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It’s Just ‘the Road’

I was intrigued by this comment from travel guru Rick Steves, part of a passel of advice to Americans on how to drive in the U.K.:

Outside of the big cities and the motorways (freeways), British and Irish roads tend to be narrow. Adjust your perceptions of personal space. It’s not “my side of the road” or “your side of the road.” It’s just “the road” — and it’s shared as a cooperative adventure. In towns, you may have to cross over the center line just to get past parked cars. Sometimes both directions of traffic can pass parked cars simultaneously, but frequently you’ll have to take turns — follow the locals’ lead and drive defensively. On rural roads, locals are usually courteous, pulling over against a hedgerow and blinking their headlights for you to pass while they wait. Return the favor when you are closer to a wide spot in the road than they are.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, August 6th, 2009 at 9:12 am and is filed under Traffic Culture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

4 Responses to “It’s Just ‘the Road’”

  1. SteveL Says:
    August 6th, 2009 at 10:59 am

    In the UK/EU, there is less of an assumption that you have a lane that is not obstructed by parked cars, bicycles, oncoming vehicles, etc. That does mean more co-operation over shared space, and the width of the road also means knowing the width of the vehicle to the millimetre. Wing mirrors are there to let you know when you are too close to parked cars.

  2. Tom Says:
    August 6th, 2009 at 11:05 am

    I’m just back from Ireland. I have one piece of advice for those planning to drive in Ireland: Don’t.

  3. SteveL Says:
    August 6th, 2009 at 12:52 pm

    Dublin is troublesome, and up in Northern Ireland, cars seem fairly relaxed about one-way streets. Motorway slip roads have flashing lights alongside their no-entry signs to mean “really no entry”. But “don’t”. That’s just fear talking.

    That said, overtaking rules for different countries merit research.

  4. Niall Says:
    August 7th, 2009 at 2:53 am

    The comment that makes me laugh is
    “For some drivers, roundabouts are high-pressure traffic circles that require a snap decision about something you don’t completely understand: your exit. To replace the stress with giggles, make it standard operating procedure to take a 360-degree, case-out-your-options exploratory circuit. Discuss the exits with your navigator, go around again if necessary, and then confidently wing off on the exit of your choice.”

    I think the Griswolds in National Lampoon took this advice to heart.

    The secret to driving in Europe (not just UK and Ireland) is not to pick American style supertankers, but make sure you drive a small European style car.

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Traffic Tom Vanderbilt

How We Drive is the companion blog to Tom Vanderbilt’s New York Times bestselling book, Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us), published by Alfred A. Knopf in the U.S. and Canada, Penguin in the U.K, and in languages other than English by a number of other fine publishers worldwide.

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