Right or left drive?

[leopard]

We have to drive in the left lane, and right lane is for passing or driving faster. Therefore cars, japanese or european car, sold here have right drive seat.

But there were small number of old european cars have left drive, and I think this make somewhat awkward driving. Which lane do you drive in and which drive seat of cars sold in your country?

[Magnus]

Almost every european contry have right lane traffic, or whatever it is called. That is the steering wheel is located on the left side of the car. This goes for the US and Canada asweell, with the exception av a country called Great Britain, which in turn during the colonial era exported these starnge manners throughout the world, not least to large parts of Asia asweel as NZ and Australia.
Regarding awkward driving, I guess awkward driving is everything that you are not used to?
Sweden changed from left to right in the end of the sixties.

[Mark]

We have to drive in the left lane, and right lane is for passing or driving faster. Therefore cars, japanese or european car, sold here have right drive seat.

But there were small number of old european cars have left drive, and I think this make somewhat awkward driving. Which lane do you drive in and which drive seat of cars sold in your country?

In countries which drive on the right they sit on the left hand side of the car and vice-versa. There are very few exceptions to this rule (but there are some)

[Magnus]

Well, ovetaking is certainly not very funny if you sit on the wrong side...

[Mark]

I've got that to look forward to in France in April :p

[bowler]

for what it is worth:

Countries (A to Z) Description
Afghanistan Right side
Albania Right side
Algeria Right side
American Samoa Right side
Andorra Right side
Angola Right side
Anguilla Left side
Antigua and Barbuda Left side
Argentina Right side
Armenia Right side
Aruba Right side
Australia Left side
Austria Right side
Azerbaijan Right side
Bahamas, The Left side
Bahrain Right side
Bangladesh Left side
Barbados Left side
Belarus Right side
Belgium Right side
Belize Right side
Benin Right side
Bermuda Left side
Bhutan Left side
Bolivia Right side
Bosnia and Herzegovina Right side
Botswana Left side
Brazil Right side
Brunei Left side
Bulgaria Right side
Burkina Faso Right side
Burundi Right side
Cambodia Right side
Cameroon Right side
Canada Right side
Cape Verde Right side
Cayman Islands Left side
Central African Republic Right side
Chad Right side
Chile Right side
China Right side
Christmas Island Left side
Cocos (Keeling) Islands Left side
Colombia Right side
Comoros Right side
Congo, Democratic Republic of the Right side
Cook Islands Left side
Costa Rica Right side
Cote d'Ivoire Right side
Croatia Right side
Cuba Right side
Cyprus Left side
Czech Republic Right side
Denmark Right side
Djibouti Right side
Dominica Left side
Dominican Republic Right side
East Timor Left side
Ecuador Right side
Egypt Right side
El Salvador Right side
Equatorial Guinea Right side
Eritrea Right side
Estonia Right side
Ethiopia Right side
Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) Left side
Fiji Left side
Finland Right side
France Right side
French Guiana Right side
French Polynesia Right side
Gabon Right side
Gaza Strip Right side
Georgia Right side
Germany Right side
Ghana Right side
Gibraltar Right side
Greece Right side
Greenland Right side
Grenada Left side
Guam Right side
Guatemala Right side
Guernsey Left side
Guinea Right side
Guinea-Bissau Right side
Guyana Left side
Haiti Right side
Honduras Right side
Hong Kong Left side
Hungary Right side
Iceland Right side
India Left side
Indonesia Left side
Iran Right side
Iraq Right side
Ireland Left side
Israel Right side
Italy Right side
Jamaica Left side
Japan Left side
Jersey Left side
Jordan Right side
Kazakhstan Right side
Kenya Left side
Kiribati Left side
Kuwait Right side
Kyrgyzstan Right side
Laos Right side
Latvia Right side
Lebanon Right side
Lesotho Left side
Liberia Right side
Libya Right side
Liechtenstein Right side
Lithuania Right side
Luxembourg Right side
Macau Left side
Macedonia, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Right side
Madagascar Right side
Malawi Left side
Malaysia Left side
Maldives Left side
Mali Right side
Malta Left side
Man, Isle of Left side
Marshall Islands Right side
Mauritania Right side
Mauritius Left side
Mexico Right side
Moldova Right side
Monaco Right side
Mongolia Right side
Montserrat Left side
Morocco Right side
Mozambique Left side
Namibia Left side
Nauru Left side
Nepal Left side
Netherlands Right side
New Caledonia Right side
New Zealand Left side
Nicaragua Right side
Niger Right side
Nigeria Right side
Niue Left side
Norfolk Island Left side
Northern Mariana Islands Right side
Norway Right side
Oman Right side
Pakistan Left side
Palau Right side
Panama Right side
Papua New Guinea Left side
Paraguay Right side
Peru Right side
Philippines Right side
Pitcairn Islands Left side
Poland Right side
Portugal Right side
Puerto Rico Right side
Qatar Right side
Reunion Right side
Romania Right side
Russia Right side
Rwanda Right side
Saint Helena Left side
Saint Kitts and Nevis Left side
Saint Lucia Left side
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Left side
Samoa Right side
San Marino Right side
Sao Tome and Principe Right side
Saudi Arabia Right side
Senegal Right side
Serbia and Montenegro Right side
Seychelles Left side
Sierra Leone Right side
Singapore Left side
Slovakia Right side
Slovenia Right side
Solomon Islands Left side
South Africa Left side
Spain Right side
Sri Lanka Left side
Sudan Right side
Suriname Left side
Swaziland Left side
Sweden Right side
Switzerland Right side
Syria Right side
Taiwan Right side
Tajikistan Right side
Tanzania Left side
Thailand Left side
Togo Right side
Tokelau Left side
Tonga Left side
Trinidad and Tobago Left side
Tunisia Right side
Turkey Right side
Turkmenistan Right side
Turks and Caicos Islands Left side
Tuvalu Left side
Uganda Left side
Ukraine Right side
United Arab Emirates Right side
United Kingdom Left side
United States Right side
Uruguay Right side
Uzbekistan Right side
Vanuatu Right side
Venezuela Right side
Vietnam Right side
Virgin Islands Left side
West Bank Right side
Western Sahara Right side
Yemen Right side
Zambia Left side
Zimbabwe Left side

