My first week in California went by quite quickly as I spent a large amount of my time working. Now with the weekend approaching I manage to convince someone to help me get a rental car. While my hosts have been more than generous chauffeuring me about, a car gives you much more freedom. Lots of opportunities to get lost too…

Admittedly I was a little concerned as I’ve never driven a left hand drive vehicle, let alone on the right hand side of the road. Being initially forced to pull out of a full parking lot into a four lane street and then follow a local back to the office while confronted with weird signs and traffic lights in the wrong place was about the worst it got. The whole left/right side is completely overstated. There is little danger of relapse with so many reminders driving around. Biggest problem I had was adjusting for the bulk of the car being to the right of me.

Oh and the give way rules. While at the rental company I asked several basic give way questions which ended up confusing them. This happens a lot to me in America so I gave up and let them explain how you can turn right on a red light. Still being unsure about the give way rules I decide to give way to everything. At least until I can look up the road code or work it out from watching others.

Turns out learning give way rules via osmosis is a bad idea. Just about every give way situation I’ve been involved in has resulted in great confusion. In one instance at a four way intersection; completely stop signed. I’m in the middle with a car on the left, another on my right, and I ended up going as the others appeared to both be giving way to me

FYI: Give way to your right.