In late 1987 I spent a month in Britain. My sister and I drove all around the perimeter of the island and also darted around the Lake District and Whales. The entire nation seemed to be closed for the season, so we just drove and drove. The youth hostels were closed except for London and Edinborough, so we even slept in our car. Growing up in Alaska, I was quite used to little crappy rough roads, so I thought. The roads in Britain were well maintained, but extremely narrow for cars of any size. I remember clipping the hedges with my side mirror, while oncoming lorries (big trucks) side mirrors seemed to pass just over my other side mirror. What would have been a normal two lane city street in Alaska, would work as a three lane in Britain. It was not uncommon for both lanes to move to the side so that the center could be used for passing, even on corners. I never saw a Brit panic when things looked hairy; they just found room and squeezed in wherever they could. I squealed around thousands of corners and didnt seem to be going much faster than the local traffic and certainly was never harassed by bobbies.
There was this one time on Christmas day though; we came to a good sized round-about at about 5 A.M. I was making numerous laps around it while my sister was trying to interpret the crappy British signs (you never knew if the sign was indicating the name of the road, number of the road, the next major city, minor village, a creek, or even some old limeys farm. Just for fun they would abbreviate words occasionally). Some roundabouts, like this one, were the junction of more than two roads. It was dark and there was no traffic. I was having a ball, working the car from a powered under steer to a four wheel drift, back and forth, for several minutes. Headlights approached from a distance and I contemplated toning down my skid pad test to a minor squeal. As I squealed by the approaching car I saw that it was the local constablemobile. They had seen me make many laps on their approach; it was obvious that I was up to no good. I turned off on the next exit since my sister had yet to figure out which road we needed. The constable followed and pulled me over. As he approached I asked him if I was on the road to wherever and explained the problem with the signage. He confirmed that I was on the correct road, apologized for the signage and wished my sister and I a merry Christmas. No mention of my significant speeding or tire squealing.
You never know what to expect on British country roads. You can be whizzing along at a good speed, pop over a little hill and find a sudden 90 degree turn with a 10 foot inside radius, right in front of you.
We found a one lane mountain road in the Lake District that was 30 degrees steep, not percent, but actual degrees. I found a few places where I was able to catch air on hilly country roads; when we did I would usually turn around and get some air a few more times in each direction. I pretty much destroyed the underside of our Fiesta on one of them; gotta love them rentals.
On the average, I would say that Brits are much better drivers than Americans. They have to be. Theres no room to screw up. Brits also seemed to be much more alert and considerate than American drivers. If you were the 10th in line at a traffic light, you could expect to be rolling in just a few seconds after the light changed. In the US drivers are always dorking around with their stereos, food, kids, cigarettes or whatever to notice that the light has changed and cars are moving. If you are the 10th in line at a traffic light in the US, two or three drivers will probably flake out and cost everyone several seconds each. We have to have such long light just to get the 10th car through.
On the big freeways drivers used the passing lane for passing. There was a 65 mph lane, a 75 mph lane, and a passing lane. Drivers didnt just drive at whatever speed they wanted in any-ol lane. With the exception of congestion near London, you could always pass in the passing lane. In the US, I dont think that most drivers are even aware of the passing lane concept.
eskimo
