{"id":4517,"date":"2013-03-15T12:00:18","date_gmt":"2013-03-15T12:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/?p=4517"},"modified":"2025-03-02T20:04:24","modified_gmt":"2025-03-02T20:04:24","slug":"driving-in-the-uk-a-survival-guide-for-americans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/driving-in-the-uk-a-survival-guide-for-americans\/","title":{"rendered":"Driving in the UK: A Survival Guide for Americans"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

In June 2013, Alexas and I decid\u00aded to use the earn\u00adings from my books to take anoth\u00ader Big Trip. I say anoth\u00ader<\/em> Big Trip because in Sept. 2012 we used the first half of my earn\u00adings to spend two weeks in Paris<\/a> and Nor\u00admandy.<\/p>\n

For this sec\u00adond trip, we debat\u00aded between the UK, Italy, Paris again, and, briefly, Egypt. But there was nev\u00ader real\u00adly any con\u00adtest: we both want\u00aded to see Lon\u00addon and cas\u00adtles and all things Jane Austen, and I want\u00aded to see Sher\u00adlock Holmes loca\u00adtions and the land of my ancestors\u2014the Scot\u00adtish High\u00adlands.<\/p>\n

So we decid\u00aded on a trip to the UK, and Alexas began cre\u00adat\u00ading a bud\u00adget and mak\u00ading inquiries.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Then, in July, we watched two motor\u00adcy\u00adcle-adven\u00adture trav\u00adel pro\u00adgrams: Long Way Round<\/em> and Long Way Down<\/em>, star\u00adring Ewan McGre\u00adgor of Star Wars<\/em> fame and his friend, Charley Boor\u00adman. Our orig\u00adi\u00adnal plan for the UK trip was to fly to Lon\u00addon and take the train to all of the oth\u00ader places we want\u00aded to go. But once I saw Ewan and Charley dri\u00adve all the way around the world, and in the sec\u00adond series from the north\u00adern tip of Scot\u00adland to Cape Town, South Africa, I knew I want\u00aded to dri\u00adve<\/em> the UK. I want\u00aded a taste of the adven\u00adture they had expe\u00adri\u00adenced, albeit with plen\u00adty of nour\u00adish\u00ading pubs and com\u00adfort\u00adable beds along our route, and none of the tsetse flies.<\/p>\n

Alexas had been inves\u00adti\u00adgat\u00ading the cost of rail pass\u00ades for us, but she quick\u00adly dis\u00adcov\u00adered that not only are they not cheap<\/em>, the trains would\u00adn\u2019t take us every\u00adwhere we want\u00aded to go. Also, trav\u00adel\u00ading by train would lock us into spe\u00adcif\u00adic sched\u00adules, and while we planned on pre-book\u00ading our lodg\u00adings so we would be at cer\u00adtain loca\u00adtions on cer\u00adtain dates, we want\u00aded the abil\u00adi\u00adty to come and go when\u00adev\u00ader we chose. And I\u2019m glad we did that, because for sev\u00ader\u00adal legs of the jour\u00adney, we end\u00aded up doing a lot of our dri\u00adving in the very ear\u00adly morn\u00ading, when the traf\u00adfic was light, allow\u00ading me to take my time at com\u00adplex junc\u00adtions and round\u00adabouts. But I\u2019ll get into the specifics of when and how we drove in a moment.<\/p>\n

After a few days in Lon\u00addon, we took the train south to Brighton, where we hired our car. Then, fol\u00adlow\u00ading a brief vis\u00adit to the white cliffs at Bir\u00adling Gap (the south\u00adeast shore), we began our zigzag\u00adging jour\u00adney north to Scot\u00adland.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Why I Wrote This<\/h1>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

I wrote this because when I was prepar\u00ading for this adven\u00adture, I scoured the Inter\u00adnet for a good, clear, com\u00adpre\u00adhen\u00adsive guide for Amer\u00adi\u00adcans to dri\u00adving in the UK . What I end\u00aded up find\u00ading were a ton of small web\u00adsites, blog entries, videos and PDFs, all offer\u00ading dif\u00adfer\u00adent advice\u2014some of it con\u00adtra\u00addic\u00adto\u00adry. What you are about to read is the best, most com\u00adplete guide to dri\u00adving in the UK for Amer\u00adi\u00adcans.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

