The Roads

People in England drive on the wrong side of the road, and when I say “wrong side of the road,” I don’t mean on the side of the road opposite to what Americans are supposed to drive on. No, when I say “wrong side of the road,” what I mean to say is the side of the road opposite to what the English are supposed to drive on.

They drive everywhere; the correct side of the road, the wrong side of the road, off the road and sometimes half on the sidewalk (assuming there are no people using it at the time).

This is, of course, not only standard, but an absolutely necessary method of driving.

The reason for this seemingly insane method of driving is that upon construction of the vast majority of the towns, villages and cities, parking was not planned for, so people just park in the road. The town and village streets are usually crowded by vehicles parked all along them in either direction, causing one direction or the other, sometimes both, to be mostly blocked by parked cars. This causes cars to be forced into either the opposite lane of where they should be or the middle of the street and leads to the necessity of “giving way” and “being patient” (something I’ve recognized a lack of in the driving etiquette of Americans).

I have drawn this to give you an idea of what I’m talking about:

As you can see, this set up would create absolute chaos and serious road rage in the US. However, here in the UK, drivers are shockingly polite, patient drivers who don’t seem to understand the rhyme or reason for road rage. They also, in general, drive small cars, not like the oversized gas guzzlers that Americans tend to drive, so that helps a lot. During rush hour, of course, the politeness wears a bit thin, but for the most part, driving etiquette is absolutely fantastic!

The streets, cars and people all mesh into this kind of rhythmic, singular existence with its own nervous system, breath and pulse, working together toward the same goal of getting to where they need to go in the easiest, most polite manner possible; Drivers are very polite: they give way, say “Thank You” in the forms of flashing their lights, waving, and alternating blinkers four or five times, they wait their turns and follow the driving guidelines set down by the collective consciousness of all drivers… it’s Searle all over, and it’s really, really cool.

Somehow they all manage to drive quite quickly along these twisty little roads and not kill each other or themselves. It's pretty impressive, actually... and sometimes a little frightening.

The roads are categorized by size, use and quality in the following order:

· Motorways: These roads are similar to the Florida Turnpike or I75 (I hesitate to equate them to I95 because the Motorways are generally of much better quality). They are numbered M1 thru > M65

· Junctions: These are more or less exits leading to roundabouts which cut off into various A roads; they are labeled J followed by one, two or three numbers.

- Roundabouts: Circular drives that have various exits on them for different roads leading in different directions; the normal method of directing traffic in England. You give way to the right.

· A Roads: A roads are roads that have a lot of use and are of very good quality and a usually large width. They are named "A" followed by three or four numbers (ex. A1234) and are often “Dual Carriageways.”

- Dual Carriageway: Dual Carriageways (usually pronounced “Jueal” or “Jool” Carriageways) are two lane roads that are not typical English roads. Dual carriageways are divided by a grass median.

· B Roads: B roads are commonly used roads of good quality and a width usually large enough to generally accommodate two vehicles .

· C Roads: C roads are well used roads of fair quality and a width usually too small to accommodate any two vehicles at the same time; one vehicle usually must pull to an intentional indent in the side of the road to give way to another vehicle.

· Lanes: Lanes are very small roads of generally poor quality often comprised of highly compacted dirt and a width lacking any trace of a dream of accommodating more than one car at a time... and sometimes barely that. Usually has intentional indents incrementally shaved on the sides to allow one car to pull over while the other cautiously scrapes through.

The paved roads are made of "Tarmac," which is similar to Asphalt, but much more porous to accommodate the large quantities of rain they are doused with all the time. They collect a lot of water and need to be salted and gritted when the temperature is expected to be below freezing; it is considerably softer than Asphalt too, causing trucks (lorrys) to leave tire marks when it is “hot” (a temperature similar to an Austin, TX 88 degrees, which is actually quite nice).

So far I haven't been killed on any of these roads or lanes or anything, although I hear that "black ice" is a very dangerous thing that I have yet to experience.
Guess I'll find out.