Leave the Driving to Annie!

In America, there is a commercial tagline that says, “Leave the driving to us.”  It’s by a famous busline.  During my recent trip to the UK, though, I could say I left the driving to my friend, Annie, a lovely woman who put about 2,000 miles on her car driving us all over England, Scotland, and Wales to see our favorite singer, Alfie Boe, in multiple concerts.  Boy, am I glad I never had to drive.

There is the well-known difference about driving on the ‘wrong’ side of the road.  Our right is the British left and such.  That’s confusing enough for a first timer, but it’s actually the easiest part of the UK driving system.  Try figuring out what lane you should be in and even worse, which pair of stoplights you should be watching.  Yes, I said pair of lights.  I was overwhelmed by the number of lights present at the majority of stops.  Three lanes often equaled six lights and I never did figure out the logic to that.

It’s one thing to learn roundabouts.  Actually, America is slowly learning the benefit of roundabouts.  We have a few of them here in Sacramento, in fact, but they are far less complex than the ones in the UK.  The entire British driving infrastructure is based on these roundabouts that are designed to keep traffic moving.  Once you get down how to count exits, the roundabouts aren’t so bad.  The weirdest part is figuring out who goes when and who gets the priority.  They have a system based on being “polite,” but I’m not really sure that works.  I think maybe for the older  population, the polite thing guides them, but I’m not convinced the younger generation cares so much.

Going back to the strangeness of driving on the ‘wrong’ side of the road, a strange element of that was making a right turn.  I always wanted to say “go” based on the US system, but of course, that wouldn’t have been a good idea.  Still, the odd part was watching drivers essentially go left first so that they could make this little arc to the right, as if going in a circle.  I don’t understand why they just don’t turn right.  Why the little drive out to the left first?  They aren’t in a roundabout and it just wastes time and gas.  I never could figure that out.

I suppose if you grew up in the UK, it all seems natural, but I shutter to think what it would be like as a high school student trying to learn this system.  Knowing which light controls your lane, choosing between so many dang lights, and just figuring out which way  your lane goes is a challenge.  I think I’ll stay in the US!

That said, there were two things I rather liked about the highway system across the pond.  First, they have a yellow light that appears with the red light that is a warning, not to stop, but to go.  You see that combination, and you can gun it.  Time to go!  I liked that; it was fun.  I just always hoped that for the cross traffic, they had long been on a solid red light, but I never knew for a fact that they were.  I just watched everyone start going a second or two before the actual green light appeared and accepted it.

Secondly, they have a nifty caution system that flashes things like “incident” or “congestion” as well as a group of appropriate speed limits to accompany it.  That’s helpful as you know the reason for the delay and what the suggested speed limit is for the situation.  These are spaced out, but not so far apart that people can ignore or forget the situation.

I doubt I’ll ever get back to the UK, but if I do, I hope to continue leaving the driving to Annie.  She understands this strange UK system.  She is British, after all.  As for me, I’m sticking to American roads where a right turn means turning right without a jet out to the left first and one stoplight does the trick.  :}