By the time we reached the Cotswolds in Eng\u00adland (a night\u00admare to dri\u00adve, by the way; trust me, skip the damn place), I knew that when I got back, I want\u00aded to write some\u00adthing that would be a true<\/em> help to Amer\u00adi\u00adcan travelers\u2014a clear, thor\u00adough, well-writ\u00adten blog entry that pro\u00advid\u00aded trav\u00adel\u00aders with every\u00adthing<\/em> I think they\u2019ll need to know in order to have a suc\u00adcess\u00adful road trip through the UK.<\/p>\n

One final note before I dive into each top\u00adic: Don\u2019t think that you need to cov\u00ader all of one top\u00adic before you move on to the next one (e.g., doing all of your Dri\u00adving Prepa\u00adra\u00adtion before your Route Plan\u00adning). Just because I wrote the top\u00adics in a cer\u00adtain order does\u00adn\u2019t mean you need to learn them in that order. Ide\u00adal\u00adly, you\u2019ll be learn\u00ading a lit\u00adtle bit of all of them simul\u00adta\u00adne\u00adous\u00adly.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

Get Organized<\/h1>\n

The orga\u00adniz\u00ading sug\u00adges\u00adtions I\u2019m about to make should be in addi\u00adtion<\/em> to what\u00adev\u00ader you\u2019re doing to orga\u00adnize the trip as a whole. In our case, Alexas cre\u00adat\u00aded a binder, and just before we left she filled it with hard copies of all of our flight, car and hotel infor\u00adma\u00adtion; the day-by-day dri\u00adving direc\u00adtions; the GPS\/SATNAV coor\u00addi\u00adnates; and oth\u00ader infor\u00adma\u00adtion. How\u00adev\u00ader, what I\u2019m talk\u00ading about here is orga\u00adniz\u00ading your study and work\u00adspace. I rec\u00adom\u00admend tak\u00ading the fol\u00adlow\u00ading steps:<\/p>\n

1. Cre\u00adate two sep\u00ada\u00adrate book\u00admark fold\u00aders on your web brows\u00ader: \u201cGen\u00ader\u00adal UK Trip Info\u201d and \u201cUK Dri\u00adving Info\u201d\u2014or use what\u00adev\u00ader names make sense for you. The point here is that as you\u2019re bop\u00adping along, study\u00ading the dri\u00adving aspect of your trip, you\u2019re going to find web\u00adsites and resources about attrac\u00adtions, restau\u00adrants, tips, etc.\u2014and vice-versa\u2014and you don\u2019t want to clut\u00adter one sub\u00adject with the oth\u00ader. Keep the dri\u00adving stuff in the Dri\u00adving fold\u00ader, and the Gen\u00ader\u00adal Trip stuff in the oth\u00ader fold\u00ader.<\/p>\n

2. You might want to cre\u00adate sub-fold\u00aders in the Dri\u00adving folder\u2014\u201cVideos,\u201d \u201cRound\u00adabouts,\u201d \u201cLaws and Rules of the Road,\u201d etc.\u2014but this is up to you.<\/p>\n

3. Make sure you have a Google account, or if you don\u2019t have one, I sug\u00adgest set\u00adting one up exclu\u00adsive\u00adly for the trip (e.g., \u201cJonesUKRoadTrip@gmail.com\u201d) and have every\u00adthing<\/em> trav\u00adel-relat\u00aded go to that account. Then, use that account for when you start work\u00ading with Google Maps and Street View (more on this lat\u00ader).<\/p>\n

4. Get a spi\u00adral note\u00adbook or a legal pad to use exclu\u00adsive\u00adly with your dri\u00adving study and route prepa\u00adra\u00adtion. As you\u2019re watch\u00ading a video or read\u00ading an online arti\u00adcle about dri\u00adving in the UK, take notes. It helps to rein\u00adforce what you\u2019re learn\u00ading, and then you have the notes to refer to lat\u00ader on. In my case, I end\u00aded up with about 20 pages of notes that I was able to read on the plane on our way to Lon\u00addon, then on the train on our way to pick up the car hire (rental car).<\/p>\n

