.... like in Australia or England, what's it like when you visit or move to countries that don't, is it scary, do you sometimes forget where you are and do something illegal and dangerous. I have been to those countries but have never done any driving, it felt really strange just being a passenger---it must really take some getting used to.

its not too bad if you are the driver. in a car FOR their area, and not an american or other country import. because you as driver are facing the center line. ( driver is always on center line. here in us usually yellow or white, same there IIRC. it is a bit unnerving at first. but ok afterwards

I'm from UK but I have done a fair bit of riding in continental Europe. I found it pretty simple on the bike, approaching roundabouts and turning left required some getting used to. That would be turning right in a left side drive country. You have to really train yourself to look the right way at junctions etc,.

Tramlines in Belgium/Holland/Germany particularly coupled with cobbled streets could be a challenge at times. My first long trip on the bike was to Prague, I found a city-centre place to stay where I parked the bike and used local transport after seeing lots of little knocks where both parties have to wait for the Police, sometimes for a fair while!

I thought that the long lonely rural roads might be a problem but that was OK.

I found things a little different in the car as I was driving on the kerb as it were but once I got used to the idea of keeping the kerbside by my right elbow it worked out OK. I think the secret is don't drive too ambitiously and keep an eye out for different priorities like the "x" sign in France where traffic from the minor side roads has priority coming on to "your" road. Just to make it even more confusing they use two different road-signs to indicate this - well that's France for you.

There was a hit song here a couple of years back "Nine million bicycles in Bejing" - It is worth remembering that every small town and village in Holland has nine million bicycles and they get priority!

Usually drive on the left and now going to do a little driving on the "wrong side"? Dodgy bits are roundabouts, right turns and first thing in the bloody morning as you turn out of the motel car park and onto the road. Argggggggg, I forgot this was France

Yes, agreed, first thing in the morning, in fact the first 30 seconds you get into the car and coming out of your parking space after any type of break is when you really have to focus.

It's really no different than driving in the right hand lane on a two lane road. Queensland people would have no problem with this cause the concept of "Keep left unless overtaking" totally escapes them as they happily sit in whatever lane they want doing whatever speed they want.

For me, the tricky bit is not driving/riding on the wrong side of the road, but driving a left hand drive vehicle on the left. because we are so used to our body being more on the right of the lane there can be a tendency to creep over in the beginning. But after a day or so you are used to this and can chop/change at will. But it is more difficult at a round-about that has the approach taping to the left. Cause you're on the opposite side to the oncoming traffic you need to look across the interior and if the tape is bad your own vehicle helps block some of the vision.

This is clearly not the case for everyone though. I know an Aussie who went to the US years ago to "ride around the country". At some point in his journey he Forgot he was in the USA and rode on the left side of the road. Yep, head on. Dead.

And only recently (few days) there was a head on crash a couple hours north of here. Son following his father. They were from Canada. Father forgot he was in Aust, started riding on the right and he is now dead - his following Son saw the whole thing.

Oh... another tricky thing. Okay, in Aust if two cars look like having a close call we instinctively swerve to the left. Both going to what would be our proper sides. And the gap between us increases. Gotta watch for that one.

Michael

Mister, thems some pretty horrible stories, never really thought about fatalities, just funny stories and maybe some close calls. I wonder how many people have died over the years over an understandable conditioned reflex or mind slip, I also didn't think about the opposite driver side thing adding to the confusion.

Quote from: ojstinson on December 24, 2011, 04:03:12 PM
Mister, thems some pretty horrible stories, never really thought about fatalities, just funny stories and maybe some close calls. I wonder how many people have died over the years over an understandable conditioned reflex or mind slip, I also didn't think about the opposite driver side thing adding to the confusion.

Here's the most recent one http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/story/2011/12/22/man-feared-dead-hinterland-crash/

We have left hand drive vehicles over here. Some are imported cars. Others, like our Plants at work, are machinery originally made for the US market but then sold down here. It's this type I am mainly refering. That is, driving a left hand drive vehicle on the left side of the road. You do feel the urge to creep over, initially.

Driving a left hand vehicle on the right side of the road - US style - the creep only sends you into the next lane on your right or the curb.

