I was following a late 80's vintage Opel Kaddett saloon (Astra B I guess?) on German plates along some rural Wiltshire roads yesterday, the car suddenely veered to the right hand side of the road, carried on for 100 yards, er meters, or so and veered back to the left.
I interpreted it as momentary left / right confusion, potentially lethal!
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Saw something very similar a few months ago in leafy North Yorkshire.
Foreign reg lorry on a two-lane B road veers to the right and drives in the righthand lane for a few hundred metres.
It went over the brow of hill, too.
I was behind, backing off further and further.
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Always a risk when driving on the "wrong" side... like having to be especially careful when turning left when in Europe... and, on a lighter note, making sure that you go round car parks the right way!!
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One reason why we have Direction arrows painted on the road surface near the exit of tourist stops and some junctions in rural Scotland, (yes we do drive on the left) :-). And also use daylight Headlamps to annoy the anti DRL brigade. The price you pay to live in beautiful surroundings.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Sat 29 May 10 at 09:54
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I saw an accident on the Campbelltown road out of Oban some years ago. We were held up in a queue on a winding, hilly section.
As we were filtered past the incident it was clear a British reg. Volvo towing a caravan on the correct side had been hit head on by a big Mercedes on a winding bit. It looked serious but all the services were out.
I looked in the mirror as we got past and saw continental plates on the MB....another lapse of concentration.
I remember as we all left a filling station on our bikes, in Southern Germany, our leader went off on der falschen seite of the road, fortunately straight and quiet, and rode for a good half mile before realising.
Ted
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I find crossing the a right hand road difficult never mind driving on one. I hate crossing the roads in Paris for example. But then in Paris they don't stop like they do here.
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It happens to me but with a twist,
I have never driven on the wrong side of the road in Europe, but a week or so after returning home, I drove on the wrong side of the road here.
wierd.
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>> wierd.
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I had a similar lapse many years ago after driving in the USA for six weeks without problems. After I had been back a week or so I turned right at a traffic free residential junction and ended up driving on the wrong side of the road for a few yards.
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You don't need to leave the country for the crossing the road problem, I almost got run over by not noticing a road was one way in Nottingham when I was a student (think I was drunk at the time).
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Saw an Opel Rekord in Bayswater once, with a big bit of cardboard to the centre of the steering wheel saying "LINKS FAHREN!"
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negra.com/html/linksverkehr.html !
Last edited by: L'escargot on Sun 30 May 10 at 07:12
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>> negra.com/html/linksverkehr.html !
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Google translates the first paragraph as ...............
"As everyone knows English can not distinguish right and left. Therefore, at some point such a Döspaddel where the steering wheel installed in the car on the wrong side and so this error is not noticed, they have decided flux on the left side of the road to drive."
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I travel overseas several times a year to a LHD country and always rent a car. It is now second nature to drive on the correct side of the road, both when I arrive there and return home.
However this is undoubtedly helped by the fact that I leave both airports on dual-carriageway roads, assisting the short acclimatisation back. I did once arrive at Gatwick about 15 years ago, very very late at night - more like early morning - and it took a few minutes on deserted roads to realise why I felt slightly strange.........!
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Auf der falschen seite von der strasse - Iffy
