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Quiz about Look Right Are You Ready To Drive In Britain
Quiz about Look Right Are You Ready To Drive In Britain

Look Right: Are You Ready To Drive In Britain? Quiz


If you're from the "right driving" world, relive the bewilderment, the aggravation and the sheer terror of your first taste of driving in Britain. If you are a native of the UK, indulge in a chuckle or two at the expense of a hapless tourist.

A multiple-choice quiz by uglybird. Estimated time: 7 mins.
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Author
uglybird
Time
7 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
190,183
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
7 / 10
Plays
2618
Awards
Top 10% Quiz
- -
Question 1 of 10
1. You try to make yourself comfortable behind the wheel in the cramped space of the right front seat and gaze out the window to the right, looking for the rearview mirror. "Ah, yes, the mirror's on the left along with the rest of the car," you realize, feeling a bit sheepish. After adjusting the mirror, you pull carefully out into traffic and accelerate to a comfortable 20 mph. Oh my, traffic is sure piling up behind you in a hurry. What is the speed limit in built up areas (unless otherwise indicated)? Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. Leading a lengthening line of disgruntled UK drivers, you come to your first roundabout. Slamming on your brakes, you stare in puzzlement at a dashed, white line on your side of the road at the entry point to the roundabout. What does this line indicate? Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. The honking horns of the line of cars behind you are encouraging you to take the plunge and enter a British roundabout for the first time. In which direction(s) should you look for oncoming traffic (assuming traffic in the roundabout is obeying the traffic laws)? Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. Having looked for traffic, you feel that it is now safe to attempt to traverse a British roundabout. This is a mini-roundabout that controls traffic at the intersection of two perpendicular roads. You have been instructed to "drive through" the roundabout. You wonder how literally to take this instruction. If there is no traffic, are you allowed to pass over the painted island in the center of the roundabout or must you steer around it? Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. You have driven through your first British roundabout without being killed, but you are now coming to a second roundabout at which two perpendicular streets intersect. Here, your were instructed to turn right. There are now two lanes of traffic going in your direction and entering the roundabout. The left lane has an arrow pointing left; the right lane has a double arrow with one arrow pointing straight and the other to the right. What would be the most proper course of action? Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. You have just turned from a British roundabout onto a typical, two way residential street in a London suburb. This means, of course, that wherever cars are parked, there is room for only one car to pass. Another car is coming from the opposite direction and the two of you will soon be at opposite ends of a line of parked cars that will allow only one of you to pass by at a time. The other driver flashes his high beams. What is the other driver most likely indicating? Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. You are driving back to your bed and breakfast in the London suburb of Harrow. Before leaving your bed and breakfast to pick up your rental car you asked your host how to determine the side of the street on which to park on streets where parking on both sides would completely obstruct traffic. Which of the following was most likely his answer? Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. Driving for the first time in Britain, having picked up your family at a bed and breakfast in the London suburb of Harrow, you have managed to gain entry to a roadway labeled "M25", which resembles an American freeway. Curiously, there are no identifiable speed limit signs; instead there are frequent signs saying "speed camera". Your travel guide book has informed you that passing such devices at an excessive rate of speed can result in a tersely worded letter from British authorities with an attached bill. If not posted, what is the speed limit on a British motorway? Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. You have just left a British village that had a posted speed limit of 30 mph and are now driving on an undivided road with one lane of traffic in each direction in a non-built up area. You pass a circular white sign with a wide black diagonal bar going through it. What does this sign indicate? Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. Driving on a dual carriageway, you notice frequent occurrences of a circular blue sign with a red rim and a red cross through the blue circle. You are surprised to find that none of the people you ask are sure of the sign's meaning. Which of the following actual guesses made by genuine UK natives does the highway code indicate is the proper meaning of the sign? Hint



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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. You try to make yourself comfortable behind the wheel in the cramped space of the right front seat and gaze out the window to the right, looking for the rearview mirror. "Ah, yes, the mirror's on the left along with the rest of the car," you realize, feeling a bit sheepish. After adjusting the mirror, you pull carefully out into traffic and accelerate to a comfortable 20 mph. Oh my, traffic is sure piling up behind you in a hurry. What is the speed limit in built up areas (unless otherwise indicated)?

