There has been a lot in the media recently about accidents caused by people not used to driving on the left – it’s quite bad in the South Island because there’s not much traffic and it’s easy to drift to the right if that’s where you’re used to driving when there’s no one else around. Because I’ve been driving around the country the last three days, I remembered when it happened to me on a lonely stretch of road on the east coast of the North Island. Suddenly there was a car coming towards me on the wrong side of the road. I flashed my lights at it but nothing happened, and you just don’t know what to do – whether to wait for the other car to work out they’re on the wrong side, or move to the wrong side yourself. Eventually the other driver did work it out, and it was probably only a few seconds, but it seemed to take ages.

But I also remember being terrified as a passenger in a country that drives on the right, especially when he drove around a roundabout on the wrong side. I held my breath every time.