At just about every intersection I had to remind myself...' turn tight right or turn loose left'.

Not so much of a problem when you are not tired and in daylight but one evening in LA, still a bit jetlagged and driving back to the hotel from a restaurant I turn left at a set of traffic lights and swung nice and wide according to my dictum above.

Only problem was there was just a low and difficult to see dividing fence between four lanes each way. I didn't quite turn wide enough and found myself facing four lanes of oncoming traffic. Didn't this ever wake up my passenger who had had a few beers!

Fortunately there was a hundred yards or so between me and the oncoming traffic which gave me enough time to do a quick 180deg turn and pretend it never happened.

Klaus I think you mean it is the same for Aussie pedestrians visiting the US 'down there'. Only difference is American drivers are far more polite than Aussies. Here, the drivers keep driving after running over a pedestrian and just curse the speed bump.