Have you ever forgotten what side of the road to drive on?

Have you driven abroad much? I get a brain freeze after being abroad and coming back.

Dont drive, but when i moved from Denmark to Scotland 20 years ago i had a couple of interesting movements on my bike in the early days, especially when i had turned right onto a side street as i found myself heading to the right side of the road.

Not driven abroad in a long time. My brain just froze...

Whenever I come out of the compound where I have a storage locker I have to pull to the right of the lane to get to the keypad for opening the gate. Once you pull out of the lane you’re in a two lane b-road with no central markings. I’ve cought myself, at least twice, several hundred meters down the b-road before I’ve realised I’m still over on the right hand side.

Only on one occasion when in Spain, I got confused comming out of an underground garage, otherwise my brain seems to flip pretty easily between left and right.

Oh wait.. are you saying you are in the UK and you got confused? if that's the case, I'd suggest maybe you are incabable and should go for some medical tests.

EDIT:

stressful day, anxiety taking over etc etc.

This just suggests that you are unfit to drive due to the above....so you should have called a taxi. Never drive if you are really stressed out, a taxi is always cheaper than a smashed up car and all the other problems that may come with that.

I haven’t done it.
But i can totally understand if someone has been abroad semi recently, or originally lived in a country that drives on the other side.
I’ve never driven abroad, but I’ve been a passenger abroad, i find it impossible to fully relax tbh.

only once, on lesvos this year.  wide road, no cars on it, missed a turning so decided to do a u-turn but for some reason went back onto LHS of the road.  maybe because there were no other cars to follow, dunno.

otherwise my brain seems to flip pretty easily between left and right.

same.  i just seem to be able to 'mirror image' my driving when im in europe, never have any problems with roundabouts, right/left turns etc.

i sometimes wonder if ill just be able to switch seamlessly straight back to LHS of road when in uk, but i always do.

Almost went the wrong way round a busy roundabout when I was in France last summer. Could have been interesting. It was my first time driving abroad, first time in an auto and had people from work in the back, very stressful!

On driving abroad and then on returning (I find roundabouts the worse!). I've never "forgotten" under normal circumstances.

I find driving abroad that I'll be really conscious of staying on the right side of the road, but the danger time is a few days in when I feel acclimatised, find myself on autopilot, and then suddenly realise i am on the wrong side.

My BiL was on autopilot the with his bike on the roof when he went to park in a multistorey. He's got a towbar rack now, and a new bike.

Did it on my bike first UK ride after 2 years living in Canada. Along similar lines, when driving in the USA for a 3 week holiday for some reason I can never get comfortable with LH turns. It just feels wrong. Everything else seems to come together OK.

Just to be clear, the memory lapse lasted about 5 seconds whilst I was stationary, having just jumped in a car I was completely unfamiliar with, and also an automatic which ive never driven before. I certainly wasn't driving down the wrong side of the road. It was quite a narrow road that i was about to pull out on, so the cars in the left lane facing me threw me, and I temporarily had a complete brain fart

But also this..

This just suggests that you are unfit to drive due to the above….so you should have called a taxi.

I pulled over at end of road to clear my head before continuing

I suppose a better title for the thread would have been 'do you ever forget really basic stuff when stressed'

Yes, briefly done it a fortnight after returning from France. In my defence it was on a road with no markings and no other traffic, but I very quickly realised when a car appeared coming towards me.

Much more worrying was a situation about 6 years ago when I was on a road ride and suddenly didn't know where I was or why I was riding my bike. I stopped, had a little cry, then turned around and went back the way I came until I recognised where I was. I suspect that was stress related too.

I don't think I've ever told anyone about that incident.

Not long back from a 10 day trip through france and onto Spain.

i’ve not done a massive amount of driving on the continent but i do a reasonable mileage over here.

i was a bit worried about it, as i was in my car, so wrong side if road, and wrong side of the car..!

i found actually talking out what needed to happen at junctions really helped, so for a roundabout it was “look and give way to the left, looking for 3rd exit, keep on the right.

it helped, and very quickly it became natural.

Very occasionally I’d have to pause a bit longer at a junction and think about what side to go, and where the traffic might be coming from. It was harder when it was quieter!

Have done, about 5 months back, it wasn't that I couldn't remember which side of the road to drive on, I just pulled out from a car park on to a quiet road, no traffic in either direction, so no lazy reference. Probably drove 20 mtrs down the road before becoming aware I was happily driving on the wrong side. About 8 months since I've driven abroad. Though complete memory loss is a bit like going to an ATM and completely blanking on what your passcode is, standing there for 10-15 secs waiting for it to come back (which I've done on 1 or 2 occasions).

