Driving In Great Britain
I'd like to share my experiences as a US tourist driving around Great Britain (GB) for two weeks. I've been driving in the US for many years, as well as a bit in Europe and Japan, but those experiences didn't completely prepare me for driving in GB. I was stupid for not better preparing to drive there. I should have spent more time reviewing the rules of the road and learning from the experiences from others. This is my experience.
Driving in Japan prepared me for keeping to the left; that wasn't much of an issue. For instance, I remembered to drive far to the left when making a right turn onto a multiple lane road with a divider (if not, you could pull into a lane going the wrong way).
Like Japan, most of the roads in the UK are narrow, compared to US standards. However, there is a major difference between narrow UK and Japanese roads: the Japanese always have well maintained shoulders to the sides of their roads. Not so much in GB; they usually don't have shoulders, even on the narrowest roads, and they are usually unmaintained when they do. The consequences are potentially dangerous, as I’ll recount.
GB has four different types of roads: wide Motorways that are high-speed for long-distance travel, semi-wide A-Roads that connect towns, narrow B-Roads that connect villages, and ultra-narrow one-lane C/D-Roads. Only Motorways and most A-Roads have marked center dividers.
Though the UK uses the metric system, they still use miles per hour (MPH) to measure speed. Speed limits are often not marked; you must know what the national speed limits are. They are 70 mph for Motorways, 60 mph for rural areas, and 30 mph for urban areas. Local municipalities may lower the speed limit, but signs are small. The UK uses speed cameras everywhere. My Nissan rental displayed the local speed limit, often lower than what I thought, potentially saving me from speeding tickets.
The marked lanes of A-Roads are wide enough for all oncoming consumer motor vehicles to safely pass by, though it takes practiced nerves and absolute attention to drive to the right of the lane, away from the shoulder. There is usually more than two feet between vehicles, though it feels much, much closer. Commercial trucks and buses always hug the dividing line, and must occasionally pass into your lane.
B-Roads do not have marked center dividers and do not always have enough width for two cars to pass safely by (in my opinion). There may be a foot or more between cars, but there might be only inches at times. Since B-Roads are always rural, the national speed limit on them is 60 mph.
There is only room for one car on C/D Roads, and they are not uncommon. These roads usually have a turnout every quarter mile or so. If you encounter a car, one of you must backup to a turnout. In my experience, turnouts were visible to both drivers, so the driver closest to a turnout backed up to it. Brits are generally courteous drivers and thank each other with a wave as they pass by. You’ll also find one lane roads on old bridges, through castle walls, roadwork bypasses, and urban roads with parked cars on the sides.
Most Brits are comfortable passing cars at high rates of speed with only inches separating them on B-Roads. I am not. I borrowed a technique I learned in Japan: slow down, and use the shoulder. Until this technique destroyed my first rental. Allow me to recount.
I was driving about 30 mph on a B-Road when a commercial van appeared from the curve in front of me. I quickly slowed down and drifted onto the grass shoulder until I felt and heard an abrupt bang. I had driven over what I think is called a “tobacco box”, a Victorian-era metal box over a water valve that was hidden in the grass. It took out my front-left tire and tie rod, necessitating a new rental. A lovely lady who worked in a converted barn next to the site, informed me that mine was probably the fourth car that the box took out within the past month.
Google Maps was invaluable for getting around. I downloaded all GB Google Maps before I left because over-the-air data wasn’t always available. Even with a GPS, GB roadways can be confusing. Google Maps instructions were at odds with the displayed map at times, so I’m glad I brought a vent mount with me so I could keep an eye on it. I’m also glad that my wife helped navigate, because keeping the car away from oncoming traffic and the road shoulder would sometimes consume my attention.
Here are some things I’m glad I had driving in GB:
-Maximum insurance and roadside assistance from Enterprise car rental
-Offline Google Maps and a mobile phone holder
-An automatic transmission with my rental. I’ve used a stick for decades, but it would have been a great distraction in GB
-A navigator
Although driving in GB was nerve racking at times, I’m glad I did it. I was able to see beautiful areas that a bus-driven tourist would not by driving down country roads off the beaten path, and visiting sites that are off the regular tourist list.