5. Cre\u00adate a fold\u00ader on your com\u00adput\u00ader desk\u00adtop that is exclu\u00adsive\u00adly trip-relat\u00aded, and include dri\u00adving-relat\u00aded sub\u00adfold\u00aders. Here\u2019s a pic\u00adture of the fold\u00ader on my Mac to give you a start\u00ading point:<\/p>\n

\"Snapshot_of_UK_Folder\"

Snap\u00adshot of the root UK Trip fold\u00ader on my com\u00adput\u00ader.<\/p><\/div>\n

6. If you have an iPad or oth\u00ader tablet (or a good smart\u00adphone with a decent-sized screen), you should real\u00adly con\u00adsid\u00ader bring\u00ading it\u2014certainly in place of a lap\u00adtop. Use it to con\u00adtain all of your dri\u00adving- and trip-relat\u00aded doc\u00adu\u00adments.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

Driving Preparation<\/h1>\n

Because I would be doing all of the dri\u00adving (and Alexas the nav\u00adi\u00adgat\u00ading), I set out to learn as much as I could about dri\u00adving in the UK before<\/em> we got there. Instinc\u00adtive\u00adly, I knew there was more to dri\u00adving in the UK than just stay\u00ading on the left, so I watched dozens of hours of UK dri\u00adving instruc\u00adtion videos, took count\u00adless UK dri\u00adver\u2019s writ\u00adten exams, and stud\u00adied PDFs of road mark\u00adings, traf\u00adfic sig\u00adnals and sig\u00adnage.<\/p>\n

To save you time with your own UK dri\u00adving prepa\u00adra\u00adtions, I\u2019m giv\u00ading you a list of the videos, web\u00adsites and PDF resources that proved to be the most use\u00adful once I got over there and start\u00aded dri\u00adving. These are items that I\u2019m real\u00adly glad<\/em> I under\u00adstood ahead of time, because had I gone over there with\u00adout know\u00ading them, the trip might have been a dis\u00adas\u00adter.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with the videos. I\u2019m con\u00advinced that the videos are the num\u00adber one rea\u00adson I was able to dri\u00adve suc\u00adcess\u00adful\u00adly in the UK. By watch\u00ading so many of them, I became used to the car being on the left, so when I got over there and had to dri\u00adve on the left for real, it was as if I had already done it.<\/p>\n

When you watch each video, obvi\u00adous\u00adly pay atten\u00adtion to the main point (e.g., nego\u00adti\u00adat\u00ading a busy round\u00adabout), but try also to famil\u00adiar\u00adize your\u00adself with the road signs, road mark\u00adings, pedes\u00adtri\u00adan cross\u00adings, and park\u00ading con\u00adven\u00adtions dis\u00adplayed in the video. I found that by doing this, I was\u00adn\u2019t dis\u00adtract\u00aded by any of these things when I start\u00aded dri\u00adving over there.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Dri\u00adving\u00adMag\u00adic<\/strong><\/span> (over 100 videos; excel\u00adlent ones on round\u00adabouts)<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/drivingmagiconline<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2022 \u201cBig Tom\u201d Ingram<\/strong><\/span> (dozens of videos; great on round\u00adabouts and gen\u00ader\u00adal dri\u00adving)<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/2010BIGTOM<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2022 Dri\u00adver\u00adSkills TV<\/strong><\/span> (only a few videos; nar\u00adrat\u00aded by a for\u00admer UK police dri\u00adver; good in-car per\u00adspec\u00adtive)<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/DriverSkillsTV<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2022 2Pass.co.uk<\/strong><\/span> (many videos of vary\u00ading qual\u00adi\u00adty; the ones on motor\u00adway dri\u00adving at bot\u00adtom are excel\u00adlent)<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.2pass.co.uk\/video.htm<\/a><\/p>\n

