Roads - Town and country

The quality of pavements on UK roads is generally better than you find in Australia. The problem is that there is not enough pavement - the roads are too narrow and most of the time the roads don't have shoulders.

A typical main road in rural areas consists of a single lane in each direction. Overtaking lanes are rare. There are stretches where you can overtake on the other side of the road but sight distances are often short because of the windy roads.

Instead, they have areas called "laybys" where a driver can pull over to let other vehicles pass. These are generally few and far between and rely on the goodwill of the driver of the slower vehicle.

Even main roads do not usually have any shoulders and so there is no room to move in case of emergencies. Often there will be a kerb on each side of the road. In other cases, there are hedges or walls.

Minor roads often have inadquate space for vehicles travelling in opposite directions. So you need to slow down and squeeze past the other vehicle. Some roads are so narrow that even this is impossible in which case one vehicle needs to back up to find a part of the road that is wide enough for the vehicles to pass.

Some roads have tall hedges on either side of the road. Not only is it impossible to pass another vehicle coming in the opposite direction but it is very difficult to see the vehicle coming around the windy roads.