On 06 Mar 2004 07:48:29 GMT, ojunk (John0714) wrote:

This past November and December I drove extensively in the area bounded by
Adeaide, Brisbane, and Melbourne, or whatever I am an American who has driven
in the USA and Canada for 40 years. I found driving on the left often quite
disconcerting. Several times I got on the wrong side and got pulled over by the
police. No tickets or accidents unfortunately. But I feel I am living on
borrowed time and thus may never be back to anywhere you drive on the left
since vacations without automobiles I have found very unsatisfying.

I would be interested in others' experiences on driving on the unacustomed side
of the road anywhere in the world. Would you care to share?


Last year, I drove rental automatics for a week in California, and two
weeks from New Orleans to DC through the deep south. About 3000 miles
all up.

Then a "Eurodrive" Clio manual for 11000 km through all of the EU plus
Czech. Finally, a week (1000 miles) from Edinburgh to Oxford via Wales
and Salisbury back on the "correct" side of the road.

I hardly hit anything, and no-one hit me. Of course, some of the others
were very good at taking evasive action :-)

I must admit, even with 17 years experience as a Melbourne cab-driver,
nothing prepared me for Rome. I think they must still be filming
Ben-Hur, but with Fiats and Vespas instead of Chariots.

Of course, Rome looked like a quiet Sunday drive compared to Naples.

As far as the change-over of sides of the road, it was a matter of
starting very slowly, and consciously thinking every time we came to an
intersection. The most likely place to make a mistake was on left-hand
turns into a new road - I tended to stay on the left the first couple of
times. The converse for a driver coming here would be turning right.

But, we survived, and had a bloody good time. And we saw places in
Europe no tourist bus has ever visited.

Cheers Alan