The Roads

The roads, oh man, where do I even start? Well, okay, of course, they drive on the left side of the road here. That took a while to get used to. I make sure to look both ways before crossing the streets, but even if I forget, there's these handy little messages on the asphalt to remind me.



Then there's the roundabouts. I hate these things with a passion. In Long Beach, where I lived for nearly 6 years, there was this one single roundabout that was always right in the middle of where I wanted to go, and I avoided that thing like the plague. Here, I'm not so lucky. Not only are roundabouts absolutely EVERYWHERE, but I'm riding my bike, not safely stowed away in a car, so if I misuse the roundabout I'm even more in danger! The pic below of one I biked around today!



The streets, from what I've seen at least, are pedestrian friendly. There are many crosswalks, referred to as zebra crossings, each with blinking lights on each side. Also I've noticed that if you press a crosswalk button it signals the traffic to stop almost immediately.





Some speed limit signs are more cute than others, as you can tell by the pictures below.




And also to help reduce speeders are mobile speed cameras located on various problem streets. They are large and yellow laser speed traps that detect the speed of a passing car and records the information. If prosecuted it can result in a minimum of 3 penalty points and a £60 fine. Do we have these in the USA? I know we have traffic light cameras, but I'm not sure about these.



Safe driving!
♡ - Kristen