Done it on my bike. Many years ago, France, I stopped for some photos at the side of the road in a stunning gorge. Got back on the bike, rode off after the group who'd carried on then thought - why is that idiot driving straight at me? Now the arrogant fool is flashing his lights!

Oh shit, I'm on the wrong side of the road! Quick dive back to the right, a wave of apology and all was well again.

Yup. Posted to Germany in the mid-nineties. Used to drive back from camp to the UK travelling via tunnel/ferry. Few moments at Calais/Dover/Folkstone forgetting to switch over.

Thankfully no serious issues caused, just the odd horrified passenger when going around a roundabout the wrong way.

Sainburys straiton for some reason Everytime I go into the car park on the way out I end up driving on the right. Still in the car park and only for a single corner but I've done it a few times. No idea why, it's really strange even when I know I might do it.

I do about 5 to 6000 miles in Europe each year in a RHD vehicle. I get so confused, on both sides of the road, particularly when coming out of supermarket car parks which tend to have minimal road markings. I end up chanting Michel Caine’s mantra from The Eagle Has Landed: “Don’t drive too slowly and on the left hand side of the road!” to remind me what to do in the UK.

All associated with being abroad in my case.

First one was turning onto a dual carriageway late at night in rural Germany in 1991. I was turning left onto the dual carriageway and turned straight into the wrong carriage way. Properly scary moment but no other traffic around. I spotted that error after about 20 metres.

Second one was in Iceland on a dirt road in the far northwest perhaps in 2008?. They have a cute habit of sometimes putting signs in the middle of the road on blind humps to show you where to be as you crest the rise. A lot of the times the roads are deserted and people drive in the middle or wherever the best surface is. Seeing the sign sort of reminded me that having been driving on the left side of the track was a silly thing to have been doing.

Most recent was in 2010 in Bracknell where, after a summer in the Alps, I somehow managed to drive the wrong way around a roundabout and ended up nose to nose with another car where I pulled sharp right up a leafy footpath. Again, no damage done but potentially nasty.

In all cases I had passangers.

Being allowed to drive again during lockdown was eye opening. All road sense seemed to have evaporated.

Never done it myself but have seen the aftermath of someone doing it out of a junction many moons ago in Holland. UK car pulled out of a junction the wrong way straight into the path of an on coming car, results were not pleasant for both parties.

Though complete memory loss is a bit like going to an ATM and completely blanking on what your passcode is, standing there for 10-15 secs waiting for it to come back (which I’ve done on 1 or 2 occasions

I don't think it was memory loss as such.  You don't ever really think about wht side of the road to drive on, it just happens automatically. But the lay out on the road with the direction of the parked cars clearly tricked my eye, and made my brain question it as it didt look right. And at that point, my brain just got really confused ?

I did once when I was in LA, been down to Sunset Bvd and heading back up to North Hollywood, heading onto the Hollywood Fwy, I completely forgot which lane I should be on, turned onto the right lane as another car came down the ramp directly towards me - cue horn blowing and lights flashing, as one might expect.

It was fairly late at night, I’d only been there a couple of days, and the way the lanes go underneath the freeway are somewhat confusing, in my mitigation.

Very briefly in Kefalonia this year, I was taking a wide line out of a steep, tight hairpin and wanted to avoid scraping the bottom of the car…took a few seconds before my other half started shouting!

Seen plenty of folks ride the wrong way around islands in Mallorca, usually on the first day.

Once in a car and once on my bike. My mrs, although very sharp, struggles with left and right so she refuses to drive abroad. I quite like it. Oddly I'm just back from Spain and I did a double take about was I on the correct side of the road coming away from the airport and I hadn't driven in Spain. The other thing that demanded attention was driving in Australia and remembering whether you're on a two-lane or a four-lane road as it's not always clear and it could make overtaking a bit interesting. Anyone remember 'priorite a droit'? Oh and turning right against the lights in LA freaked me out a bit. It's a wonder we're all still here.

Yeah often, but always in the UK, never on the continent.

Only a couple of times in the motor, but often on a bike.... Rolling down the hill wondering why the bus is flashing his lights and coming straight at me.

Done it once in Italy, but they seem pretty flexible as to which to use most of the time so not really an issue.

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More like the OP, I've forgotten which way round knives and forks go when setting the table, just had a complete mind-blank. Laid them out, thought it looked wrong, swapped them over, thought it looked wrong again. Had to stop and have a think. Not stressed or anxious or anything like the OP, just a weird moment

found actually talking out what needed to happen at junctions really helped, so for a roundabout it was “look and give way to the left, looking for 3rd exit, keep on the right.

it helped, and very quickly it became natural.

