UK.iMaZiR

Hey buddy,

Why is the French train left-hand ? Because at the end of the XIXth century, French industry was not developed as much as British one, so we had to import train material from the UK.

Interesting. I didn’t know that.
Thank for your contribution

I live in Ireland and I moved to the US for six months last year, and did not find it difficult to adjust at all, and the same when I came home. I believe it is only difficult if you are driving a right-hand drive vehicle in a country where you drive on the right and vice versa. Having the center divider on the road closest to the driver side of the car is how we decide what side of the road we’re supposed to be on.

In my opinion, the most difficult transition is for people from places like the United States, where most cars are automatic transmission, moving to a country like the UK or Ireland, where most cars are manual transmission. Even those with experience of driving a manual in the past will find it difficult to use the other hand for gearing up and down. I had no problem going to the US because the car I drove over there was an automatic, and it took me all of 2 minutes to get back used to driving a manual when I came home!

I think that it’s only sense that countries that drive on the left (like my own) eventually change over to drive on the right, and keep it uniform globally. There’s no point in it changing the other way, the ratio of left side to right side countries doesnt lie!

Good post

I have never liked the dictatorial approach of the highway authorities in this country who insist you drive on the right. In a free market economy each individual should be free to drive on the side which best suits them. Let market forces prevail.

lol!
Ahaha very funny

I like Malta for their logic. Drive down the centre of the road, give way to vehicles larger than your own.

What if you encounter the same car as yours??

Hmm I’m from The Netherlands (right hand) and traveled through Australia (left hand) for a year by car.

I had no problems adjusting at all, using a gearbox too. I think it’s more of a mental problem the “fear” that everything is different and will be difficult.
The placement of the seat and steering wheel on the other side made it all very natural.
I do agree with a previous poster that driving a right handed vehicle in a left handed country or vice versa might make things harder.
I met plenty of other backpackers which had no adjustment problems whatsoever either.

“I have never liked the dictatorial approach of the highway authorities in this country who insist you drive on the right. In a free market economy each individual should be free to drive on the side which best suits them. Let market forces prevail.”

I’m Indonesia now.. they seem to do just that… it’s amazing how few vehicles you need to create a traffic jam, let alone a busy city like Jakarta. There are places here I can walk faster then drive them…

:D

Just a funny quote I came upon while googling this topic up

“If you are planning to visit the UK and happen to come from one of the many countries that drive on the wrong side of the road, the following advice, direct from the Ministry of Transport, is for you:

“Visitors are informed that in the United Kingdom traffic drives on the left-hand side of the road. In the interests of safety, you are advised to practise this in your country of origin for a week or two before driving in the UK.”

1) Wrong side is pretty much determined by local rules isn’t it?
2) Practice left hand driving (wrong side for those countries) in a right hand country? The police pulls you off the road for that if you don’t crash into another vehicle first, let alone the availability of left hand cars if you want to practice using a gearbox with your other hand..

That advice is just silly.

Anyway for a bit more detail also try this link:

http://users.pandora.be/worldstandards/driving%20on%20the%20left.htm

Napolean might have helped spread, but this site suggests right hand traffic started before Napoleon.

I am amazed by the comments on gearboxes and the superiority of LHD cars in right-driving countries! Only an American could think of that - and they virtually all drive automatics anyway!?!

It’s much like the American justification for why their pronunciation is correct-as in the case of tomato and potato due to spelling. Actually, Americans are always wrong, because their language is “American English” not English, and have no place to correct it. For the record, both words descend from French. Guess what, potato is a shortening of Pomme de terre, and takes it’s pronunciation from it’s origin. I digress!

On learning to use a gearbox (IF you are from a country smart enough to cope with more than go/stop/steer). Well, it is an automatic process - once you’ve learned the sequence it is done without much in the way of higher order motor skills. Like playing the piano.

The majority of people are right-handed, and therefore have greater motor control and sensitivity on this side. And in the UK AND THE 73 OTHER COUNTRIES that practice driving on the left, that means your right hand is ALWAYS on the wheel, giving you greater control.

