British Heritage Reviews

The page opposite Robert Lockhart's introduction to his handy book DRIVING IN BRITAIN bears a cartoon of a night in full armour, preparing for a joust with a formidably armed opponent, while a squire brings him his plumed helmet. At the entrance to the jousting arena, a traffic sign reminds him to keep to the left.

This illustration surely captures the feeling of a great many North American travellers preparing to drive in Britain for the first time. Lockhart sets out to take the mystery and fear out of negotiating British roads, from the most heavily travelled motorways to the most out-of-the-way single track roads.

This is not a book of British traffic laws, but an insider's guide on how people really drive in Britain -- including laws, but also accepted etiquette and things North Americans do without a second thought that are considered strictly taboo on British roadways. The author unravels the mysteries of roundabouts, the typically British means of channelling traffic through an intersection that, to drivers from North America, often seems only slightly more comprehensible than the mysterious game of cricket.

This is done in a lighthearted style, accompanied by many clever drawings that make things perfectly understandable and give even the most anxious motorist reason to smile.

Here's just a sample of the topics Lockhart addresses: The British translation of American terminology, the meaning of various traffic signs and road markings and tips on when to say when at the local pub, on renting a car, and on finding the best places to stop along the way.

Finally, the list of addresses located at the back of the volume is a valuable resource in its own right, and will enable the curious reader to track down information on all sorts of interesting destinations they can reach with the help of their new-found driving expertise.

Driving In Britain: A North American's guide to the ins and outs and roundabouts of driving over there, by Robert A.C. Lockhart, distributed by Rampant Lion Communications, P.O. Box 405, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3C 2T2. $12.95 plus $2.00 shipping and handling. Paperback.

...BRITISH HERITAGE MAGAZINE Feb./March, 1994

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