So
quite often when I'm travelling abroad it involves car hire.
Particularly to the US (as the roads are made by giants, apparently,
so taxis wouldn't be feasible), but also in Europe (where the roads
are constructed by The Borrowers) when I've got lots of meetings to go to in
remote places.
Over
the past couple of years I've become accustomed to the usual
challenges of driving in a foreign land... Being on the “wrong”
side of the road, the “wrong” side of the car, having some maniac
throw a gear stick in for a laugh..., but I still find it very
surprising that car hire companies don't give local driving
information or at least an outline of the rules to the person renting
the vehicle before they hand the keys over. It's also the sort of
question you hardly feel comfortable asking when you're declining the
additional insurances and reassuring the person at the rental company
that you're more than capable of working out how to change the GPS
into English. That goes into my awkward situations box so is best
left well avoided. But, I think it's important. Often when you're
hiring a car in another country you'll have just landed from a long
flight, been awake for a long time and the last thing you want is to
be let out uneducated with a machine of death in your grubby little
jet-lagged paws.
You
may also be lucky enough to end up with a vehicle such as this one below.
The Navy Nemesis, she was named. Pedro, the sat nav also got a bit of
a verbal battering, but we made up shortly after and with the mutual
agreement that he wouldn't try to send me the wrong way down a
one-way street ever again.
For
some reason I know that in the US you can turn red on a right and
I've learnt the hard way in Europe that a flashing amber (or “yellow”
to any Americans reading this) or two alternately flashing amber
lights means that the driver has to use caution and give way if
there's another car coming. To which direction, I'm still not quite
sure. What I end up doing is driving super slowly, muttering a few
wild prayers to myself and hoping for the best. I really hope the
DVLA isn't reading this (I'm a very good driver, I promise). I find
it quite surprising that you don't see more American drivers in the
UK trying to turn left on red lights. I think it's a good rule, as it
happens. Maybe we can swap them for a few roundabouts.
Also,
in Spain (my most recent location) I notice that the lights are right
on top of the stop line. In the UK they're usually a few feet in
front (or both – fewer roads, more spare lights hanging around I
suppose). What this means is that you'll stop on the line, see the
lights in front of you at the next stop, and maybe... Just maybe, you
er, might, er, think that the green light is for you. Trust me, you
only do this once. Also, if you suddenly see an unbroken white line
in the road (usually two parallel) make sure you stay on your side.
This means that it's gone from a dual carriageway to a single
carriageway. Again, I've never made the potentially fatal mistake of
crossing over to the dark side, but it does make you jump the first
time you realise it.
It's
also a requirement to have two warning triangles and a reflective
jacket in your car in lots of European countries and if you're going
to snowy places, you may need snow tyres or chains in the winter. If
it's a legal requirement then the hire car company should provide
these, but it's best to check before you drive off. Or if you're in
Geneva airport and you accidentally hire your car from the French
side instead of the Swiss side, you'll need to pay for them. That'll
be a rant coming up at a later time then...
In
the US, it's all pretty simple. Big cars, big roads, automatic
transition boxes usually. I find saying “RIGHT is RIGHT” to
myself helps. Watch out for turning left, ever. You'll be
tempted to turn into the wrong side. Look out for signs saying you're
not allowed to turn right on that particular right. And if you're at
a crossroads (a literal one, I'm not getting all deep on you just
yet) make sure that you keep an eye out for people turning right on
red lights on the other side of the road (into the road you're about
to turn into). You have right of way because your light is green, but
they might not be on the look out for you and this means that they
will flip you off (a gesture
I became familiar with on a recent trip to San Diego) and shout
profanities in your direction when you both try and turn into the
same lane. Usually the customary response from an English person is
to shout “Sorry! I'm English!!” in your best Queen's and I
believe this then clears the cards.
Also,
for some reason I do not understand other than it being due to
extreme tidiness, you have to park facing the direction of traffic on
the roads in America. Otherwise you get a $75 fine. And lots of
people in the B&B you're staying in will laugh at you over
breakfast and tell you that you did it because “Italians just park
on the sidewalk and roundabouts in Europe” and that'll make you sad
and it'll be awkward for all involved.
If you're tempted to drive in Sri Lanka or China? Don't. Just stand somewhere safe by a road for a few minutes and you'll soon work out why.
Anyway,
I don't claim to be an expert on driving in foreign places, but these
are just a few of the things I've picked up. For more information and
for actual advice that's legal and sensible I'd strongly recommend
looking at the:
http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/overseas/countrybycountry.html
or http://www.rac.co.uk/travel/driving-abroad/
sites in order to not bring any damage to yourself or others.
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