The things many people do in this country scares me! If they can't cope with roundabout and zebra crossing rules in the country they passed their test in (assuming they did) then how will they get on where the rules are different? I wonder how may British tourists have collisions with vehicles that pulled out in front of them from side roads on the right because they had no idea of the fairly common rule on priority.

Yes, everyday

Seriously though I find driving in the UK can be a nightmare, (to me driving on the left is foreign)and I'm constantly on edge when driving or being driven on my visits. If not in my own car I almost always hire a car and have driven in many countries either alone or with OH.
I don't find it takes long to adjust to driving a car with the steering wheel on a different side, takes a while to get used to using different hands for gear lever etc. but the worst thing is pulling out of side roads when there isn't any traffic around to follow as I have often found myself on the wrong side of the road. I once drove all the way through the village where my parents lived on the wrong side. I always tell myself to put my brain in gear along with the car.
If you aren't confident though I don't think it's a good idea to hire abroad. But on many of my holidays I would have missed so much if I didn't have my own transportation.

We have hired cars and driven in France, Spain and the USA and we also take my car to France almost every summer. Driving my own car in Europe is far more difficult than driving a hire car because you are in the wrong place in the car to see properly in a right hand drive car. Other than around major cities, driving abroad is a pleasure, particularly on the motorway equivalent roads because the drivers are, on the whole, so much more courteous and the roads are quieter.

As you know Sanji from our meet on holiday my hubby normally drives whilst we are abroad. He doesn't seem to have a problem with it although, as a front seat passenger 'driver' I also have my eyes peeled. Thing to remember I suppose is that as the driver you should always be 'middle' of the road and not kerbside :lol:.

I drove a scooter around San Antonio Ibiza for the day which I really enjoyed, and also drove a camper van on a couple of occasions around New Zealand.

as a professional driver it would not bother me, but I'm not allowed [by the Pendle Witch] to hire a car on holiday, she says i do too much at home and besides i can enjoy a drink or two without having to worry so i just agree

AND enjoy the drink

Glynis HT Admin wrote:

As you know Sanji from our meet on holiday my hubby normally drives whilst we are abroad. He doesn't seem to have a problem with it although, as a front seat passenger 'driver' I also have my eyes peeled. Thing to remember I suppose is that as the driver you should always be 'middle' of the road and not kerbside :lol:.

unless of course you are in your own car abroad, then you would be in a world of hurt if you were in the middle of the road. When we drive to the UK in our cars we have to keep reminding ourselves that the driver should be in the kerbside.

Given that I don't drive at all if might seem daft that I'm replying to this thread but I think that passengers can either help or hinder. So when abroad with a good pal or my brother who are doing all the driving we've settled into the routine whereby I do all the navigating, not just reading the map but keeping an eye open for road signs etc and leaving them free to to jsut get on with concenrating on the driving. And we keep the social chitchat to a minimum so that there are no distractions.

The importance of this was brought home to me on a villa holiday near Lisbon where due to a flight delay we ending up having to navigate our way from the airport through rush hour Lisbon to the bridge over the Tagus river. Unusually M and I had another friend with us on that trip who talked and talked and talked in the car - it wouldn't have been so bad if she had just kept up a monologue in the back seat but she expected to have a conversation and get replies. Including us joining in the conversations she was striking up with the drivers and passengers in the cars drawn up alongside us at the traffic lights!

So she's rabitting on and on and - I kid you not - demanding to know whether it's much further, with the result that M misses my advance warning that there's a roundabout coming up because of the yakking going on behind her. She is going too fast to stop but there's no traffic immediately in front of us and without stopping turns left on to it! Had there been another car in front she might well have just followed it and we've have been OK but stop and think about it - we've just turned left on to a roundabout in Portugal and are now going round it in the wrong direction. A in the back is demanding to know why every other driver on the road is hooting us, I'm shouting over my shoulder at her that we're on a roundabout (and assuming that she'll twig that we are going the wrong way round it), and M is alternately swearing at me that she knows it's a roundabout and at all the other drivers who we are now encountering and whom she is insisting are going the 'wrong' way round it.

I don't know how we managed to get off it alive and/or without killing anybody else. But after that M insisted on a rule of silence in the car apart from agreed navigational directions. M threatened to tape up A's mouth if she didn't obey

SM

We only drive in America when we go there

Both hubby and I like to kick back and relax when on holiday and not have to worry about whether we can or cannot have a drink if we so fancy one. Plus hubby drives for a living so he likes the break away from it

unless of course you are in your own car abroad, then you would be in a world of hurt if you were in the middle of the road. When we drive to the UK in our cars we have to keep reminding ourselves that the driver should be in the kerbside.

