sturner Posted April 5, 2006 Share Posted April 5, 2006 Please be careful, particularly if you have just been back to the uk, it is so easy to drive on the wrong side of the road which can end with tragic consequences. Also remember that you could be approaching a brit on the wrong side. After a very sad accident here we spoke with our friends and we were surprised how many have either driven on the wrong side or who have seen cars on the wrong side. Just remember to drive on the right, if you are in a uk car just say I am in the ditch! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opalienne Posted April 5, 2006 Share Posted April 5, 2006 I saw one only last weekend! A British registered car turned right in front of me and proceeded to drive on the LH side of the road. I flashed and hooted like mad and he got the idea, luckily before he had met anyone else coming at him head on....... I think it's turning into another road where the real problems arise and where you really need to keep your wits about you, particularly if you are in a RH drive car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loiseau Posted April 5, 2006 Share Posted April 5, 2006 Worst thing is if you are in a one-way street, and because of the way you are going to turn at the end, you have to be in the left lane. It's all too easy to continue on the left once you have made the turn.That said, I have occasionally have had problems when I return to the UK. I live in a quiet side street, and several times, when no other traffic has been around to prompt me, I have found myself setting off down it on the right-hand side. [:$]So watch out on the other side of the Channel, too!Angela Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tresco Posted April 6, 2006 Share Posted April 6, 2006 After more than two years in France I still go to the wrong car door sometimes. Once I'm in the car I'm OK, but the odd time I've been back to UK I'm not. I've spent half an hour driving round airports just to get used to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jc Posted April 6, 2006 Share Posted April 6, 2006 Driving up a narrow country road and confronted by an approaching car I swerved off the road but to the left!!The bemused Frenchman in the other car ended up in the middle of a field.(he swerved to his right). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard-R Posted April 6, 2006 Share Posted April 6, 2006 I used to find one-way streets (with no traffic) with roundabouts my pitfall, but only when driving our French car in England. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarlett Posted April 6, 2006 Share Posted April 6, 2006 [quote user="Tresco"]After more than two years in France I still go to the wrong car door sometimes. [/quote]The times I did that when we first got our French car!! On one occasion I got in, sat down and then starting swearing that some b*****d had nicked by steering wheel (how dippy is that!) So then of course, I looked round to see how many people had seen me make a fool of myself and pretended that I had meant to do it all along and was looking for something in the glove compartment [:-))] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jc Posted April 6, 2006 Share Posted April 6, 2006 I don't have trouble in France but when I come out of a ferryport or airport back in the UK I have to be very careful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonzjob Posted April 6, 2006 Share Posted April 6, 2006 The outskirts of Carcassonne the other day we were going down a dual carridgway approaching a junction. There is an elderly Franch man in a French regestered car (11 Aude) facing towards us! So we turned off at the junction to come face to face on the slip road with another local (11) car coming towards us! We haven't seen this before or since, but 2 within 200 yards is a bit daunting and I wondered if it was anything that I had said or done????When I had my first outings in my new LHD car the only mis-haps I had were that the first few times I changed gear the door opened. I thought that it must be one of the things that happened with these 'forigne' cars and that you just got used to closing it. Then I realised that the gear change had been moved! Me, not as thick as you may think! I picked that up pretty quick?The AA did a report a long time ago about the worst time for accidents for people coming over here for holidays and they found that there were 4 'worst' times for accidents...1. Getting off the ferry. 2. The first morning on the Continent. 3. Rushing back to the ferry at the end of the holliday. And the most unexpected 4. Getting of the ferry back in the U.K. Getting off the ferry is obvious. The first morning you are tired and disoriented. Rushing back you take chances, but the change back to the left can really tak you by surprise!The Irish tried the idea of driving on the right. They had all the trucks driving n the right for a fortnight, but they gave it up as a bad idea. I never did find out why? (oh hell, that's me nailed to a cross for a while!!!)John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teamedup Posted April 6, 2006 Share Posted April 6, 2006 I hate it when the locals drive on the wrong side of the road or go around the roundabouts the wrong way. Does my head in. And like most people I have the odd occassion where I have set off on the wrong side of the road. With me it is usually pulling out of parkings, husband it is T junctions. Hasn't happened very often but it has happened and not even a near miss as it has only happened when there is no other traffic around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dean Posted April 7, 2006 Share Posted April 7, 2006 How's this for potential confusion- my job is driving a 14 ton roadsweeper which is left hand drive (this is in the UK) we have two cars, one automatic and one manual which I often jump into after a day in the sweeper. Before now I have jumped into the automatic and wondered why the blasted gearstick wouldn't move properly and conversely sat in the manual expecting it to move just by using the accelerator pedal! I spend the working week driving on the wrong side of the cab in the UK, and then on holiday I'm on the right side of the car but on the wrong side of the road!!Dean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quillan