I hope you were driving alone, otherwise what did your passengers think?

Being allowed to drive again during lockdown was eye opening. All road sense seemed to have evaporated.

Are you talking for yourself or about the population as a whole? I'm assuming the former given your previous escapades.

Yep. That was me, last week at Folkestone services after rolling off the shuttle.

For additional context...as the road was 2 lanes and 1 of them (the left lane I needed to be in) was full of parked cars, the only lane i could turn into was the 'wrong lane' regardless. I suspect my stressed brain knew that didn't seem right, but didn't click why exactly!

Interestingly I just asked my mate what side of the road we drive on....he had to think about it for a second! After 30 years of driving it's just second nature.

More like the OP, I’ve forgotten which way round knives and forks go when setting the table, just had a complete mind-blank. Laid them out, thought it looked wrong, swapped them over, thought it looked wrong again. Had to stop and have a think. Not stressed or anxious or anything like the OP, just a weird moment

I’m consciously aware that I apparently hold mine the wrong way around, so I always know the fork goes on the left…opposite to how I actually use them.

Guess I was dragged up.

Midway through lockdown, when my car had probably done a weekly mile round trip to Sainsbury’s, I suddenly had cause to make a slightly longer journey (of about 4 miles).
Having barely driven irl, but spent countless furloughed hours on grand theft auto, I did have a momentary lapse on a thankfully empty road.

I've had occasions where I've had to think which is the correct side, normally when on holiday or in the weeks after - only time I can remember actively doing it was when working in France 25 years ago, arriving on site and being asked to have my driving assessed, ironically. Was so focused on chatting and showing how little of a deal it was that I set off on the wrong side - was a valuable lesson!

We have a English friend with an apartment near Toulouse - he's visited us before now and I've seen him head off down our road and go the wrong way round the roundabout at the end...

No, I haven't. If I did I would get out of the car and send my license back to the dvla.

Whichever country you are in, in a standard car, the middle of the road should always be on the drivers side.

So when you are driving along, and you look of your drivers side window, you dont want to be seeing a pavement immediately beside you

If I did I would get out of the car and send my license back to the dvla.

Bet you wouldn't. 😉

Exiting the Ferry Nab car park at Windermere gets me- the bizarre layout puts you on the wrong side and it's very easy to just lapse into 'abroad mode'...

I'm also amused by seemingly randomly sited road signs many miles from a port etc saying drive on left - if you got that far without working that out it would be a miracle!

I was expecting a thread about sexual proclivities, now I see it's just about driving, I have nothing to contribute.

Once, in Spain went round a mini roundabout the wrong way. Right outside a police station too, and it was a road I had driven a few times before.

Years ago was passenger in a car in France and ex GF was driving - late at night, long drive etc. Were on a sort of dual carriageway, but with no separation between the sides. ex GF suddenly panics, despite having been driving for an hour or more on this road, and swerves to the wrong side, thinking she was moving to the correct side. Of course at that point barriers appear, and we can't get back over. Felt like ages before I could persuade her that she was now on the wrong side, and to stop and let me turn the car around.

Luckily it was late at night and no-one else around.

Only ever on holiday in Europe/LH, in a UK/RHD car.

Cannot say I have ever had it on the road in the UK in a UK car....

Had a brainfart thinking about a roundabout the other night, but thankfully muscle memory kicked in when I reached it.

Whichever country you are in, in a standard car, the middle of the road should always be on the drivers side.

So when you are driving along, and you look of your drivers side window, you dont want to be seeing a pavement immediately beside you

My first car was a LHD Beetle, bought from a friend of a friend from Berlin. I never had a problem driving a LHD in the UK, in fact I enjoyed it. But, as you say, the driver is positioned close to the pavement or parked cars in a LHD in the UK, but you get used to that quickly*. I'd had that car for a while, and one day jumped in my father's Escort I hadn't driven far down the main road before I remembered that my normal positioning - close to the kerb from the driver's seat - was going to result in a crunching noise and profuse apologies to my father. I was young, it was a long time ago!

* I drove the professor of the research unit I worked in across London in that Beetle. He was terrified, being sat in the 'driver's' seat while being the passenger. He clung on to the grab handle for the whole journey, asking if the car was safe. I later found that the passenger seat was only held on by one rail, so would move from side to side, and of course moving seat aside, being a 17 year old Beetle the answer to his question was actually, 'No, it's not very safe.'.

