Foreign drivers on wrong side of the road.

[MartinJG]

Seemingly, since Harry Dunn's death outside RAF Croughton, there have been further incidents of cars driving on the wrong side of the road. In October a car on the wrong side of the road collided with a police car (that was hushed up), and the other night a car was videoed driving on the wrong side of the road and causing a car to have to brake sharply.
I don't understand why, within hours of Harry's death, they didn't paint arrows in the road to remind the US drivers of what side to drive on. It is a very easy mistake for a foreign driver to make.
In the Scottish Highlands there are arrows at hotels, lay-byes, beauty spots and small villages, reminding drivers what side of the road to drive on.





After all. What does a bit of paint cost.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-51160840

Indeed, but that requires a modicum of common sense and a smattering of pragmatism. When was the last time you saw any evidence of such outlandish practice among the tail chasing paperpushers in your local council or the highway thingies. It's usually necessary for a few folk to perish, a plethora of hearings and committee meetings before changes are considered and implemented.

[Jocko]

That's Boris getting in on it now. Better late than never.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-51168822

[sparky Paul]

Been watching "All Aboard! - New Zealand by Rail, Sea and Land" on BBC4 this evening. I noticed on the road bit on South Island, they have lots of these arrows painted on the roads over there, especially around single track bridges.

Seen a few Jazzes too!

[ColinB]

Been watching "All Aboard! - New Zealand by Rail, Sea and Land" on BBC4 this evening. I noticed on the road bit on South Island, they have lots of these arrows painted on the roads over there, especially around single track bridges

We visited NZ around a year ago, which coincided with the Chinese New Year holiday period. The hire car company (amongst others) specifically warned us about the standard of driving to be expected from Chinese visitors, “wrong side” driving and resulting accidents being particularly common. All our hire cars had left-pointing “Drive on the LEFT” arrow stickers on the instrument panel as a reminder. Despite this, and the arrows on the road, we saw several incidents that justified the warning, including one where the other driver seemed to think it was OK to switch from side to side without worrying about whether one of them was the correct side. We concluded that he must have thought he was on a dual carriageway (he wasn’t). Much to the horror of everyone else around. Great country for a touring holiday though.

[ColinS]

Chinese visitors, “wrong side” driving and resulting accidents being particularly common.

I understand that Wong driving is very common

[Jocko]

 

[Jocko]

According to today's reports the BMW had US diplomatic plates and they are now reporting 15 incidences outside US bases.

[John Ratsey]

The more we hear the more it seems to be a long-standing problem which has been ignored by the authorities. Arguably the responsibility for the recent fatality rests with them and not the drivers who should have had keep left stickers all over their dashboards plus required to drive around the roads on the inside of the base until their keep-left reactions have developed before being allowed out onto the public highways.

[Jocko]

Sounds good but what about the thousands of drivers who arrive over the Channel every year?

[John Ratsey]

Sounds good but what about the thousands of drivers who arrive over the Channel every year?

They tend to be following a stream of traffic going in the same direction. It's near-empty roads which cause the problems as the other traffic isn't there for guidance.

[Jocko]

Yes, but they are eventually going to end up somewhere quiet where they are going to have to decide for themselves what side to drive on. Service men and their families don't fly in to RAF Croughton, so they must get some exposure to our roads before they arrive there.