English Driving (Left Side) Sim/Tutor?

Anybody know of a sim or tutor program for driving in England or other euro countries that drive on the left side of the road? My company has to send a couple of guys over there this winter and they want to get a car..... **** Eat well, stay fit, die anyway......

TlgtrProd wrote: > > Anybody know of a sim or tutor program for driving in England or other euro > countries that drive on the left side of the road? My company has to send a > couple of guys over there this winter and they want to get a car..... Sorry, no, but in all honesty, it's not that hard, once you get into a car with the steering on the right, driving on the left is much easier than it seems, just be very careful when entering roads, I very nearly made a huge mess this summer, I was entering a somewhat busy road and wanted to turn right onto it, now over here I don't have to look to my right as I make a right onto a new road, but in the UK you're passing at least one lane of traffic.........scary stuff indeed, but aside from that I didn't have any problems Beers and cheers (uncle) Goy "The Pits" http://www.theuspits.com/ "A man is only as old as the woman he feels" --Groucho Marx--

"TlgtrProd" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... > Anybody know of a sim or tutor program for driving in England or othereuro > countries that drive on the left side of the road? My company has tosend a > couple of guys over there this winter and they want to get a car..... > > **** > Eat well, stay fit, die anyway...... In Europe, only the UK, Ireland and the Channel Islands drive on the left hand side of the road. The biggest difference with cars over here is that almost all of them are manual/stick shift. If they are hiring a car it is very unlikely that they would get an automatic unless they specifically asked for one. From my own experiences of driving in the States, if you have an automatic it is easy to get used to driving on the other side of the road. The only problem I had was remembering where the rear view mirror was. The traffic laws here are pretty much the same as in the States. The only major difference is that you can't turn left at a red traffic light like you can turn right at a red light in the States. Phil --- Race Sim Central Administrator http://www.racesimcentral.com

TlgtrProd wrote: > Anybody know of a sim or tutor program for driving in England or other euro > countries that drive on the left side of the road? My company has to send a > couple of guys over there this winter and they want to get a car..... > > **** > Eat well, stay fit, die anyway...... Midtown Madness has London as one of its modeled cities. I concur with Goy: when I drove around in South Africa I had to be very careful for the first few days (like him I almost screwed up and started driving down a lane the wrong way! Managed to detour right before the point-of-no-return...), but eventually it became second nature. John DiFool -- ======================================================== The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. -George Bernard Shaw- ========================================================

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> "TlgtrProd" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > news:[email hidden]... > > Anybody know of a sim or tutor program for driving in England or other > euro > > countries that drive on the left side of the road? My company has to > send a > > couple of guys over there this winter and they want to get a car..... > > > > **** > > Eat well, stay fit, die anyway...... >

Another thing to add, we have a lot of roundabouts/traffic islands on our roads in the UK. I know they are very uncommon in the States. They are straight forward once you understand that you always have to give way to traffic on your right. Phil --- Race Sim Central Administrator http://www.racesimcentral.com

> Another thing to add, we have a lot of roundabouts/traffic islands on our > roads in the UK. I know they are very uncommon in the States. They are > straight forward once you understand that you always have to give way to > traffic on your right. > > Phil All of this is making my head hurt: looking left for your rearview mirror and giving way to traffic on the right?!? Ack! ;-) My only experience with driving on the "wrong" side was picking my parents up at the airport after they spent 2 months in Australia. After they got their car out of long-term storage, I followed him until he proceeded to turn left into the oncoming lane of traffic...

"Rob Adams" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:INLi9.16597$[email hidden]... > My only experience with driving on the "wrong" side was picking my parents > up at the airport after they spent 2 months in Australia. After they got > their car out of long-term storage, I followed him until he proceeded to > turn left into the oncoming lane of traffic... I'm from UK & when I drive on the continent, I have no real problems, as long as I'm concentrating. The most dangerous bit though, is when you get back to UK, relax & drive on the wrong side there! Malc.