Being a passenger in a LHD car is just so weird, it really feels like I should be driving but there's no steering wheel there! I really don't like it, it's like some sort of surreal dream

I’m also amused by seemingly randomly sited road signs many miles from a port etc saying drive on left – if you got that far without working that out it would be a miracle!

if there’s a sign it’s a good bet there’s been an accident in that spot. Similarly to don’t get warning signs for every bend in the road - just the ones where people died.

being a fair way from the port is when drivers stop being nervous and are more likely to have a lapse. It’ll often be common stop off point for tourists.

im working with a bunch of Americans just now - constantly having to grab them as they step out into traffic looking the wrong way 🙂

I do occasionally get confused in weirdly laid out car parks one of which is local to me and I'm not the only one. However, once pulled out of a layby on a long straight road with no cars and drove for about 50 yards on the wrong side until my passenger enquired as to what I thought I was doing. That was a long time ago - at that point I'd never driven abroad but I had cycled abroad - but not for a few years.

While MTBing a couple of days ago I was completely unable to remember someone's name. Took about 5 mins for it to pop into my head. Yes, distraction and stress can substantially degrade mental performance, one reason why (for example) phoning while driving is so dangerous.

It wasn't even very difficult MTBing, which is why I was thinking about the person (that I'm meeting for dinner tonight).

Almost went the wrong way round a busy roundabout when I was in France last summer.

A friend of my sister did that a few years ago whilst on holiday. Spent the next 9 months in hospital being rebuilt after he drove straight into an oncoming artic. He was eventually able to move about & walk normally but took a very long time to get fixed. Luckily the rest of his family were in the hotel while he went to fill the car up.

@thols2 wins the thread

driven abroad a few times in right and left hand drive cars and it's never happened to me, not here or abroad. We were in Austria once and my mate was driving and he started going round a junction under a flyover on the wrong side of the road. I felt the urge to tell him very loudly to get on the other side PDQ!

The first time I drove left hand drive I kept scratching around in the door pocket trying to change gear, and looking at the A-pillar for the mirror, that was weird!

Yes. A couple of times.

Nearly in Nerja, Spain a few years ago. I had got lost and nearly went round a roundabout the wrong way, the sharp intake of breath from my better half soon corrected me!

Only in the UK in a LHD car, the only place I have to drive on the wrong side of the road. Madame Edukator normally puts me right immediately but on one occasion she didn't notice either, country road with no signs or road makings to put me right. I'd like to thank Mr white van man who braked as hard as I did and flashed which suggested I was the idiot. No problems in the UK with a RHD car or in Europe with a LHD, it's having the wrong car for the road network that confuses me, I automatically assume kerb side is passenger side.

Quite a few times attempting to leave downtown Mumbai on our Enfield but as everyone else was treating the roads like a free for all we went with it, the shrieks from my GF on the back helped alert me to the near misses.

The more you switch, the easier it becomes.

I drive in the UK rarely nowadays, but it comes back pretty quickly. I do sometimes catch myself preparing to turn left on a red before remembering I'm not at home.

Usually after the first coffee stop of the morning when on a cycling trip. Brain defaults to ride on the left which has had some interesting results (Guarda Civil getting stroppy in Tossa del Mar was a lowlight).

I have, just once, Xmas day I had walked on in the morning to a local pub to pick up the car. I pulled out of the car park onto the country lane. There was a car coming the other way and so sure of being in the right, I made him drive around me.

It was only once I reached the main road that I realised why he was looking at me funny!

in thailand and Laos its fairly common for scooters(mostly) to start driving on the wrong side of the road until there's a gap in traffic to crossover. Which is different to trucks on corners on the wrong side of the road

But yes, i  have on occasion started the motorbike off on the wrong side, having forgotten which country i was in

If that happened to me I'd be seeing a doctor.

As others have said, I've no real issue with 'mirroring' when driving abroad, after the initial shock of adjustment. One weird side-effect though was that my partner would say "take the next left" and I'd take the next right. I'm not a person who ever confuses left-and right, in fact being left-handed I'm probably more aware than many.

My BiL was on autopilot the with his bike on the roof when he went to park in a multistorey. He’s got a towbar rack now, and a new bike.

I once did this, suddenly went "oh shit, bikes!" and stood on the brakes. Got out to inspect the damage to find the max height beam gently touching the front forks.

I’ve forgotten which way round knives and forks go when setting the table,

That reminds me. At the old house the hall/stairs light switches were backwards, so the stairs light was the switch further away from the stairs. Completely counterintuitive to a point where guests would ask for the bathroom and directions would come with an additional instruction, "and it's the other switch." I tried to rewire it once and discovered that the reason for it was the wires weren't physically long enough to reach to the other poles.

