Driving in the US/UK

[YorkshiretoAZ 12]

Hi Guys,

This is kind of a split post as I have 2 questions I wanted to discuss.

 

Ive been in America for nearly a year now, I love it here but ive taken my time on the whole driving side, I had my UK licence for 7 years but it expired recently and due to having my job and places very close by I've mainly walked a lot of places so haven't done much driving since I arrived last May.

My wife has booked me on a driving course which is 11 hours of lessons then the road test which I'm excited for but I just wondered how other UK l/Aus/NZ folk felt about it driving on the right hand side of the road compared to the left? Also any advice on gaining confidence driving?

 

The 2nd part of my question is for anyone who has been back home since they moved here, we are going back to England next month to see my family and celebrate our 1 year wedding anniversary, I'm hoping to have my driving licence by then as my wife's family have asked me to do the local driving as they don't feel safe driving on the "wrong side" which is fine as I'm sure I'll automatically get back into it but I just wondered did you hire a car? If so which company did you use? Did you get an auto or manual? I can't decide which would be best for me!

 

I would be greatful for any advice! Sorry if it's in the wrong forum.

[Wuozopo 4,293]

I have always found it easy to flip back and forth on left side/right side. It just happens.  I think driving is pretty essential in the US, so dive in and do it. It broadens your horizons. My wife said when she drove on her own the first time in the UK, she talked out loud to herself and visualized as she approached each corner. "I am turning left and going to be in that lane." "When I get to this roundabout, I look right for cars and go left." After just a bit of driving, it became natural. 

 

I was was in the UK a month ago. We hired a car. I found the cheapest going through my airlines because they were offering a special for Enterprise at Heathrow. Just shop around. There is usually an upcharge when doing an airport rental, but the sale offered made it cheaper. On other trips, I have rented offsite near where my family lives. Somebody would pick me up at the airport and take me to the car hire place in their town. I have to say, the convenience of renting at the airport was great and I will probably do that next time even if it costs a few more quid.

 

I drive an automatic now so rented that. They are more difficult to find so you may have better options going for the manual. Our reserved car had a flat tyre when we were taken to it. There was only one more automatic on the entire lot they could offer. Don't forget to get something big enough to hold all the luggage if you have four people arriving together. 

 

What at airline and airport?

[broppy 204]

11 minutes ago, YorkshiretoAZ said:

Ive been in America for nearly a year now, I love it here but ive taken my time on the whole driving side, I had my UK licence for 7 years but it expired recently and due to having my job and places very close by I've mainly walked a lot of places so haven't done much driving since I arrived last May.

My wife has booked me on a driving course which is 11 hours of lessons then the road test which I'm excited for but I just wondered how other UK l/Aus/NZ folk felt about it driving on the right hand side of the road compared to the left? Also any advice on gaining confidence driving?

I learnt to drive in the UK but was only driving there for 4 years before moving to a bunch of RHD countries. I had a little experience driving on the wrong side in Europe in a British car, so the concept wasn't completely strange to me. When I moved to the Netherlands and got a local car, it was harder to get used to sitting on the wrong side of the car than it was driving on the wrong side of the road - kept moving my left hand to change gears for a while before it became natural to use my right.

Despite getting used to driving on the wrong side, my first experience in the US was still a little strange. I was on holiday in Phoenix and picked up a hire car at Sky Harbor. I'd never driven an automatic before and the first time I came to a stop my left foot went instinctively for the clutch and caught the parking brake! It takes a little while to get used to weirdness like four-way-stops, stopping for school buses, turning on red, etc. I vaguely remember there was a left on red from I-10 onto Washington that was particularly disconcerting for some reason. But again, it didn't take long to get used to it all and just go with the flow.

The lessons and test over here are ridiculously easy (just annoying that even with 20+ years experience and a Canadian license at the time, I still had to go through that to get a license in LA).

 

11 minutes ago, YorkshiretoAZ said:

 

The 2nd part of my question is for anyone who has been back home since they moved here, we are going back to England next month to see my family and celebrate our 1 year wedding anniversary, I'm hoping to have my driving licence by then as my wife's family have asked me to do the local driving as they don't feel safe driving on the "wrong side" which is fine as I'm sure I'll automatically get back into it but I just wondered did you hire a car? If so which company did you use? Did you get an auto or manual? I can't decide which would be best for me!

