UK Vs Australia Driving Differences

Lharitag on 01/11/2024 - 15:57

Currently in the UK on a holiday and noticed the following differences in the driving

  1. Cars in the UK are mostly manual, with few automatic cars
  2. Horn use is much less prevalent compared to Australia
  3. People park on both sides of the road
  4. Indicator use however seems less than Australia
  5. People speed more (80-85mph on motorways marked 70mph seems the norm)
  6. Tradies drive vans as opposed to Utes (still just as aggressive as Ute drivers in Australia mind you)

Has anyone who's driven in the UK noticed any other differences?

Automotive

Comments

  • theHMASfriendship on 01/11/2024 - 16:02
    +7

    I've also noticed they say "blimey!" a lot

    • haritag on 01/11/2024 - 16:09
      +2

      Haha true!

    • HeWhoKnows on 02/11/2024 - 09:09
      -4

      All countries are different.
      Go check out Paris next time!

      • theHMASfriendship on 02/11/2024 - 10:02
        +7

        Hi I went to Paris per your suggestion and just got back. They say “Sacre Bleu!!” a lot

    • Captain Musty on 02/11/2024 - 10:19
      +5

      Drivers have more lane discipline over there (keep to the left, unless overtaking).
      Overtaking on the left (undertaking), unless the vehicle is turning right, is illegal and will land you with a fine and points.
      It is classed as dangerous driving.
      Tail-gating is another BIG no-no.

  • bargaino on 01/11/2024 - 16:07
    +8

    People park on both sides of the road

    Funny thing, that is only legal in daytime, but nobody cares :-)

    Traffic flows better there. UK drivers know how to keep left, are generally much more polite, except inside the M25, which is a different world.

    • haritag on 01/11/2024 - 16:10

      "but nobody cares :-)"
      Seems like it :)

    • Gunnar on 01/11/2024 - 16:19

      except inside the M25, which is a different world

      LOL

    • hagendaaz on 02/11/2024 - 09:27
      +1

      Been a while but I noticed on the M1 that new fast lanes were started after major interchanges. Forces the fast lane traffic left until they actively change to overtake again, so the autopilot drivers are pushed left. Brilliant design that should be standard.

  • ihfree on 01/11/2024 - 16:08
    +3
    • They have a "get ready" state with red and amber together before the lights turn green. Everyone goes on this signal, though technically you're meant to wait for green.

    Driving differences enough to get you to join and stop lurking - Having a good holiday?

  • pyramid on 01/11/2024 - 16:23

    Did any say hook turn..

    • ihfree on 01/11/2024 - 16:53

      Are they in use in the UK? other than for cyclists?

  • Gervais fanboy on 01/11/2024 - 16:24
    +3

    How’s the weather lol

    • haritag on 01/11/2024 - 16:26
      +3

      Ngl pretty bad, been raining all day

      Makes Sydney weather look like paradise haha

      • Gervais fanboy on 01/11/2024 - 16:28
        +1

        Oh my days

      • AustriaBargain on 01/11/2024 - 17:02

        I also remember it felt like everyone in England wished they could pack up and move to somewhere warmer and sunnier, especially Spain and Australia.

      • hamza23 on 01/11/2024 - 17:09

        Raining all day? You posted this at about 5am UK time.

        • haritag on 01/11/2024 - 17:12

          I mean it's been raining all day yesterday and throughout the early morning today too

          Should have been more clear lol

      • AlienC on 01/11/2024 - 23:37
        +1

        I think I would love the UK.. raining all day.. fish and chips everywhere like here.. and maybe some dececnt chips and gravy too here and there.. I guess they just have more stabbings than Australia which is bad.. I wouldn't mind hearing the UK accents though every day lol yeah maybe I should move lol

        • Roney on 02/11/2024 - 20:18

          I think you'd have a change of mind after a couple of days

          • AlienC on 03/11/2024 - 17:27

            @Roney: What makes it so bad honestly compared to Australia. I actually like the rain.

            • Roney on 04/11/2024 - 19:11

              @AlienC: I actually prefer the rain to glaring hot sun. I felt sorry to see the homeless people sleeping out in the wet weather in London.