 \u2022 UK Road Signs Video (most of the major UK road signs in a 5\u2011minute video)<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

 http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=CgfyXdwoYo0<\/a><\/p>\n

Okay, so those are the major videos. Doubt\u00adless you\u2019ll stum\u00adble across oth\u00aders, but I want\u00aded to give you a start\u00ading point. Now for the web\u00adsites and oth\u00ader resources.<\/p>\n

The most impor\u00adtant web\u00adsite for dri\u00adving in the UK\u2014as far as know\u00ading the rules and laws are concerned\u2014is the High\u00adway Code. I did\u00adn\u2019t read every word of it, but this page is a great ref\u00ader\u00adence, espe\u00adcial\u00adly if you have ques\u00adtions con\u00adcern\u00ading spe\u00adcif\u00adic aspects of dri\u00adving in the UK. Here\u2019s the link:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/browse\/driving\/highway-code<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

For know\u00ading what all of the road signs and mark\u00adings mean, you need the UK dri\u00adving Bible: \u201cKnow Your Traf\u00adfic Signs.\u201d<\/a> This is an essen\u00adtial<\/em> PDF for you to have. I loaded it onto my iPad before the trip and made sure that my nav\u00adi\u00adga\u00adtor had reviewed it thor\u00adough\u00adly before we left. Part of this PDF cov\u00aders signs that give direc\u00adtions, which are cru\u00adcial for your nav\u00adi\u00adga\u00adtor to under\u00adstand.<\/p>\n

\u201cKnow Your Traf\u00adfic Signs\u201d also con\u00adtains a lot of infor\u00adma\u00adtion about road mark\u00adings<\/em> in the UK. In the UK, they use a wide vari\u00adety of marks on the road (dif\u00adfer\u00adent col\u00adored paints and con\u00adfig\u00adu\u00adra\u00adtions) to com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adcate a lot of rules\u2014about park\u00ading, pass\u00ading, \u201cgiv\u00ading way\u201d (our \u201cyield\u00ading\u201d), and much more.<\/p>\n

This next site is geared towards the UK learn\u00ader dri\u00adver, but it con\u00adtains a lot of infor\u00adma\u00adtion that is UK dri\u00adving-spe\u00adcif\u00adic (like nego\u00adti\u00adat\u00ading round\u00adabouts). It also has lots of videos and lit\u00adtle ani\u00adma\u00adtions to illus\u00adtrate points:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.2pass.co.uk\/roundabout.htm<\/a><\/p>\n

Final\u00adly, once you\u2019ve watched plen\u00adty of videos and you\u2019ve reviewed the PDF and oth\u00ader web\u00adsites men\u00adtioned above, you\u2019ll want to test your knowl\u00adedge. I took about two dozen of these online dri\u00adving exams before we left. Even if the actu\u00adal dri\u00adving proved to be a chal\u00adlenge, I at least went over there con\u00adfi\u00addent that I knew<\/em> the rules, laws, sig\u00adnage, traf\u00adfic sig\u00adnals, etc. There are online UK \u201cdri\u00adving the\u00ado\u00adry\u201d prac\u00adtice tests every\u00adwhere, but I found the fol\u00adlow\u00ading two web\u00adsites to be the best:<\/p>\n

The Offi\u00adcial UK Gov\u00adern\u00adment Site<\/a><\/p>\n

Free Mock The\u00ado\u00adry Tests<\/a> (over a dozen tests).<\/p>\n

Final\u00adly, although you don\u2019t have to become an expert in British car ter\u00admi\u00adnol\u00ado\u00adgy, you should learn their<\/em> names for the major parts of the car. You need to do this so, at the very least, you can be on the same page with the car hire (car rental) com\u00adpa\u00adny and any petrol (gas) sta\u00adtions you roll into. This handy PDF<\/a> cov\u00aders a num\u00adber of car-relat\u00aded terms, as well as more gen\u00ader\u00adal road- and dri\u00adving-relat\u00aded terms.<\/p>\n