[leopard]

Roughly more than half of the list above are right side.
It feels like those have right side traffic or have left steer are kinda lefties. :D

I think English would have some trouble when visiting neighbor countries mostly of which are right side. :D

[Mark]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/32/Countries_driving_on_the_left_or_right.svg/800px-Countries_driving_on_the_left_or_right.svg.png

[leopard]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/32/Countries_driving_on_the_left_or_right.svg/800px-Countries_driving_on_the_left_or_right.svg.png

Mostly human are lefties.

[Rollo]

Almost every european contry have right lane traffic, or whatever it is called. That is the steering wheel is located on the left side of the car. This goes for the US and Canada asweell, with the exception av a country called Great Britain, which in turn during the colonial era exported these starnge manners throughout the world, not least to large parts of Asia asweel as NZ and Australia.

Not quite.
Assume you are a Roman soldier. If you pick up a sword and a shield, your sword goes in your right hand and your shield in the left. The defensive seat is on the left.
The Roman empire was exclusively right-handed by decree and travelled down the left hand side of the road for the above reason.

Britain was the first country in the world to enact this to rule in 1835 http://www.statutelaw.gov.uk/content.aspx?activeTextDocId=1032567 and within three months France adopted the rule of the road on the right for no other reason than to be rude.
All of Europe up to and including the time of Napoleon obeyed a rule of the road on the left. Britain didn't "switch over", France did. You're all backwards - Trust the French to screw up the world.

Section 78


Drivers causing hurt or damage to others, or quitting the road, or driving carriage without owner’s name, or not keeping the left or near side, or interrupting free passage, if not the owner to forefeit 20s; if he be the owner, 40s.

I do believe that the motor car was some 50 years into the future at least.

[Drew]

Sweden changed?! Wow I don't think I knew that, how complicated was that then?!

There are exceptions to the rule that right hand drive cars drive on the left side, where?!

[Magnus]

But that didn´t oppose what i was saying Rollo?
What i was trying to sat was that GB exported left hand driving to countries which where ruled by them. It is another questionn why GB employed this fashion to start with, and your explanation seems quite plausible.

Regarding the swedish change it actually went very smothly. One reason was that the cars sold in sweden where already left han drive. The change took place at 05,00 on a sunday morning september third 1967. There are some funny pics rom this day, where busses are changing lanes.
In order to have a smooth transition there where a lot of regulations during the first period of right hand drive.
The first discussions in teh swedish parliament was brought up 1923...

[Mark]

Sweden changed?! Wow I don't think I knew that, how complicated was that then?!

There are exceptions to the rule that right hand drive cars drive on the left side, where?!

You must be the only person in the world not to have heard that :p

For about 10 years before the change they were driving LHD cars so it wasn't so much trouble, plus they had a low population and not too many roads, AFAIK they did it all overnight, it was all back in the 1960's couldn't do it these days.

