This study aimed to investigate the impact of traffic convention familiarity, and self-rated driver skills on driving performance. 29 male drivers with no prior experience driving in a left-hand traffic (LHT) participated in a simulated driving task in two otherwise identical road scenarios that differed only in traffic convention(RHT vs LHT). Driving performance of participants was measured with average speed and standard deviation of lateral lane position (SDLP) whereas driver skills were measured with Driver Skills Inventory (DSI). Results demonstrated that in unfamiliar (LHT) convention, participants drove significantly slower, and had significantly higher SDLP which indicates worse lane-keeping performance. Participants with higher self-rated safety skills drove at slower speeds, whereas those with higher perceptual-motor skills drove faster, regardless of traffic convention, indicating a strong influence of self-rated driver skills over speeding tendencies even in unfamiliar traffic conventions. Driver skills had no significant impact on SDLP, suggesting that lane-keeping performance was primarily determined by traffic convention familiarity rather than self-rated skills. The results provide important insights regarding road users' driving performance that participate in unfamiliar traffic conventions. Findings have important implications for the safety of international tourists driving in unfamiliar traffic systems.