Driving in the UK for the the first time – rules & to-dos that are different to India

I would strongly urge you to re-consider driving in London — it is an unfriendly and expensive city for drivers, but has top-class public transport. My recommendation would be to use public transport in London, then take a train to York and pick up a hire car there.

However, either way you decide, here are some thoughts for you:

• If you’re planning to drive in London, note that the city has a “Congestion charge”. This means that you are required to pay a fee for every day that you drive within the defined zone (the zone covers most of the city). This charge is explicitly intended to cut down the number of vehicles driving in the city at peak times; it is priced high enough to get people who don’t have to drive in the city to use public transport instead.

• Parking in London is difficult and astonishingly expensive. You need to plan ahead and make sure you know what parking facilities are available at your destination and how much it will cost, otherwise you’ll be in for a lot of pain. For most destinations in Greater London, parking is inadequate and you should consider public transport as a better option.

• Beware of Bus lanes. London and most other British towns and cities have a lot of roads and lanes dedicated to buses. You will get steep fines if you drive on them. They are monitored by camera and generate a lot of revenue for towns even from locals; as a visitor, it can be very easy to get caught out.

• Narrow roads and complex one-way systems. The UK’s cities have existed for a very long time; road layouts pre-date the invention of the car, and it shows. Layouts are often a jumbled and confusing mess. Make sure you have a good quality sat-nav, and that its maps are up-to-date.

• Watch the signs and road markings when approaching a junction, and make sure you are in the correct lane for the direction you want to go before you get to the junction. If you’re in the wrong lane, you may find yourself being forced into taking the wrong exit; the traffic flow may not let you move across at the last minute.

I have been driving in Delhi and area just last month; the major differences that will get you in accidents immediately if you don’t consider them all the time are:

1. when you want to change lanes or turn, it is your responsibility to check to your left/right if someone is there or tries to pass. In India, people trust that whoever pulls up next to them honks – that will not happen! (all the trucks in India even have ‘Blow horn’ written on them…).
   Always check before changing lanes. This might be difficult to get used to, but you must remember it all the time.

2. respect lane markings, don’t just ‘float over’ into another lane; they are mandatory. Crossing a line means you need to use your turn signal, check your mirrors and look over your respective shoulder, and only if there is nobody there, you can change lanes.

3. don’t stop or drive just anywhere you would like to; people will not expect it, and might not react right.

4. speed limits are a bit higher, and people drive faster, because they all trust you follow those rules; especially #1. Don’t expect people to pay continuously as much attention as is normal (and required) in India. They will often be slightly distracted or inattentive, expecting that everything flows smoothly.

There are many more smaller things, but all of them are not as critical; worst case you get a ticket.
Train yourself for 1., it is what really will get you in an accident.

My friend,

1. Don’t use the horn at all, unless very necessary.

2. At least indicate two seconds before you change the lane, also check before changing lanes for any traffic.

3. Follow speed limits, and look for road signs.

4. Give way to merging traffic.

5. Be careful on round-about, any traffic coming from your right has right. You should wait for them to pass then move.

6. Don’t stay on the fast lane (right most) forever, once the left lane is empty just come back in it.

7. If you are going to park on side of road, make sure you indicate. The guy behind you has no idea you are going to apply the brakes. The indicator will indicate. The same is true when you start your journey again, indicate that you are going to jump on the road.

8. You know vehicles have seat belts too 🙂 Use them.

9. Follow road markings, dotted lines mean you can change lanes, one single solid line means you cannot change lanes, however you can turn right. Double solid lines mean you cannot change lanes and you cannot turn right. One more: if you see a marking to turn right on the road, you must turn right, don’t keep on going straight, please.

10. Give other drivers benefit of doubt and give yourself extra couple of seconds to react. Keep a safe distance from traffic around you.

Have a safe journey.

These answers are good for rules but there are unofficial differences in driving styles between India and the UK as well.

In the UK horns are used to indicate your presence but they are used infrequently for that purpose, they are more used to indicate annoyance at other drivers so typically if you hear a horn it is very likely that someone is annoyed at someone else’s (possibly yourself) driving.

Also flashing your full-beam headlights is different in the UK than in India. In the UK typically a quick double flash (can also be more than twice but as long as it is intermittent flashes) of full beams indicates that someone is giving you right of way. It can also indicate a thank you if it’s dark and the car is traveling in the opposite direction to you.

A flash of full beams from a car traveling in the opposite direction can also indicate either a hazard up ahead for you or police wary for speeders but please be aware that in the latter case it is an offence to warn other drivers of police trying to catch speeding drivers.

A long hold of full beams is much like a horn in that it is used to convey annoyance at a driver in front with normally the subtext of the message being move out of the way.

Hazard Lights normally indicate a hazard ahead but a quick flash of hazard lights can also be used to indicate thanks when someone has given you right of way.

These are not standards given by the Highway Code but are customs that are widely followed in the UK, but mainly horns and full beam headlights are ones to be aware of as I believe in India horns are much more frequent and quick flashes of full beams usually mean that you are not going to give way to another driver.

There are a number of informal “rules” adopted by drivers in major cities where traffic densities make abiding by the Highway Code difficult or impractical. to give some examples:

1. There are many residential streets that were originally wide enough for a lane of cars in each direction, these may even have a white line down the middle of the road. However these days there will be so many parked cars that there is now only a single lane to be shared by cars moving in each direction. This requires drivers travelling in different directions to negotiate how to pass. In practice this means that each driver must look ahead carefully for potential passing places and be aware of how many vehicles are following then look at the oncoming traffic and judge whether to proceed or pause and allow the oncoming car(s) to pass. A decision to pause is often communicated by flashing ones headlights.(One also says “thankyou” by flashing lights when in close proximity.) This use of flashing headlights does not conform to the highway code but seems to be widely used.

