Frequent travelers can feel as if they practically live in the destination country. If you are traveling to another country often, you have probably thought about driving there or taking your car with you. After all, Europe is one interconnected community—before BREXIT, of course. If you want to stay in a foreign country for a while, you get that feeling that you still want the mobility that you are used to at home. For most people who cannot carry a car with them, they will often look for rental options.
But before you even get that car on the road, you need to know more about driving in another country
Know the requirements
You cannot just hop into a car and drive into a foreign country. You need to understand all the requirements. In most European countries, you will need an international driving permit on top of your valid driver’s license. Of course, you will need insurance and proof of vehicle ownership before they can allow you on the road.
Since governments do not want to force you to have a foreign driver’s license, they allow you to drive as long as you have international accreditation. According to https://www.l-team-driving.co.uk/, basic driving skills are extremely necessary but some people fail to learn a thing or two simply because they were not taught by professionals. Some crash course driving lessons won’t hurt if you wish to qualify for such accreditation. The best part about it is that you can ask professional instructors yourself to how you can prepare yourself before getting into another country.
It is also good to know that not until recently, women could not drive in Saudi Arabia. In some countries, 16-year-olds are allowed to drive while in others, only 18-year-olds or older can drive. Past 75 years, driving in some countries is limited. Hence the importance of knowing whether you are eligible to drive in a foreign country beforehand.
Know the driving lane
Well, countries in the world allow left hand driving. It sounds absurd to think that the right-hand drive is the only option. Most drivers attempting to drive in a foreign country often have to go through a series of tests to re-calibrate them to a different drive. If you have practically lived all your life in the US, you know right-hand drive. You have internalized it over the years.
If you are visiting Australia from the US, you will be surprised to encounter left-hand driving. Right-hand driving is the dominant traffic in the world; several countries still use left. To acquire an international driving permit, you will need to prove that you have internalized the thought of driving on different traffic arrangements.
Know the rules
Driving rules are more often than not similar, but there are variations that you should know about. Right-hand traffic and left-hand traffic all pose different safety problems. For example, right turns on a red light is relatively safe on right-handed traffic. However, it is not safe on left-hand traffic. So, you have to read the road signs effectively for you to be safe on the road.
Calibrations matter
In the US, car calibration for distances is in miles per hour. In the UK, South Africa, or Australia, the calibrations are in kilometers per hour. Picture this; you are driving at your comfortable speed of 50mph on the highway. Someone else is used to driving his car at 80kph. They will most likely be cruising at somewhere near 80mph, which is around 120kph.
This is a psychological effect that one must adjust to when driving in a foreign country. You could end up driving too fast or too slow, depending on the calibrations of the car.
Know the area
You need to know about the terrain of a place before you can drive around. In some desert countries, only specialized vehicles can survive the wrath of sand and dunes. In other areas, you will only find that off-road trucks are the only ones that can provide a meaningful driving experience.
Traveling to foreign countries can be amazing. If you are doing it often, you may be thinking that you can also be driving yourself around. If you are visiting neighboring countries, you can even drive yourself there. Before you think of driving there, you will need to know several things. You will need to know the requirements.
A quick check online can give you a glimpse of what it is like to drive in your foreign country of choice. If you have not acquired an international driver’s permit, this will be a good time to do that. You will not be allowed to drive anywhere else apart from your country if you don’t have that. Familiarize yourself with the driving hand before you go on the road. At first, it will feel awkward to drive on the left if you are used to driving on the right. If you come from right-hand driving countries, you are in luck as most countries in the world use right-hand traffic drive.
