In the UK we normally drive on the left side of the road, but there is more to it than
that - as our position within our lane is also important. Driving with the correct road
position is important for safety and also helps traffic flow freely. Many new drivers
find this difficult to judge, and find themselves accidentally driving off the edge of the road
- so in this video we will show how to position your car on a few different types of road.
Before we get started, please subscribe to our channel and click the bell so you can
watch our next video as soon as it’s released. If you have any questions about this video,
then please comment below and we will reply as soon as we can.
There are several reasons that it is important to maintain the correct position in the road.
Firstly, keeping a metre gap to the left of our car whenever possible should keep our
car away from most of the potholes that can easily damage our wheels or tyres. This gap
gives a little clearance to any pedestrians we pass - in case they stumble into the road.
It also provides a little room for us to steer around bends without our rear wheel rubbing
the kerb. Of course, we can’t position too far to the right either as we could impede
traffic coming towards us. We shouldn’t regard our road position as fixed - as we
will need to adjust it occasionally to suit different road widths, and the current traffic
and weather conditions. We will also need to consider how to position in other situations,
such as when using junctions, driving around parked cars, when on multi-lane roads, and
also when overtaking - but since we have already covered those in other videos we will concentrate
on the basics here.
With enough experience we will be able to feel where the car is placed on the road,
but to start with it is useful to have a reference point to use. Let’s move the car out to
a better road position for driving. Now we are positioned about a metre from the kerb,
and from the drivers position we can see the kerb meets the bottom of the windscreen just
to the left of the wiper arm. Like any other reference point this will vary in other cars
and for other driving positions, so take the time to find yours if you need to. Once we
start driving, all we have to do to maintain this road position is gently steer to keep
the kerb in this position at the bottom of the windscreen. We naturally tend to steer
towards wherever we are looking, so after checking our reference point we try to keep
looking as far ahead up the road as possible to make it easier to keep our road position
correct. Because of this, we don’t use the left door mirror to check our position whilst
driving, as it would require looking further away from the road - which could cause unintentional
steering in that direction.
We recommend holding the steering wheel with both hands wherever possible, as it allows
for more precise steering control. The power steering fitted to modern cars means that
we only need to hold the wheel fairly gently, and this will also allow us to feel any feedback
from the front wheels to understand how much grip the tyres have. The wheel should always
be turned smoothly in a fluid motion, so that the car stays well balanced on the road and
in full control.
We are driving on a 2-lane road that has nice wide lanes - and this makes it much easier
to keep to our correct road position. Our normal reference point still works nicely,
and we can also see in our right door mirror that there is plenty of space between our
car and the centre of the road. Once we have checked our road position, we look ahead as
far as possible again, which helps us steer to smoothly.
Here we are driving on another 2-lane road, but it is a lot narrower - although there
is still enough room for two vehicles to pass each other. To allow a safe gap to oncoming
traffic we need to move a little nearer to the edge of the road, but we keep an eye on
our reference point to ensure we don’t move over too far. Looking ahead again, we keep
scanning the road ahead in case a large vehicle such as a bus approaches us. If this happens
we will need to reposition further to the left of our lane to allow a safe gap for them
to pass us - but to reduce the danger of going off the road we always reduce our speed first.
This narrow road has no centre markings and the width is less than before. We still position
our car about a metre from the left, but this actually takes us over the centre of the road.
Due to this it is going to be quite difficult to squeeze past oncoming vehicles, so we must
drive more cautiously in case we need to slow down or completely stop. When driving around
bends or over crests we have less visibility of the road ahead, so we position more to
the left than normal in case of oncoming traffic.
Now we have reached the most dangerous type of road to drive on - the single track road.
Accident statistics suggest that we are over 20 times more likely to be injured in an accident
when driving here than on normal roads - so we must be very careful. We can’t use our
normal reference point as our road position is actually in the centre of the road most
of the time, but we are continually looking ahead for oncoming traffic and passing areas.
If we see an oncoming car we must use the most convenient place to pass each other,
and this will often mean stopping completely or even reversing if needed. Because of this
we keep our speed much lower than normal, even if the road has a national speed limit.
So, remember to; Find your own reference point to use
Steer gently to keep the car in position Look ahead as far as possible, and
Adjust your road position when needed
If you found this video interesting and would like to be notified when we release the next
one, then please click our logo to subscribe to our channel.
If you would like to help us make new videos, then please click the Patreon logo to find
out about our crowdfunding campaign. Thanks for watching!