I'd lived there (or visited often) most of my life and I still got it wrong. It got to a point where I'd go to switch on the light, think "no, I always get it wrong" and press the other switch, just to find that I was right in the first place and I'd overcorrected myself. I went through this merry cycle of getting it right for a few days, then getting it wrong again. I only finly cured it by thinking "bugger it" and switching on both sets of lights.

I’m consciously aware that I apparently hold mine the wrong way around, so I always know the fork goes on the left…opposite to how I actually use them.

I hold them the right way around, but as above I'm left-handed so it's "wrong." If I tried to use a fork with my right hand I'd have my eye out.

The first time I drove left hand drive I kept scratching around in the door pocket trying to change gear, and looking at the A-pillar for the mirror, that was weird!

This might just be a 'me' thing but the scary part of this for me is if I look to where the mirror should be and it's not there (because it's LHD or simply missing/broken) my brain doesn't think "oh, there's no mirror," it concludes that I can't see any hazards therefore it must be perfectly clear.

I do sometimes catch myself preparing to turn left on a red before remembering I’m not at home.

The first time I encountered "right on red" it was my first trip to the US and I was a passenger, literally on the drive 'home' from the airport.  It scared the absolute piss out of me. Bearing down on traffic lights, I'm thinking "it's red, surely she's seen it... she'll be slowing down any time now... any time... SHIT THE BED, IT'S RED, WOMAN!!" The first the driver realised that something might be amiss was the two Brits in the back seat screaming.

I’m also amused by seemingly randomly sited road signs many miles from a port etc saying drive on left – if you got that far without working that out it would be a miracle!

The Scottish Highlands are full of these - and not without reason. We've had multiple deaths on the A9 caused by foreign (predominantly American) drivers on the wrong side of the road and then there are the nuances of the single track roads with passing places, and where these become standard dual lane roads again.

I went around a mini roundabout the wrong way once but it was in Australia. I think my brain just thought we were abroad and therefore turn right. No harm done. In Europe I tend to take a moment to orient myself before setting off anywhere.

Stress can do some very strange things and I think it's very underestimated as a cause for all sorts of trouble. Best not sweep it under the carpet.

I’ve been known to get into the wrong side of the car when driving LHD cars, which is really amusing for everyone else.
I actually prefer driving a RHD car on the continent.

I do have a moment of worry at some junctions/road layouts in large cities. Usually, is this a no entry? Bus lane etc. I think that’s normal though.

Done it a few times after European trips, usually a case of me thinking "what's that **** doing on the wrong side of the road" before realising I was the **** in question.

I once managed to drive through a pedestrian underpass in Bracknell, only realising why I was getting such strange looks when I got to the other end & there was only the option to drive across a park or onto a path - chose the shameful drive across the park to the nearest visible bit of actual road.

I suspect this is more about overlad as you picked up a new car. If its not something you do very often its a load of new and un-familiar things to cope with. If you arent used to changing cars a lot then it can be a challenge. I was test driving differnet cars in the summer and I was consious of how I needed to concentrate on otherwise mundane tasks as the controls were not what I waqs used to.

spent weeks driving in Europe this year in three trips, pretty much no issues at all, cycling and driving.  When I get home to the UK then I get confused every now and then.  Isnt that odd

I have on multiple people occasions opened the wrong door to drive the hire car abroad. I have positioned on the wrong side at a residential junction without road markings. But after being abroad for three months and coming back as a passenger, I shouted to my mother that SHE was on the wrong side of the road. She wasn’t.

cycling around residential areas is much harder. There is a visual cue for a hire car that you sit near the middle of the road. Assuming there are markings. On a bike that visual cue is not there.

yeah, i've done that - in the UK as well.

Don't think its taken me as long as 10 seconds to get my head around it - but its certainly happened

I do travel a fair bit for work so sometimes have no idea where i am!

I do it more often on the bike - at least in the car i know that my seat should be towards the middle of the road!!

I’ve done it, can’t explain why but just got really confused. Best thing is to not think about what side of the road to drive on but, instead, make sure driver is near the middle of the road rather than near the kerb. This translates wherever you are driving a car (assuming you have hired locally and not driven uk car overseas)

I actually prefer driving a RHD car on the continent

My second time driving abroad was a trip to Italy in 2012. The first was Australia in 2010 and that's a doddle, it's the same side, all the signs are in English etc, etc.

I wasn't sure whether to fly to Nice and hire a car or drive down to Finale. I asked around for advice about driving abroad.

The responses were pretty much 50/50 "take your own car, you don't want to have think about a strange car as well as strange roads" and "hire one, it's so much more natural being in a LHD on foreign roads" Helpful.

Having now done it eight times, six in my own and two hires, I'm in the 'take your own' camp, although French toll booths are a pain in a RHD van.