Driving your motorhome on the wrong side of the road

[Trevor Wbm]

If you can drive safely on the left, you can do the same on the right. Some people just take a lot of convincing to give it a go.

I always point out that driving on the wrong side is much easier when everyone else is doing it too.

 

[TR5]

Hints that ought to be added when driving a wrong handed vehicle especially when on your own, is try an approach T junctions as square as possible so you can see to your left, also try ane get a wide angled mirror for the passenger side, so you dont have a blind spot when joining from a slip road.

Good point, and make sure you LOOK LEFT as approaching the junction, not right and think you are clear to pull out.
Always use the principle of STOPPING at a junction, not creeping or driving straight out without stopping, then you won't get it wrong.
Make sure side windows in the hab area are clear, all blinds are down, and curtains well back, so if a junction is at quite an angle, you have another view, or can stop in a way you can see out of these.

 

[chrispenrallt]

For me I have got to drive my LHD Carthago motorhome very soon. This vehicle was gifted to me, and I can’t tell you how nervous I am. I have driven it up and down our lane but the day is coming when I will have to take it out on the road up to the MOT station.

 

[Ridgeway]

I find driving on the right perfectly fine until we come back over to the UK.

The caution points for me are always when I’ve just pulled over after a long stretch when coming out of the tunnel, then jumping back in the van and some how my head thinks it’s back in LHD mode and forgets to drive on the left. It’s usually when you’ve got too many things on your mind that you run the risk of forgetting such things.

I do also sometimes get confused on my bike back in the UK, seems odd i know but i have set off on the right side when riding around Manchester, never for more than 20m though…

 

[brynric]

Good article Jim.

A couple of other possible suggestions; in our last van we had a little bear called Whitby. I’d position him in the windscreen so if he was in the gutter I was in the right place.
In our current van we have a plug in Heads Up Display (Amazon). This does two jobs, first projects my speed in KPH on the screen and I can position it so if it’s in the middle of the lane, so am I.
For those travelling by tunnel when you get off the train you’re fed onto main highways without any junction so you can get a few miles of wrong side driving under your belt before having to manoeuvre too much.
Still get nervous though for the first couple of days.

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[JJ]

Rufty Tufty, Off-Site Motorhomers Can Do It On Either Side Of The Road...


JJ

 

[coroner]

I know that plenty of you stay away from France because you don't fancy driving on the wrong side of the road. I've written an article about doing just that. You can discuss the article, or ask questions about it here

Driving your motorhome on the 'wrong side of the road' in France!

This can be a bit daunting at first. But, follow these tips and your driving in France will be a pleasure. Download our free head up display.

www.mfun.uk

Excellent very informative Jim .We loved driving through the Gothard Tunnel with all the HGVs travelling the other way.One thing not covered is Turkey where everyone drives down the centre of the carriageway which can get interesting.

 

[bladerunner]

I agree with above.
I'd say 70% of my driving/riding (around 20k p.a.) is in Europe.
I have also ridden round a roundabout the wrong way in UK and wondered why the signs were pointing the wrong way.
Also followed a mate on a motorbike out of a campsite in France in the morning (one of the danger times) - he was on the left and I roared after him on the right side. Took a while before I convinced myself that it was him in the wrong.
Can be a tad painful if you do meet a car round the corner.
I now have a mental image of where I join the motorway near home. That's UK, so abroad is other.

Can be a problem as solo traveller joining the autobahn if there are road works. Some of their junctions are close to 90' so little acceleration time and bad view to left for driver.

 

[Just smiffy]

I just switch naturally don’t know why… but on occasions while in the uk I have to think which side should I be on even though I haven’t been abroad for months….

 

[Ginster]

Thanks Jim, I finally plucked up courage to go over to France and am now in Cambrils just passed Barcelona in Spain and heading further south.
The easiest way I remember to drive on the right is to keep saying 'bum in the gutter' works for me

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[cyberyacht]

It's exiting supermarket car parks and driving on very narrow country lanes that can catch you out. Years ago I was negotiating a potholed track from a campsite and upon meeting a local doing the same coming towards me, we both instinctively pulled to the same side of the track momentarily.