              • AlienC on 06/11/2024 - 22:59

                @Roney: Yeah definitely. After these very hot days I'm not shying away from the rain right now.

                But yeah if I were homeless the rain would be horrible definitely prefer the hot sun in those conditions personally unless you can find some good coverage from the rain.

                • Roney on 08/11/2024 - 02:40

                  @AlienC: There was a good rain cover for the homeless not far from the Royal Mew where the Queen's golden carriages are kept. What a contradiction.

  • onetwothreefour on 01/11/2024 - 16:32
    +2

    I'm from the UK but haven't been back in 20 years so this might not be current but I find tailgating is more common in Australia than the UK.

  • freefall101 on 01/11/2024 - 16:58
    +1

    Tradies drive vans as opposed to Utes (still just as aggressive as Ute drivers in Australia mind you)

    Every British person I've met thinks that if something is visible in your car/ute it is absolutely going to get stolen, no matter what it is.

    One guy I worked with, if I left my backpack in my car he'd always go "you're just going to leave that there??". Had to go in the boot to make him comfortable.

    • nige0090 on 02/11/2024 - 12:08
      +1

      He was not wrong though.
      Thieves would do a smash and grab on parked cars for any vaguely valuable or interesting item visible inside.
      A backback could have any unknown treasure inside - phone/mobile/wallet etc
      If there was nothing to see, less point in breaking in. Move on to the next low hanging fruit.

      Back in the day, when parked, I used to leave the car glovebox open, so you could see there was nothing to steal inside.

  • AustriaBargain on 01/11/2024 - 17:01
    +2

    I remember how common narrow roads were in England, even in the country you'd have to count on pulling over to let a car coming the opposite direction pass. You'll probably find Australian roads very easy. Stay on your toes though, some people switch their brains off when driving here.

  • Drpepper666 on 01/11/2024 - 17:18
    +1

    they use miles instead of kilometre

  • Devastator0 on 01/11/2024 - 17:19
    1. People speed more (80-85mph on motorways marked 70mph seems the norm)

    Yep, this is absolutely accurate. In my experience there, on their motorways, the speed limit is just a suggestion (like in the US) and they do, as you've specified 10-15mph over it, even more. When I was there and driving in the "slow" lane doing the actual posted limit, I was pressured to speed (i.e. people flashing their lights at me etc).

  • Frashal on 01/11/2024 - 17:23
    +1

    There's lots of small differences:

    • much shorter orange lights. there's no time to decide if you'll make it or not, you have to stop
    • they typically accelerate faster from lights than australians do
    • no undertaking on the highway, big no no
    • they always put the car in neutral and put the handbrake on at lights and tut to themselves about you if your brake lights are on when you are stopped
    • they really do NOT like being overtaken on single lane country roads, no matter how safe it is. They carry on like you've just taken a shit in their mouth
    • following on from above, a lot of them are generally shit at driving on country roads. They'll drive at 40 when the limit is 60, then when you have slowed down to 30 to drive through a village they catch you up because they are still driving at 40. I suspect these are mostly the same people mentioned in the above point. You often see british people whinging about 40 everywhere drivers.
    • its a free for all for motorbikes, they filter anywhere and everywhere
    • GordonD on 01/11/2024 - 18:09
      +1

      much shorter orange lights

      3 seconds in the UK.

      In Australia its 3 seconds if the speed limit is 40 km/h, and goes up from there. 4 seconds at 60. 5 seconds at 80. 6 seconds at 100.

    • nige0090 on 02/11/2024 - 12:27
      +2

      • Point 1 no undertaking on the highway, big no no
        I would say that generally drivers in the UK are more risk adverse with better lane discipline.
        They have to be, as they drive quite a bit faster, in heavier traffic.
        100kph feels really slow after you have been used to driving at 80mph every day

      • Point 2 they always put the car in neutral and put the handbrake on at lights and tut to themselves about you if your brake lights are on when you are stopped
        Hey, I still do this…

    • gromit on 03/11/2024 - 14:29

      "no undertaking on the highway, big no no"

      that's a massive no no in both countries.

      • ak47wong on 03/11/2024 - 15:18
        +1

        Nope, it's perfectly legal here and when the vast majority of traffic on three-lane motorways sits in the middle lane, you're bound to get people passing on the left.