I've always gone for a manual - never even thought about picking up an automatic in the UK. There's a lot less to worry about switching back again as you're already used to driving on British roads and pretty much know what to expect - just watch out for the curb on your first left turn!

[bcking 3,157]

In the UK I believe there are two different driving licenses correct? One for automatic, and one for manual/automatic.

 

If you visit the UK from the US and are driving with just your US driving license, can you rent either type? Since the US license doesn't specify.

 

I have only driven automatic so when I got married and needed to rent a car for that time in England I rented an automatic. I'm not sure if someone feels comfortable with manual if it is fine, since our license doesn't specifically say you can drive manual like a UK one does.

 

EDIT: Forgot to mention, I also just rented at Heathrow because it was the easiest. I forget which company. I booked it with whatever website I booked my tickets on, as a "package" deal thing. You pay more for automatic, but for me I didn't even have the option since I would just stall the manual car

Edited April 11, 2017 by bcking

[broppy 204]

2 hours ago, bcking said:

In the UK I believe there are two different driving licenses correct? One for automatic, and one for manual/automatic.

Yes, that's right.

Quote

If you visit the UK from the US and are driving with just your US driving license, can you rent either type? Since the US license doesn't specify.

Yes, if you're visiting, you can rent (and drive) either type of car with any foreign license.

Edit: you are allowed to drive either type - whether you are able to drive a manual is another matter...

Edited April 11, 2017 by broppy

[bcking 3,157]

17 hours ago, broppy said:

Yes, that's right.

Yes, if you're visiting, you can rent (and drive) either type of car with any foreign license.

Edit: you are allowed to drive either type - whether you are able to drive a manual is another matter...

That is what I figured.

 

It is interesting that for their own citizens they require a license that specifically says that they can drive a stick, but for an international visitor they don't need any proof that they can drive a stick. Hopefully no one would be stupid enough to think "Oh well I bet I can learn on the spot".

[broppy 204]

26 minutes ago, bcking said:

It is interesting that for their own citizens they require a license that specifically says that they can drive a stick, but for an international visitor they don't need any proof that they can drive a stick.

It's even crazier with a Canadian license. You can visit and drive anything, but if you move there and exchange your license, you'll only get a British automatic one unless you can prove you took your test in a manual (good luck with that).

[bcking 3,157]

2 minutes ago, broppy said:

It's even crazier with a Canadian license. You can visit and drive anything, but if you move there and exchange your license, you'll only get a British automatic one unless you can prove you took your test in a manual (good luck with that).

My wife is very worried about having to retake a driving test, but I keep trying to explain to her that the US driving test is a joke compared to the UK. She passed on the first time, but at her center the "first time pass rate" was like 30%. She's told me what she had to do during the test (3 point turn, reverse parking, reverse around a corner, starting on a hill in a manual etc...) and I literally spent 10 minutes in normal roads. Then I had to pull over to the curb (not parallel park, the curb was empty) and then back up along the curb without hitting it for about 5 seconds. I never got on the freeway. I never parallel parked (or even regular parked for that matter, the "parking portion" was at the end and the lot outside the testing center was fairly empty so he just sort of checked that I made it roughly within the lines).

 

She'll also be taking the test here in an automatic. I don't drive a stick, but I find it funny that she is worried about an automatic. You literally do nothing with it.

[broppy 204]

11 minutes ago, bcking said:

She's told me what she had to do during the test (3 point turn, reverse parking, reverse around a corner, starting on a hill in a manual etc...)

You missed the best part - emergency stop! Without stalling, of course.

11 minutes ago, bcking said:

I literally spent 10 minutes in normal roads. Then I had to pull over to the curb (not parallel park, the curb was empty) and then back up along the curb without hitting it for about 5 seconds. I never got on the freeway. I never parallel parked (or even regular parked for that matter, the "parking portion" was at the end and the lot outside the testing center was fairly empty so he just sort of checked that I made it roughly within the lines).

Yeah, that sounds just like mine here - reverse out of my parking space, once around the block, then park up again. The written part was a little trickier - most of it's obvious, but then you get stuff like "you must stop at least ___ feet from a stopped schoolbus" that throws you off. It helped that I had compulsory driver's ed right before the test, though.

[bcking 3,157]

3 minutes ago, broppy said:

You missed the best part - emergency stop! Without stalling, of course.

