Driving abroad is always a challenge to say the least. I have been “lucky” enough to experience motoring in Spain, Portugal and the Caribbean, but nothing prepared me for getting into a car in Brazil.

I had travelled in buses before on previous trips to Rio de Janeiro, but obviously had not taken in the full madness found on the cidade maravilha’s roads while someone else was in control of the steering wheel.

Rio is a beautiful city and a big one too. Many of its roads have several lanes, but the lines dividing them are often blurred by the dodgem effect of motorists who turn left and right as if driving on a ride at the May Fair.

Junctions with traffic lights are often the most precarious as drivers get within a hair’s breadth of the surrounding vehicles so as not to lose their place in the “queue”. I say queue but the scene is more familiar to that found at the end of the Glastonbury Festival when cars push to get through tiny gaps in hedges.

Bumpers almost come into contact at high speeds too. On a trip out of the city, I often thought the driver behind wanted to have a chat as his car got within a whisker of my number plate.

There was certainly no respect for the “two second rule” I was reminded of on a recent Institute of Advanced Motorists course. In fact, I would guess that the average time most drivers left between them and the car in front was around half a second.

This makes overtaking difficult, but the general rule seemed to be that it was the duty of the innocent oncoming car to take evasive action should someone coming in the opposite direction want to pass a slower moving car that just happened to get in their path.

And so the hard shoulder was often used as a get out clause as countless speeding cars came hurtling towards me with in a game of chicken.

If driving in the day is hard enough, then when night falls the art of motoring takes on another dimension.

In light of carjacking problems, it is no longer an offence for drivers to pass through red lights when the sun goes down. The safety system, therefore, for going through junctions like those found near Steels Westgate is no longer a traffic light, but a gentle tap on the horn. Oh and a quick prayer to the sky as the number of “God is Great” car stickers seemed to suggest.

Flávia Fazenda, a translator and language lecturer in Rio, recognises that it is a challenge for foreigners to navigate her city’s streets.

But she advises potential English visitors to be strong and determined should they get in a car in her city.

“It’s ok if you no what you are doing and don’t let other people take advantage of you,” she promised me.

Since returning from Brazil, a friend in Hereford told me that India also poses the odd problem for the gringo driver.

But I think I’ll leave the Flávia Fazendas off this world to try out India’s roads as this reporter has seen enough.