Driving on the other side of the road?

January 26, 2016 7:13 PM

We're in the US and are considering matching with an au pair from the UK. We need her to drive our kids. How hard is it to switch sides of the road when driving? Can we expect her to adjust to this quickly?

I lived in England but I've never driven there so I don't have a frame of reference. She has not either but presents as very willing to do it. Our car is an automatic. She could initially start driving on local streets, but I also need her to do freeway traffic during peak times before too long. We're in the Bay Area so traffic can generally be heavy; she's from a more rural part of England and has about four years of driving experience but I don't think much in a big urban area. Am I overthinking? Just looking for a reality check from folks who have done both ways and lived to tell the tale.

posted by handful of rain to Travel & Transportation (41 answers total)

Are you doing this through an agency? If so, is the agency willing to replace her on short notice if she just can't handle the transition?

For the record, you should be asking that anyway, because she might just not be able to handle many aspects of flying halfway around the world to work in someone else's house taking care of someone else's children. Believe me in this.
posted by Etrigan at 7:18 PM on January 26, 2016 [6 favorites]

I have done this - the switching sides - and I've found it to be pretty intuitive. Once you are in left hand (right hand in her case) traffic everything just sort of makes sense. I wouldn't worry so much about transitioning to rural vs. urban driving; done that too and it just takes getting used to. If she is overall responsible and cautious she should be fine.
posted by pintapicasso at 7:19 PM on January 26, 2016 [2 favorites]

My good friend moved to the US from the UK 3 years ago and she never had a problem. I struggled with it in England on a short vacation, but I have problems with left and right on my best days and that seemed to tap into the same reservoir. So I think some find it easy, some don't.
posted by cecic at 7:19 PM on January 26, 2016

Response by poster: Yes, we are working through an agency (which is required in the US as au pairs work off of a special visa and it is facilitated through certain agencies). And yes, if things don't work out there is a process to break the match with her and find someone else, although the timing cannot be guaranteed.
posted by handful of rain at 7:20 PM on January 26, 2016

I find it depends on the individual. I've had US visitors who have utterly terrified me with their driving here; but others take to it after a few moments.

The freeway is probably going to be easier anyway, since you aren't making turns into empty roads. The worst bit for my friend was turning off a side road into a deserted country road, he turned into the wrong lane 90% of the time and thankfully we did not meet another vehicle any of those times.

She must have considered this when applying - it was a reason why I didn't go with any US au pair programs.
posted by kitten magic at 7:21 PM on January 26, 2016

Response by poster: Follow up question: Any tips/tricks to learning how to make this switch? My plan was to spend a day or two doing lots of practice drives with her when she first arrives.
posted by handful of rain at 7:23 PM on January 26, 2016

I've vacationed in Australia with a rental car and driven in Sydney and from there up to Cairns.

I wouldn't say it was incredibly difficult. But it absolutely moved driving from something that was a matter of habit that I could do with a small portion of my attention... to something that generally required the lion's share of my focus.

This diminished over a period of about two weeks. Though I think the most dangerous period might have been when I *thought* I was on automatic but in reality had some automatic responses that were still on US orientation and some that were Australian. I remember one late night turn into the wrong lane about that time. Driving tired probably wasn't a great idea. Good thing it was a smaller town and traffic was non-existent.

Recommendations: because the difficulty is heightened, getting someone with a clean driving record is probably good. In the transition period, avoiding driving while doing *anything* that would distract or impair is even more important than usual. Pointedly, since you're looking for an au pair, that probably includes driving with children.
posted by wildblueyonder at 7:28 PM on January 26, 2016

I've driven on the left in a few countries without much trouble. One thing that did help was having someone else just in case I started to turn/look the wrong way, for the first day or two.

Most difficult for me was in Orkney, Scotland because the roads were so empty. With no other traffic, its a LOT easier to end up on the wrong side. In normal traffic, seeing the direction the other cars are going is a good reminder and kept me from doing anything wrong.

