We’ve been driving all around the Dublin area, through Slane, Dunleek, Dowth, New Grange, and finally Drogheda and becoming accustomed to driving on the left has been an interesting experience. First in the rental car there are no fewer than 4 stickers throughout the driver area reminding you to be on the left, and there also seem to be signs to remind you about it around all the tourist areas. What I found difficult wasn’t driving on the left side, which was fairly easy to remember, but rather I found myself aligning myself as the driver with the part of the lane I would be in if I was driving on the right side. Needless to say, this can put you dangerously close to anything to the left of you. So my new mantra (oft-repeated by my sister) has become “Guide to the left.” Thank goodness for collapsible mirrors. On the bright side, left turns are easy. ¶
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Ryan | May 4th, 2006 @ 5:01 pm |
I had the exact same experience my first day in New Zealand. My wife and I were driving to our hotel in Auckland from the airport and several times she could be heard screaming from the passenger seat, “TOO CLOSE! TOO CLOSE!!!”
billg | May 4th, 2006 @ 5:22 pm |
Be alert when you come to the roundabouts. Keep thinking “stay left”. It will feel quite natural to go right as you enter the circle. That will result in a large insurance claim.
HÃ¥vard | May 5th, 2006 @ 1:08 am |
Experienced the same thing when I moved from Norway to Tanzania — from right to left. The trick is to remember that the driver should always be seated in the middle of the road. What will happen is that you turn the windshield wipers on when you mean to indicate and vice versa.
Matt Biscay | May 5th, 2006 @ 1:39 am |
Another catchphrase to keep you going : “drive next to the gutter”. Worked for me beautifully while in England.
Ken McGuire | May 5th, 2006 @ 2:03 am |
Good tip about the roundabouts…. especially some of the crazy ones we’ve got going in this country! Welcome back to Ireland all the same…
chrisblack | May 5th, 2006 @ 2:13 am |
Come on down to bantry whilst you’re in cork…. you won’t know the difference between the left and right on our back roads, as they are all only just wider than the car!!!!
Chris
Chris Gray | May 5th, 2006 @ 2:48 am |
I had the exact opposite problem (or same, depending which way you’re facing) while in the USA last year. It’s not so bad traveling on the right hand side of the road, but as soon as you have intersections and turns through traffic you have to suspend all common sense and do the opposite, which is so incredibly effective in completely undermining any driving confidence you pretended to have.
The most scary aspects though are really easy mistakes to makes, knowing where to look when you do a u-turn on a single lane road, and how to act in parking lots could really get you into some serious problems.
It is refreshing though to see our right-side friends having the same issues when driving on the correct side of the road.
Kenneth | May 5th, 2006 @ 7:53 am |
I had problems on roundabouts which are pretty uncommon here, but abound in the UK. Also, merging with oncoming traffic is quite different here. Cars just keep moving here, and you just join the flow a lot of the time. In UK. nightmare! So different to Taiwan.
Neil | May 5th, 2006 @ 8:13 am |
Keep the steering wheel side to the center of the road. Only use this technique if you’ve rented a card with the steering wheel on the left hand side!
Reminds me of the old joke about the plan to change the country over to the RHS —
Starting on Monday all trucks and semis will drive on the right.
On Tuesday all cars and bicycles will move to the right
Paul | May 5th, 2006 @ 11:29 am |
When we moved to MN fro the UK I had similar issues – I’d do a little dance as my left hand would reach down for the gear stick, then I’d remember and switch hands. The scariest one, though, is traffic lights. In the UK the lights are on both sides of the junction, so you know that pulling up to the first set of lights puts you in the right position. In MN they’re only on the far side of the junction, so pulling up to the lights is a very bad idea. It’s a common mistake (I didn’t make it, but was a passenger in a car that did). Happily terror is a great teacher, so it’s a mistake you only make once.
Pat Collins | May 5th, 2006 @ 2:06 pm |
I assume you had a vehicle with manual transmission. I’m headed to Ireland in a few weeks and I’m scared to have the stick in my left hand. Eek.
Hannah | May 5th, 2006 @ 4:12 pm |
if only right turns were that easy!
What do you think of roundabouts! lol
Frank | May 7th, 2006 @ 7:31 pm |
Those roundabouts are killers!
Matt | May 8th, 2006 @ 12:03 am |
Actually we managed to get an automatic. (Naturally.)