The Official Highway Code

Driving in the United Kingdom will be an adventure! We have both passed our driving tests and are ready to hit the road! After we both had the chance to test drive a few cars, we purchased a vehicle with the steering wheel on the right side of the car. (A 1998 green Toyota Camry) Test driving was a scary experience because it was the first time either of us drove on the left side of the road.

We recently had the privilege of studying the Official Highway Code in order to pass our driving tests here in England. I'm sure we would find funny moments from highway codes in the U.S. too if we really read them. But here are a few road signs and excerpts from the Code that we thought were cute or funny. We hope you enjoy!

• “Drive carefully and slowly when … passing parked vehicles, especially ice cream vans…”


• “When passing animals, drive slowly. Give them plenty of room and be ready to stop. Do not scare animals by sounding your horn, revving your engine or accelerating rapidly once you have passed them.”


• “If a road is blocked by a herd of animals, stop and switch off your engine until they have left the road.”


• “Take great care and treat all horses as a potential hazard; they can be unpredictable…”
  

•“If you are dazzled by bright sunlight, slow down and if necessary, stop.”

•“Older drivers. Their reactions may be slower than other drivers. Make allowance for this.”

•“Avoid distractions when driving or riding such as … arguing with your passengers or other road users”

•“Be careful of electric vehicles such as milk floats and trams.”

It's not just the traffic signs that are a little caricatured; we've grown fond of the "exit" signs indoors, such as this one right outside our hotel room.

To close this post, just a few other items we learned from the Highway Code:

• The word curb is spelled kerb in the UK
• It's not maneuver, it's manoeuvre
• A road is generally called a carriageway--but we assure you that no one drives an actual carriage
• There are a variety of different kinds of crosswalks. All of the following are actually for persons, not animals: zebra crossings, pelican crossings, puffin crossings, toucan crossings