Driving on the left: tips for Americans and Europeans

Collect the car in daylight and, if possible, not at an airport with a maze of one-way exits. Walk around the vehicle, photograph existing damage, and confirm the controls before you move: indicator stalk, wipers, headlights, handbrake and gear selector are often mirrored or on the opposite side from what you know. In most left-driving countries the driver sits on the right, so you shift with your left hand and indicate with the right-hand stalk. Japan and Thailand are the main exceptions: they drive on the left but put the driver on the left, as in the US.

Before you join traffic, sit in the driver's seat and say the rule: centre line on my right. Then drive a loop of quiet streets for 20 to 30 minutes. Turn left and right at simple junctions, stop at a stop sign, and pull out from a side road twice. The goal is not to see anything; it is to overwrite the reflex that makes you drift to the right lane when you are tired or distracted.

When you do join a main road, remember that a left turn is the easy turn and a right turn crosses oncoming traffic. At home it was the reverse. Give yourself extra time at every junction for the first day, and do not let a queue behind you push you into a gap you have not checked.

Roundabouts are where right-side drivers most often make a mistake. In a left-driving country you go around clockwise, which means you enter by turning left and give way to traffic coming from your right. Pick your lane before you enter, stay in it, and signal left as you pass the exit before yours. If you miss your exit, go around again; that is normal and safe.

At a T-junction or crossroads, the priority rules may differ from home. The UK and Ireland use give-way markings and a hierarchy of road size; Australia and New Zealand have give-way and stop rules that are similar but not identical; Japan uses a different set of priorities at unmarked junctions. Read the local road code summary in your rental pack rather than assuming your home rules carry over.

Overtaking happens on the right. On a two-lane road that means you pull out toward the centre line, pass, and return to the left lane. On multi-lane roads the right lane is the fast lane, the mirror of the US. If you are slow, stay left and let people pass; in the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, sitting in the right lane when not overtaking is both annoying and, on some roads, an offence.

There is no fee for driving on the left itself. The costs are the ordinary ones of renting a car abroad, plus a few extras that catch people out. An automatic transmission is the main one: in the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, most rental fleets are manual, and automatics are a smaller share that books out early. Expect to pay more per day for one, and to reserve weeks ahead in peak season (2026 estimate).

Insurance is the second cost. The base rate usually includes a collision damage waiver with an excess, meaning you pay the first slice of any damage. That excess can be several hundred to over a thousand in local currency, and tyres, glass, roof and underbody are often excluded. A zero-excess policy bought at the desk or from a third party removes most of that risk for a daily fee. Check what your travel insurance already covers before you buy twice.

Time is the other budget. Most drivers feel reasonably comfortable after one to two hours of daylight driving on quiet roads, and genuinely relaxed after a full day. Plan your first driving day as a short one: 60 to 120 km on secondary roads rather than a 400 km motorway run. If you are hiring a campervan, add an hour of practice in a car park before you leave the depot.

Japan and Thailand drive on the left but put the driver on the left side of the car. That means the mirroring is partial: you sit where you are used to, but the lane position is reversed. Many visitors find this the hardest combination, because the seat position feels normal while the road does not.

Some countries drive on the left but have large numbers of right-hand-drive and left-hand-drive vehicles mixed together, including India, Kenya and Tanzania. Rental fleets are usually consistent, but you may see both on the road.

Border crossings can change the rule. Driving from Thailand into Laos, or from Kenya into Ethiopia, puts you on the other side of the road. Rental agreements often forbid cross-border travel, and insurance may not cover it. Check before you plan a route that crosses a border.

A few places have specific local rules that surprise visitors: London's congestion charge zone, Singapore's electronic road pricing, and various low-emission zones in European and UK cities. These are separate from the side-of-road question but they affect the same trip.

Most of driving is identical. Pedals are in the same order, the steering wheel works the same way, and the rules of the road are broadly similar across countries that share a legal tradition. What changes is lane position, the side of the car you sit on, which turn is easy, and which way round a roundabout goes.

The habits that transfer badly are the ones you do without thinking: drifting to the right lane when the road is empty, checking the wrong mirror before a lane change, and stepping off a kerb looking the wrong way as a pedestrian. The last one is a genuine risk. In a left-driving country, traffic comes from your right first when you cross, so look right, then left, then right again.

If you can, spend the first day as a passenger. Watch how drivers position the car, how they enter roundabouts, and where they sit in the lane. It is free practice.

Short answers to the questions people ask most before their first left-side drive.