In the Bay Area, "no traffic" is rare, so as long as she's paying attention around her it should be hard to end up going the wrong way.
posted by thefoxgod at 7:32 PM on January 26, 2016 [6 favorites]

I have found it easy to switch back and forth, but I have seen people struggle. The key is going to be getting her time behind the wheel to get used to it without the kids in the car. Would you be willing to pay for some lessons from a local driving school for her? There is more to driving in another country than just the side of the road -- rules vary about right of way, etc -- and a small investment might have large safety benefits for your kids. It also lets her learn from a professional, rather than in the more anxiety-ridden environment of her employer's car with them sitting next to her.
posted by Dip Flash at 7:33 PM on January 26, 2016 [5 favorites]

Is there a defensive driving course or similar that you could enrol her in? Might be easier for her to have a few hours with an expert driver who is not her employer.

With my friend I got him to remember to always keep the double lines on his right. If he was on the curb side we all had major problems!
posted by kitten magic at 7:33 PM on January 26, 2016

(obviously for you it's the opposite!)
posted by kitten magic at 7:33 PM on January 26, 2016

Dip Flash and I share a brain
posted by kitten magic at 7:34 PM on January 26, 2016 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: I had actually just thought about the lessons, thank you! That is definitely doable and would likely be a good investment.
posted by handful of rain at 7:39 PM on January 26, 2016

Send her a copy of the Rules of the Road or whatever booklet California has ... The only thing I found confusing about switching sides (and I was just let loose in downtown Dublin by a car rental agency, it was fine) was every so often seeing construction signs I couldn't interpret and having to guess what manner of weirdness was a mile ahead. It would have been helpful not to memorize the book, but just to have a primer to flip through to familiarize myself with Irish traffic rules.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 7:56 PM on January 26, 2016

Our car is an automatic. She could initially start driving on local streets, but I also need her to do freeway traffic during peak times before too long. We're in the Bay Area so traffic can generally be heavy; she's from a more rural part of England and has about four years of driving experience

I think you're totally over-thinking this. Driving in the US - even the Bay Area - is childishly simple compared to driving in the UK. When you add that your car is an auto? That doubles the simplicity. The hardest thing she will likely encounter is the shitty road signage in the US (get her a GPS, because it is truly appalling compared to the UK) and trying to park a car much larger than she is used to. Fortunately, parking spaces are suitably enormous.

if she is any kind of competent driver, she will have precisely zero issues. If she has any issues at all, I'd be surprised she did much driving at all at home. It is absolutely NOT equivalent to people from the US driving (and/or struggling) in the UK. The US is laughably easy to drive around compared to the UK, especially the rural UK.
posted by Brockles at 8:09 PM on January 26, 2016 [10 favorites]

I learned to drive in the US, but then drove in England for about a year and a half. Other than being attentive and staying alert, my biggest concern was that every time I reached for the turn signal I turned on the wipers. Also, with a manual transmission, you'll slam your hand into the door reaching for the stick a few times, but that's generally inconsequential - though slightly painful.
posted by bendy at 8:09 PM on January 26, 2016 [1 favorite]

If it makes you feel better, the process of getting a driving license in the UK is far more rigorous than the US. The LH/RH switch is a bit of a mindfuck, but that stops quickly. Getting used to shitty American drivers will be the hard part. Just let her get in as much practice as possible.
posted by olinerd at 8:17 PM on January 26, 2016 [2 favorites]

I found night time driving the most disconcerting. Headlights coming at you on the "wrong" side of the road takes a little getting used to.
posted by AugustWest at 8:27 PM on January 26, 2016 [1 favorite]

I've gone to the dark side when travelling and I agree that it takes much more concentration. The only time I've ever had an issue is when I've been tired. It really is hard work until you get used to it and you need to be well rested and not distracted. I'd be trying to give her a chance to get over her jet lag before getting her to drive your kids.
posted by mewsic at 8:38 PM on January 26, 2016

My good friend who grew up in the SF Bay Area took driving lessons when she moved to the UK, despite having driven for nearly 20 years in the US. She said that it was very helpful in unlearning certain deeply ingrained behaviors and making her more mindful as she made the RH to LH switch.
posted by pleasant_confusion at 8:39 PM on January 26, 2016

