Due to Ireland's history of wars and disasters, they were financially unable to develop extensive rail systems like other western European countries. Their transportation philosophy, however, is not one of automobile dependence, but rather one of automobile tolerance. Upon arriving at the airport in Dublin, our introduction to Irish transportation came when we picked up our rental car. We then noticed that our car, as well as most of the cars in the rental lot, had doors on the driver side and passenger side badly gouged. Most of the traffic lanes we drove on were one to two feet narrower than the San Diego standard.
Parking spaces are infrequent and also narrower than home.
The busses, which run frequently, are no wider than a passenger car and double decked to efficiently serve narrow neighborhood streets. Between the smaller cities, roadways are as narrow as sixteen feet and are usually lined with trees so that neighboring residents can't see them. We were told that if you hit any sheep, you must find the farmer and reimburse him for his loss. If not, you could be arrested. Between larger cities, the major highways are just two and one-half lanes in each direction.