[dyfi1]

I think English would have some trouble when visiting neighbor countries mostly of which are right side. :D [/QUOTE]

I think you mean British. They have cars in Scotland and Wales too these days ;) Speaking for myself, I`ve never really had a problem when driving my right hand drive car in mainland Europe. I hate to fly, so all my WRC trips are done by car. Sweden, Germany and Finland are some of the more recent escapades. The mileage for my visit to Finland last summer was 5500 miles (8000 + kms) and I had absolutely no trouble at all. Your mind is at a higher state of awareness when you`re driving in another country, with different driving ettiquette (sp?), different languages on signs, and a myriad other little differences such as bicycle lanes to watch out for, but if you stay alert you should stay safe :) Read a bit about your intended destination, that way you get no nasty shock over something you hadn`t anticipated.
As Magnus pointed out, overtaking can be tricky on single carriageway roads. In this case, check your passengers expression :eek: or :)

[Lousada]

Driving on the wrong side of the road isn't so much a trouble for me. It only gets scary when approaching a roundabout! Then you realise how much auto pilot is in your system, automaticly you turn right only to spot the flashing headlights...

[leopard]

I hate to fly, so all my WRC trips are done by car. Sweden, Germany and Finland are some of the more recent escapades. The mileage for my visit to Finland last summer was 5500 miles (8000 + kms) and I had absolutely no trouble at all.

You might not have trouble at all for the rest 5400 miles because you have spent the first 100 miles driving not more than 70 mph for adjustment. :)

[N]

I have no problems with the sides of the road, I grew up in New Zealand and got my licence over there. Now I live in Croatia which drives on the other side. In the meantime I've spent 8 months in Cyprus which drives on the left and 5 months in Saudi Arabia which drives on the right - driving in Saudi Arabia was a steep learning curve because they all drive without taking into account the markings on the road, just because there are 3 lanes painted on the road at the lights, doesn't mean that we can't fit 4 or 5 lanes in... :)

It's just a matter of getting used to it and the more times you change over, the easier it gets.

[schmenke]

The missus and I scooted about in a right-hand drive rental vehicle for a couple of weeks in Australia. Didn't take too long to get used to although every time I enabled the turn signal the windshield wipers would come on :mark: :p :

[Magnus]

Yeah Schmenke, it makes it really easy to spot the tourist... I tried it out this inter in Ireland, and last winter on NZ, and it was quite alright, with one exception, a crossing in Queenstown made me forget everything abt left and right... ;)

[Drew]

You must be the only person in the world not to have heard that :p

For about 10 years before the change they were driving LHD cars so it wasn't so much trouble, plus they had a low population and not too many roads, AFAIK they did it all overnight, it was all back in the 1960's couldn't do it these days.

Haha I bet I'm not!

The first time I got on a bus here, I almost crapped myself. The first roundabout the driver floored straight through and went the wrong way round the roundabout (alright, the right way, but the wrong way for me ;) ). Interesting experience haha.

[Rollo]

You must be the only person in the world not to have heard that :p

For about 10 years before the change they were driving LHD cars so it wasn't so much trouble, plus they had a low population and not too many roads, AFAIK they did it all overnight, it was all back in the 1960's couldn't do it these days.

The Republic of Ireland is toying with the idea.

http://www.motorauthority.com/news/news/ireland-could-switch-from-left-to-right-hand-driving/

[Mark]

Thats the old joke of lorrys switch first and then if that works out cars switch a week later.

The only way ireland would switch is if the uk did it too and that is never going to happen.

[Rollo]

I'm not necessarily sure about that. Ireland because it's most of an island could conceivably get away with it; because they're part of the EU, they'd be buying motor cars off of "European" and not "British" production lines. There may be an economies of scale thing at play here.

[Rollo]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8243110.stm
Samoa has become the first country since the 1970s to change the side of the road on which cars are driven. At 0600 local time (1700 GMT) sirens sounded and drivers were told to move from the right side to the left.
Police said that no accidents had been reported in the first hours after the switch in the island nation despite predictions of chaos from critics.

Hurrah!

Someone else has joined the sensible countries of the world and will be driving down the left hand side of the road, the side of the road that the Romans used.

[Alexamateo]

The biggest problem I had when I went to England was as a pedestrian. Here I instinctively look left first and often step into the road before checking the right. No problems here, but big problems in Britain :eek: :D

[Drew]

The biggest problem I had when I went to England was as a pedestrian. Here I instinctively look left first and often step into the road before checking the right. No problems here, but big problems in Britain :eek: :D

That's why they paint "look right" on the road, just for you!

