Driving in UK: slow

Last weekend I went to Northern Ireland, which was my second time driving a car in the UK.

This time I was really relaxed and I found it almost as easy as on my usual side, probably because I’ve been living in London for 5 years and my brain has been re-wired for the other side of the road driving, while walking, using the bus, etc.

But something that got my attention while I was driving: sometimes I saw signs on the road saying “SLOW”. Slow what?! It’s not a speed. If one is driving following the legal limits… should the car drive slower? It was usually written before a bend or some place that required extra attention. I’m not sure what the Google Car would do there: 80% of the legal limit? Or just ensure that I’m at or under the legal speed? No one should be faster than the legal limit, right?

I don’t have any data to confirm this but in Spain they tend to change the speed limit much more than in the UK. In Spain, sometimes, before a bend, they change the speed limit and then change it back again after the bend. It seems that in the UK they display SLOW which is slightly ambiguous: if the speed limit is not slow what should happen there?

And yes, in Spain sometimes there are so many signs that one can’t focus on the road anymore…

Anyway, looking forward to driving again in the UK and this time perhaps with a manual car instead of automatic. It might be in Cornwall where an American friend said that it’s nerve-racking due to the width of the road and the bends.