I just saw a headline about an American tourist in the UK who hit a cyclist because she drove on the wrong side of the road. I’ve always wondered why it is so easy for one to just rent a car and drive in a country where the road laws are all backwards from what they’re used to. Seems like there should be some kind of test involved but it feels like most countries will just give you the keys and let you take to the streets without any worries. I’m learning to drive and the thought that I could just go to England and rent a car seems crazy to me
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It is always a risk. But, tourism brings in a *lot* of money, every year, and many countries simply decide that the risk of an occasional collision is worth the benefit of all of those tourism dollars.
She wasn’t a tourist, but a diplomat who ran home rather than face up to her crime.
She had been here for a while and had ample time to learn the new laws.
Testing would be a good idea, but in this case still would not have saved that young man’s life.
Can confirm that this should be a bigger concern. I went to Ireland a few years ago, driving around Dublin, I turned down the wrong way of a busy street, quickly turned around when I saw cars coming at me, and spent the rest of the time in Dublin freaking out that I was turning the wrong way everytime.
Rental companies absolutely require you to buy their insurance in Ireland. No saying it’s covered by your credit card or whatever.
That said, the exit area of the Dublin airport is one of the more nerve wracking places to be IMO.
It’s not that hard to switch sides of the road once you get the hang of it. But to be sure, a larger number of vehicles come back with the passenger side mirror damaged then in countries where everyone’s driving on the right side of the road.
And sometimes, worse things happen. Like the story you read.
Switching sides isn’t a difficult thing, it really is, as you say, no worries. It would not really serve the purpose of catching incapable drivers, but it would be a barrier, and thereby prevent people from renting cars. i.e. “I didn’t rent a car because it we too much of a hassle” vs “I didn’t rent a car because they realized I was a bad driver”
Interesting note, in England near the Dover terminal for traffic coming from Europe, there are signs everywhere in German saying “links fahren” (drive on the left). I guess enough people forget that they need reminding.
There are four major ways to respond to a risk: accept it, avoid it, mitigate it, and share it.
A country could avoid the risk by banning all car rentals to foreigners. It solves the problem of visitors driving badly, but isn’t very popular because of the adverse effects on tourism, foreign workers, etc.
Accepting the risk and doing nothing is an option as well. If the local driving situation is safe enough, they could possibly absorb some of the risk from crazy foreigners.
Mitigating is one of the best options. Most rental car companies have a minimum age of 25; anyone younger has extremely heavy surcharges or an outright ban from renting. This ensures that people renting a car are fully grown adults with (most likely) a few years’ driving experience. A driver’s license from the country of origin (and/or an International Driving Permit) is also required, to ensure that *someone* certified your driving skills.
Sharing the risk is another solid option. Countries share risks with rental car companies – they rely on rental car companies to rent to safe drivers so the country doesn’t have to micromanage. Rental car companies share risks as well – the credit card on file to pay for damages, the mandatory insurance coverage in many countries, etc.
Overall, the system relies on the renter trying to save money and avoid stress. People who can’t drive well enough need to filter themselves out, and people who do rent need to do a bit of homework on the local rules of the road.
I mean, you don’t normally just get into a car set up for left handed travel and think it’s good to go for right handed travel. Everything is mirrored to accommodate the difference. It’s pretty natural with the biggest issue are normally things like intersections and parking which take time to internalize.
It’s not a common issue. I drive on the left in my country and we do get people during tourist season driving on the wrong side of the road, but it’s rare. Most people are capable of swapping sides.
I went to Hawaii and rented a car. Driving on the right was really not that big of an adjustment, what I should’ve done was read up on some of the more obscure local rules. I didn’t even know four-way stops existed before I went to Hawaii, and being able to turn right on red lights was also not something I knew about. But those little things weren’t likely to cause any accidents.
It’s only the outliers who get it wrong, and implementing some sort of test would deter a lot of tourists who otherwise would’ve brought decent money into the country
Actually you don’t.
Or you travel to a country where your native driver’s license is recognized, or you need to get an international driver’s license.
Depending on circumstances, additional constraints on where and when you can drive might apply.
This is similar like college degrees. In some countries you can litteraly just buy a license/degree, these are often not recognized elsewhere. Most other countries however do have proper governance in place when issuing such documents are those are recongnized abroad.
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