As a Brit who moved to California I found it very easy to switch to driving on the wrong side of the road. Remember that if your au pair has traveled in Europe she'll already have had practice. I also found US drivers much easier to share the road with than UK drivers, who can be quite aggressive in their driving style. I don't think you'll need to worry, especially if you arrange lessons.
posted by anadem at 8:45 PM on January 26, 2016

It's not a hard switch at all. The most annoying thing I found was that I kept turning on my windshield wipers when trying to use my turn signal since the levers for those were switched too. Annoyingly enough, once I got used to the driving on the left side of the road way, I came back to the US and had to reprogram my brain again.
posted by astapasta24 at 8:54 PM on January 26, 2016

I quite regularly make the switch travelling between the UK and continental Europe as well as beyond, driving both short local trips and full blown road trips of several thousand miles in a range of cars both manual and automatic. And it's fine. You people have such big roads compared to the UK that unless she lives somewhere very remote and has never experienced urban traffic she'll not find this very challenging.

It'll take a bit more concentration initially because a lot of driving relies on autopilot type habits and reactions but unless she's supremely uncoordinated she'll soon get the hang of it. There'll be one or two scary instances when she'll find herself on the wrong side of the road, normally on an empty road. This normally happens after about a week or two when you've started to relax and slip into autopilot which isn't fully reset but all is generally good. The bigger problem is getting used to different road furniture as others have said.

As for your plan to spend a couple of days driving round with her - that is well intentioned but would drive me absolutely insane. I get you want to make sure you feel comfortable with her driving when she's looking after your kids and driving your car but please have a conversation about the transition and how you can all get comfortable and take it from there. By all means help her familiarise herself with routes she'll need to take regularly but give her the option to explore some alone if she wants that.
posted by koahiatamadl at 9:03 PM on January 26, 2016 [1 favorite]

I nearly killed myself pulling out of a rental car parking lot in Sydney on the wrong side of the road. After that it was really easy to make the switch.
posted by foodgeek at 9:03 PM on January 26, 2016 [4 favorites]

If your au pair will be doing any freeway driving, be extra mindful of making sure she is comfortable with on ramps and off ramps. For Mr. Weeyin (Scottish, moved to US five years ago), that was the only thing that would sometimes catch him up. Just for a second, of course, and then he would correct any mistake he was going to make with no issue, but on ramps and off ramps just needed a little extra concentration.
posted by weeyin at 9:33 PM on January 26, 2016

I'd just add a recommendation to make sure that you and her are thoughtful and careful about ensuring that she's not too tired when she's driving the kids around, because that really ups the risk of getting just distracted enough to slip into that mental "autopilot" mode where she might unintentionally slide back into left-hand driving.

There was an very nasty accident not far from my house a year or two back - a couple of New Zealanders were traveling back from a friend's place to where they were staying, it was late in the evening, the driver was tired, and on a road she'd only previously driven in daylight. Coming around a corner, she misinterpreted, thought the car was on her side - and her reflexes put her on the wrong side of the road, causing a head-on collision.
posted by stormyteal at 10:13 PM on January 26, 2016

but on ramps and off ramps just needed a little extra concentration.

Just a note on this: there are a few places in the Bay Area where the off- and on-ramps cross over each other like an X, so if you're exiting you have to make your way through cars who are building up speed and getting on. This can be a bit jarring at first.
posted by JenMarie at 11:01 PM on January 26, 2016

The hardest things for me:
- pulling out onto a road
- turning into roads with no traffic
- freeway exits
posted by bhnyc at 11:11 PM on January 26, 2016

I've done the switch as a nanny.

Don't encourage driving until jetlag is well and truly over. Seriously.

Children in the car adds to the new driving challenge, and she needs your parental support to ensure your children know the rules of how to behave in the car. My 'parents' explained to the children about how weird it would be to shift sides and talked about other countries' ways of doing things as an interesting thing to learn. It also helps gain some interest in your au pair's foreign background.