We have a roundabout in my town. It had always been a stop sign for the north and south traffic and 'through' for the east and west, but 3 or 4 years ago they put in the roundabout. The idea would have been good, but the town never put up any driving instructions so it's a crash pit. Here in the US, it's considered an intersection, so in a tie, the car on the right has the right of way. There's a store there where I get my morning coffee and one day the cashier and I asked 20 people 'if you get to the circle at the same time as someone else who's coming from either side of you, who has the right of way?' 4 people said the car on the right. 2 of them were truck drivers and the other 2 were (and a truck driver) were at least 45 years old. Of the other 18, most said the car on the left. 2 teenagers said 'whoever goes first'. I drive through it on my way to work every morning. People behind me often drive over the island and try to pass me. And of course, the east / west evening traffic still thinks it should have the right of way, in general, because they always had it before. If you try to let traffic alternate, as it should, the horn blasts and yelling are unbearable. So, I guess if the traffic on the right has the right of way in the UK, the 80% here who are doing it wrong would be right in the UK :-) -- Slot Tweaks & Reviews www.slottweak.com "Phil Lee" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:amfv7j$5fpug$[email hidden]... > > "TlgtrProd" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > > news:[email hidden]... > > > Anybody know of a sim or tutor program for driving in England or other > > euro > > > countries that drive on the left side of the road? My company has to > > send a > > > couple of guys over there this winter and they want to get a car..... > > > > > > **** > > > Eat well, stay fit, die anyway...... > > > > Another thing to add, we have a lot of roundabouts/traffic islands on our > roads in the UK. I know they are very uncommon in the States. They are > straight forward once you understand that you always have to give way to > traffic on your right. > > Phil > --- > Race Sim Central Administrator > http://www.racesimcentral.com > >

GTX_SlotCar wrote:

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> > We have a roundabout in my town. It had always been a stop sign for the > north and south traffic and 'through' for the east and west, but 3 or 4 > years ago they put in the roundabout. The idea would have been good, but the > town never put up any driving instructions so it's a crash pit. > Here in the US, it's considered an intersection, so in a tie, the car on the > right has the right of way. There's a store there where I get my morning > coffee and one day the cashier and I asked 20 people 'if you get to the > circle at the same time as someone else who's coming from either side of > you, who has the right of way?' 4 people said the car on the right. 2 of > them were truck drivers and the other 2 were (and a truck driver) were at > least 45 years old. Of the other 18, most said the car on the left. 2 > teenagers said 'whoever goes first'. > I drive through it on my way to work every morning. People behind me often > drive over the island and try to pass me. And of course, the east / west > evening traffic still thinks it should have the right of way, in general, > because they always had it before. If you try to let traffic alternate, as > it should, the horn blasts and yelling are unbearable. > > So, I guess if the traffic on the right has the right of way in the UK, the > 80% here who are doing it wrong would be right in the UK :-)

Hmmm, it's not THAT hard to work out, but voting is hard for some Americans also, so..... Gerry Gerry

> Hmmm, it's not THAT hard to work out, but voting is hard for some > Americans also, so..... > > Gerry > > Gerry So are signature blocks for some people ;D (Sorry, couldn't resist)

Rob Adams wrote:

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> > > Hmmm, it's not THAT hard to work out, but voting is hard for some > > Americans also, so..... > > > > Gerry > > > > Gerry > > So are signature blocks for some people ;D > > (Sorry, couldn't resist)

Pub, as in just got back from...

Good job they don't live in swindon! Check out the "magic" roundabout http://www.strum.co.uk/wessex/brunpic.htm http://www.swindonweb.com/life/lifemagi0.htm -- Cheers, Robin ................... `o^=o- http://www.oppositelock.freeserve.co.uk - N�rburgring/GPL "Gerry Aitken" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... > GTX_SlotCar wrote: > > > > We have a roundabout in my town. It had always been a stop sign for the > > north and south traffic and 'through' for the east and west, but 3 or 4 > > years ago they put in the roundabout. The idea would have been good, but the > > town never put up any driving instructions so it's a crash pit. > > Here in the US, it's considered an intersection, so in a tie, the car on the > > right has the right of way. There's a store there where I get my morning > > coffee and one day the cashier and I asked 20 people 'if you get to the > > circle at the same time as someone else who's coming from either side of > > you, who has the right of way?' 4 people said the car on the right. 2 of > > them were truck drivers and the other 2 were (and a truck driver) were at > > least 45 years old. Of the other 18, most said the car on the left. 2 > > teenagers said 'whoever goes first'. > > I drive through it on my way to work every morning. People behind me often > > drive over the island and try to pass me. And of course, the east / west > > evening traffic still thinks it should have the right of way, in general, > > because they always had it before. If you try to let traffic alternate, as > > it should, the horn blasts and yelling are unbearable. > > > > So, I guess if the traffic on the right has the right of way in the UK, the > > 80% here who are doing it wrong would be right in the UK :-) > > Hmmm, it's not THAT hard to work out, but voting is hard for some > Americans also, so..... > > Gerry > > Gerry

