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Old 7 Aug 2009, 14:56 (Ref:2517397)   #1
nycuk
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Driving on the right - any advice??

I'm off to Spain in a few weeks for a wedding. The venue is in a rural area about an hour from of Alicante and there's no option really but to hire a car and drive there.

Trouble is, I've never driven on the right before (the only time I've driven overseas was in Cyprus where they drive on the left), and to be honest I'm a bit nervous about it! I'm a very experienced driver (sales rep, 800 miles a week for the last God knows how many years) but I don't really know what to expect from my first time driving on the 'wrong' side of the car on the 'wrong' side of the road. Any tips? Any experience of Spanish road etiquette?

Thanks in advance!
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Old 7 Aug 2009, 15:03 (Ref:2517400)   #2
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It's not too bad when you start off as you are very aware of what you are doing and where you should be. The problem I have had on a few occasions is that if I have been on a side or minor road and parked up for a while, I occasionally drive off on the left, last time it happened a very large tractor towing a trailer of hay gave me a good wake up call.

Don't forget to look out for cars coming from the other side on roundabouts. As long as you keep thinking about what you are doing you will be OK
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Old 7 Aug 2009, 15:34 (Ref:2517417)   #3
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Take it from someone that drives on different sides of the road most of the year.
The fact that you will be in a left hooker will make you already think that something is different anyway.
As Tim pointed out if you haven't got any reference (ie any other cars) and you pull out of a junction early in the morning, that can throw you.
I have been driving abroad for almost 40 years not just on holidays and I have the opposite problem. I have a left hooker in the UK and living in the sticks I am tempted to drive on the right when turning out of my drive !
Don't worry you're not the first to try it, just follow the guy in front of you out of the airport car park, and hope its not his or hers first time !
By the way if its south from Alicante you're getting close to me, so look out ! And as for driving etiquette in Spain you should go on the stage ! Buena suerte
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Old 7 Aug 2009, 18:43 (Ref:2517482)   #4
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within a month of passing my test (many years ago) I drove to Istanbul; didn't have any problems then, and neither should you! as the others have said just keep your wits about you...
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Old 7 Aug 2009, 18:58 (Ref:2517493)   #5
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Most accident s happen close to home - or in the circumstances you describe, close to your final destination.

As a child I lived in Germany for a coupd of years and so had a feel for what it was like to travel in the RHD car on the 'wrong' side for the road. Since I always sat in the front I was, in effect, experiencing what the driver saw.

First time I actually drove on the wrong side I was in a RHD Transit with a trailer on the back. KLeft the ferry port at about 6am, got to and through Brussels on the wet cobbles avoiding the trams and spotting the tiny direction signs about 300ft up the lampposts, and trundled down the motorway for about an hour to arrive within a mile of my destination with half an hour to spare for my target arrival time. Excellent.

I could see the destination on the left as I took the slip road. Stopped at the junction, wide road with plenty of space and no traffic. Pulled away neatly into the left lane looking for my left turn into the destination complex and contemplating a nice mug of coffee ... I realised after a couple of hundred mtrs that I should have been on the right. Damn good job there was no traffic.

So the morl of the story is - be extra prepared to pay even more attention than usual when the journey (or journey section) you have planned is just about over. By far the most dangerous time other than the first 2 or 3 minutes.

HTH.
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Old 7 Aug 2009, 19:01 (Ref:2517494)   #6
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A couple of years ago I was on the chunnel one evening and behind me was a young girl in a Fiesta. I was with a friend and we'd been doing the headlight thing and discussing how far into France we were going to get that night. After a bit she came over and said "they drive on the other side in France don't they?". A little taken a back I confirmed that they did. She said she was meeting some friends in northern France and asked for advise. I said that it was OK and it is easy when other cars are around, when you get out of the tunnel you are directed on to a major road which gets you used to it. However, I said, the first time it is odd is when you get to a roundabout as you look the 'wrong' way and go round the other way. Wided-eyed I got a "Really?" and I was suddenly very worried!

Anyway you are doing well by thinking about this earlier than ten minutes before you embark on driving somewhere foreign!

It is OK, just don't drive like a pillock, get used to things and be a tad more carful. Be double careful when the roads are quiet and there are no other cars. As mentioned above you can slip back into it. My main time of getting it wrong is always early in the morning in a Gite we stay in near Le Mans. It is on a small road and you drive down a long path before you get to it. There are no road markings and I always have to pause and engage brain. After that it is fine.