That also goes for you guys too. Keep interruptions via phone out of the car, even hands free for a few weeks at least. Don't chop and change mid-drive, the destinations or tasks. The only time I had a scrape was because of repeated back and forth from a parent giving me confusing and shifting instructions. This might take more planning but it's good practice for anyone, native driver or not, driving children around. It's not a good idea to model phone use whilst driving to children in my opinion. The text-n-drive mentality is terrible all over the world but it seems extra accepted in California.

Some things I requested as car rules: seatbelts stay on at all times. Polite voices please (ha ha, yeah yeah, kids) It's distracting to have fighting kids and yelling etc at any time in the car but even more so when the driver's meeting new conditions. Support your au pair if she imposes consequences and remember it's about safety first always. I explained this to my charges and said sometimes I might not be able to answer questions right away, look at something they are showing me, or get given instructions to do this or that whilst I'm driving. When I first started driving them I used to get gold stars from them for doing a good job at a new challenge. It was sweet.

The exits from freeways or one way streets onto side roads has been the only time (esp when tired, see above, jetlag) where I've ended up almost heading into oncoming traffic.

Four way intersections still trip me up from time to time, as does turning right on red.

I also think night driving is much more difficult at first. USA roads have few of the markers and 'cats eye' reflectors to guide night vision than other countries.
posted by honey-barbara at 11:16 PM on January 26, 2016

Unfortunately there is no way for you to know ahead of time, or even for HER to know ahead of time. The switch itself is very very easy. But you might find that she is mentally terrified of multiple lanes of traffic, merging on a freeway when nobody will let you in, making a left while having to yield to 3 lanes of oncoming traffic at a large traffic lighted intersection- etc. Those kinds of skills aren't something she would have mastered in the UK, the motorways aren't so busy, there are rarely so many lanes of traffic and roundabouts are preferred to traffic lights. And its those skills which are essential to driving in California, even if she masters the switch, who knows about the other stuff? Hopefully she will have the confidence, but you can't count on it... its very personal.
posted by catspajammies at 12:31 AM on January 27, 2016 [1 favorite]

I've driven in the UK and some former British colonies and found it not difficult to adjust. But would I put my own child in a car driven by a young, inexperienced driver who is not used to driving on the right side of the road? Heck no!
posted by Dansaman at 1:55 AM on January 27, 2016 [1 favorite]

I grew up and learned to drive in the US and I lived in the UK for a few years. I didn't drive every day but I did every so often.

The switch in and of itself wasn't hard. Everything is on the other side of the car and it all makes a certain logical sense. But my instincts were a little slower and they were a little off. I had to verbally remind myself to look right-left-right before turning into traffic instead of left-right-left. I had to get used to the sounds and sights of traffic coming from different directions than I was used to. It's the little things like that - reaction time is delayed by a second or two but that's enough for a swerve to turn into a crash.

I have two kids and if I need an au pair to drive them around I would want someone who was used to driving on the right side of the road and who had a stellar driving record. Anecdotally I have had American and British friends visit me here in Massachusetts, from rural areas, and a few of them were completely overwhelmed and terrified about the highway here. And the Bay Area highways are MUCH bigger! It's just something to consider. Eight lanes on one side of the highway can be overwhelming if you've never seen more than two or three.
posted by sutel at 2:12 AM on January 27, 2016 [2 favorites]

If they are a decent/confident driver, it's pretty easy. I've done left to right, and it's not that hard as long as you pay attention. It will be easier going manual to automatic (although if you have one of those steering column gear shifters that will be new to the au pair), and UK to US as US roads are way wider in my experience (especially way wider than UK rural roads) with fewer roundabouts (which I always found the trickiest thing to navigate the "wrong" way).

Any tips/tricks to learning how to make this switch?

Post-It on the steering wheel that says DRIVE ON THE RIGHT.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 2:40 AM on January 27, 2016

Agree that going manual to automatic (most UK cars are manual) is easier - one less thing to think about. When I moved to the US a couple of years back, I was terrified about driving on the "wrong" side of the road. 3 lessons later I passed my US driving test (and I was 40, so all that old-dog-new-tricks stuff applies!). I would recommend a couple of driving lessons rather than practice drives with you (less pressure, experienced teacher).