"Phil Lee" <[email hidden]> wrote on 20 Sep 2002: > In Europe, only the UK, Ireland and the Channel Islands drive on > the left hand side of the road.<snip> Not quite - so do Cyprus, the Isle of Man and Malta. (But Gibraltar drives on the right!) -- The GPL Scrapyard: http://www.btinternet.com/~gplscrapyard (including the Kinlet Park circuit - currently in beta) Idiotic deep-linking restrictions: http://www.dontlink.com

In article <sEOi9.6236$[email hidden]>, "Robin Lord" <[email hidden]> writes: >Good job they don't live in swindon! >Check out the "magic" roundabout >http://www.strum.co.uk/wessex/brunpic.htm >http://www.swindonweb.com/life/lifemagi0.htm That's funny - that exact same roundabout just came up in a discussion on a cycling newsgroup... <cue twilight zone music...> Eldred -- Homepage - http://www.umich.edu/~epickett GPLRank:+8.03 N2002 Rank:+20.124 Remove SPAM-OFF to reply.

"Gerry Aitken" <[email hidden]> wrote > > Pub, as in just got back from... Drove back, no doubt, on the right side of the road :-) -- Slot Tweaks & Reviews www.slottweak.com

GTX_SlotCar wrote: > > "Gerry Aitken" <[email hidden]> wrote > > > > Pub, as in just got back from... > > Drove back, no doubt, on the right side of the road :-) Nah, taxi.

On 20 Sep 2002 15:49:55 GMT, [email hidden] (TlgtrProd) wrote: >Anybody know of a sim or tutor program for driving in England or other euro >countries that drive on the left side of the road? My company has to send a >couple of guys over there this winter and they want to get a car..... >I believe it was NFS:PU that had an option to drive the "mirrored" versions of the circuits, and when you did that, the traffic cars would be driving on the left instead of the right... Maybe you could use that feature. -- __________ ____---____ Marco Antonio Checa Funcke \_________D /-/---_----' Santiago de Surco, Lima, Peru _H__/_/ http://machf.tripod.com '-_____|( remove the "no_me_j." and "sons.of." parts before replying

John DiFool wrote:

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> > TlgtrProd wrote: > > > Anybody know of a sim or tutor program for driving in England or other euro > > countries that drive on the left side of the road? My company has to send a > > couple of guys over there this winter and they want to get a car..... > > > > **** > > Eat well, stay fit, die anyway...... > > Midtown Madness has London as one of its modeled cities. > > I concur with Goy: when I drove around in South Africa I had to > be very careful for the first few days (like him I almost screwed up > and started driving down a lane the wrong way! Managed to detour > right before the point-of-no-return...), but eventually it became > second nature.

I didn't actually drive down the wrong way, staying on the left was fairly easy to get into the system, what happens is that when you turn right onto a new road, you have to cross one lane of traffic before you get to "your" lane, and it's always a good idea to have a quick look to the right to make sure there's no traffic.........which I failed to do, scared the crap out of at least 2 other drivers and myself, not to mention my friends in the car I was following as they saw the whole thing I mean, when I turn left onto a new road here, it's second nature to look left and make sure the path is clear, it's those "little" things like that which I found I needed to pay attention to, that and the fact that some UK roads are somewhat narrow but that doesn't seem to affect lorry/truck drivers one little bit UK has some spectacular B roads though, if you like "active" driving, drove down through Wales back in June, great scenery, fun roads and littered with pubs, what more can you ask ? The obvious answer would be a better understanding of the language of course, but once they realize you're not English.....:-), I'll never understand how words can have 20+ letters, of which one or two are vovels and still being able to pronounce it, Polish is nothing compared to Welsh :-) Beers and cheers (uncle) Goy "The Pits" http://www.theuspits.com/ "A man is only as old as the woman he feels" --Groucho Marx--

Eldred wrote: > That's funny - that exact same roundabout just came up in a discussion ona > cycling newsgroup... > <cue twilight zone music...> Spooky! -- Cheers, Robin ................... `o^=o- now playing: Decoder - Auto http://www.oppositelock.freeserve.co.uk - N�rburgring/GPL

I think Sweden switched from driving on the left to driving on the right in the late 1960s...that must have been an exciting day to be driving... -Dave "David Buttery" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

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> "Phil Lee" <[email hidden]> wrote on 20 Sep 2002: > > > In Europe, only the UK, Ireland and the Channel Islands drive on > > the left hand side of the road. > <snip> > > Not quite - so do Cyprus, the Isle of Man and Malta. (But Gibraltar > drives on the right!) > > -- > The GPL Scrapyard: http://www.btinternet.com/~gplscrapyard > (including the Kinlet Park circuit - currently in beta) > > Idiotic deep-linking restrictions: http://www.dontlink.com

