Rights and wrongs of driving abroad

I’m a confident driver – when I’m in the UK, that is.

Truly, you can add South Africa to the list – along with Japan, Hong Kong and Australia and a couple of other locations. As lengthy as I’m on the left-hand side of the road, I’m absolutely fine.

But if I’m driving in a nation on the ‘wrong’ side of the road, sitting on the left and attempting to change gear with the door handle, it’s a totally diverse matter.

Keys to the highway

So you’ll appreciate that, when it came to contemplating a trip to the Florida Keys with my boyfriend Steve, the believed of hiring a car to get from island to island filled me with dread, even even though it was clearly the greatest transport choice for our holiday.

The coward’s way out would have been to get Steve to do all the driving. But, I convinced myself, that wouldn’t have been fair or especially empowering, would it?

So I determined to conquer my terror of driving on the appropriate hand side of the road. Oh, and did I mention I’ve by no means driven an automatic – car of selection in any US rental shop?

Child measures

Steve had driven in the States ahead of and was confident I could handle it, particularly if I eased myself into items on quieter roads. He agreed to tackle the city streets whilst I’d do the straights. So we booked our auto and planned a route from Orlando to Key West and back, via Miami.

You know how you devote the weeks ahead of a holiday fizzing with anticipation and excitement? Not this time. I’d get a queasy feeling in the pit of my stomach when I contemplated giant US highways, bewildering junctions, intimidating level-crossings, turning left across the oncoming site visitors, turning correct on a red light… the stuff of several sleepless nights!

Female gender fears fender benders

According to a survey by MoneySuperMarket’s sister firm, TravelSupermarket, 73% of women have in no way driven a employ auto abroad and 47% say they never will – so I’m clearly far from alone in worrying about driving on the appropriate.

Drilling deeper into the benefits, ladies who haven’t driven a employ vehicle overseas are 133% much more “terrified” of overseas driving than guys. Nearly every lady asked – that is 93% of the survey – is far more likely than a man to discover driving abroad “stressful”.

But here’s the funny point: women driving overseas are safer behind the wheel. Only 44% have had a auto accident compared to 57% of males. They’re also much less probably to get a fine in their employ vehicle, much less most likely to trigger damage to their employ vehicle and much less likely to break the rules of the road in the nation they’re visiting.

State of play

When we actually got to Florida, things nearly took a turn for the worse. Steve leapt at the chance to upgrade our Corolla to a luminous yellow Chevrolet Camero – rapidly dubbed the giant banana – that was a lot much more of a effective, sporty selection than I had deemed, even in the depths of a sleepless evening back home.

But I was hardly going to object, was I? It’s a gorgeous automobile, and we were going to be cruising the Keys, following all!

So, with a few turns around a giant ‘parking lot’ beneath my belt, off we went. And yes, there had been a couple of slightly anxious moments, and yes, I did discover my left hand reaching for a non-existent gearstick a couple of occasions (in an automatic as properly!), but it was generally fine. No bumps, scratches or tickets to report.

Self-confidence trick

I’ll let Steve give his side of the story: “At 1st I was a tad nervous, albeit primarily simply because Emma was apprehensive herself – not least due to the fact we had been driving a 3.6L Camaro muscle car on the ‘wrong’ side of the road! But she soon got to grips with it soon after a few subtle reminders about drifting and ‘giving it some gas.’

“From then on I was much far more relaxed. In the end she drove far more miles than I did, and grew fond of the massive old machine. She became a lot a lot more confident as time went on. In truth, she seemed to get pleasure from providing the Camaro the beans on our way back to the airport.

“Whisper it quietly, but she even crept up to 80mph…”

Cruise control

Of course, now I’ve got all the passion of a convert and I’m eager to get back out on the incorrect side of the road, either in the States or in Europe. I may possibly quaver a bit outside Paris or Rome, but with a bit of practice and a lot of determination, I’m confident I could manage it.

As for Steve: “Now that Emma has driven on the ‘wrong’ side of the road, I’m confident she’ll be a lot much more confident when she comes to do it again – even though roundabouts still need to be tackled! But I’d have no qualms about becoming Emma’s passenger if we employ a auto overseas in the future.”

Rights and wrongs of driving abroad