Left-hand traffic
… Exists not only in the United Kingdom of Great Britain, since 1835 under the Highway Act, but also in a number of countries of the former Commonwealth. There are a number of legends about why this is so, which sound more or less conclusive, but ultimately do not help in driving operations.
Regardless of whether you like it or not, you know historically grown explanations or not:
In some states, and there are significantly fewer than those with right-hand traffic, the rule is that you have to drive on the left.
If you don't want to go to Kiribati or Bangladesh, you can now sit back and relax. But there are quite a few motorcyclists who like to travel to England, Scotland or Ireland. Cyprus is also one of the “left”.
Now you can say, “Well, I'll just drive on the left.” However, the changeover is not that easy. At intersections and junctions, in roundabouts, at traffic lights, simply everywhere in traffic, it is important to orientate yourself completely differently than you are used to.
Overtaking is on the right. The first time, this is just as much of an overcoming as it feels like driving wrongly on a roundabout. Even crossing an intersection or turning right or left requires full concentration in order not to end up in oncoming traffic as usual, which also happened to me. Thank God without consequences.
It is still easy for people turning left. You go left and stay left. This is similar to our right turn. Right-turners have to go through the traffic in the opposite, left-hand lane.
This is how you orient yourself around the roundabout, and there are plenty of those in the UK. The following applies: turn left, stay on the outside and flash if you want to turn left again immediately, or drive in the second lane in - if there is one - if you want to turn left later, then flash right and then left at the Leaving the roundabout. Easy? Sure.
Before I went to England for the first time, I received a multitude of tips that are all supposed to help. “Just drive after the others. It's easy. ”“ I was there with a group. An Englishman always drove up there. That was relaxed. ”I'll break that off now. In my opinion, such advice is not, at least not consistently, practicable and very specific to the individual case. And following behind does not lead to a better situation, only to a dependent one.
After a number of conversations with solo drivers and my own experiences, only one thing helps: total concentration while driving. No dawdling, no music, no distraction from the image of the navigation. If a helmet intercom makes sense, it is with voice-assisted navigation. A drive through the green landscapes of England is picturesque for those who are spoiled by law, but also exhausting. The daily stages must also be based on this. I was mostly on the road longer than expected, slower and with more breaks.
The road network is different from what we know in Germany. There are motorways or motorway-like roads, but sometimes they end in roundabouts or in localities and are continued at some point - or not. The fast bridging of longer distances must therefore be planned differently.
And the side streets are more or less similar to paved dirt roads, are often single-lane, picturesquely located and lined with high hedges. Travel cut, what is it? Anticipatory driving is slow, unless you act according to the motto “no risk, no fun”. Which is not only life-threatening, but also expensive.
I changed the navigation settings from meters to miles. The accompanying speed display made it easier for me to adhere to the maximum permitted speeds.
And here is the nodule ranking for the unlucky and the incorrigible:
Here is a quote:
“Over speeding in England can have far-reaching consequences. How high the fine is in detail cannot be stated in general, however, because this depends primarily on the respective weekly income. In addition, the catalog of fines divides the traffic offenders - depending on the severity of the speeding violation - into different groups, for which different percentages apply. .. "(from website" Flashed in England, what threatens ")
An example illustrates the costs that traffic offenders can face. A minimum of £ 100 is charged for driving too fast. Anyone who earns £ 875 a week will cost between £ 218 and £ 656, depending on the violation. The legal maximum is £ 1,000, and the cost of well-heeled speeders on motorways increases to £ 2,500.
Anyone who still thinks that they have to explore England at a fast pace can no longer be helped. In my opinion, the frenzy is by no means a trivial offense in this country, but it is considerably cheaper, if not better.
For a better introduction, I am attaching a video so that you can also see what driving on the left feels like.
In the following I summarize the most important English traffic rules again:
- Maximum city speed: 30 miles / 48 km / h
- Country road speed limit: 60 miles / 96 km / h
- Maximum motorway speed: 70 miles / 112 km / h
- Blood alcohol limit: 0.8 alcohol (only for the sake of completeness)
- Horns: prohibited in town between 10.30 p.m. and 7 a.m.
- Police emergency number / accident emergency number: 999 / mobile 112
- Country code: 44
- Bringing a reserve canister with you on ferries is prohibited!