Driving in new cities

junii

When you go to a new city and don't really know the roads or anything...how the helll do you deal with it. For eg. coming to a roundabout by the time your at it you realise your in the wrong lane and you may have to travel miles to get it back. Or lanes, sometimes its impossible to know which one you should be in. It makes finding your way so difficult and cumbersome, you just feel like pulling in..giving up and leaving your car on the side of the road. (of course you can't do that but thats what I feel like doing)

City folk are not too lenient towards people doing the wrong things. Excuse my possible naivite but does it have to be this way?

zuutroy

SatNav! It can be stressful in some places without it, but I've managed London, Paris, Brussels....decent signposting really makes a difference.

Skyuser

I use satnav

Stark

I get like that on the occasions when I have to drive on Dublin southside. The number of lane changes needed just to go straight for a couple of blocks!

Rabies

If I'm driving in a new area or city I just take it easy and try to watch for signs in the distance. Sometimes I nudge my way across in to the right lane if there still is time. If not, suffer on and circle until back again.
Have been looking in to sat nav, must really invest in it some day.

Stephen

Road signs. Most countries are a lot better than Ireland in this regard. You may need to learn a few common traffic-related words when in foreign countries though. i.e. in a German speaking country, follow signs marked "Zentrum" for the city centre

TempestSabre

junii wrote:

When you go to a new city and don't really know the roads or anything...how the helll do you deal with it. For eg. coming to a roundabout by the time your at it you realise your in the wrong lane and you may have to travel miles to get it back. Or lanes, sometimes its impossible to know which one you should be in. It makes finding your way so difficult and cumbersome, you just feel like pulling in..giving up and leaving your car on the side of the road. (of course you can't do that but thats what I feel like doing)

City folk are not too lenient towards people doing the wrong things. Excuse my possible naivite but does it have to be this way?

Buy a map and read it before you set off?

Go online and ask for directions?

Use one of those route planner applications?

Basically you need to prepare before hand.

Dr. Loon

I don't think road maps give you lane changes, nor do online maps. They just give you the run/directions of a road no? I live in Dublin but can't find my way around the Soutshide to save my life. Though I did today. Sudden lane changes are something regular drivers or locals on the particular road know. Mosy maps I've seen don't tell you that.

TempestSabre

Once you know your route (from reading a map) planning a route its common sense. Either you have that or you don't. Its the same whereever you go. Its not hard here. Try at night on a 6 lane freeway with traffic moving at 90mph, and all the road directions are numbers like exit 34c 34b etc, not names, and with flyovers and interchanges so you can't rely on your sense of direction, and because its night theres no landmarks. Then add to that its an unfamilar car, or van with perhaps a column shift.

For example if you know theres a left turn comming up somewhere ahead you know to look for a turning lane etc, and move to the middle lane early. Its not rocket science.

I dunno next you'll want some one to eat for you.

mikedragon32

I've never had problems driving in any urban setting.

Know your route, apply liberal amounts of common sense, hold your nerve and take nothing for granted.

I've found that driving in the south of France is the most perilous, the drivers down there seem to be a lot more agressive for some reason. If someone gets impatient and honks their horn at you, let them. It's only noise!

dubstub

Driving in a foreign city has never been a problem for me either. More or less echoing what other posters have said: you need to know how to get where you're going (maps, directions, route plan) and you need to take it really easy and be very observant, read every sign post as soon as it comes into focus and travel at a speed that allows you to slow and take a turn if required - sometimes your turn appers before you expected it to.
Also, you need to be a confident driver as the extra stress of being in an unfamiliar setting as well as the distraction of searching for your turn off/lane change should not affect your driving.

LikeOhMyGawd!

A map, good preparation and observation. I can't understand the fixation with sat-nav, especially within Ireland. How often do people go places that they are completely unfamiliar with?

Alun

LikeOhMyGawd! wrote:

A map, good preparation and observation. I can't understand the fixation with sat-nav, especially within Ireland. How often do people go places that they are completely unfamiliar with?

Well for people like myself who are only recent blow-ins, all the time, actually. Mine is used primarily to navigate through the impenetrable maze that is Dublin's suburbs. I can't see how anyone can navigate through this, on their own, with only a map, it's nigh on impossible especially with signposting that's only useful for people who know where they're going anyway (true of virtually all big cities). OK, so you can plan a route beforehand, but all you need is a new junction, a new one-way system or a road closure and you're royally fcuked. This is where SatNav excels. It may not necessarily get you there via the same route that someone who had lived here all their lives might recommend, but it will get you there eventually.

TempestSabre

Sat Nav allows you do to do no preparation, and not use your brain. So its easier for those that can't do it themselves. Some people are just not good with understanding, or giving directions. Some have no sense of direction.

