Left Hand Side Drivers

HOTLNC

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Anybody have any experience in driving on the left hand side?

Any helpful suggestions for a true blue right hand driver?

Most of the driving will be in rural areas of Scotland and Ireland. I will have to drive in Edinburgh for a short length of time.
 
Get someone else to do most of the driving if you can. When I was in Scotland I went to see my cousin who now lives there. He was in 20s when he went to live there; he was driving here since he was 17 but took driving lessons over there before he got on the road. I got freaked out a few times at first sitting in the left seat thinking he was going the wrong way until I got use to it. The roads are a lot smaller there and the road sings are different, from what I remember they don’t have compass directions on their roads like east, south etc., but the name of a major town in the direction you can go.
Since I only sat in the passenger side I can't give any real advice. From what I had heard others say you can acclimate in a day or two of driving, you just have to stay real focused at first.
You can take trains to the cities and use taxis if you want as well so you can just stay parked some place.
Good luck in understanding a lot of the common people on the street there, especially where I stayed in Glasgow. They are real warm towards Americans.
Edinburgh is a very nice city, as is rural Scotland, enjoy your time there. I did not get over to Ireland.
 
left side driving

left side driving

hi, you will be fine. if i can do it annyone can. lived in england twice. 7yrs fist time 10yrs second time. the worst is when there isn t any traffic on both sides, one tends to drift over.keep the white line next to the gear shift9 if manual). signs are very good, roads very small, people gtrat. pubs excelent. take care have fun. stop and look at the roses, lots of history. ed
 
Thanks for the replies.

I plan on taking our Tom-Tom and downloading the maps for the two countries before we leave the USA.

I lived a year in Japan, but only rode a bicycle. When I came back home, I found myself on the wrong side of the road a time or two just after turning a corner.

I'll have Daughter #1 and the wife with me. I'll follow the path that generates the less amount of screaming.
 
I spent a lot of time in England and I loved driving there.

The small towns can have some narrow roads, but driving the two lane roads through the country is just great!

A manual trans just adds to the fun.:D

It takes a little getting used to, but it's worth it.
It might have been easier for me because I'm a lefty though.:)

For some reason, I had more trouble adjusting back when I returned to America.:D
 
I need to brush up on the international road sign symbols.

I thought about practicing driving on the left, but the wife won't let me while she's riding shot gun.
 
I need to brush up on the international road sign symbols.

I thought about practicing driving on the left, but the wife won't let me while she's riding shot gun.

Unless you are practicing in a right handed driver car that may confuse you once you get there and shotgun will be on the left side. I think the signs should be intuitive, when I was in Scotland they use MPH for the speed limits so you don’t have to worry about KPH.
 
What does the painted jagged white line mean on the roadway? I usually see it near road intersections.
 
Noted. Thanks. there is a lot of information on the net to read about driving in these two countries.

So far, all of the articles tell you to practice your driving in the rental car area before hitting the road.

Not bad advise.
 
they say driving on the left is not easy to do in a LHD car. But if you are in a RHD car, driving on the left is much easier.

practicing here wont help much, because you're probably going to be on the wrong side of the car....errr...I mean the right side...no, the left side...

bah
 
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