The YANK SIDE

alfradio

alfradio

Member +
While checking out the many photos of your EP82s and EP91s and such...
I notice some have the steering wheel on the right side (the Brit way) while
others have it on the left side (the Yank way).

Does driving a car with the steering wheel on the "Yank side" present any
special problems in a country where the roads and such are set up for the
steering wheel on the other side or is it even not an issue?

Curious Alf
 
Monkfish

Monkfish

Member +
It makes overtaking dangerous as you have to get half of the car the otherside of the road to see what's coming, especially if you're overtaking a truck. :homer:
 
rb69

rb69

Member +
Yeah, as said above. Plus it's a complete bastard trying to get served at Burger King Drive thru! :p
 
Guye

Guye

Lifer
It depends on which steering setup you are used to rdh or lhd. Driving a lhd on roads where the vehicle travels on the left means that you will have to be extra cautious when overtaking, as the driver's visibilty may be impeded by the vehicle in front. Other than that, it just a matter of getting used to the steering wheel on the "wrong" side of the car.
 
alfradio

alfradio

Member +
Has anyone ever researched why the British (and I guess other countries as
well) us the driver on the right side style of car and drive on the side of the
road they do??? I wonder where THAT stemmed from??

The USA driver position and side of the roads we drive on, are just as weird...
for example over here, (and over there as well) if two cars are approaching
one another and drift slightly into the other's lane to where that corner of
the car crashes, both drivers get the brunt of the collision as opposed to
having the driver's on the other side of the car.... then it'd be the passenger
or in many cases nobody getting the brunt of the collision!

Just wondering, with too much time on my hands today!

HaHaHa!!!!
 
Bluebear

Bluebear

Member +
alfradio said:
Has anyone ever researched why the British (and I guess other countries as
well) us the driver on the right side style of car and drive on the side of the
road they do??? I wonder where THAT stemmed from??
Click to expand...

Medieval times. Basically, people on horseback always kept their right hand free, and the left to hold reins or whatnot. Therefore, when passing others on horseback, they could greet with the right hand, or draw their sword and be able to defend themselves.

The switch to left hand drive in countries like America, came about because people in charge of handling wagons had no drivers seat. As they needed to use the whip in their right hand (dominant side), they preferred to sit on the left rear horse, so they could reach the horses easily. Because of this, they prefered to see people passing on their left side, and therefore kept to the right of tracks. Everyone else followed to match the wagons.

Little fact: Apparently, RHD is safer than LHD, the suggestion being that the right side of your body being more dominant, and therefore more suited for the things that RHD drivers do :p Although this has not been proven.

Info from here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_hand_drive#History
 
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