Driving in England

Ethan and I have put together a list of ways that driving in England is different than driving in America. We'll begin with the obvious:

• The cars are made with the steering wheel on the right side of the car, and you drive on the left side of the road. This took a lot of getting used to at first, but now it feels like second-nature to us. (Except getting into the car... if I'm by myself, I continue to try to get into the left side of the car to drive.... it's pretty embarrassing.)
• There isn't a straight road to anywhere around here. With the exception of the highways (called carriageways or motorways) which I assume were planned and built within this century, every road around here is narrow and windy. I mentioned in our last blog how we took a drive through the Dales last weekend. We took the "major" roads that even had numbers, but they were very windy, hilly, and narrow (sometimes only wide enough for one car!). Which leads me to my next point:
• A great responsibility of the driver is to simply get out of the way!!! The narrowness of the roads is only made worse by how common it is for people to park on one side of the road. As you can imagine, this makes the road only wide enough for one car. (In the photo to the right, I'm actually in the wrong lane, trying to go around the parked cars.) The road that Tim's school is on is really bad. There are two schools on this road, and many cars are parked on the side of the road. So, I always have to look ahead to make sure someone isn't coming, and if they are, depending on who has the right of way, one of us has to get out of the way! This could mean going up on the sidewalk, if necessary.
• One town that we always drive through has a spot so narrow that they had to put a signs for one direction to yield to the other direction. So, I have to drive up to a line, and stop to look and see if anyone is coming. Crazy, right?

• Roundabouts! "Look kids, it's Big Ben!... I can't get left!!" from European Vacation. Roundabouts are very common in the area. They are basically circular intersections, where everybody travels clockwise to their exit. There are roundabouts of all sizes: mini-roundabouts (like in the supermarket parking lot) to really big ones on the motorways.

• Watch out for pheasants! We really don't have any traffic in our "commutes," but what could cause us a delay are the pheasants. They cross the streets frequently, so you always have to be watchful for them. I also was delayed once because a sheep farmer was herding his flock across the street to another pasture. He basically stepped into the road to stop traffic, and let his sheep dogs do the work. There are also a lot of bike riders and hikers on the road to look out for.
  

• Know your pedestrian crossings. During the first month we were here, Ethan and I spent time preparing for a written drivers test that they offer on base. Most of what we had to study was straight forward and common sense, with a few exceptions. For example, we had to know the difference between the three kinds of pedestrian crossings: pelican crossing, zebra crossing, and toucan crossing (it had to do with the lights for them, and if a bicycle could cross there.... I think). I couldn't even tell you the difference between them now.
• No distractions. All of this boils down to the fact that we have to be a lot more focused as drivers in the UK. There are no cell phones allowed while driving over here, and it's a good thing. I barely feel brave enough to take my eyes of the road for a second to change the heat in the car or adjust my mirrors.
• We leave you with some of our favorite signs. Feel free to leave your interpretations as a comment.