Angela Borden | Dec 21, 2020
Now is not the time to learn how to drive a stick (if you don’t know already). If you do know how to drive a manual transmission, remember that you will have to change gears with your left hand, because the steering wheel is reversed.
Slower traffic keeps left, and you want to stay in the left lane unless you are passing. This was pretty easy to get used to doing.
This one sounds weird, but it works! Intersections are the trickiest part of driving on the left. When you are approaching an intersection that requires you to make a turn (whether right or left), repeat this mantra to yourself — “left to left.” This works no matter which way you are turning — you have to stay left always. The biggest challenge for me was making left turns. I found I wanted to cross traffic as I normally would here in the states.
You’re crossing traffic when you make a right turn so you’ve got to remember to look both ways. Tip #3 helps with this.
Chances are you won’t know where you are going, and it’s one less thing for you to worry about.
You may not encounter them where you are going, but we ran into them frequently in Ireland. Thankfully, we were used to driving in them because our hometown has quite a few. During our trip to Ireland, we ran into some Americans who had never seen a roundabout, and they were rather perplexed by them. Go through them slowly and remember, they flow to the left, not the right when you’re driving on the left side of the road.
This one really goes without saying but especially rings true when driving through a city or town. Also, intersections can throw you off. To help with this, I think it’s better if you have a passenger who is also paying attention. It’s the one time when it’s helpful to have a back seat driver (don’t tell my husband I said that).That may not be possible if you are traveling alone so you’ll have to find other ways to keep yourself wide awake and focused on your driving.
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