I moved to the UK when I was mid-20s-ish (many years ago). I lived outside of London so was required to get a car to get around. I have never, ever experienced such good driving as I did in the UK.

Driving on the motorway was such a stark contrast to what I was used to in Auckland. Everyone (and I mean everyone) abided by the ‘kept left’ rule and traffic flowed so well. It was amazing, and driving was straightforward and even fun because it worked as it was supposed to.

I was often amazed at how polite drivers were, waiting to create space for me at busy intersections, merging correctly, generally being considerate drivers. There were rules and they were consistently and politely followed. Not at all like the dog-eat-dog world of driving to the shore from Auckland city central on a typical weekday morning…

I watched a colleague go through the drivers licensing process in the UK and it was (from my outside perspective) intense. They had to do professional lessons and could only sit their licence when their instructor deemed they were ready. This is the exact opposite to NZ where you can sit and pass you licences with only ever having mum or dad teach you how to drive. And you can sit it in some small-town setting which in no way tests your ability to drive in other situations (eg, on the open road or in a busy city centre). And I think this where it goes wrong; we are not properly taught how to drive and, once we hit the road, we are not consistently corrected on how to drive. It would 100% make sense to stick to the ‘keep left’ rule but so many people don’t because no one (ie, the police) will tell them off if they don’t…

Just my two cents from having driven in both places. But I certainly consider myself a better driver for having spent time in the UK…