Visitors to the uk be warned

**Jock Scot** · 29th June 25, 06:47 AM

I really don't want to discourage anyone from visiting the UK and Scotland in particular, but we have had rather too many accidents with collisions of vehicles being driven by visitors who were driving on the WRONG side of the road.

WE IN THE UK DRIVE ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE ROAD.

ALSO

Only the other week, we had an American pedestrian killed instantly when he stepped out onto the road directly in front of oncoming traffic. He looked the wrong way before stepping out onto the road, giving the driver of the on coming vehicle NO chance of avoiding him.

SO.

PEDESTRIANS NEED TO LOOK RIGHT then, LEFT and, I repeat, RIGHT AGAIN. BEFORE stepping off the pavement(verge).

Take care.

**Canadian Vet** · 29th June 25, 01:18 PM

Originally Posted by Jock Scot

I really don't want to discourage anyone from visiting the UK and Scotland in particular, but we have had rather too many accidents with collisions of vehicles being driven by visitors who were driving on the WRONG side of the road.

WE IN THE UK DRIVE ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE ROAD.

ALSO

Only the other week, we had an American pedestrian killed instantly when he stepped out onto the road directly in front of oncoming traffic. He looked the wrong way before stepping out onto the road, giving the driver of the on coming vehicle NO chance of avoiding him.

SO.

PEDESTRIANS NEED TO LOOK RIGHT then, LEFT and, I repeat, RIGHT AGAIN. BEFORE stepping off the pavement(verge).

Take care.

Driving on the left is not the whole issue but having to simultaneously navigate roundabout after roundabout on a complex road system that was laid down starting 2,800 years ago is dangerous.

They have all sorts of good transit all over the UK. Use it and sightsee, instead.

**User** · 29th June 25, 05:44 PM

I refuse to drive anywhere where the sides of the road are flipped from what I've grown up with. It's too engrained in my mind. Trying to switch is dangerous. I'll stick to public transportation or taxis.

**CBH** · 29th June 25, 07:08 PM

Decades ago, my job required me to make a few trips to the UK. After several visits I decided to rent a car.

Unlike America, it was possible to get a rental with a manual transmission. Surprisingly for me, shifting with the wrong hand was more unnatural than driving on the wrong side of the road !!

I'm planning to rent a car when I visit Scotland in a couple of years though. There are too many organized tours to count, but none I've found include the Isle of Islay on the itinerary.

After seeing how far it is out of the way, I understand why

**Jock Scot** · 30th June 25, 01:53 AM

Originally Posted by User

I refuse to drive anywhere where the sides of the road are flipped from what I've grown up with. It's too engrained in my mind. Trying to switch is dangerous. I'll stick to public transportation or taxis.

Exactly so! I think you have put your finger bang on the problem and have the perfect solution, although probably not as convenient.

**OC Richard** · 1st July 25, 04:30 AM

My wife and I have driven from Truro to Inverness and Portsmouth to Borreraig without any issues except, as you say, shifting gears with the left hand.

As pedestrians we stay alert and look to the right when stepping off a kerb.

It only takes one moment of forgetfulness to get killed! Which I almost did in front of a Tesco in Glasgow.

Working for so many years at Disneyland in California we get used to seeing the way foreign tourists drive, taking wrong turns, sitting mystified at an intersection (apparently not knowing that green means go) etc.

For our last trip my wife and I didn't hire a car and took public transport, which is far better in Britain than in the US.

**jsrnephdoc** · 31st July 25, 08:32 AM

Originally Posted by User

I refuse to drive anywhere where the sides of the road are flipped from what I've grown up with. It's too engrained in my mind. Trying to switch is dangerous. I'll stick to public transportation or taxis.

On my first trip to Scotland, about 20 years ago, my son, his birthfather and HIS spouse, and I spent a few days using transit in Edinburgh but rented a car to drive north. I had reserved a van because we had too much luggage, but when I arrived at the rental center it had been assigned to someone else. The only thing comparable the owner had available was his personal favorite, a Mercedes station wagon (I believe they're referred to as "saloons" in the UK.

He was obviously nervous about renting to a yankee unaccustomed to driving on the left, but consented to do so. His confidence in me as his customer was severely shaken when he asked me to get in to the driver's seat and I stepped around to the LEFT side of the car, plopped down on the seat and was visibly surprised momentarily not to find a steering wheel in front of me. I WAS conscious enough not to tell him what briefly flashed through my cranium:

" hmmm, perhaps there's a joystick."

But, the biggest challenge driving in Scotland from MY perspective is not just remembering to stay left, but piloting huge SUVs rented to tourist that are NOT meant to be driven on roads no wider than sheep's paths and navigable only because every quarter to half mile they're expanded for a few meters by "passing places." We lost almost an entire day while headed to Skye on my most recent visit 2 summers ago when the road was simply not wide enough to accommodate one of those behemoths and the edge was decorated by a large boulder that assassinated the left front tire.

**Pleater** · 1st July 25, 07:43 AM

Originally Posted by Canadian Vet

Driving on the left is not the whole issue but having to simultaneously navigate roundabout after roundabout on a complex road system that was laid down starting 2,800 years ago is dangerous.

They have all sorts of good transit all over the UK. Use it and sightsee, instead.

the road to the west of Ringwood is just one roundabout after another - we use the Wessex way which is to the south of it and often slower, but the roundabouts are manic even for a local.

I have just got the MoT test done on my campervan - 21.5ft long 6.5ft wide and 7ft tall not counting the chimney, with 6 wheels - people carriers with dark tinted windows reverse out of the way for me.
I travelled East to get the test done and there are not only roundabouts but joined together roundabouts going that way - I think that this must have been some sort of experimental area for novel traffic management - it was the first place in England to have traffic lights, I am told

Anne the Pleater

**OC Richard** · 1st July 25, 09:03 AM

Canadian Vet's comments inspired me to put together this

**Jock Scot** · 2nd July 25, 05:17 AM

I have the reverse problem! When driving on the Continent, I have now decided to retire from driving over there. My poor old brain and reactions are just not up to the rigours of driving on the Right. I have not visited the USA, but you all can rest assured that Jock will not be driving there, should I venture out over the pond!

I have experienced on three occasions when I have had encountered a vehicle coming at me on the wrong side of the road in the UK. It is certainly an alarming experience and not ever forgotten!

Take care.