[donKey jote]

The missus and I scooted about in a right-hand drive rental vehicle for a couple of weeks in Australia. Didn't take too long to get used to although every time I enabled the turn signal the windshield wipers would come on
classic, I had a couple of mix-ups too.
3 weeks down under was obviously too long for me though... back for over a week now but it happened me again here the other day - in my own car ! :mark:


passing in England (including Wales and Scotland ;) :p : ) with a left-hand drive was never a problem, they all used to drive so slowly over there (tootle behind a truck for miles without daring to overtake :p : )
Funnily enough, the only mistakes came shortly after getting back on the continent - turning into empty junctions on the wrong side :dozey:

[Drew]

passing in England (including Wales and Scotland ;) ) with a left-hand drive was never a problem, they all used to drive so slowly over there (tootle behind a truck for miles without daring to overtake )
Funnily enough, the only mistakes came shortly after getting back on the continent - turning into empty junctions on the wrong side :dozey:

Maybe you should try driving in Devon, it's hard enough with a right hand drive car :D I don't recommend doing it in "summer" though :p :

[Daniel]

The missus and I scooted about in a right-hand drive rental vehicle for a couple of weeks in Australia. Didn't take too long to get used to although every time I enabled the turn signal the windshield wipers would come on :mark: :p :

On the Fiat the indicators are on the left and in the Subaru they're on the right. So everytime Caroline swaps from car to car she does this :p Same thing happened in my mums Saab when she used to swap over to the Peugeot. It seems some manufacturers don't bother swapping the stalks over when they convert the cars for LHD/RHD and some do. It seems Saab and Fiat didn't bother but Peugeot did. Weird though....

[Drew]

On the Fiat the indicators are on the left and in the Subaru they're on the right. So everytime Caroline swaps from car to car she does this :p Same thing happened in my mums Saab when she used to swap over to the Peugeot. It seems some manufacturers don't bother swapping the stalks over when they convert the cars for LHD/RHD and some do. It seems Saab and Fiat didn't bother but Peugeot did. Weird though....

Old Japanese cars always had the indicator stalks on the right side for some reason, even though they drive on the left in Japan.

[Daniel]

Old Japanese cars always had the indicator stalks on the right side for some reason, even though they drive on the left in Japan.
Which is the correct side though? I've always felt having it on the right side for RHD cars is better because you can indicate as well as change gear at the same time. When it's on the left side you have to indicate then change gear which IMHO is not so ideal.

I've had a look at our 500 outside and LHD ones on the net and the stalks are in the same place on both so the indicators are on the left side on both sides which to me makes sense on the LHD car but not the RHD one.

[MrJan]

Yup my Toyota has the indicators on the right hand side, means that I can indicate while my hand is on the gear stick :up: Sadly it also means that whenever I use a pool car at work I set the wipers going at the first rounabout I come to :D

[Steve Boyd]

When indicator stalks were first introduced in the 1950's all British cars had the stalk on the right side of the steering wheel because, as said above, you can select gear & indicate at the same time. This continued until the late 1970's & early 1980's when the cheapskates at Ford & GM started using the same steering column assemblies for both right and left hand drive models to save money. They were then followed by British Leyland & the other UK manufacturers so that you had to buy a Japanese car to get the switches the right way around. With the opening of Japanese owned plants in the UK you can't even rely on a Nissan, Toyota or Honda to have the indicators on the right any more as the cars they build in the UK now tend to have "European" switch layouts. Japanese built cars still appear to have the switch on the right on right hand drive cars and I've seen so called "motoring journalists" complain that they have the switches the wrong way around thus proving their lack of experience. I've had a Seat (with the switch on the left) for 50000 miles since having a Toyota (switch on the right) and still occasionally wash the windscreen instead of flashing the headlamps.

[donKey jote]

Maybe you should try driving in Devon, it's hard enough with a right hand drive car :D I don't recommend doing it in "summer" though :p :

I only went down there once, and to be honest, I can't really remember what it was like :p : :laugh:

[Eki]

Not quite.
Assume you are a Roman soldier. If you pick up a sword and a shield, your sword goes in your right hand and your shield in the left. The defensive seat is on the left.
The Roman empire was exclusively right-handed by decree and travelled down the left hand side of the road for the above reason.

Britain was the first country in the world to enact this to rule in 1835 http://www.statutelaw.gov.uk/content.aspx?activeTextDocId=1032567 and within three months France adopted the rule of the road on the right for no other reason than to be rude.
All of Europe up to and including the time of Napoleon obeyed a rule of the road on the left. Britain didn't "switch over", France did. You're all backwards - Trust the French to screw up the world.

Section 78


I do believe that the motor car was some 50 years into the future at least.
I've read Napoleon was left handed. And also that the US chose the right hand side just in spite to do the opposite of the UK.

