Tips For Devon Drivers
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
Driving in Devon, England, is an entirely different variety of driving. This is mainly due to the incredible geography of the county, in which the field and hedgerow reigns supreme, and most roads are slightly narrower than one car-width. While it is a beautiful experience to drive through a leafy green tunnel, your car surrounded on all sides, it can also be a hazardous one. This necessitates an interesting set of laws and helpful suggestions:
1. Any kind of car you choose to drive in Devon will undoubtedly be too large for the type of road you are driving along that day.
2. The car has not been made that is small enough to comfortably pass another car on a Devon road. There's barely enough room for pedestrians! Make sure to find a passing area and PULL OVER.
3. Put away a small portion of income to deal with the following: paintwork scratches, lost or damaged wing mirrors, minor front-end collisions, and assorted animal damage.
4. Be prepared for rain. Lots of it. This means driving carefully (especially in tidal roads) though huge puddles, learning how to avoid stepping out of the parked car into what seems like an interminable swamp, and investing in lots of windscreen wiper covers.
5. Learn the fine art of staring another driver down. Inevitably, you will encounter the situation in which two cars are face-to-face, neither one prepared to back down and reverse to a passing area (ie. a fork in the road or another spot where the road is miraculously large enough to accommodate two cars). Be prepared for this occurrence by having either a really nice car which says "Get out of my way, you fool!" or a really crappy car which says "I don't care what happens to this piece of junk; can you say the same about yours?". Perfect the vicious look of the driver who has already backed up twice to allow another car to go by and is not planning to do it again.
Good luck!
1. Any kind of car you choose to drive in Devon will undoubtedly be too large for the type of road you are driving along that day.
2. The car has not been made that is small enough to comfortably pass another car on a Devon road. There's barely enough room for pedestrians! Make sure to find a passing area and PULL OVER.
3. Put away a small portion of income to deal with the following: paintwork scratches, lost or damaged wing mirrors, minor front-end collisions, and assorted animal damage.
4. Be prepared for rain. Lots of it. This means driving carefully (especially in tidal roads) though huge puddles, learning how to avoid stepping out of the parked car into what seems like an interminable swamp, and investing in lots of windscreen wiper covers.
5. Learn the fine art of staring another driver down. Inevitably, you will encounter the situation in which two cars are face-to-face, neither one prepared to back down and reverse to a passing area (ie. a fork in the road or another spot where the road is miraculously large enough to accommodate two cars). Be prepared for this occurrence by having either a really nice car which says "Get out of my way, you fool!" or a really crappy car which says "I don't care what happens to this piece of junk; can you say the same about yours?". Perfect the vicious look of the driver who has already backed up twice to allow another car to go by and is not planning to do it again.
Good luck!