Dave Pollatsek wrote: > > I think Sweden switched from driving on the left to driving on the right in > the late 1960s...that must have been an exciting day to be driving... They did it in a very brilliant way actually, the first day all the Lorries/Trucks switched to driving on the right, the rest followed the next day....... Beers and cheers (uncle) Goy "The Pits" http://www.theuspits.com/ "A man is only as old as the woman he feels" --Groucho Marx--

"Dave Pollatsek" <[email hidden]> wrote in news:3d8e0062$0$79558$[email hidden]: > I think Sweden switched from driving on the left to driving on the > right in the late 1960s...that must have been an exciting day to be > driving... -Dave > > September 3rd, 1967, 5:00 AM to be exact. All traffic stopped for a few minutes, then switched sides. Incidentally, thanks to the massive educational efforts and propaganda preceding the changeover, September and October of that year became two of the most accident-free months in recent history, with only 50% of the accidents of the year before! (The biggest concern for many drivers were the fact that from then on, they would be driving with the steering wheel on the "wrong side" -- The cars were already left-hand drive, and people were used to driving with a good view over the road-side ditch... :)

I unintentionally did the ultimate "throw yourself in the deep end" the very first time I drove on the "wrong" side. I'm an aussie, now living in England,and the very first time I drove a left hand drive car was in Paris. I picked the car up in central Paris, and a few minutes later found myself in the Arc d'triumph roundabout! I don't think a Sim is going help. The trickiest thing for me was learning to judge the distance to the right of the car from the left seat, instead of the distance to the left from the right seat. As long as there is traffic around when you first drive on the other side, you'll tend to follow it and not drive on the wrong side. I think one of the most dangerous times is when you first jump in the car in the morning and head onto the road. It's very easy to drive onto the wrong side, due to habit. Techinically, the driving conversion is simple, but you must constantly remember to ignore your habits and look the other way when turning, merging etc. I found after a few months of regularly swapping sides that it became very natural. As soon as I hop in a left hand drive car my brain automatically "switches". Interestingly enough, I found it more difficult to drive my own RHD car when I drove it around Europe for the first time, as by then I had become used to LHD. "TlgtrProd" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... > Anybody know of a sim or tutor program for driving in England or othereuro > countries that drive on the left side of the road? My company has tosend a > couple of guys over there this winter and they want to get a car..... > > **** > Eat well, stay fit, die anyway......

Tim Epstein <eppy@no)spam.pobox.com> wrote in message news:wpIj9.2320$[email hidden]... > Interestingly enough, I found it more difficult to drive my own RHD car when > I drove it around Europe for the first time, as by then I had become used to > LHD. I've driven my own car in Europe on two occasions, and a LHD hire car on one. In all cases I found it pretty easy to convert; the worst situations are car parks with one-way systems, and doing three-point turns when I got lost ;-) Roundabouts were remarkably easy, and I was soon flowing through them almost as naturally as I do in the UK. The LHD Clio was interesting on mountain hairpins above Lake Garda, though - on that occasion I probably would have preferred my own 405, even if it is wider. Jonny

> > The LHD Clio was interesting on mountain hairpins above Lake > Garda, though - on that occasion I probably would have preferred > my own 405, even if it is wider. Interesting you mention that. The 2nd time I ever drove a LHD I got a bit over-confident, and almost hit the cliff face a few times climbing on the narrow road that goes up the mountain from Limone - on the NW side of Lake Garda. However, the scariest bit was driving through all the narrow tunnels around the edge of the lake, from Salo up to Riva. I was really terrified when passing trucks coming the other way, as I wasn't confident about judging the distance on either side!

Tim Epstein <eppy@no)spam.pobox.com> wrote in message news:124k9.11126$[email hidden]...

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> > > > The LHD Clio was interesting on mountain hairpins above Lake > > Garda, though - on that occasion I probably would have preferred > > my own 405, even if it is wider. > > Interesting you mention that. The 2nd time I ever drove a LHD I got a bit > over-confident, and almost hit the cliff face a few times climbing on the > narrow road that goes up the mountain from Limone - on the NW side of Lake > Garda. However, the scariest bit was driving through all the narrow tunnels > around the edge of the lake, from Salo up to Riva. I was really terrified > when passing trucks coming the other way, as I wasn't confident about > judging the distance on either side!

That would be exactly the same section of mountain road, I suspect - we were staying in Limone ;-) And those tunnels were pretty intimidating on the run up from the airport, an hour after first getting into the car! Jonny