Left his car in America 07/06/2017 at 06:38

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You get used to it and having a car with the wheel on the appropriate side helps because you’re always being reminded.

My first time on the wrong side was in the Netherlands and for the first half hour I was terrified to see oncoming traffic on the left. But you get over it.

pip bip - choose Corrour > THShorn92 - Left his car in America 07/06/2017 at 06:49

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keep left.

print it out on a strip of paper and put it near the speedo

pip bip - choose Corrour > random001 07/06/2017 at 06:51

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sssshhh!

8)

random001 > pip bip - choose Corrour 07/06/2017 at 06:54

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.....well, damn.

Montalvo > THShorn92 - Left his car in America 07/06/2017 at 07:15

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Everything is the exact opposite in terms of side there. Most of the rental companies know that people aren’t used to it so the dashboard should be plastered with warnings. Depending on how deep into the heartland you go the roads can get a bit confusing and a bit tricky. Having gps will help a lot. GPS coordinates was the only way to get directions to my friends house because the roads had no names at all except for the local’s nicknames. Other than that be careful of speed cameras, I got lucky and was able to get in the swing of avoiding them. Should be a lot of fun though. Even diesel shit boxes can be fun to Hoon around in. I just remembered something too, BRING EVIDENCE OF HOW LONG YOU HAVE HAD YOUR LICENSE. The rental companies made me jump through BS hoops to prove I had my license for ~5 years. Its really dumb and I had to pay $40 for an electronic dmv service to bring up my record.

This was my rental and I named it speed machine.

WilliamsSW > THShorn92 - Left his car in America 07/06/2017 at 07:50

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I’ve done it, and Biturbo is right - you get used to it quicker then you’d think.

Starting out, I just took everything slowly, and doubled down on looking left and right for any turn or roundabout. Just take it easy, focus, and you’ll be fine.

Ireland is beautiful- have fun!

Gone > THShorn92 - Left his car in America 07/06/2017 at 09:08

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It’s not that bad. Got back from Europe recently and drove around in England (manual diesel XTrail). Just think your way through things - go slow, don’t get in a hurry. Never found myself really screwing up. Helps when you have other cars to follow and learn from what they do as well. Coming from the US, I got an International Driver’s license to make it all easier. I had no problems getting rentals in England and Germany. Just needed it, my passport, and my US DL. My wife was pretty freaked out at first, but it wasn’t bad at all.

Thomas Donohue > THShorn92 - Left his car in America 07/06/2017 at 09:12

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As has already been said, the roundabouts get tricky, but only because you are focusing on which exit to take. If you have a passenger it’s a bit easier if they (or your GPS) can navigate. You’ll get used to driving in the first few hours....just be careful when making turns, especially right-hand ones. Download “HERE” maps or whatever it’s called now....free offline maps on par w/Google.

The hardest habit to break is looking up to the right for your rear-view mirror (it’s now on your left), and you’ll likely keep getting in on the passenger side the first few tries. Navigating little city streets (and reverse parallel parking) are fun, and if you end up on some crowded rural sightseeing roads, remember to pull in your mirrors when you and a tour bus inch by each other while trying to avoid the ditch.

Enjoy Ireland...it’s awesome.

BahamaTodd > THShorn92 - Left his car in America 07/06/2017 at 09:29

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I grew up in the Bahamas driving on the left and now live in the US. Its not too bad. When I was traveling back and forth frequently so both were fresh in my mind, I would sometimes start off in a parking lot on the wrong side.

One bigger issue that did catch me off guard once is turning right at a stop sign intersection where the perpendicular road does not stop. Remember to look right for oncoming traffic going in the opposite direction you want to go. Driving in the US on the right and turning right you’re usually used to only looking to the left for oncoming traffic and ignoring the far lane. So remember to treat it like a left in the US and look both ways.

ateamfan42 > THShorn92 - Left his car in America 07/06/2017 at 09:44

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I’ve driven 3 times in Australia, and I found it pretty darn easy to switch. With the flow of traffic around you as reference, it is hard to get mixed up and forget which side you should be on.

The only thing that ever got me was coming out of a single lane one way street, and then turning right— where my old instinct to keep right started to kick in. On a normal two directional street, where you start off on the “wrong” side before the turn, it makes sense to end up on the “wrong” side after the turn as well.

What was much more strange than driving on the other side of the road was driving from the other side of the car. The tiny compacts I had felt like they were 20 feet wide on the left side at first. Shifting with my left hand was no problem, but you probably will find yourself putting on the wipers the first few times you go to signal turns and lane changes. It took a bit to retrain my right hand to run the blinker (though when I returned home I was putting on my wipers all over again...lol).

Cé hé sin > THShorn92 - Left his car in America 07/06/2017 at 11:04

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Don’t assume you can turn left on a red light! Unless there’s a flashing orange arrow, it’s not allowed.

Nick Has an Exocet > THShorn92 - Left his car in America 07/06/2017 at 14:47

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Renting an auto was a great idea. I rented a manual on my first attempt and while it wasn’t a disaster, it also wasn’t pleasant.

Just follow the cars in front of you and do what they do. You’ll be fine. Also, remember that there isn’t any turning on red in the UK. Oh, and I can’t remember the link, but review the road signs and road markings PDFs somewhere on the UK driving website.