http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8239048.stm#graphic
Which side would you like to travel on, on the roads...
Which side would you like to travel on, on the roads...
Left or Right
- Thread starter yenrod
- Start date
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Fnaar
Smutmaster General
- Location
- Thumberland
As a left-hander, I have to say that driving abroad (on the right) feels a lot more natural to me 
swee'pea99
Legendary Member
I quite like driving on the right, but I don't think we should be too quick to prejudge, or make any sudden changes. I think if we are going to switch, it should be phased in over a period, to give people a chance to get used to the idea.
- Location
- the post-brexit wasteland
if there's nowt coming t'other way on country road, i'll think nothing of riding on the right to avoid the pile of gravel in the middle of the road while riding with the club.
Arch
Married to Night Train
- Location
- Salford, UK
I think the logistics of changing the UK would be enormous, as would the carnage (not straight away when people had it in mind, but a week or so later), so I don't fancy it changing. On the continent, I've managed to drive and ride on the right well enough. So my answer is either - depending on local rules. The one thing I've never done is drive a left hand drive car, so I don't know how well I'd do that - I'm left handed, but fairly ambidextrous. I'm sure I'd get used to it well enough.
Davidc
Guru
- Location
- Somerset UK
The time to have switched would have been immediately after WW2 when most vehicles were old and in need of replacement, and there were far fewer of them. Politically impossible I suspect.
I don't find a problem driving on the right in a left hand drive car. My brain just flips over a few minutes into doing it. I do find it much more difficult in a car with right hand drive, so wouldn't fancy changing here, with the prospect of years of driving RHD cars on the right.
Just wait until the oil runs out and do it then.
I don't find a problem driving on the right in a left hand drive car. My brain just flips over a few minutes into doing it. I do find it much more difficult in a car with right hand drive, so wouldn't fancy changing here, with the prospect of years of driving RHD cars on the right.
Just wait until the oil runs out and do it then.
accountantpete
Brexiteer
On the left apart from the cycle lane which is usually full of broken glass etc
It would be a logistical nightmare which would cost a fortune. Every roundabout and traffic light would have to be reworked, road signs changed...
I have driven a left hand drive car (in this country). It's not a problem apart from being difficult to overtake slower traffic. Every existing car on the road would then have this problem which would surely lead to an increase in accidents.
I have driven a left hand drive car (in this country). It's not a problem apart from being difficult to overtake slower traffic. Every existing car on the road would then have this problem which would surely lead to an increase in accidents.
Arch
Married to Night Train
- Location
- Salford, UK
We have a short stretch of bike path here in York where you are directed, by arrows on the path, to ride on the right of the path. I've never quite worked out why. It's a segregated bit, by some traffic lights, and sort of leads nowhere in one direction (the other way, it is handy for bypassing a red light). But there are arrows painted on it, indicating that cyclists should pass each other on the right. I should get a pic for the Warrington facility of the month.
In a car, I'm quite comfortable making the switch between left and right, but best if it's in the 'right' sort of car. I.e. in a LHD car on the Continent, in a RHD car in the UK. In a few days I'm taking my own car (RHD naturally) to France and I know overtaking will be that little bit more awkward over there, but then I'm used to it.
I don't think there's any difference nowadays: some motorists from overseas (USA particularly) visiting UK, moan that they find it difficult to change gear with the left hand, but I reckon that's more to do with being used to automatics than anything else. Certainly I don't see any problem!
As for Samoa - what's happening there is pure lunacy IMHO! Let them go their own way if they wish - it's not a huge country and presumably not densely motorised, so perhaps they'll get away with it. See here for the last time that a large country in the developed world (Sweden) made the switch - in 1967. According to the article it went smoothly but was a major upheaval and unpopular with the public.
Cycling - well that's different. I'm more likely to forget which side I should be on when cycling, since I don't have a steering wheel as a 'reference point' (my brakes are swapped over on the bike in France, that's all). And glancing behind over my left shoulder, instead of my right, doesn't come easy. I'm getting old... B)
I don't think there's any difference nowadays: some motorists from overseas (USA particularly) visiting UK, moan that they find it difficult to change gear with the left hand, but I reckon that's more to do with being used to automatics than anything else. Certainly I don't see any problem!
As for Samoa - what's happening there is pure lunacy IMHO! Let them go their own way if they wish - it's not a huge country and presumably not densely motorised, so perhaps they'll get away with it. See here for the last time that a large country in the developed world (Sweden) made the switch - in 1967. According to the article it went smoothly but was a major upheaval and unpopular with the public.
Cycling - well that's different. I'm more likely to forget which side I should be on when cycling, since I don't have a steering wheel as a 'reference point' (my brakes are swapped over on the bike in France, that's all). And glancing behind over my left shoulder, instead of my right, doesn't come easy. I'm getting old... B)
Hover Fly
Lazy so and so
- Location
- Besides the lake, beneath the trees
Fnaar said:As a left-hander, I have to say that driving abroad (on the right) feels a lot more natural to me
As another left hander I prefer a RHD car, the gear lever hand brake etc. are then placed for the left hand so easier to use.
Jonathan M
New Member
- Location
- Merseyside
I don't mind on which side I ride, I've ridden in France in the summer for the last few years as well as riving over there (RHD car), and I've driven in the states in a LHD car.
There would need to be serious consideration though to the UK changing over to driving on the right for one clear cut reason, drivers of RHD cars get too fecking close to cyclists because they can judge what clearance they are (not) giving the cyclist too precisely. Like British tourists in France do.......
There would need to be serious consideration though to the UK changing over to driving on the right for one clear cut reason, drivers of RHD cars get too fecking close to cyclists because they can judge what clearance they are (not) giving the cyclist too precisely. Like British tourists in France do.......
Night Train
Maker of Things
- Location
- Greater Manchester
I think it would be a nightmare to change the UK to driving in the wrong side of the road. We drive on the left to keep our sword/whip arm clear and free to do as required, ditto the driver's side window for the modern equivilent.
If the Government did decide to make a change then I would demand the Government then replaced my new right hand drive car for a new left hand drive car at their expense, and I don't mean via tax revenue.
A large percentage of the world write from right to left and top to bottom. Should we change the written languge direction too?
If the Government did decide to make a change then I would demand the Government then replaced my new right hand drive car for a new left hand drive car at their expense, and I don't mean via tax revenue.
A large percentage of the world write from right to left and top to bottom. Should we change the written languge direction too?
ComedyPilot
Secret Lemonade Drinker
- Location
- The Kingdom of Yorkshire
I would love to convert to the other side of the road. And I would also like to make French, German, Dutch and Italian language COMPULSARY at school.