It becomes second nature incredibly quickly.

(A "worst case scenario" datapoint - we lived in California for a year when I was 5. In our first week there, my mother somehow managed to drive the wrong way down a freeway off ramp with 3 kids in the back seat. I can't remember how she got out of that one, but she didn't crash into anything or anyone and we all emerged unscathed.)
posted by finding.perdita at 3:23 AM on January 27, 2016

You might have to explain automatic to her. My Father in Law when he hired a car in the US for driving around would still shift with the gear selector and didn't understand at first that you didn't have to do it. He thought that it was just automatic clutching and not fully automatic gearing. Otherwise expect her to find the cars really big along with the roads. If they're from truly rural England they might be use dot driving on single track roads and would feel comfortable driving down a bike path in CA more so than driving down the highway.
posted by koolkat at 3:30 AM on January 27, 2016

Driving on the "other side", in light traffic, will be one of the simpler challenges an au pair, and, hence, you, will face.

As an American who has lived in the UK and a couple of other left-hand drive countries, I did not find the transition to be challenging. You do need to be deliberately conscious of every action for some time. It's made much easier by avoiding busy areas for as long as it takes to feel at ease. Reactions in times of stress -- crash avoidance, etc. -- can make matters much worse if, for example, you turn the car in the wrong direction.

Traffic rules, customs, and signs are different in the UK. Getting used to the U.S, versions may take longer than getting used to the "other side".

Since this person will be employed, and not a tourist, you should determine the implications that may have for her ability to drive in the U.S. on a UK license.

Driving in the Bay area is challenging. I think you are being unrealistic, and unfair, to expect that from a young person who will also be coping with the considerable stress of simply leaving home and moving to a different country. If that is a core requirement, tell the hiring agency to filter out candidates who lack experience driving in a comparable environment in the UK (surface streets and motorways in and around London).

I knew several Americans in the UK who used au pairs and found the entire experience to be difficult. People misrepresent themselves. Agencies misrepresent people. Young people do the things young people often do. Au pairs get home sick and quit. Be prepared.
posted by justcorbly at 3:32 AM on January 27, 2016 [2 favorites]

Am I understanding the situation correctly in that she is moving to the US from England to become your au pair? If this is the case, couldn't she and shouldn't she apply for a state drivers license? So she'd have to take the test and presumably pass and then you can feel better about her driving abilities. She's not going there as a tourist right because she is um working? I mean what if she gets pulled over for whatever reason? How are you going to get her on your car insurance without a license?

If the plan is that she's there on a tourist visa and you're not even going to put her on your insurance then the answer is "do not pass go" this is a bad idea.
posted by like_neon at 4:49 AM on January 27, 2016

Lessons are a great idea. I live in the UK and drive frequently on the continent (ie the wrong side) and the thing that's actually most difficult is switching back and forth. She won't have to do that if she's in the US for a long period.

Get her some lessons and once she's in the habit (ie about twenty minutes) it will become natural.
posted by citands at 5:03 AM on January 27, 2016

More anecdata - when I did it I adjusted quite easily in about a day of driving.
posted by arnicae at 5:14 AM on January 27, 2016

One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet: I'm in the US, and once spent about four days driving a rental car in Ireland. For me, the difficult part wasn't remembering to drive on the left; it was keeping the car centered in the lane. I've got a certain instinctive sense, from ~30 years of driving, of what a car properly centered in a lane looks like from the left-hand front seat. Driving from the right-hand front seat changed that perspective, and my travel companion had to warn me multiple times that I was drifting dangerously close to the parked cars on the side of the road.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 10:55 AM on January 27, 2016 [2 favorites]

I found the switch fairly easy, and I'm not a regular driver. Roundabouts are the hard part, but I gather they're not so common in the US?
posted by pompomtom at 6:53 PM on January 27, 2016