2. Right turns at traffic lights are tricky when a stream of oncoming traffic keeps flowing. It is very common for a few cars waiting to turn right to pass after their light has turned red. Take special care at traffic lights both when going straight on and when turning right. When going straight be wary of pushing past the light as it is changing, over-eager people waiting to turn right can be a hazard. If you are turning right be very wary of people running the light and going straight on.

3. Be prepared to cede passage to large vehicles, especially buses. Another effect of increased on street parking is that roads that should be comfortably wide enough for a car going one way and a bus going the other to pass are now just a bit narrow. There is an increasing habit of buses simply to occupy the middle of the road (presumably to avoid the risk of hitting parked cars on their side of the road.) Net effect is that you need to find a gap in the parked cars on your side of the road to allow the bus to pass. In principle the bus may be in the wrong, it probably does have space to move over for you, in practice everything goes much more smoothly if you simply get out of the way.

Two other pieces of advice: First, watch for pedestrian (zebra) crossings. Pedestrians do have right of way, you will be expected to stop if someone is waiting to cross. Slow down when you see a crossing ahead.

Second, treat roundabouts with care. The rules for roundabouts are very clear; vehicles on roundabouts have priority and there are well-defined rules for which lane to use at a roundabout. Unfortunately not all road-users remember these rules; it seems to be increasingly common for drivers to ignore mini-roundabouts. So even though you have right-of-way someone may not stop (this happened to my wife, nasty little accident). Net, be hyper-cautious when turning at a roundabout, look at the traffic that should be stopping and check that they seem to be ready to stop.

Having spent some time driving on Scotland especially I will say the number one thing you should follow is to only drive in the correct lane on the highway when you are passing someone.
As Americans we have a tendency to drive in the “fast” lane on the highway because it seems to be open and we basically stay there for as long as we can. In Scotland people actually only use the fast lane for passing, and one they have passed the car they go straight back into the left lane.

Here’s a very brief list of points of importance. The critical question is: do you hold a driving licence which is valid in Great Britain?

In order to lawfully drive a motor vehicle on a public road in England, Scotland or Wales (i.e. Great Britain), you will need:

1. A driving licence that is valid in Great Britain.
2. Motor vehicle insurance valid in Great Britain.
3. An entry visa valid for Great Britain.

If you have passed your driving test in a country outside both the UK and the countries of the European Economic Area (EEA), you can only drive any small vehicle (e.g. a car or motorcycle) which is listed on a full and valid driving licence issued to you by your own government (i.e. only a type of vehicle you are allowed to drive in your own country), but NO vehicle if you only possess a provisional licence instead of a full one, and only for a period not exceeding 12 months from the date you entered Great Britain.

Bear in mind that if your driving licence is only valid for a vehicle with automatic transmission, you will only be able to hire that type of car. Don’t make the mistake of hiring a car with a manual gearbox in that situation (quite a common mistake, seemingly).

If you fly into an airport in the UK, and hire a car there, the car hire firm will help you arrange UK motor vehicle insurance (and should normally lease you a car already fully taxed and MOT’d). But any such insurance will be invalid if you do not possess a full, valid driving licence for the vehicle hired to you – something which would render you liable to arrest and prosecution.

It is essential to bring with you, into the UK, your full driving licence issued to you by the government in your country of origin. You will need it to hire a car here. If it is not in English, even if it is valid you might still encounter difficulties (in the event of a road accident a UK policeman will probably not be able to read it), so a translation of it could be helpful.

The UK’s Highway Code merely sets out the rules of the road. It tells you in what circumstances you will be liable to criminal penalties, and for financial loss caused to other road users in civil law (i.e. if you have an accident because you have not complied with the rules in the Highway Code).

There are quite a lot of circumstances in which a driver can incur criminal prosecution without having an accident. For example, driving on the wrong side of the road (something any policeman would certainly notice).

Motor insurance is a compulsory legal requirement, and its intention is to meet any civil claim made against you in court by another road user, so will normally only need to be claimed on by you in the event of your having a road traffic accident / collision.

The Highway Code is only part of the story: road signs on the highway verge are very common in the UK, especially speed limit signs. Bear in mind that these are all in miles per hour, and that most distances will be posted in yards or miles.

Not knowing Indian traffic rules, important things are: Drive on the left side of the road. Speed limits are in miles per hour, not kilometre per hour. Cars on a roundabout have the right of way ahead of cars trying to enter a roundabout. If you think that having a bigger car gives you the right of way, then you are wrong and should rent the tiniest car possible. And there is absolutely no excuse for driving into bicycles or pedestrians.

Most important: You must be aware that all your experiences and driving instincts are wrong. Therefore you drive with outmost care. You do NOT rely on anyone else behaving in the way you expect, but YOU are responsible for avoiding any trouble by driving carefully.

The Government makes available the abbreviated “rules of the road”, which is a collection of all the rules and regulations that various laws enforce on users of the public highway (pedestrians, cyclists, motorists etc) – this is called the “Highway Code”, and its the best source of rules you must keep in mind.

You can read the online version here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-highway-code