[MrJan]

I only went down there once, and to be honest, I can't really remember what it was like :p : :laugh:

Narrow :D :D Went for a drive after work and spent most of my time with one wing mirror in the hedge and wincing as I passed other cars.

[Drew]

Narrow :D :D Went for a drive after work and spent most of my time with one wing mirror in the hedge and wincing as I passed other cars.

On the road from my house most of it you can't even pass on it and often there are hidden stones in the hedge when you can :p : You have local locals going 40mph and fly by, you have locals that go by at 30mph and then you have the rare completely petrified foreigner who has fear in his eyes, peering over the bumper looking at the right side to make sure there's room and is clearly confused and lost!

[MrJan]

I followed one of the petrifieds on a fairly wide road today, even though he obviously had about a foot outside of his driver's side mirror he still pretty much stopped whenever there was another car. He wasn't foreign but don't think he were local either, thankfully most of the grockle influx is over now :D

[donKey jote]

sounds cool, must have missed the right roads :D
bit like Portugal then, except without the donkey carts behind the blind bends?

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[Mark in Oshawa]

All I know is the mania for being on the Left side of the road that the UK gave the commonwealth ended with Canada. Our continent is shared with the Yanks and we bought a lot of their cars, so the mystery is how did the English not give in when Europe was on the right, and one of the largest export markets for their cars (Canada) was on the right? My grandfather owned a succession of Austins, and Brit cars were commonplace in Canada until the nationalized British auto industry destroyed any credability their products had....

It isn't the end of the world, but this silly notion of driving on the left was just the Brits being what they have been loved and hated for over the years...being STUBBORN. We love ya...but you drive on the WRONG side...

[Daniel]

All I know is the mania for being on the Left side of the road that the UK gave the commonwealth ended with Canada. Our continent is shared with the Yanks and we bought a lot of their cars, so the mystery is how did the English not give in when Europe was on the right, and one of the largest export markets for their cars (Canada) was on the right? My grandfather owned a succession of Austins, and Brit cars were commonplace in Canada until the nationalized British auto industry destroyed any credability their products had....

It isn't the end of the world, but this silly notion of driving on the left was just the Brits being what they have been loved and hated for over the years...being STUBBORN. We love ya...but you drive on the WRONG side...
Yes the brits are ****ing stubborn when it comes to things like units of measurement as well.

[Drew]

It isn't the end of the world, but this silly notion of driving on the left was just the Brits being what they have been loved and hated for over the years...being STUBBORN. We love ya...but you drive on the WRONG side...

If it ain't broken, don't fix it ;) It's fine doing it in Samoa and so on, but in the UK it's not really an option. Imagine trying to tell 60 million people to suddenly drive on the otherside, then ask the bus companies to buy new buses because they open on the wrong side and so on and so on. Road deaths would probably go up massively, although it'd probably do wonders for the car market. The perfect time to change would either have been after WW2 or before, otherwise it's just too hard and too expensive. It's hard enough trying to change the whole country to digital tv :rotflmao:

[Mark]

The perfect time to change would either have been after WW2 or before, otherwise it's just too hard and too expensive. It's hard enough trying to change the whole country to digital tv :rotflmao:

It was actively considered by the government of the time, and it was thought that it would provide considerable benefits if we were to do so.

But two reasons we didn't. Firstly we'd just been shattered by a very long war the country was bankrupt so feeding the population was more important. Secondly we'd just fought for 6 years so as not to be ruled by a foreign power so any vestiage of doing things like they do abroad was out of the question, plus at the time the UK still had some vestiges of empire left and the notion that it was us telling others what to do, not the other way around.

The next big opportunity was around when Sweden changed in the 1960's before the big road building programmes took hold. Realistically once we'd gotten to the end of the 1960's the motorway programme was well underway we were locked in.

[driveace]

WHY should it be a problem ,weather left or right hand drive.I have driven in many country,s over the last 30 years .Never a problem ,even driven left hand drive rally cars in UK ,and right hand drive in 12 or 13 Euoropean country,s towing a caravan ,with NO sweat.Its just like sleeping different side of woman in bed,why a problem ?

[Robinho]

there is no right side driving, only left side and wrong side! ;)

[leopard]

WHY should it be a problem ,weather left or right hand drive.I have driven in many country,s over the last 30 years .Never a problem ,even driven left hand drive rally cars in UK ,and right hand drive in 12 or 13 Euoropean country,s towing a caravan ,with NO sweat.Its just like sleeping different side of woman in bed,why a problem ?
Your sleeping position say you as a person.

If the woman get used to sleep curl up in the foetus position in one way all night, you may find her back all night. ;)