TDM TAKEAWAYDriver education and simple courtesy towards other drivers and people walking and biking can mitigate challenging infrastructure.
I recently had the opportunity to drive in the UK with my family. While not my first time to Britain, it was my first time behind the wheel, and after three days traveling, I concluded that I probably had an easier time of it – as a U.S. driver coming to the UK – than a UK driver would have in the U.S.
Ultimately, driving on the “wrong” side of the road was not much of an issue. It was navigating the roads, and interactions with other road users, that was the biggest challenge.
Let me note I was not brave enough to drive in London. Of course, one doesn’t really need to drive there. Between the Underground, buses, and just walking, we were able to get everywhere we needed in a more than reasonable amount of time.
I did consider taking advantage of London’s bikeshare system, Satander Cycles, but despite the large number of folks I saw riding, I couldn’t bring myself to chance the city’s streets on two wheels. (As an aside, I was surprised at the extent to which London cyclists mimic the American habit of full lycra kit and helmets while riding, even for transportation. I was under the impression that Europe had mostly avoided this unfortunate trend.)
We did not pick up our rental car until leaving London and traveling north – first by train and then by taxi – to the village of Carlton in Bedfordshire. The next few days saw us driving from there to Ashton Keynes in Wiltshire, and from there to Gatwick airport for the return to the U.S., tracing a kind of obtuse triangle in the southern part of the country.
So I should make clear that my impressions of driving in the UK are based on mostly rural roads and mostly through villages and small towns – we spent much of our time in Bedfordshire moving between Carlton, Olney, Harrold, and Wellingborough. Due to our particular destinations and the vagaries of Google’s driving directions, were spent very little time on Britain’s motorways, and lots of time navigating roundabouts.
Before I get to my main impressions, let me set the scene for you. English roads are, for the most part, narrow and shoulderless. In the countryside, hedges, trees, and tall grass often come right up to the edge of the road. In the villages, lawns – or gardens – and narrow sidewalks abut the street with little to no buffer between it and pedestrian space. Roads are sometimes so narrow that, even with markings indicating two lanes, it seems there is only really space for one lane by American standards.
I was constantly having to judge the location of my car on the road. This was no mean feat driving from the right-hand side of the vehicle, and I have to admit to whacking the passenger side of the car with more than one hedge and tree branch.
Roads are criss-crossed with networks of footpaths and bridleways that intersect at unexpected places and with little notice. Near the village of Carlton, we crossed a medieval bridge that is so narrow a traffic light is needed to manage the two-way traffic across it, letting only a handful of cars go at a time. Often, the bridge is used by pedestrians and cyclists along with the cars. Like most American rural roads, there are no bike lanes, though we did encounter cyclists quite often, the majority of whom seemed to be recreational cyclists.
The villages are of a similar character, but with the addition of more turns and intersections. Traffic control is always managed with yields, never stops. Between this and its roundabouts, it’s clear England prefers to keep cars moving. With the exception of town centers, there is generally no dedicated on-street parking, though this doesn’t means cars aren’t parked on the street. Rather, vehicles take up the travel lane in long, snaking lines, so the roads felt more like one-way alleys than thoroughfares.
On the whole, driving was a claustrophobic experience. The asphalt is not wide enough. Cars pass by too closely and too quickly. With the lack of stop signs and traffic lights, I was forced to always be on the move, with rarely a chance to stop and get my bearings. I was always navigating some obstacle – a parked car, a pedestrian, a slow-moving truck, low-visibility turns – in situations that in the U.S. might have been frustrating or even illegal.
And yet, driving was a breeze for one simple reason: patience.
Negotiating the roads is more than a turn of phrase in the UK. Because the narrow asphalt needs to accommodate so many users in so little space, drivers need to be constantly aware of their surroundings and willing to yield, move, and navigate as necessary so everyone can fit through.
The first time I arrived in a village where a travel lane had been turned into a parking lane, I wasn’t sure what to do. However, I quickly saw that all the other drivers simply take turns passing the parked cars. There are no traffic-control devices, no lights or signs, simply everyone taking a brief moment to pause and let someone else pass.
Similarly, turning into the village of Ashton Keynes on its High Road, I immediately encountered moms pushing strollers and cyclists pedaling leisurely up the street. In the U.S., this kind of road sharing would have required a permit and traffic police manning the intersections. In the UK, such multiple uses were the order of the day.
Driver judgment and patience in the UK takes the place of signage and stop lights in the U.S. In Britain’s streets – most of them, I imagine, following some ancient track – and medieval villages, automobiles are relative newcomers, certainly more so than in the U.S.’s oldest cities.
Overall, my impression is that the sense of the primacy of the automobile doesn’t exist as strongly in the U.K. as it does here.
Coming from the U.S., it took some adjustment – drivers here are far more used to signs and road markings delineating who belongs where, and we can get frustrated, angry, and even scared if people violate those various spaces. In Britain, though, many places don’t have the luxury to design their roads with the space we allot for them here.
Sharing the road is not some admonition on a bumper sticker, it appears to be a fundamental part of driving. Caution and courtesy, rather than strict regulation, goes a long way towards keeping UK roads safe.
Photo by Tom Blackwell and map from Google Maps