Michael

Quote from: mister on December 24, 2011, 08:35:45 PM

Quote from: ojstinson on December 24, 2011, 04:03:12 PM
Mister, thems some pretty horrible stories, never really thought about fatalities, just funny stories and maybe some close calls. I wonder how many people have died over the years over an understandable conditioned reflex or mind slip, I also didn't think about the opposite driver side thing adding to the confusion.

Here's the most recent one http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/story/2011/12/22/man-feared-dead-hinterland-crash/

We have left hand drive vehicles over here. Some are imported cars. Others, like our Plants at work, are machinery originally made for the US market but then sold down here. It's this type I am mainly refering. That is, driving a left hand drive vehicle on the left side of the road. You do feel the urge to creep over, initially.

Driving a left hand vehicle on the right side of the road - US style - the creep only sends you into the next lane on your right or the curb.

Michael

Damn I know that road and have ridden it many times. It is a very twisty section of a range. What gets me is it took the 4wd 100m to stop? He should have been in second or 3rd gear for that section of the range especially coming down a steep incline towing a caravan. 

I'm in Aus so drive on the left hand side of the road, and the first time I drove on the right, in the US, I went OK. Just mentally prepared for it, followed the traffic for a bit, and was generally aware of where I was and where I shouldn't be.

What I hadn't counted on, though, was eye contact. The sort of thing you do in low speed situations, like at drive ways or stop signs or give ways. I kept good eye contact but got no, or sometimes puzzled, looks in return. Of course I was looking at the wrong person - the passenger.

Didn't take long to get over that. Had no trouble from then on.

A few years we had a facetious political political party in Canada. One of their platforms was to switch from the right side to left and to ease it in gradually. The first year only trucks a buses would switch followed by cars and then motorcycles and bicycles.
Ken

Quote from: mcgimp on December 27, 2011, 01:34:15 PM
A few years we had a facetious political political party in Canada. One of their platforms was to switch from the right side to left and to ease it in gradually. The first year only trucks a buses would switch followed by cars and then motorcycles and bicycles.
Ken

So... trucks would be on the left driving on the opposit direction to cars, but in the same lanes. Yeah, that'll work 

Only the Swedes could do this, well maybe the Samoans did do it too, oh, so did Iceland......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q52RfAiZlws

Only yesterday I drove out of an eatery car-park, turned left and stayed on the left, seemed like a good idea seeing as I am in England. There was a German-registered car driving happily along on the right so i dropped back flashed my light and played tunes on the horn to no avail whatsoever until he met another car coming his way. Fortunately no harm done everyone slowed down in time for him to get his brain in gear and switch lanes.

Living in Dover, far and away the biggest ro-ro port between UK and mainland Europe you tend to get very wary of new arrivals getting things wrong, especially as they come out of the Docks onto a dual-carriageway roundabout intersection. It's 50 years since I moved here and in that time I have only seen one or two incidents and mercifully nothing serious.

A couple of years back in a similar thread I think one or our Auzzie members said something like "If you are worried about driving on the wrong side, practice for a couple of weeks before leaving home"  'Nuff said.

Another little add-on.

When driving in Malta you soon discover that the locals drive in the shade.

Look at Asia and Africa and you soon discover that a lot more people than you think, as a percentage of world population, drive on the left.

When I come to Australia I need drive left side. my bigg problem is gear shifter. I think my left hand there for just balance not to do things. Now it need to change gears. this hard for me but I get it in end.

Two "arrrggh, on the wrong side" stories.
I'm up in Scotland, near Oban, a ferry port for the Scottish Islands, just coming onto a big multi-lane roundabout, and a car comes around the wrong way. I watched with amazement, as a truckie - with one smooth move - swung his rig across all lanes and stopped all the traffic. Quick thinking professional there.

Then there was me, in Germany, all confused and going down a little autobahn entry the wrong way. Big, old Merc comes the right way, stops, driver looks at me and he just slowly shakes his head. Me, guiltily reverses out of ramp with very red face and wife - quite rightly - going on at me.

Two happy endings to what could have been tragedies. Why didn't everyone just universally agree on a common "side" in the beginning and stick with it.

in Australia we have big and red signs on ramps that say WRONG WAY GO BACK and they face the ramp so they seen if you go wrong way. Still sometimes you here of someone on wrong side of freeways.

And a bizarre thing is that Samoa, which changed driving sides a couple of years back, went from driving on the right to driving on the left!!!!!  Story is that they wanted to import cheap cars from Japan and NZ and Aus...don't know if that's true.