Wrong side of the road / car

[cooter131]

After reading the posts for the 3MA event I mentioned some concerns about driving on the right-hand side of the road.

I was philosophically wondering what is the correct way of driving.
I mean both ways are established in different parts of the world but have you ever wondered if there are any pros and cons between them, and how it all started?

Finally, shall we start qustion if we drive on the wrong side of the road, or may be if the steering wheel is installed on the wrong side of the car???

[kev131]

Hiya - Good question although if you are making reference to my comments about driving to Turin last year they were more in relation to paying tolls out of the left window for drivers sitting on the right - Hilarious from a watchers point of view as after the 20th stop or so, the RHD driver furiously and finally detaches his seatbelt and storms out of his car to pay while rubbing his sore back from the previous 19 attempts to stretch across the car!! 

On driving on the opposite side of the road compared with what one is used to, it's surprising how quickly one adapts although I have now been driving abroad for over 20 years and racked up 10s of 1000s of kms there.

The biggest danger I find is returning home in a LHD car - The temptation is very strong to drive on the right here in Ireland!!

Finally, comparing the 2 layouts, once you have acclimatised to driving on the other side of the road and if you are right handed, it actually feels more natural in a LHD as you are using your right hand to change gear and the your left for less important controls. 

[131DHOC]

How is gear shifting with left hand? I bet I could not shift so good as with my right hand.....

[cooter131]

So to drive abroad you definitely need a codriver!!!

To be honest the first time I visited the UK (as a student at that time) I had a constant feeling we were going to crash anytime!!!

First time I picked a taxi in the UK the driver (after giving me a hand with the bags I was carrying) asked me:
-Are YOU going to drive, mate?
I was ready to sit in the driver's seat  

But I guess you are right. You can get used to it pretty fast!

[Thotos]

 your left for less important controls.  

Sorry Kev, I think steering the car is THE most important part of driving therefore making the steering wheel THE most important control.  Driving on the left is obviously the correct way!   Most people in the world are right handed and therefore the right hand should concentrate on the steering therefore drive on the left. In fact it IS because most people are right handed that we drive on the left. But as well as most people being right handed, most people are also right-eyed! Research in 1969 by J. J. Leeming showed countries driving on the left have a lower collision rate than countries driving on the right. It has been suggested this is partly because humans are more commonly right-eye dominant than left-eye dominant. In left-hand traffic, the predominantly better-performing right eye is used to monitor oncoming traffic and the driver's wing mirror. In right-hand traffic, oncoming traffic and the driver's wing mirror are handled by the predominantly weaker left eye. In addition, it has been argued that left sided driving is safer for elderly people given the likelihood of them having visual attention deficits on the left side and the need at intersections to watch out for vehicles approaching on the near-side lane. In the days of horses and carts they used to drive/ride on the left so they could defend against attacks with their sword in their right hand. From the horse and cart on the left side of the road it was logical for cars to also drive on the left side of the road and so did everyone for a while.  In fact early American cars were produced in RHD, following the practice established by horse-drawn buggies. This changed in the early years of the 20th century when Ford changed to LHD production in 1908 with the Model T and then Cadillac also changed in 1916. Not sure what reason or excuse they gave for changing but I'll try and find out. It's possibly something to do with sea vessels always keeping to the right but vessels in the sea are a different kettle of fish   On the road the right (correct) side is the left side!   But I will admit that driving in Europe with a right-hand-drive car is an absolute pain when it come to the toll booths. It's not too bad in the 131 as it's not too wide but when I drove to Italy in the Gamma I had to jump into the passenger seat at every toll booth   and as we know there are a lot of those between Calais and Turin  

[kev131]

Very eloquent and comprehensive Theo - And I thought you said that English was your "fany tongue"! 

But of course you knew that I meant controls where one had to remove one's hand from the steering wheel!

Has any analysis been performed on whether people are left or right eared as that sense could be relevant as well? 

[cooter131]

To be absolutely correct we must mention that we are supposed to place both hands on the steering wheel, so in that case there would be no issues.

However it is very common that we "rest" the other hand on the gear shift (or use it to access the console buttons) and thus steer with only one hand.

I believe what Thotos said; that the most important is the steering wheel.

On the other hand, (literally) a right hand person may find it easier to use his right hand for numerous functions (gear shift-alarm button-temperature control knobs-internal mirror adjustment-grabbing sth from the rear seat) rather than only one (steering).


I cant decide...

[Thotos]

And I thought you said that English was your "fany tongue"! 

No, I said English was your "fany tongue" 

Has any analysis been performed on whether people are left or right eared as that sense could be relevant as well? 

Don't know about that one but if people are predominantly right handed and right eyed then presumably they should also be right eared. So that's another reason that the driver should be on the right so the good ear can listen to the road while the 'bad' left ear can be used as the excuse for ignoring the passenger shouting "SLOW DOWN!" 

On the other hand, (literally) a right hand person may find it easier to use his right hand for numerous functions (gear shift-alarm button-temperature control knobs-internal mirror adjustment-grabbing sth from the rear seat) rather than only one (steering).

But while we all do those things, we are not really meant to be doing them while driving, except the gear-shifting of course. Therefore that's not a good reason to keep our right hands free!

[simon131]

I think the solution might be to use a LHD car on the Continent and in the USA and a RHD one in the UK.  

[Thotos]

The first time I drove a LHD car was in the USA in 1976. And strangely, for the USA, it was a manual car; a bright green Datsun 120Y no less!    I used to drive off, press down the clutch and then open the window with my left hand! 

[Sev131]

First LHD car I drove was a 131 Racing in Derby around 1993. Took it round the block when I was 16, whilst my dad was washing his hands after just putting an other engine in it. I think I only used 1st and 2nd. Car drove good on IDF'S, just looked a mess!

[hammerbeirne]

Im sorry lads but i never read such a load of cods wallop about left handed and right handed statisctics By the way did anyone when they were younger ::)drive on a road pissed and see two white lines where there should only be one Solution close one eye

[kev131]

Im sorry lads but i never read such a load of cods wallop about left handed and right handed statisctics By the way did anyone when they were younger ::)drive on a road pissed and see two white lines where there should only be one Solution close one eye

Hi Enda - The only statistics in this thread are in the second posting...and I'm fairly sure you were not present at the time the stats were being composed...!

Perhaps you mean the stories and theories about about how various countries adopted driving either on the right or left...? I couldn't say if any of it was codswallop or not - but I was entertained by it. 

[david]

Re why we in the uk drive on the left and the rest of europe drive on the right side of the road, apparently this goes back before cars as Napoleon made all horse drawn traffic etc use the right side of the road and as we didnt get on with the french at the time we used to make our traffic use the other side of the road, sounds crazy but its true

[hammerbeirne]

Re why we in the uk drive on the left and the rest of europe drive on the right side of the road, apparently this goes back before cars as Napoleon made all horse drawn traffic etc use the right side of the road and as we didnt get on with the french at the time we used to make our traffic use the other side of the road, sounds crazy but its true

Napoleon has a lot to answer for then