Advice on Driving on the 'WRONG' side of the Road in the UK & Ireland

Heading to England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Northern Ireland? Well most likely you will need to drive to truly get a feel for the culture and the country. Here we give you some advice on driving in the UK and Ireland. Looking at what it is like for an American to drive in the UK & Ireland when they drive on the left side of the road, not the wrong side.
Filmed in London, UK
Copyright Mark Wolters 2020

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[deleriousfishman]

Yeah, it's been said below but just to reiterate, if any emergency vehicle has their blue lights activated you MUST pull over, regardless of whether their sirens are on or not. Most only activate their sirens if you're failing to move over for their lights. No lights = no emergency so no driver action required. Lights = emergency, legal requirement to move over. Lights and sirens = No difference from just lights.

Hope that helps 👍

[maryellenalbin]

Just got back from a trip to the west of Ireland. This video was a huge help in preparing for the roundabouts. You're right, you get used to driving on the other side of the road quickly enough. Thanks!!

[muncus]

Great video, but if you ever get flustered, never be afraid to find somewhere safe to pull over and take a few moments to calm down and recompose yourself.

[paul_barton]

Turning on red is not permitted in the UK. As a Brit this has caught me out when driving in the US as I would sit at red lights when I could turn! However sometimes then is a green filter light pointing in the direction of travel, which when lit, replaces the main red light allowing you to turn in that direction. I believe the same applies in Ireland.

[fishyface]

I would add, to not necessarily hire the car at the airport depending on where you're going especially if you're nervous and want to do some rural driving til you get used to it. If you want to do South Wales and the Cotswolds you can get trains in good time to Bristol/Bath area and hire there. Same with if you want to go to Scotland. Trains to Scotland are beautiful historic routes and you can get to Edinburgh in 4 hours from London on the train have a couple of days in city and then hire there too.

[davidjones]

A point not mentioned is that on motorways you should keep left unless overtaking. Don't go cruising down the middle lane because overtaking on the left is not permitted, unlike the US where passing both sides is common.

[NordiskSeger]

As a Swede who have been to Great Britain over 20 times and Ireland three times (6-7 of them while driving there), I would never get to see all those beautiful places outside the big cities if I hadn't been driving there. Yes, the first time, it's terrifying for the first few hours (I remember stalling at one of the roundabouts at Gatwick airport) but you will get used to it quite soon.
But, the roads are still quite narrow in many places (even for Nordic standards), especially in the countryside and small towns.

[colinmacinnes]

I can't tell if you're outrageously dedicated or just crazy standing out in the rain to make this video. Great to see Jocelyn helping you out with a few explanation moments. As always, your info is spot on!

[susanhutchinson]

As an American living in Ireland for 17 years, I would say be careful at the round a bouts! Always go clockwise and always yield to the car on the right.

[peterpain]

Also: Learn all the cars buttons/blinkers/wipers on the rental parking lot when you pick up the car. Better to know before rather than looking weird when your wipers turn on when you want to turn ;)

[brunoschenkman]

Back in the day my buddies and I went to Ireland. Finding an automatic was tough but we found one. We also lost our left side side mirror to a stone wall. The roads are often super narrow. But it wasn't as scary as driving in Paris.

[robertriedling]

Another word of advice about finding reverse gear: my little VW Polo requires you to push down on the gear knob to put the car into reverse - a variation on pulling up the plunger as you mentioned. Thanks for the great video!

[jparker]

I always have thought the US car rental companies should offer closed course driving lessons to folks traveling to the UK, on a course with roundabouts and UK road signage, using cars typically of the UK rental market. Would give drivers some confidence, lock them into using the rental company and possibly reduce accidents when in the UK.

[ramseylafosse]

Emergency vehicles only have their lights on if they’re going to a call; they won’t be driving around casually with the blues on

Apart from that, great video!

[andrewjohnston]

Careful you don't knock over any cyclists, you get diplomatic immunity 😕

[bruffmeister]

Love your videos but have to correct you on 1 point.
It is not the norm that the emergency services have there blue lights on, only when they are responding to an emergency.
On roundabouts always give priority to the vehicles coming from your right.

[wanderingtraveler]

As soon as i looked at the background of where you filmed this, I immediately recognized where you were at. In the background is my go to cafe, Regency Cafe, for a full English breakfast at least once every time I'm in London. You won't find many tourists and the line can be long.

[generatorjohn]

I traveled to Scotland in 2007. Rented a car in the city of Edinburgh. I was nervous about driving on the left side of the road but once I got behind the wheel and followed the car in front of me I was fine.
For me the country roads are the most challenging. They are narrow and the speed limits are quite high compared to the United States for such a narrow width. Plus very curvey.
I did reserve an automatic transmission though, made it easier.
Didn't want to have to shift with my left hand and deal with the sudden change of driving on the opposite side of the road too. Thanks

[michaelcunningham]

Hi Mark. One thing to note on speed limits on the (island of) Ireland. In the (Republic of) Ireland the distances/speed limits on road signs an are in kilometres/kilometres per hour. In Northern Ireland (as in the rest of the UK) they're in miles/miles per hour. Ditto for the readings on a car's speedometer. So if you pick up a car in Belfast it will show speeds in mph to match the road signs; BUT when you then (seamlessly) cross the boarder to the south, the 120 motorway speed limit is is kph (not mph!)

[eeeecccc]

Top 3 really tough cities to drive a stick shift:
1. La Paz, Bolivia
2. San Francisco, CA
3. Lisbon, Portugal