Answer: 30 mph

The British seem intent on preventing foreign visitors from discovering the speed limit, but I have penetrated the mystery. Knowing the speed limit in Britain is dependent on having a proper understanding of the national speed limit. Notice that the phrase "national speed limit" would seem to imply a single quantity.

In fact, the phrase "national speed limit" refers to default speed limits in at least three circumstances. In a "built up area" the national speed limit is 30 mph. "But", you ask, "how does one distinguish that an area is built up".

The official highway code online site advises, "Street lights usually mean that there is a 30 mph speed limit unless there are signs showing another limit." Incidentally, British speed limits always end in "0". (See also subsequent questions on speed limits).
2. Leading a lengthening line of disgruntled UK drivers, you come to your first roundabout. Slamming on your brakes, you stare in puzzlement at a dashed, white line on your side of the road at the entry point to the roundabout. What does this line indicate?

Answer: You should give way to traffic in the roundabout.

I did come to appreciate roundabouts after attaining a reasonable level of competence in navigating them. However, my initial attempts at traversing them were reminiscent of the Keystone Cops. I will say that most British drivers were gracious and forgiving, and I am willing to assume that fellow American tourists were responsible for the more insistent honking and interesting hand gestures to which I was sometimes subjected. Broken lines of the type encountered at the entrance to roundabouts indicate that you should "give way" - yield in American parlance.
3. The honking horns of the line of cars behind you are encouraging you to take the plunge and enter a British roundabout for the first time. In which direction(s) should you look for oncoming traffic (assuming traffic in the roundabout is obeying the traffic laws)?

Answer: You should look right.

Roundabouts are being constructed and, therefore encountered, with greater frequency in the United States. The United States roundabout database kept at http://roundabouts.kittelson.com/dbase/queries/inv.cgi lists 326 existing roundabouts in the US with many more planned. Roundabouts are touted as both reducing collisions and improving traffic flow. American roundabout enthusiasts designate US roundabouts as being "modern".

The "Modern Roundabouts" website informs us that "Prior to the development of 'Roundabouts: An Informational Guide', the few state and local agencies interested in roundabouts had to rely on foreign roundabout design guides." It seems to this quiz author that adopting the already existing British model with its record of safety and efficacy makes more sense than trying to reinvent the roundabout. Could it be that there is more profit potential in promoting a "new" and questionably "improved " product?
4. Having looked for traffic, you feel that it is now safe to attempt to traverse a British roundabout. This is a mini-roundabout that controls traffic at the intersection of two perpendicular roads. You have been instructed to "drive through" the roundabout. You wonder how literally to take this instruction. If there is no traffic, are you allowed to pass over the painted island in the center of the roundabout or must you steer around it?

Answer: You must steer around it.

On a national highway code quiz, 87% of respondents indicated that you were permitted to pass over the island. The highway code indicates otherwise.
5. You have driven through your first British roundabout without being killed, but you are now coming to a second roundabout at which two perpendicular streets intersect. Here, your were instructed to turn right. There are now two lanes of traffic going in your direction and entering the roundabout. The left lane has an arrow pointing left; the right lane has a double arrow with one arrow pointing straight and the other to the right. What would be the most proper course of action?

Answer: Enter the roundabout from the right lane, activating your right turn signal. Go left around, in the inner lane. Pass the second exit, activate your left turn signal, migrate left to the outer lane and turn into the left lane of the third exit.