        • gromit on 03/11/2024 - 15:24

          It is legal on a multilane motorway, It is ILLEGAL on a highway as the OP stated.

          • ak47wong on 03/11/2024 - 15:27
            +1

            @gromit: It is legal on any multilane road whether it's a motorway or a highway (subject to the conditions in road rule 141). Who said a highway is only one lane?

            • gromit on 03/11/2024 - 15:33
              +2

              @ak47wong: fair enough, looked it up and you are correct. Was always taught growing up it was illegal and dangerous.

    • surfingedge on 03/11/2024 - 17:04

      In London usually one car goes through just after the light has turned red. At some junctions (intersections) with poorly designed timings, you "have" to otherwise everyone will be waiting for 10 minutes longer.

  • MS Paint on 01/11/2024 - 17:41
    +1

    They drive through creeks and kill BMWs in the process. I've seen it on YouTube.

  • bengal tiger on 01/11/2024 - 19:55
    +2
    1. Flashing your headlights to the lead car driving in the opposite direction indicates you're giving way to them to pass though when a two-way road is too narrow and only one car can fit through.

    This is common in London when cars are parked on both sides and the road is too narrow for two lanes of traffic, but it happens as well on C roads outside the M25.

    The difference is that the flashing headlights signal is generally understood by UK drivers that you are giving way.

    I've tried this in Sydney and Melbourne but other drivers have no idea what I'm signalling; in Australia the headlight signal is used to warn other drivers of police or speed cameras up ahead.

    • surfingedge on 03/11/2024 - 16:43

      In the UK warning about cameras/police is done by turning your low beam on and off several times (at least in the daytime)

      • iand on 06/11/2024 - 10:30

        Flashing headlights is illegal, turning head lights on and off is legal 😊

  • NevC on 01/11/2024 - 20:21

    Winkers.

  • miwahni on 02/11/2024 - 01:57

    I just love the diversity of cars that you see in the UK - stuff you never see on the roads here.

  • saltypete on 02/11/2024 - 09:50
    +2

    Big thing I noticed there is drivers stay in the left lane and dont undertake. Means multi lane highways are much better to frive on.

  • drewbytes on 02/11/2024 - 15:02
    • A much higher proportion in UK don't wear seat belts and use their mobile phone.
    • UK drivers can be very courteous and let you in at intersections (flash lights and tell you to go), which never happens in Australia.
    • Roney on 02/11/2024 - 20:26
      +1

      I can vouch that re giving way at intersections. Likewise if you are standing outside of curbs waiting to cross. Really courteous and amazing.

  • Camelface on 03/11/2024 - 14:21

    Roundabouts - didn't like them.

  • surfingedge on 03/11/2024 - 16:56
    +1

    Unlike in Australia, people realise that indicating is pointless when there's only one possible direction they can go. Yes technically you should but when police don't do it themselves you wouldn't get caught for it.

    You generally won't get prosecuted if you drive at 10%+2mph faster than the limit. So on a national speed limit road you probably wouldn't get flashed by a camera at 79mph. Police with handheld cameras generally won't pull you over either but it's at their discretion.

    Anyone who says UK drivers keep left hasn't driven in the UK. Maybe it's slightly better than in Aus, but go on any 3-lane motorway and the left lane is only used by heavy vehicles - well to be fair during the day cars probably stay in the middle lane all the time otherwise they'd have to change lane every 10 seconds to overtake a truck; but at night they also stay in the middle lane.

    On the 5 lane section of the M1 near to Luton, 90% of the cars are in lanes 4 and 5 and lanes 1-3 are mostly empty.

  • AngusD on 04/11/2024 - 09:19
    1. Cars in the UK are mostly manual, with few automatic cars

    That's interesting. We're going to the UK next year, we were just talking to the travel agent about it yesterday. She was looking at car hire options for us, and mentioned that the manual cars were cheaper than auto. That seemed odd to me since I just assumed that autos would be much more plentiful like they are here (and, I thought, most places) and would therefore be cheaper. I don't think you even CAN rent a manual here anymore, can you? Not very easily at least.

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