1.7 million U.K. drivers pick the wrong side of the road when on holiday

by Steve Ragan - Aug 22 2011, 07:00

A study from British car insurance company Swiftcover said that 44,000 miles will be driven on the wrong side of the road by Brits traveling abroad this year. A number that translates into nearly 180,000 accidents with oncoming traffic.

“With more than 4.4 million UK motorists set to hit foreign roads this summer, the study revealed that more than one in three (39-percent) - equating to 1.7 million UK drivers - will drive on the wrong side of the road at some point on their holiday,” the company explained.

Data from the company shows that British drivers are almost twice as likely to smash into oncoming vehicles when they are away from home. When asked what countries were the hardest to drive in, motorists named Italy as the top choice, followed by France and Germany.

Bad driving by local citizens (71-percent), poor state of foreign roads (24-percent) and driving on the right hand side of the road (22-percent) were all cited as making driving abroad particularly difficult.

It was odd not to see the U.S. mentioned in the report. In truth, most of my British friends always suffer a bit of an adjustment period when driving here stateside, and they sometimes hit the wrong lane. (Thankfully, nothing bad has happened.)

On the other side of the coin, British drivers cannot be alone. Plenty of Americans, whether they will admit it or not, have driven on the wrong side of the road when overseas – not to mention, it’s a bit of a shock the first time you get in on the passenger side of a car to drive it.

Siftcover’s press release on the study is here.

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