I think I read somewhere that using a left hand drive car abroad is *dangerous* because the driver is on the wrong side in the car and the car has to pull out further into the road before the driver can see what's in front when overtaking.
I suppose everybody has to start somewhere. but I wonder how many people hire a car and just jump in it without having never driven before in somewhere like Spain, don't know the laws and just take the chance that they'll learn as they go along.?

Mmm the way the Spanish drive, it seems to me to be something that you can't afford to get wrong. I'd be ok driving around some little pueblo, but somewhere like the N340 (which runs from Barcelona to Cadiz and many people have lost their lives on this road) seems no place for someone who has just (for the first time) hired a car.

Sanji

don't know the laws and just take the chance that they'll learn as they go along

they do that in this country as well!

I think you meant using right hand drive cars abroad and left hand drive in UK but it's a good point about overtaking. Even worse though is that if you are in your own car abroad (that's most of us in a RHD in mainland Europe and Judith over here in a LHD!) the familiarity of the car will make it more likely that you'll forget which side of the road you should be on, especially at night when it's dark and you're tired. If you hire a local car the fact that the seat and controls feel wrong should always be a reminder so as long as you keep your eyes on the road and not the gear lever it should be safer.

I certainly helped hubby, when he forgot to look left again, and I spotted a speeding motorbike coming from the left.
Of course I took it for granted when I said middle of the road that your in a left hand drive car - should have said this

I think you meant using right hand drive cars abroad

Oops, I did.

I don't understand hubby at all. For years he used to drive up to 200 miles a day - in this country. He flatly refuses to hire a car abroad, but can't tell me why, yet he's quite happy to ride a motorbike or quadbike for hours on end I'm sure if he had his way, he'd spend most of the holiday on one

Hi
Although we can both drive, I do not feel confident enough to drive whilst on holiday,its all a bit scary
My partner always says after we come home from holiday that next time he will drive. I never put any pressure on him to drive as I wouldnt do it myself. This year we decided before we went we would hire a car when in Kephalonia, was looking forward to travelling around the island, only he forgot to take his driving licence.....so had to spend a week doing very little
M

Hubby first drove abroad over 20 years ago when our sons were young. We were in Corfu in August and the car was a small one with no air conditioning We didn't use any large roads and although we tried following a map we ended up going up into the hills and just kept driving around and getting nowhere. We were all stifling hot and were so glad when we found our way back to where we started.

A couple of years later we hired a small open top jeep and we all loved the freedom it gave us. We were in Menorca and as we'd ended up in a very quiet resort it was the best thing we did. Each time we stopped I kept reminding hubby that we needed to get back on the right hand side of the road. The only problem he had this time was getting used to the power steering as he didn't have it in the car back home.

Since the children no longer holiday with us we prefer to hire quad bikes wherever we can but I don't think hubby'll rule out hiring a car again at some point.

I passed my driving test in Germany in a right hand drive car.
I found it easy but I have never ever driven any where else abroad.
We have hired cars in the Canaries and in America many times but my hubby has always driven.
I have only driven twice here with him in the car,once when he had an operation on his hand and another because he had had a drink.
He is a terrible passenger so he would never get in a car with me driving here let alone abroad.

Rob is a lorry driver and has driven and does drive all over Europe in his right hand drive lorry...he is used to being on the "wrong" side and says to drive abroad in a right hooker, you need different levels of concentration. When holidaying in the Canary Islands, we always hire a car for a few days and Rob has no qualms about driving it. It takes him literally minutes to get used to different co-ordination. I have no worries about him driving at all..but I think if he was not a driver for a living I may see it differently. He is used to European driving.

I on the other hand, had one go in Lanazrote..and did not like it one bit! I found it difficult to get correct positioning in the road, am not used to using my right hand to change gears etc (and I am keggy handed anyway..so often struggle with the simplest of right handed tasks ) I think it boiled down to confidence though as I am sure that if I had persevered I would have grown into it...however I would not like to have killed anyone along the way.

We would not hire a car in somewhere like Thailand or Egypt..but we will be hiring a camper van in NZ for a few days. I think sometimes it is down to confidence too.

Rob does the majority of the driving in this country too..he is a dreadful passenger...when I am driving, I just want him to shut the hell up and let me get on with it in peace...I have been driving 25 years now. That does not make me an expert but I think I am quite experienced...just not a professional like he is....

I frequently drive abroad and love the freedom it gives me. I have driven in most European countries and spend about 7 weeks a year driving in Turkey. I always make sure I check the car out as best I can - tyres, brakes etc and make sure I am familiar with speed limits and laws. I also have an annual insurance policy to cover any excess that may apply. My husband also drives but I seem to do most of it as I don't usually drink. If I think I would like one we leave the car and use a taxi.