I find driving a left hooker on the right easier than a right hooker on the right, despite changing gear with the other hand etc... It is odd how the brain just compensates and driving abroad is fun because it is different.

The customs of the country interest me. Don't, for instance, flash to let someone out in, say, Belgium; they just get out of your way. Italians drive like they are madmen and it is best when you go with the flow. Germans drive fast, but in an ordered manner; they are in the correct lane most of the time and get out of your way if going quicker. None are better or worse, but get used to how it works over there. The signs are similar, the drivers not! Oh and then cry when you realise that the only ones that are worse are the idiots are on the British roads.
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Old 7 Aug 2009, 21:02 (Ref:2517559)   #7
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One other thing that someone pointed out to me last month is that when someone sits 3 feet from your rear bumper at 80mph on a motorway, they are not homicidal maniacs who want to run you off the road like in the UK, that's just how they drive.
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Old 7 Aug 2009, 21:19 (Ref:2517570)   #8
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My only scare, and Ive seen this a few times, is when UK drivers "fill up" in a garage on the left hand side of the road. Sit in the cafe with coffee for 15 mins, wander out to the car and drive off..yes straight onto the left hand side of the road. So easily done, so yes, just think think all the time. The only problem i find with a left hooker is trying to change gear with the left hand, scrabbling away on the window handle on the door!
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Old 8 Aug 2009, 00:24 (Ref:2517635)   #9
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The only problem i find with a left hooker is trying to change gear with the left hand, scrabbling away on the window handle on the door!
Yep.

However these days I mostly drive an auto so when I hired a car for a day in the States a couple of years ago there were no such problems! One of the benefits, I suppose, that would not be so likely in Europe.
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Old 8 Aug 2009, 00:26 (Ref:2517636)   #10
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I find my left hooker great for parking close to the kerb in the UK, the only downside is I have to trust my wife when overtaking
And nycuk we all had to it for the first time, mind you when I started driving they still had a guy walking in front of you with a flag !
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Old 8 Aug 2009, 05:24 (Ref:2517694)   #11
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fourWheelDrift should be qualifying in the top 3 on the gridfourWheelDrift should be qualifying in the top 3 on the gridfourWheelDrift should be qualifying in the top 3 on the gridfourWheelDrift should be qualifying in the top 3 on the grid
From my personal experience in the left hooker it is reasonably easy to adjust as you are very aware that everything is the mirror image of what it is 'at home', I have never driven a RHD car outside of the UK and Ireland but I imagine it is much easier to screw up in that situation, but you are not doing that this time are you.
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Old 8 Aug 2009, 09:56 (Ref:2517764)   #12
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I really appreciate all of your replies, guys. Many thanks!
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Old 8 Aug 2009, 16:05 (Ref:2517870)   #13
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The only thing you must not do, is go to the right hand door to get in. I'm driving a left hooker in Qatar and do it at least once a week.
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Old 8 Aug 2009, 17:13 (Ref:2517885)   #14
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My wife always does that Pete, I then say "so you're driving for a change"
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Old 8 Aug 2009, 17:15 (Ref:2517886)   #15
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My wife always does that Pete but on the other side, I then say "so you're driving for a change"
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Old 10 Aug 2009, 08:51 (Ref:2518641)   #16
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The only thing you must not do, is go to the right hand door to get in. I'm driving a left hooker in Qatar and do it at least once a week.
One of my German machinery suppliers would normally drive over in his own car (via a ferry, of course!) to visit me in the UK. So, on the one occasion when he flew over & hired a car, when we went out for lunch I naturally walked round to the right hand side of the car. . .
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Old 11 Aug 2009, 07:59 (Ref:2519350)   #17
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I've driven through France and Belgium quite a lot. The only really problem I had was motorway, which is unfortunate to say the least!

When it's four in the morning and you're flying down the E42 to Lille it's not a problem, but at rush hour when you're trying to go shopping with the angry missus on an erasmus year and her laughing French friends, it's not much fun trying to get across three lanes of mental French people in clapped out clios to pull off of the motorway on the RIGHT.

I learned after that to stay in the outside lane and NEVER move from it
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Old 19 Aug 2009, 16:29 (Ref:2524463)   #18
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Just don't try it in the UK !
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Old 7 Sep 2009, 20:52 (Ref:2536195)   #19
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Thanks all for your advice and comments. Arrived back in the UK last night. Driving on the right? Piece of cake... Cheers all, much appreciated!
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