How to drive in the countryside

Our top tips for countryside driving

TL;DR: What’s the key to driving safely in the countryside?

Rural roads are narrower, less predictable, and carry a much higher share of serious collisions than city roads – so the main shift is pace and attention, not skill.

Slow down for blind bends, give way at passing places, take extra care around livestock and flooding, and plan your route if you’re driving an electric car somewhere remote.

Country roads have a way of humbling even confident drivers

You can handle roundabouts, dual carriageways, the works – and then find yourself trapped behind a tractor on a single-track lane with a hedge that’s actually a stone wall on one side and a ditch on the other.

Britain’s not a big country. Get away from the cities and you’ll find it’s mostly made up of tiny villages and roads that were laid out long before anyone had heard of an SUV.

That’s part of the charm.

It’s also why country roads catch out more drivers than city ones do. So, it’s worth knowing what you’re dealing with before you head out in your lease car.

Why country roads catch people out

The numbers are stark.

Rural roads carry 44% of all traffic in Great Britain, but account for 60% of road deaths – nearly double their fair share, according to government road safety data.

Part of the problem is the roads themselves.

They’re narrower, have sharper bends, and see higher speeds than anything you’ll find in town. It’s a combination that leaves far less room for error when something unexpected happens.

And something unexpected happens more often than you’d think: A tractor pulling out of a gateway, a horse and rider around a blind bend, a pothole disguised as an innocent puddle.

It’s young drivers who are most exposed.

AA Charitable Trust research found that 71% of fatal crashes involving young drivers happen on rural roads, with drivers aged 17 to 24 over-represented in rural crashes by 9% compared to all road types.

Add in the usual seasonal hazards – poor road markings, missing streetlights, potholes (again) – and you’ve got a road type that rewards a slower, more attentive style of driving.

Overtaking on country roads

Overtaking on a country road is legal, but only where you can see far enough ahead to do it safely. And that’s rarer than it looks on a road full of blind bends and hidden dips.

If you can’t see clearly that the road ahead is clear, the answer is simple: Don’t overtake.

Harvest season is a classic test of patience.

Get stuck behind a tractor or a combine harvester and it can feel like the longest ten minutes of your life. Most farmers will wave you past when it’s safe, so hang back, keep your distance, and wait for your moment.

There is an upside to being stuck behind slower traffic – it’s the perfect excuse to take in the scenery around you and enjoy your finest Spotify playlist.

Horses and riders need even more care.

If you do overtake, go slow, keep well clear, and turn the radio down – loud noise can spook a horse.

And whatever you’re stuck behind, resist the urge to rev the engine or lean on the horn. It won’t get you there any faster, or make you feel any better.

Livestock and wildlife on the road

Animals are not obliging road users, and in the countryside you’ll meet plenty of them.

If a farmer’s moving a herd across the road, stop completely and wait – don’t try to nudge through, and don’t assume the animals will hurry across. If anything, they’ll move slower than you’d think a cow could.

If livestock has escaped and is blocking the road unsupervised, slow right down and pull over if you need to, rather than attempting to pass. If there’s no immediate danger (the escaped livestock aren’t running riot on a busy A-road or motorway), then you can report the incident to 101.

Large animals are unpredictable, and a collision could do serious damage to your car.

If you do have to stop, put your hazards on so anyone behind you knows something’s wrong. And if you’re unlucky enough to hit an animal, you’re legally required to report it to the police.

Wildlife adds its own surprises.

Deer, pheasants, and the occasional bewildered sheep can appear from nowhere, particularly around dawn or dusk – so keep your eyes peeled, especially if you’re driving across unfenced moorland.

Reversing and passing places

Country lanes have a rule that has nothing to do with how new or expensive your car is: Whoever’s in the better position to reverse does so.

It doesn’t matter if you’re in this year’s model and the car coming the other way is a fifteen-year-old hatchback with a dent in the door. If you’re closer to a passing place, or you’ve got no-one behind you, it’s on you to give way.

Being proactive here beats being reactive.

Spot the situation early. Find your passing place and let the other driver through before it turns into an awkward stand-off in the middle of a single track lane.

It’s a small thing, but it’s the kind of small thing that makes you a better country driver – and saves your paintwork from an unnecessary scrape in the process.

Flooded roads

Flooding on country roads is trickier than it looks, mainly because it’s impossible to judge depth from the driver’s seat.

The rule is straightforward: Don’t drive through moving water, and don’t drive through anything deeper than four inches (unless you’re in a car that can handle it).

If you come across a stretch that’s clearly submerged, turn around and find another route rather than risking it.

If you do end up driving through standing water, take it slowly in a lower gear to keep revs high and be ready to reverse out. Floodwater can affect your brakes, and if it’s deep enough, it can flood the engine too – especially if you try to power through at speed rather than easing through steadily.

Rivers bursting their banks are common enough in rural areas that a B-road disappearing underwater after heavy rain isn’t unusual.

Local knowledge helps here. If you’re driving somewhere unfamiliar after a spell of bad weather, it’s worth checking for flood warnings before you set off, rather than finding out the hard way.

Driving an electric car in the countryside

Range anxiety gets talked about a lot, but rural charging infrastructure has moved on faster than people realise.

According to the Department for Transport’s (DfT) figures, 17.1% of the UK’s public electric car (EV) chargers are now in rural areas – almost exactly in line with the 17.5% of the population who live rurally.

Charging isn’t the rural afterthought it once was.

The gap that remains is speed, not availability. Only 9% of public chargers are classed as ‘en-route’ – the rapid and ultra-rapid chargers at motorway services and similar stops built for topping up mid-journey – so you’re still more likely to find a slow, park-and-leave-it charger outside the village pub than a rapid one.

There’s regional variation too. The South West and Scotland lead the country for rapid chargers per head, while somewhere like the North West lags behind despite decent overall numbers.

But none of this is a reason to worry.

Apps like Zapmap let you plan a route around the chargers that exist, rather than hoping for the best.

A bit of planning before you set off – checking what’s along your route and how fast those chargers actually are – takes the worry out of driving an electric car somewhere remote.

So, as long as you’ve done that planning, there’s no reason a trip across Dartmoor, the Yorkshire Dales, or anywhere else off the beaten track should leave you anxiously watching the battery percentage.

The countryside rewards patience

Countryside driving isn’t really about mastering a skill so much as adjusting one you already have. Drive slower, be a little more patient, and have your eyes open to possibilities that a city road would never throw at you.

Get that right and there’s nothing better than a good country drive – tractors, cows, and all.