 

[Widge]

As others have said, often it is when you get back to your own country and relax you do silly things.

One thing that caught me out in the states once, was turning left from the left hand lane of a one way street into the on comming traffic of a two way street.

Luckily there were some empty parking bays on the left so i just kept on turning and drove into one narrowly missing the on comming traffic.

You can also get used to various things being different in other countries, that can catch you out when home.

For a couple of years I lived in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, at traffic lights at crossroads the green light always rotated round the four junctions, so if you had a green light the road was clear whether you were going straight ahead or turning off.

Back in the uk I was waiting at lights to turn right, the lights went green so without thinking I turned right, straight across the oncomming traffic, luckily narrowly missing the other car, i had a few horns and swear words aimed at me and rightly so.

 

[nicholsong]

I cannot remember having any trepidation neither when I first took a car to the continent nor the first time I took the MH.

Then I remembered I had rented in US before that, but that seemed easy also, even though it was the first time for me in an auto.

I have not driven in UK for 4-5 years so that might be a challenge.

 

[Gillygrim]

One point that's not been made - I wonder how many of us who find it easy to drive in France are French speakers ? I was lucky enough to go to boarding school in Nantes and although that was some 70 years ago, have retained most of the language. The first time I drove in France many years later, I found it relatively easy as I understood directions and road signs. My cousin, a very intelligent woman with Grammar School French, drives her motorhome all over Europe but for many many years refused to go near Paris and the Periferique. When I, a newcomer to motorhoming, told her I had crossed Paris, she was amazed but subsequently tried it and now wonders why she was ever reluctant to do so.

 

[Mixyblob]

The biggest problem I find, is sitting in the suicide seat. I've only done it once, never again, I was scared shitless, dunno how Andrea does it.

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[Odd job]

One situation I had was on a motorbike, going around a tight bend on a downhill bit the camber was so big that I had to move to the centre of the narrow road, a car came the other way and after decades of riding I instinctively banked LEFT I did correct it very quickly and got away with it but it could have been very bad. So be careful in an emergency.

 

[busbuddy]

When I was driving trucks in europe it always made me chuckle when everyone raced off the ferry at Calais onto the huge expanse of tarmac then swerved all over the place as they undecisively approached the first roundabout

 

[Reallyretired]

I have had the odd problem when returning to the UK . I think it's because abroad you are conscious that you are driving on a different side whereas back in the UK you have stopped thinking about it.
A sign to remind to drive on the left is useful.

 

[jumar]

I've given up on driving, on the wrong side of the road, we stay in Eurozone where everyone drives on the Right side of the road....well most do...

 

[benimardriver]

I know that plenty of you stay away from France because you don't fancy driving on the wrong side of the road. I've written an article about doing just that. You can discuss the article, or ask questions about it here

Driving your motorhome on the 'wrong side of the road' in France!

This can be a bit daunting at first. But, follow these tips and your driving in France will be a pleasure. Download our free head up display.

www.mfun.uk

Thanks for the safety reminder Jim . Good idea about the reverse image heads up .

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[Clive Mott]

Never had any problems driving on the right with our RHD tardis.. Fitted a blind spot camera on the left front wing looking back plus there is always in inbuilt banksperson (Janet).. Mind you, put me in a LHD vehicle and its chaos, spacial awareness is screwed, wing mirrors vulnerable, lamp posts lean back when I pass... Not good. Takes me a week in a small hire car in Teneriffe to become sort of sensible!!

 

[Chris Laing]

I find driving abroad therapeutic.
Once you come back out of the Tunnel and back onto the M20 and see the lunatics that drive in the UK it makes you wonder how these arsoles get a driving license.

