Ireland traffic and driving.

I rented a car after my conference was finished.  It was a Nissan Micra, not sold in the USA.  Probably because it would not pass the safety standards here.  That little car was smaller and lighter weight than any car I've ever seen before.  However, it made a lot of sense for European (and particulary Irish) driving.  This is because Ireland has only a very few miles of 4-lane highways.  Their primary highways are only two lanes, and even narrow for those.  The back-roads are barely 1 1/2 the width of American back roads.  To boot, they are invariably lined with rustic walls of vines and moss.  However, the vegetation hides the fact that these walls are of STONE.  There is very little room on these roads, so the Micra ended up being an excellent choice.

Driving in Ireland is hazardous for all but English tourists, as the traffic runs on the right-hand side.  Furthermore, traffic signs are typically not displaying the street, road or highway names, but instead the direction to the next town.  Furthermore, the streets in the town frequently change names from block to block.  This problem is especially confusing, since not every street has a sign designating it, though it will show up in a map.  If there are street signs with names of the streets on them (as opposed to the direction to the next town), they are posted in difficult to spot and inconsistent locations.  The most prominently displayed are nailed to the sides of a building at an intersection.  More commonly, in family neighborhoods, the signs are affixed to low walls, about 2 feet above the sidewalk.  However, most frequently, there are no signs at all at most intersections.

A common joke in Ireland is that the traffic signs are meant not for the locals, but primarily to frustrate German drivers.  I think this saying actually came from Britain, though the Irish are loath to admit anything comes from Britain.

A traffic obstacle common at Ireland and English intersections is the "round-a-bout."  This intersection of two or more roads is simply a big circle, connecting the roads.  One yields to traffic already in the round-a-bout; once inside, one drives in a clockwise direction around the circle until one finds the correct road to diverge onto.  The round-a-bout is particularly terrifying at first, but curiously becomes almost second-nature after about the 5th one or so.  This system actually makes a lot of sense:  By connecting multiple roads intersecting at one spot this way, one does not need any complicated traffic signals.  And it works equally well for three, four, five or more roads intersecting at one spot.