Driving in England

[foxsta]

Hey!

I'll be coming over to the UK in less than a month and just had some question regarding driving in England.

I'm from Australia, so I'm used to the whole driving on the left thing and I know that speeds are in miles. I am also in the process of reading the highway code.

So pretty much, is there any local advice, that I can't get from just reading the road rules? I'll be travelling from Newcastle upon Tyne to Bath and then onto London, through various towns/cities.

Thanks,

Ben

 

[Ayersy]

Hey!

I'll be coming over to the UK in less than a month and just had some question regarding driving in England.

I'm from Australia, so I'm used to the whole driving on the left thing and I know that speeds are in miles. I am also in the process of reading the highway code.

So pretty much, is there any local advice, that I can't get from just reading the road rules? I'll be travelling from Newcastle upon Tyne to Bath and then onto London, through various towns/cities.

Thanks,

Ben

No idea what the roads in Sydney are like, but congested cities over here (London especially) are an absolute NIGHTMARE! Not because of the roads themselves, just all the business vans and lorries who are never in the right lane.

All I'd say is just be doube sure of where you're going, because at least then you'll be in the right lane, even if others ain't. Haha.

I'm sure you'll fine! I've met Aussies before who said it was much easier over here than down under, so you probably won't have any problems.

 

[HantsUK]

Welcome.

Invest in TomTom or other SatNav. You can just put in your start and destination post codes. UK postcodes get you very close within any town or city (medium size businesses have their own postcode, and residential roads generally have a postcode for every 20 - 40 houses). But also plan your route beforehand. Remember that SatNav is an aid, not the Law, and very occasionally, gets it wrong.

Motorways are the fastest and easiest means to travel across the country, but you will miss what's in-between. If you avoid motorways and dual carriageways, it will take longer, be more difficult to navigate, but will be much more interesting, much less stressful, and you can easily stop or take a diversion when you come across something or somewhere interesting. You are on holiday (I assume), so, take it easy. Although the speed limits on motorways and dual carriageways is 70mph, 80+ is more common. For all your routes, the motorways will be busy. Expect speed cameras at roadworks and on A roads.

You can use Google maps for route planning - can enter either a place name or postcode, eg of a postcode in Bath: BA2 4JR. The centre of Bath has an interesting one way system and limited parking. Better to park in one of the 'park and ride' car parks on the outskirts and take the bus into the centre. Walking is the best way to explore the city centre.

Drive in London! No thanks! Suggest you stay or park in the outskirts or nearby and take the train or underground into central London. Avoids the traffic and congestion charge.

Couple websites to check for roadworks or jams (usually due to accidents): Google for 'Welcome to Traffic England' (I can't post links - uh)
- has major roads
Google for 'Full Traffic Report - Motorway Maps'
- has much more detail - but fortunately, most of the roadworks shown will only cause minor delays (often, none).

Hope this is of some help.
Hope you have a really good time over here.

 

[SithDoughnut]

Avoid the M25 at all costs.

 

[foxsta]

Welcome.

Invest in TomTom or other SatNav. You can just put in your start and destination post codes. UK postcodes get you very close within any town or city (medium size businesses have their own postcode, and residential roads generally have a postcode for every 20 - 40 houses). But also plan your route beforehand. Remember that SatNav is an aid, not the Law, and very occasionally, gets it wrong.

Motorways are the fastest and easiest means to travel across the country, but you will miss what's in-between. If you avoid motorways and dual carriageways, it will take longer, be more difficult to navigate, but will be much more interesting, much less stressful, and you can easily stop or take a diversion when you come across something or somewhere interesting. You are on holiday (I assume), so, take it easy. Although the speed limits on motorways and dual carriageways is 70mph, 80+ is more common. For all your routes, the motorways will be busy. Expect speed cameras at roadworks and on A roads.

You can use Google maps for route planning - can enter either a place name or postcode, eg of a postcode in Bath: BA2 4JR. The centre of Bath has an interesting one way system and limited parking. Better to park in one of the 'park and ride' car parks on the outskirts and take the bus into the centre. Walking is the best way to explore the city centre.

Drive in London! No thanks! Suggest you stay or park in the outskirts or nearby and take the train or underground into central London. Avoids the traffic and congestion charge.

Couple websites to check for roadworks or jams (usually due to accidents): Google for 'Welcome to Traffic England' (I can't post links - uh)
- has major roads
Google for 'Full Traffic Report - Motorway Maps'
- has much more detail - but fortunately, most of the roadworks shown will only cause minor delays (often, none).

