In the UK, the rules of the road are determined by the Highway Code. But just to confuse things, one Highway Code applies to England, Scotland and Wales, and another applies to Northern Ireland!

We recommend that you read the English or the Northern Irish Highway Code, but to help you get on the road, we have highlighted some key rules that might be different to those back at home.

Accustomizing yourself to British roads

You’re probably already aware that we drive on the left-hand side of the road in the UK. However, for many of you who drive on the right, it will still be a shock when you start driving in a different country.

We are all in the habit of the driving our normal way – so just remembering to look the correct way at junctions will take time. Don’t forget, when you approach a roundabout, you need to give-way to people coming from the right. This means you give priority to vehicles coming from the right. Drive clockwise, not anti-clockwise, around roundabouts.

The other obvious difference on British roads is that signposts give distances in miles instead of kilometres. This is because in the UK we have a strange system in which we have updated how we measure some things to metric system, but not others. For this reason, a beer in a bar comes in a pint (0.568 litres), but a bottle of coke is measured in litres.

So if you were wondering why it took you so long to drive what you thought said 50km on the signpost, you should remember that one mile is equal to about 1.6 kilometres, which means a 125 mile journey is the same as 200km.

Speed limits

Because the distances are measured in miles, our speed limits are in miles per hour (mph). And to make sure you don’t get caught out by the speed cameras, you need to abide to the speed limit. More importantly than this – and the reason speed cameras are in place in the first place, consider the safety of pedestrians when driving through built-up areas.

This is quite simple if you’re driving a British car because the speedometer will show mph and km/h on the same dial. However, if you are driving your original car from abroad, it will most likely only be in Km/h.

If this applies to your car, you need to get used to doing the maths! 1.6km. This means that to work out what a speed is in Km/h, you just need to multiply it by 1.6 – easy! It would be hard work to calculate the speeds in Km/h in your head all the time. But it is quite simple if you learn the most common speed limits in the UK.

So below, the speed limits are in Km/h as well as mp/h. Remember, these are limits not advised speeds – some English country roads may have a national speed limit, where it would be dangerous to drive that fast!

These speeds are the national limits, where no other speed restriction is signposted. Some of the speed limit signs you will see are also shown below:

National speed limits

Speed cameras and ‘penalty points’

If you ignore the speed limits, as well as driving dangerously, you are taking the risk of getting fines. There are now 6,000 speed cameras, catching nearly 2 million people a year across the UK. If you have a British license, every time you get ‘flashed’ by one, you’ll get a £60 fine and three penalty points on your driving license.

You get points on your license each time you are convicted of most driving offences. The number of points you receive depends on the severity of your offence. If you collect more than 12 points, you will no longer be allowed to drive in the UK.

However, if you are driving in the UK on your driving license from your home-country, or haven’t registered for the British driving license counterpart, you will have to go to court to receive your penalty, which should be the same as a fixed penalty for a British driver. This means a £60 fine for a typical speeding offence. This is because at present, there is no way of adding the points to a driving license from outside the UK. 

For more details on exchanging your driving license for a British one or register for a UK counterpart see our section on driving a car in the UK to get a British license.

Drink-driving

In the UK, it wasn’t so many years ago that people used to have a few beers at the pub, and then drive home at the end of the night, despite that, since the 1960s driving under the influence of alcohol has been illegal in the UK. But in recent years, the Government has spent millions making sure that people abide by the rules.

It is illegal to drive with more than 80mg of alcohol in 100mg of blood. But how much you can drink before you reach this limit depends on many factors such as size and weight. So there is no sure way of knowing how to stay below it, apart from the obvious way of not drinking any alcohol before getting in a car.

Even if you think you can drive after a few drinks, statistics show that people who drive at 2 times the legal limit are 50 times more likely to have a crash. And even if you still think that you are invincible, it is not worth the risk. British Police now stop and test 500,000 people a year - if you get caught you will receive a big fine, and will be banned from driving in the UK.

Mobile Phones

It is also illegal to use a mobile phone whilst driving unless it is absolutely necessary to make an emergency call when stopping would be unsafe. Police will now give you a £60 fine and three penalty points on your driving license.

Seat belts

Safety rules in the UK mean if you are over the age of 12, or are taller than 1.35 metres, you MUST wear a seat belt if there is one in the car, whether you are sitting in the front or the back seats. Perhaps more importantly, if you are the driver, you are also responsible for ensuring anyone under 14 wears a seatbelt as well as yourself.

Crossings and junctions

It is polite to stop at zebra crossings when there is someone waiting to cross. Zebra crossings are marked by black and white stripes on the road, which is why they’re called Zebra crossings! Cars do not have to stop at these crossings, so if you are the pedestrian do not just walk out and expect the driver to stop!

Many other crossings and junctions have traffic lights at them. These might look a little different to those in other countries: they have an ‘amber’ between the red and the green. This is just a way of showing the light is about to change from red to green or green to red. You should only go through an amber light that is about to go to red if you had already passed the white stop line when it changed.

Use of the horn

In some busy European cities the sound of the horn is something you hear a lot! In the UK the Highway Code says you should only use it to warn other road-users of your presence, and not because you are annoyed about the traffic! Also, it is an offence to use the horn when you are stopped or in a ‘built-up’ area between 11.30pm and 7.00am.

By Matt Taylor

HELPFUL TIPS

First Things First

A car must be roadworthy (in a condition that it can be driven safely), which includes a minimum depth of tyre tread (the depth of grooves in the tyre rubber)

If it’s a give-way sign, you don’t have to stop if the road is clear, but if it’s a stop sign, then you must always stop

We can’t park here, it’s a towaway zone (area where your car may be taken away if you park illegally)

Who has the right of way at a corner in your country?  Cars or pedestrians? (who is allowed to go before traffic)

If the police ask you to stop, you must pull over to the side of the road

Problems

The permitted level of exhaust emissions is to be lowered in an attempt to reduce air pollution in big cities (waste gases produced by vehicles)

He was given a breathalyser test and it was discovered he had consumed a huge amount of alcohol (instrument you breathe into to measure alcohol level).  He was charged with drink-driving and fined £500

Jumping a red light is a serious offence (not stopping at)

Reckless driving is also a very serious offence (very dangerous driving, without any care for others)

If you cause a serious accident you could receive a ban for several years or go to prison (removal of your driving licence)

Less serious offences may result in penalty points (negative points on your licence which are added up over time)

On-the-spot fines may be issued for careless driving and other offences (a fine given at the scene of the offence)

There was an accident on the motorway so traffic was diverted through the town (had to follow a different route)

I parked on a double yellow line and my car was clamped (a large lock was attached to one of the wheels so I couldn’t drive away)

GRAMMAR SPOT

Permission: Let and Allow

With let there is no to before the second verb and let is not normally used in the passive:

The police let her continue her journey after the accident.

The cars stopped to let the ambulance pass by.

Allow is followed by to and can be used in the passive instead of let:

In the UK you are not allowed to stop on double red lines.

You are allowed to continue when the traffic lights turn green.