One reason for Europe's greater reliance on roundabouts relates to safety. Fatal collisions occur with three times the frequency at non-roundabout intersections in Britain as compared with intersections governed by roundabouts. In the Netherlands, replacement of nine intersections regulated by traffic lights with roundabouts resulted in an approximate 30% reduction in both fatalities and total number of collisions. (http://www.ourston.com/safety.html)
6. You have just turned from a British roundabout onto a typical, two way residential street in a London suburb. This means, of course, that wherever cars are parked, there is room for only one car to pass. Another car is coming from the opposite direction and the two of you will soon be at opposite ends of a line of parked cars that will allow only one of you to pass by at a time. The other driver flashes his high beams. What is the other driver most likely indicating?

Answer: You may come through first; he will wait.

Although the British highway code does not endorse the practice, flashing one's high beams is a common method for a UK driver to indicate that he or she is ceding the right-of-way. The highway code would limit use of a flash of the high beams to serve as a warning of your presence to other drivers.
7. You are driving back to your bed and breakfast in the London suburb of Harrow. Before leaving your bed and breakfast to pick up your rental car you asked your host how to determine the side of the street on which to park on streets where parking on both sides would completely obstruct traffic. Which of the following was most likely his answer?

Answer: Unless marked, there is no law or custom to guide you (since both sides may be used). On most streets, one side is consistently used by unspoken agreement.

As an American, I was at first puzzled at the highway code's admonition not to park on the pavement. When it explained that this could impair pedestrian traffic, I realized that "pavement" was a British term equivalent to the American "sidewalk". The British penchant for naming pedestrian and cyclist crossings after wildlife was also an initial source of confusion.

In America "alligator crossings" or "duck crossings" are literally, albeit humorously, set aside for alligators and ducks respectively. I initially believed that zebra, pelican and toucan crossings were whimsical UK inventions of the same sort.
8. Driving for the first time in Britain, having picked up your family at a bed and breakfast in the London suburb of Harrow, you have managed to gain entry to a roadway labeled "M25", which resembles an American freeway. Curiously, there are no identifiable speed limit signs; instead there are frequent signs saying "speed camera". Your travel guide book has informed you that passing such devices at an excessive rate of speed can result in a tersely worded letter from British authorities with an attached bill. If not posted, what is the speed limit on a British motorway?

Answer: 70 mph

This is another instance of the UK "national speed limit". For dual carriageways and motorways it is 70 MPH. It may not only be uninformed tourists who have difficulty with the "national speed limit" concept. According to Hertz Rentals, 56% of the British public was unable to correctly answer the following question, "What is the national speed limit for a motor car on a single carriageway road outside a built-up area, unless there are signs stating otherwise?" (It's 60 mph, by the way.)
9. You have just left a British village that had a posted speed limit of 30 mph and are now driving on an undivided road with one lane of traffic in each direction in a non-built up area. You pass a circular white sign with a wide black diagonal bar going through it. What does this sign indicate?

Answer: The speed limit is now 60 mph.

The sign described is one that indicates that the national speed limit is in force. For a single carriageway, outside a built up area, that would be 60 MPH. If any of you were stuck behind a slow moving, red Toyota Avensis in southern England in August of 2004, I apologize.

In the absence of a specific sign telling me what speed I should drive after leaving a village, I was left to guess. I blush as I confess that I guessed 40 mph.
10. Driving on a dual carriageway, you notice frequent occurrences of a circular blue sign with a red rim and a red cross through the blue circle. You are surprised to find that none of the people you ask are sure of the sign's meaning. Which of the following actual guesses made by genuine UK natives does the highway code indicate is the proper meaning of the sign?

Answer: No stopping (clearway)

In the UK, circular signs give orders; triangular signs give warnings; and square signs give information. My candidate for most unnerving British road sign is an oft seen rectangular sign coupling a triangular warning sign with a square explanatory sign.

The top portion of the sign contains a red triangle showing two lanes merging into one. The bottom of the sign contains an informational square explaining the specific hazard about which the triangular sign is warning you, "Oncoming vehicles in middle of road". Shudder...
Source: Author uglybird

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bloomsby before going online.
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