Because I don\u2019t like unpleas\u00adant sur\u00adpris\u00ades, I tend to over-pre\u00adpare for new endeav\u00adors. For exam\u00adple, before our trip to Paris in 2012, I spent three months learn\u00ading a good deal of prac\u00adti\u00adcal French. (And I\u2019m proud to say that because of my study, in terms of day-to-day com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adca\u00adtion with Parisians and get\u00adting around, I kicked ass over there.) This time around, I viewed dri\u00adving in the UK as anoth\u00ader for\u00adeign lan\u00adguage and pre\u00adpared sim\u00adi\u00adlar\u00adly.<\/p>\n

This being said, you<\/em> might not need to spend weeks prepar\u00ading as I did. How\u00adev\u00ader, I strong\u00adly advise<\/em> you to spend at least 12 hours (per\u00adhaps 6 two-hour ses\u00adsions) review\u00ading as many of the above web\u00adsites and videos as you can, and famil\u00adiar\u00adiz\u00ading your\u00adself with a) how round\u00adabouts work, b) UK road signs and mark\u00adings, and c) the UK road sys\u00adtem and num\u00adber\u00ading scheme.<\/p>\n

Last\u00adly on this sub\u00adject, here\u2019s a brief \u201cwiki\u201d overview\/checklist of many of the most impor\u00adtant things you need to know about dri\u00adving in the UK:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/Drive-in-the-UK<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Route Preparation<\/h1>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Route prepa\u00adra\u00adtion is essen\u00adtial for dri\u00adving in the UK, so in the weeks before your trip, you should plan to spend many hours on Google Maps.<\/p>\n

Now, I know what some of you are say\u00ading: \u201cI don\u2019t need routes. I\u2019ll just bring my GPS (or SATNAV, as the Brits call it), put in my des\u00adti\u00adna\u00adtion, and go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Let me tell you, if you go over there with\u00adout planned routes<\/em>, you will regret it. Here\u2019s why:<\/p>\n

1. Most roads in the UK have at least two names\u2014a route num\u00adber (e.g., A27) and the old-fash\u00adioned, lega\u00adcy name (e.g., \u201cEast\u00adbourne Road\u201d)\u2014and your GPS will some\u00adtimes use one, and some\u00adtimes the oth\u00ader.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

2. Your GPS always wants to take you via the short\u00adest<\/em> route, which will often send you down nar\u00adrow<\/em> lanes, and through crowd\u00aded res\u00adi\u00adden\u00adtial streets. Sev\u00ader\u00adal times our GPS sent us down res\u00adi\u00adden\u00adtial streets so nar\u00adrow, and so packed with parked cars,<\/em> that we bare\u00adly made it out.<\/p>\n

3. You want to know<\/em> that should your GPS fail, or you lose it, or some oth\u00ader prob\u00adlem befalls you, you will be able to get from place to place.<\/p>\n

To pre\u00adpare my routes, I knew ahead of time each site that we would be vis\u00adit\u00ading, and the hotels\/inns where we would be stay\u00ading each night, so I used Google Maps to con\u00adstruct routes between these des\u00adti\u00adna\u00adtions. In some cas\u00ades, I cre\u00adat\u00aded sev\u00ader\u00adal routes between loca\u00adtions, so in the event of traf\u00adfic prob\u00adlems, or if we decid\u00aded to skip a loca\u00adtion, we would have a back\u00adup route.<\/p>\n

I tried at least half a dozen jour\u00adney plan\u00adners before com\u00admit\u00adting to one, and I have to say that Google Maps was the best. And, while over there, I dis\u00adcov\u00adered that their direc\u00adtions are high\u00adly accu\u00adrate.<\/p>\n

Some\u00adthing else when it comes to route prepa\u00adra\u00adtion:<\/p>\n

Once you have your routes planned, it does\u00adn\u2019t hurt to spend a few hours vir\u00adtu\u00adal\u00adly dri\u00adving<\/em> por\u00adtions of those routes using Google Maps Street View. You do this by drop\u00adping the yel\u00adlow \u201cPeg Man\u201d onto the sec\u00adtion of road or loca\u00adtion that you want to see from the street. Rather than explain\u00ading how to use Street View, how\u00adev\u00ader, I\u2019ll sim\u00adply include this how-to video:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n