 

[nicholsong]

Never had any problems driving on the right with our RHD tardis.. Fitted a blind spot camera on the left front wing looking back plus there is always in inbuilt banksperson (Janet).. Mind you, put me in a LHD vehicle and its chaos, spacial awareness is screwed, wing mirrors vulnerable, lamp posts lean back when I pass... Not good. Takes me a week in a small hire car in Teneriffe to become sort of sensible!!

Hello Clive, nice to see you around.

We have a RHD MH and a LHD car, so swapping between the two keeps my hand in. The MH also has parabolic mirrors on both sides which cover the blind spots, both horizontally and vertically, so helps whichever side of the road I am driving on - normally the same side as the other drivers

Geoff

 

[Lagos sun]

I find it easier than driving in the UK I suppose LHD helps. I do 6000 to 8000 miles on the continent and only about 2000 in the UK.
A couple of years ago in the UK I was driving my car down a quiet road and wondered why a car was coming straight towards me then I realised I was driving on the wrong side of the road.

This happens to me occasionally especially in the UK when exiting car parks. I've been living in Portugal for the last couple of years... Once I drove the wrong way around a roundabout.. oops' No other cars to give me a clue....

 

[Lagos sun]

I always point out that driving on the wrong side is much easier when everyone else is doing it too.

Has anyone mentioned there is no right or wrong side only the correct side

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[OutTheOffice]

I also change all the settings ( sat nav etc ) to KM in the queue for the ferry, that helps to remind me I am out of the UK and to drive on the right. I also love seeing the range going up to over 1000 km when filling up with diesel. Agree, never had a near miss in france / spain etc, but need to really concentrate back in the UK and find the urge to drive on the right takes a few weeks to disappear. Also totally agree that the journey from the port back home is the worst part of the whole trip, the rattling drives me mad after a couple of months of near rattle free driving.

 

[Peter Clark]

Your advice please: Currently looking to buy my first MH and searching for a LHD as will be mostly in and around Europe - but of course there is a vastly greater choice of RHD machines.

As I expect to do over 90% of of driving on the right - am I correct in thinking I should keep to my plan of finding a LHD vehicle?

I have driven cars in Europe quite often and the only noticeable issue has been overtaking on non dual carriageway roads - however, I imagine when driving a motorhome that overtaking is not something that is high on the agenda.

A lot of people say they have no problem driving a RHD motorhome on the right, but given the choice would you say having a LHD in Europe is a worthwhile advantage?

 

[Lenny HB]

Your advice please: Currently looking to buy my first MH and searching for a LHD as will be mostly in and around Europe - but of course there is a vastly greater choice of RHD machines.

As I expect to do over 90% of of driving on the right - am I correct in thinking I should keep to my plan of finding a LHD vehicle?

I have driven cars in Europe quite often and the only noticeable issue has been overtaking on non dual carriageway roads - however, I imagine when driving a motorhome that overtaking is not something that is high on the agenda.

A lot of people say they have no problem driving a RHD motorhome on the right, but given the choice would you say having a LHD in Europe is a worthwhile advantage?

Our last two vans have been LHD & have an LHD on order, these are all A Class vans. RHD just doesn't really work in an A Class they were never designed to be RHD so they have a cab door (lots don't) it's on the left hand side so in a RHD the passenger gets a door but the drive doesn't.

LHD definitely makes driving on the right easier and when in the UK it's easy as you are used to the roads & junction layouts.

 

[Martist]

As a solo traveller, I would say the only things I have needed to be careful of are some roundabouts and being able to see traffic approaching from the left.
Also approaching toll booths, making sure I've not stopped to too short to trigger the ground sensors before jumping out and running round the front of the vehicle to collect a ticket or to pay.

Solo here too, I have managed so far in several countries by scrambling over the passenger seat and hanging out of the window.

 

[huck999]

Not in my LHD vehicle you don’t want to be…

Ours is LHD. Often get shouted at by the passenger for being too close to parked cars etc...

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