Posted April 7, 2006 Share Posted April 7, 2006 Wrong door - guilty as charged.With my old Disco (RHD) I put an arrow at the top of the screen using white electrical tape pointing to the left. This helped a few times, got the idea from a mate of mine who used to go camping here with his kids. I still managed to do it three times in two years mind but fortunatly twice was on a very quiet road on which I travel only 80M on and I realised half way along.The only thing I haven't done yet is drive my French car in the UK but then I don't think I ever will, 12 hrs just to drive to the channel, flying is so much easier but then I have only been back twice in four years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassman Posted April 7, 2006 Share Posted April 7, 2006 I haven't had a problem with it for years(famous last words time!) but do feel more inclined to get it wrong when getting back to the UK [8-)]Had a funny experience in France a few years ago.... going round a roundabout (anticlockwise as I should) I came face to face with a huge 4x4 going the wrong way, it had USA plates and it struck me as strange for an American to get it wrong as they drive on the right as well..... but then they don't really understand roundabouts I suppose [:D]And a few years earlier in Sorrento the guy from the hire car place kept on telling me " here we drive on the right" ........ well he lied ....on the Amalfi Drive they drive in the middle [:-))] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judith Posted April 7, 2006 Share Posted April 7, 2006 I now drive more in France than the UK though I still live in the UK, don't need a car much in C London. Every time I would get in someone's car in the UK I would think they were driving on the wrong side. Getting more used to the LHD in France now, though still try to get in the wrong door sometimes! But, when I had to hire a car last week in the UK, no problems with door side etc, but I spent quite a while with my hand wondering around the door handle to find the gear lever before I realised why! Got better during the journey, but still tried now and then to change gear with the wrong hand.The most difficult thing I found transferring was looking in the rear view mirror - automatic in UK (well having driven for almost 40 years not surprising) but the first LHD I had I used the wing mirror - I just could not get used to looking to the right! But even that is not occuring now (after 5-6 times with LHD)I was told that it takes several years to become confident in LHD mode - I have not yet tried to drive a LHD car in the UK. Now that be interesting...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Coeur de Lion Posted April 8, 2006 Share Posted April 8, 2006 I think the English should be made to drive on the right side of the road like us :) And they should join the euro too. Will make life a lot easier for us if they did. If they could have it done by this summer that would be great as I'm making my first trip to the UK in more than 8 years then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twingoman Posted April 15, 2006 Share Posted April 15, 2006 [quote user="Judith"] I was told that it takes several years to become confident in LHD mode - I have not yet tried to drive a LHD car in the UK. Now that be interesting......[/quote]I have driven a LHD car in the UK (a Renault Twingo) for about 18 months and done approx 15000 miles in that time (and about 2000 miles in France). I haven't driven a RHD vehicle for about 6 months now. At the moment, I can't imagine going back to driving a RHD.The only problems you can have are overtaking on a single carriage road, obviously, and coming up to roundabouts can be a bit blind.Other that that, I felt quite confident within a few months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teamedup Posted April 15, 2006 Share Posted April 15, 2006 Twingoman, now you've mention driving a Twingo in the UK, I really cannot remember ever seeing a Twingo in the UK, do they have them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twingoman Posted April 15, 2006 Share Posted April 15, 2006 [quote user="Teamedup"] Twingoman, now you've mention driving a Twingo in the UK, I really cannot remember ever seeing a Twingo in the UK, do they have them?[/quote]They are not sold offically, so if you do see a UK registered car, then it's been imported. Mine came from Belgium.Although you don't see them around, there have been quite a few imported around the UK. I live in a small town in Devon, and there's three here (albiet the other two are owned by the same people!)Going back to the original topic, I can't see how people coming off the ferry can end up on the incorrect side of the road. Whenever I've driven out of the port, I've always been in a queue of other cars doing the same, so, unless the first person in the queue ends up on the wrong side of the road, you just tend to follow everyone else! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miki Posted April 15, 2006 Share Posted April 15, 2006 If I remember correctly and as far as I am aware, they were a cheapRenault model and it was not deemed by Renault personally to be worth making them in RHD.I guess some enterprise could have converted them perhaps ? Itssuccessor apparantly, will come in RHD though but not as the Twingolooks now, nor I believe under that name !! So...I have seen a few in the UK and they were all LHD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twingoman Posted April 15, 2006 Share Posted April 15, 2006 There is (was) a company in the UK that could convert them from LHD to RHD. However, I'd read that it was costly and not recommended.It's such a small car anyway that sitting on the left isn't really that much of a problem! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anton Redman Posted April 15, 2006 Share Posted April 15, 2006 Autocar ran a Twingo as a fleet car when they were first launched. Renault originally tried building them with just one specification to reduce their costs. We gave a lift to Calais Renault dealers to a couple from Cardiff who were picking one up in the days when we used to hit the DIY sheds for a day trip before doing three weeks work on the house. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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