Yeah, that sounds just like mine here - reverse out of my parking space, once around the block, then park up again. The written part was a little trickier - most of it's obvious, but then you get stuff like "you must stop at least ___ feet from a stopped schoolbus" that throws you off. It helped that I had compulsory driver's ed right before the test, though.

I'll also say that after driving/being a passenger enough in the UK I have come to the realization that, when used APPROPRIATELY, roundabouts are far far better than the number of 4 way traffic lights we have in the US.

 

That being said, going around some roundabouts during a driving test would be MUCH harder to do "correctly", compared to just driving through a four way intersection. She took her test in Salisbury, and there are some complex ones there. Those aren't even the worse. She has shown me the famous "Swindon Roundabout". 

[mindthegap 2,590]

On 4/10/2017 at 10:28 AM, YorkshiretoAZ said:

I had my UK licence for 7 years but it expired recently

UK licence does not expire.

The photo may expire (which is the date on the front), but not the entitlement to drive, which lasts until your 70th birthday (and is the date on the rear).

Failure to renew a photo is a specific and separate offence but does not remove or suspend your entitlement to drive.

 

 

 

 

I was fortunate enough to initially move to a state that waived the practical test due to having a UK licence. I did however, still had to take the written test, which was obsessed with questions about blood alcohol and drink driving.

 

Edited April 17, 2017 by mindthegap

[JFH 12,190]

It's my understanding that you can't keep two driving licenses. The DVLA makes it a requirement to update them every time you move but they won't let you update to an overseas address. He website says "contact the licensing authority in your new country of residence" and I interpret that to mean "you can no longer have a U.K. one". My husband was in a panic when he saw I keep my U.K. license in my wallet still (even though I've had a Washington license since I moved here). It's certainly illegal to have licenses from more than one state here. I remembered reading a post where someone did write to DVLA to say they have moved overseas (thinking they were doing the right thing) and the license was terminated. 

 

As for driving, I've been doing it here ever since I first visited my husband in 2012. In fact, the first time I was here I drove 3 hours through the snow along I-90 through the Snoqualmie Pass. We live on the top of a mountain 15 miles from the nearest town and we get a lot of snow here. There are no buses so driving is something I just had to do from day one. Even to get a bottle of milk is a 5-mile drive. Once you get into it, it's very easy. I took my driving test here in the snow and was taken onto the freeway, had to change lanes, go round a roundabout, parallel park, reverse around a corner etc. Just get plenty of practice in. 

[JFH 12,190]

*~*~*country-specific topic moved to U.K. regional discussion*~*~*

 

[bcking 3,157]

1 minute ago, JFH said:

It's my understanding that you can't keep two driving licenses. The DVLA makes it a requirement to update them every time you move but they won't let you update to an overseas address. He website says "contact the licensing authority in your new country of residence" and I interpret that to mean "you can no longer have a U.K. one". My husband was in a panic when he saw I keep my U.K. license in my wallet still (even though I've had a Washington license since I moved here). It's certainly illegal to have licenses from more than one state here. I remembered reading a post where someone did write to DVLA to say they have moved overseas (thinking they were doing the right thing) and the license was terminated. 

 

As for driving, I've been doing it here ever since I first visited my husband in 2012. In fact, the first time I was here I drove 3 hours through the snow along I-90 through the Snoqualmie Pass. We live on the top of a mountain 15 miles from the nearest town and we get a lot of snow here. There are no buses so driving is something I just had to do from day one. Even to get a bottle of milk is a 5-mile drive. Once you get into it, it's very easy. I took my driving test here in the snow and was taken onto the freeway, had to change lanes, go round a roundabout, parallel park, reverse around a corner etc. Just get plenty of practice in. 

You had to reverse around a corner in an American driving test? In Washington State?

 

Should have gone to Oregon. You can sleep through the driving test there.

[JFH 12,190]

4 minutes ago, bcking said:

You had to reverse around a corner in an American driving test? In Washington State?

 

Should have gone to Oregon. You can sleep through the driving test there.

Oh yes the Washington test is very similar to a U.K. one. Hill start, emergency stop, reversing round a corner, roundabouts... and mine was in the snow which made it all the more fun. I've heard some states do the test in what can only be described as a huge parking lot, not even on actual roads with traffic. My husband had to take a test too when he moved back here after being in California for a few years. They wouldn't just change his California license. 

Edited April 18, 2017 by JFH