Right or left driving?

4Xcut

Overheal wrote: »

When you say "Most of the world", Ireland is one of two countries on the planet to have L-Hand driving.

edit: okay so its more like 75. But STILL. It makes you weird o_o

There are a billion people in india There are about 2 billion people living in left hand drive countries, out of 6.7 that's a fair whack. A minority but a significant minoriy.

Jimbo

Xavi6 wrote: »

Change is good. Maybe we should phase it in gradually or do some sort of trial run. Try it with cars first then if that works we can then include trucks, buses etc.

stevecrow74 wrote: »

WHAT.. have the cars drivin on the right and trucks and buses on the left.... i dont think the A&E services will be too happy with that :eek:

Ah bless.:D Your just priceless.

I would imagine it would cost billions to realign the roads, change flow directions, change signs, inform the public, payout insurance for the inevitable crashes/deaths, etc.
I dont think it's what we need in a time when the government are desperatley trying to scrape together 1.5 billion just to keep the country rolling.

Besides, its only a matter of time before cars drive themselves anyway.

Japan thought about changing to the right in the 70's but decided that there were no real benifits to them.
Burma did change over to the right, but the majority of the vehicles on the roads are secondhand from Japan, with the steering wheel on the "wrong side". :rolleyes:

If Ireland changed without the UK, just think about all the cheap UK cars with the wheel on the wrong side on the roads.

PS don't just blame the French, it was Henry Ford who wanted the US to drive on the right, they were one of the first countries to switch over.

JayeL

.....between those who drove on the left and switched to driving on the right is that they had a land border with another country that drove on the right. As far as I know, only one island has changed from driving on the left to the right: Iceland.

Okinawa, a Japanese island occupied by the US after WWII, drove on the right in deference to the Yanks til 1972, when it became the first (and perhaps only) place on earth to switch from driving on the right to driving on the left.

Sorry - total nerd about all this. Basically, it makes zero sense for an island to switch the side of the road it drives on. The decisions to drive on the left or right were made long ago and any cost implications in terms of building cars has pretty much disappeared in recent years. Next time you're in a new car, take a look at the driver side and the passenger side. None of the parts are non-symmetrical; they use the same instrument panels, binnacles, steering wheels, gearboxes, everything's the same on LHD and RHD cars these days. Cars are built to a cost and the "hand of drive" isn't a factor in volume cars these days.

That said, exotic cars are still built like that. We don't get supercars like the Alfa 8C, Ferrari Enzo and, eh, that Mercedes GLK thing - all LHD only. But it works both ways; the Ford Falcon XR8 from Australia, Nissan Skyline GT-R from Japan and assorted TVRs have never had their steering wheels on the left.

In closing, switching is such an enormously-daft concept that would cost millions, cause accidents and maybe it's just me, but I never have a problem driving on the right on mainland Europe.

JayeL

JayeL wrote: »

In closing, switching is such an enormously-daft concept that would cost millions, cause accidents and maybe it's just me, but I never have a problem driving on the right on mainland Europe.

So very true....

WhiteWashMan

from ah

dloob

The Caribbean is an interesting place for this. Some Islands drive on the left, their neighbors drive on the right.
Depends if they were a former British or European Colony.
The actual standard of driving can be interesting too.

RobAMerc

if you notice - the countries that changed did it while there was still only about 10 cars in the whole country - to try do it now would eb ludacris -

most Irish people cannot drive on the left despite doing it for years

peasant

WhiteWashMan wrote: »

from ah

ahhh ..thanks a bunch.

Is that your going away present?

RobAMerc

RobAMerc wrote: »

most Irish people cannot drive on the left despite doing it for years

Many think we already drive on the right, just drive along any dual carriageway/motorway - you'll soon meet them :rolleyes:

Velocitee

Deleted User wrote: »

Many think we already drive on the right, just drive along any dual carriageway/motorway - you'll soon meet them :rolleyes:

Agreed.

I think people would begin to hog the left lane if we drove on the right!!!!!!

WooPeeA

twanda wrote: »

IMO there are too many cars on the road now, to introduce a change like that. Would have been better to do it years ago, when the roads weren't so packed.

I agree, less cars on the road, less problems we have. But the roads are gonna be more packed in the future so is it not better to do it today?

craichoe

Sweden borders other countries though so crossing the border is where the confusion kicks in.

Ireland is an Island .. Left or Right theres no difference as to what is better.

mcwhirter

The roads are bad enough over here, can you imagine the chaos of the government trying to organise this. They can't even organise a decent public transport system.

WhiteWashMan

peasant wrote: »

ahhh ..thanks a bunch.

Is that your going away present?

ahh come on, tis really a motor forum thread

G Luxel

Japanese cars are exported to many countries that drive on the right like Russia, all former soviet states, North Korea, Afghanistan and countries in south america. The cars are not converted to LHD. In some instances there are more RHD cars than local LHD cars.

chris85

It would be stupid to bring it in over here now. All of us people with the RHD cars driving on the right. The reduced visibility would be a hazard as you are further from the centre of the road in terms of your driving position.

I think in Sweeden they had the army out for weeks when it was first brought in as they needed to manpower to get the public to remember what side of the road they were on