Try one of those steady hand electronic buzzer games if you want to see left vs. right handedness for yourself.

Nobody has mentioned international flying regs which come down on the UK-led side of the right-left debate. You ALWAYS fly to the left if facing another aircraft head on. Must be a bugger for pilots from the US, where their driving instincts are to swerve right?

I spent a considerable amount of time in SE Asia, where you have to switch between left-hand and right-hand driving at many borders with no problems. Burma is a good example of why not to change - they only did it on the whim of a psychopathic dictator trying to reject the use of a British system. That despite the fact that their vehicles are all right-hand drive and their roads are set up for driving on the left, not to mention they never rolled the message out to outlying rural areas with Swedish efficiency. Guess whose road deaths went through the roof when they brought THAT in?

Actually, going back to the pilots instincts points, I had quite a nasty head-on collision in Cambodia. To be fair it involved a large amount of stupidity on my part, in that I was riding down the middle of a road (to avoid potholes) at night without lights - they don’t have lights anyway - relying on hearing to locate any motorbikes or cars which you could hear for miles in the country. Out of the darkness came another rider and we both followed instincts but swerved into each other - me left him right! Good thing we were on bicycles, think I would have had more than a sore elbow if we’d been flying… lol

So, the comment that we will all have to change to driving on the right eventually? Will we bollocks! The UK will NEVER follow a trend set by Napoleon and Hitler. Over a third of the world’s population drive on the left, it’s here to stay, get used to it…

I’m from India and I see that the Left hand traffic(Right hand drive) is probably safer if not as safe as the Right hand traffic(Left hand drive) followed by most countries. It seems to make perfect sense.

- Most humans are dominant with the right side of their body and the left side of their brain.
- We must leave the right hand and the right eye to send important information to the brain to process and also to react accordingly with swiftness and strength.
- If you drive on the Right side of the road you’ll probably use both eyes to check the traffic in your lane(direction of travel) and the Left eye to see oncoming traffic. You’ll almost always have both hands on the steering wheel but there is also a slight chance that you might use your Right hand to change gears, use controls on the dash or maybe even set your rear view mirror. Bad scenario! This leaves the weak Left eye to watch for oncoming traffic and the weak Left hand on the steering wheel with reduced control. I am not saying total loss of control but lesser than what the Right eye and Right hand combination could’ve provided.
- If you drive on the Left side of the road in a similar situation as described above you’d definitely have your Right hand on the steering wheel and your Right eye to watch for oncoming traffic. Much better control than the above scenario.
- Wikipedia has an interesting entry
“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. Some countries that have switched to driving on the right, such as Sweden, have seen their collision rates increase out of proportion to the increase in traffic volume.”

So, if I had a say here and if I could ever vote for this issue(I come from a democratic country, we always vote about things) I would vote for the Left hand traffic rule to be followed universally all over the world. Not because the British started it but because there is a slightly increased safety margin with such a pattern and even a few lives saved is precious!

Oliver has almost all of his facts wrong:

o American English is more archaic in vocabulary and pronunciation than British English. Shakespeare would understand his plays better performed by American actors (except those benighted ones who affect modern British accents).

o “Potato” is not a French word but Taino, a West Indian language, and, like the potato, comes from America.

o “Tomato” is Nahuatl, from Aztec Mexico.

o ICAO VFR rules require that, “[w]hen two aircraft are approaching each other head on they must both alter heading to the right.”

o Ships, including British ships, have always followed the same rule, having to do with avoiding interference between steering oars.

P.S. In proper American English, we spell the third-person singular neuter possessive personal pronoun without an apostrophe.

To begin Driving on the left is a safer way of driving dude to most people being right eyed and right handed just helps so left hand traffic is here to stay Britain won’t so why don’t countries take in the knowledge and reason and follow Britain they are all stupid complaining about the loss of life and the hardships of switching yes I agree to a extent say if American switched (which I am very strongly support due to above) you give the people knowledge and show then you give them information and enact laws to help the switch if people just said okay we’re are going to switch let me learn or just be open minded the whole problem is people freaking out if people just go calmly about it it will work be safer and work better and in the long run save more life