I reckon your born with this. My test is if you can point to your house no matter where you are, and get it approx right most of the time. Then you've a sense of direction. My toddler can do this most of the time.

LikeOhMyGawd!

I too am a blow in all I needed was a copy of Dublin Street Atlas and Guide (Causeway press, available in Easons) and to a lesser extent for outside the city one of these .
(Total cost about €15)

Plus when I get home I can see where I've been and the route I took. Granted some of the one way systems in the city and the no right/left turns are a bit of an arse but nothing that can't be surmounted with a bit of thought and no panic.

Alun

Smart arse ... the picture wasn't really necessary. Do you think I, like practically everyone in Dublin, doesn't have one of those too?

Listen, all I'm saying is that it's a damn sight easier with a SatNav system than without, especially if you take a wrong turn or something has changed in the road layout etc. The SatNav will recalculate the route and get you back on route quickly. With the paper map you have to either stop somewhere (not always possible) to look at the map, or try reading it while driving along (illegal and dangerous).

TempestSabre

Personally I use googlemaps before I set off and would rarely need to look at a map. Even in somewhere like San Fran as they had (a few years back) a one way system that changed direction on alternate days. I generally just find my way somewhere without much hassle. Only difference is the highways in the US or Motorways where its just numbers and you've no visual points pf reference. Even then once I had checked up the exit numbers before hand I'd rarely have a problem.

marcphisto

I sympathise with you Alun, but tbh having navigated my way through quite a lot of european cities I have to say that nothing beats getting an up to date map and planning your route. Idiotic lane assignments and crap signposting is far more prevalent here than anywhere else.

In some countries it's common practice to place the signpost before the junction

Alun

marcphisto wrote:

I sympathise with you Alun, but tbh having navigated my way through quite a lot of european cities I have to say that nothing beats getting an up to date map and planning your route. Idiotic lane assignments and crap signposting is far more prevalent here than anywhere else.

In some countries it's common practice to place the signpost before the junction

Yes, I know, I lived and worked on the continent travelling extensively for my work for over 20 years before moving here, and have had plenty of experience navigating strange cities whilst wrestling with a huge assortment of street atlasses and paper maps, thank you very much, and my own personal experience is that using SatNav certainly does beat using a paper map in most cases, especially when driving alone. YMMV of course.

LikeOhMyGawd!

Alun wrote:

Smart arse ... the picture wasn't really necessary. Do you think I, like practically everyone in Dublin, doesn't have one of those too?

Listen, all I'm saying is that it's a damn sight easier with a SatNav system than without, especially if you take a wrong turn or something has changed in the road layout etc. The SatNav will recalculate the route and get you back on route quickly. With the paper map you have to either stop somewhere (not always possible) to look at the map, or try reading it while driving along (illegal and dangerous).

don't pish your knickers dude! (Maybe that's why you need a satnav to get you to your destination so quickly?) With a proper map all you have to do is plan your route and memorise it.

Alun

LikeOhMyGawd! wrote:

don't pish your knickers dude! (Maybe that's why you need a satnav to get you to your destination so quickly?)

Don't give up your day job will you "dude" ... being a comedian obviously isn't your calling in life.

With a proper map all you have to do is plan your route and memorise it.

Stating the bleedin' obvious appears to be one of your fortes, doesn't it? Sorry, but I've got better things to be doing than engage in this kind of puerile 'discussion', seeya!

zuutroy

I'm guessing everyone arguing the map's corner doesnt use SatNav. There's no contest. It's a great invention! Me and the Mrs nearly murdered each other at times trying to get around Europe using road atlases. Satnav has stopped all that. That said, I do like studying a good map.

junii

I must say that I like to look at a map and plan out the route et cetera but the problem is with the lanes really and stuff like road works. If I find myself having to take a different route then I must pull in to look at my map. There may not be a place to pull in for ages and then you may have to travel miles just to get back. If your in a hurry this isn't on.

I think ill get myself one of those satnav systems but will also use a map beforehand to plan as I like getting to know my way around places and all that.

Thanks.

TempestSabre

zuutroy wrote:

I'm guessing everyone arguing the map's corner doesnt use SatNav. There's no contest....

For 99.9% of my driving I don't need a map. Why on earth would I need a talking map? Roadworks and lanes I don't even think about, I just pull off and go around just keep heading in the same general direction on instinct.

kluivert

Am with Temp here.

All i ever needed was a map and some preparation, take those little maps with you not the map fold out maps.

I have drove through London with out Sat Nav and found it easy enough. Preparation is all you need.

Google maps is very good in my opinion as well.

In Ireland, especially Dublin if you have a good sense of direction, then you should have a problem. I got lost in Dublin a while back but I knew the general direction that I should have been going stuck to that and came out where I needed to go.

Also leave early and give yourself loads of time.