Hope this is of some help.
Hope you have a really good time over here.

Awesome advive thanks! Yeah, I will be downloading the UK maps onto my GPS/satnav tonight. We got one for this trip. I agree with missing the in betweens when on the motorways, so yeah, we have been using google maps etc to try and find some alternate routes when possible. Hopefully our satnav will also alert us of any road works/delays as it does live updates and all.

I am going to Bath and have heard of the one way system - sounds fun. Unfortunately, I think our hotel is somewhere in the centre of Bath, so we will probably be driving in. Also, we are dropping the car back at the Heathrow car hire place and catching the tube back into London. I agree, we don't want to be driving there - we already have an 'oyster pass' if you have heard of those to make travelling on the tube a little cheaper.

Thanks for everyones advice!

Ben

 

[foxsta]

Just came back - man you guys are crazy drivers and your streets are far too narrow! The GPS was great most of the time, however, it seems to think an extremely narrow country lane is quicker than a proper road at times. There was an instance when we were led up a lane by our sat nav and got a little stuck and then a delivery driver, who was being guided by his sat nav came down from the other way and got slightly stuck. Fortunately, he was one the nicest people ever and he helped us out and all, but yeah - learnt quickly to choose our roads and ignore the GPS at times. P.S. there are too many round-abouts haha

 

[J1A1H]

really??? i thought uk drivers were really sensible drivers compared to others around the world. When driving in philppines and india, that was hectic, but driving in UK is very civilised. It only seems more crazy because the roads are so narrow?/? How wwas your trip?

 

[HantsUK]

Foxata
Good to hear that you survived our traffic and roads. The roads aren't that narrow - you could drive along most of them? Remember that most of our roads existed long before the motor car. And most of the long, straight roads were originally made by the Romans. Roundabouts are a modern invention, and seem to be an English speciality.

Compared with many other counties, traffic in the UK is well behaved. We also have much better (lower) accident rates than most counties (inc USA). Wait until you try the German autobahns: 100mph is slow. In another European country, the traffic lights were explained to me thus: in the North - they are regulation; in the centre - advice; and in the South - decoration. It's not until you've been to the USA, that you can appreciate how, in a film, someone racing along a straight road doing 50mph in broad daylight, could actually crash into anything on the road, let alone a car that had crashed 10 minutes earlier, blocking the highway.

 

[foxsta]

Yeah, I was aware of the age of the roads but otherwise everything was alright. Speed wasn't an issue though. The trip was great - loved York and London. Other than that, we stayed in Bath, Stratford upon Avon, Newcastle upon Tyne, York and London and branched out from there. After seeing Durham though - I think I would rather do a study leave (if I ever got the opportunity in my research field) in Durham than Oxford etc despite the prestige. Didn't go to Cambridge unfortunately. Good trip though and would love to come over again - maybe stay a bit longer on some parts

 

[Captivated]

Foxata
Good to hear that you survived our traffic and roads. The roads aren't that narrow - you could drive along most of them? Remember that most of our roads existed long before the motor car. And most of the long, straight roads were originally made by the Romans. Roundabouts are a modern invention, and seem to be an English speciality.

You took the words out of my mouth! A small island with a long history, we are somewhat constrained by pre-existing road layouts which were extant before the motor car was even thought of. It makes travelling in the UK interesting at least!

As for roundabouts, has anyone ever attempted the 'magic roundabout' in Swindon? How is anybody supposed to know where they're meant to go? Even my DH, who is a very experienced driver, just pretty much made it up!
Magic Roundabout (Swindon) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

PS. Glad you had a good time visiting us, Foxsta. Durham is a beautiful city. While Durham University doesn't quite have the cachet of Oxford or Cambridge, as far as Universities go it is still very prestigious (ranking 4th after Oxford, Cambridge and Imperial College recently). It would be amazing to have student rooms in Durham Castle! Starting a PhD in January I would love to study there but think my DH and kids might object! I'm a Lancashire lass, did you make it over here?

 

[foxsta]

Yeah, we avoided that one in Swindon haha. There are a few that are weird and some are so small that the sat nav didn't always mention them as round abouts. The only way we knew was when we actually got to it.

Unfortunately, no, we didn't get to Lancashire. There are so many other places I would like to go to. But I don't think it will be long before we come back anyways. I know a friend of mine just wants to pack up and live in the UK ASAP after spending 3 months travelling around the UK and a little bit of Europe. And I won't be far behind if I can help it