Brits drive into trouble overseas

When Brits travel abroad, they drive on the wrong side of the road, get lost, run out of petrol and leave their driving license at home – according to a new UK survey.

Recent figures supplied by the government show that Britons can turn into appalling drivers when on holiday abroad, engaging in reckless driving that most wouldn’t consider at home in the UK.

In a survey just published, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) found that two-thirds of the eight million Britons who drive on holidays abroad run into trouble.

Fully one-third have reported driving on the wrong side of the road, and one-tenth have driven around a roundabout the wrong way.

The result is that death rates while driving on holiday are higher than when driving at home. Britons are about twice as likely to die while driving in Spain as they are in the UK, nearly three times as likely when driving in Greece and more than twice as likely when driving in the US. Alcohol figures in as a significant contributor to high accident rates.

Crime is another issue, with some holiday-makers losing their valuables as a result of theft or “motorway mugging”.

Pamela Deegan, vice-consul at the British consulate in Lille, France, reported that consular staff deal with an array of incidents involving holiday drivers.

“Around half of the hospitalisations and deaths we dealt with last year were related to road accidents,” she noted.

“The majority of Britons driving from the UK to the continent drive through northern France and many of the accidents we deal with are caused by driver fatigue, drink-driving, speeding and driving on the wrong side of the road.”

In an attempt to counter this troubling situation, the FCO is launching a new campaign to encourage British travellers to drive safely on foreign roads.