Carl F. Thelin

ARE YOU DRIVING ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE ROAD?

            In North America, drivers know that driving from the left side of an automobile is correct. People on the British Isles drive cars with the steering wheel on what we think of as the passenger side. That makes sense because their cars go down the left side of the road. The driver sits closest to the approaching traffic, just as we do so that he can best judge how close to the center line the vehicles are.

            So, which is better? Two thirds of the people in the world live in countries where right-side driving is standard. Three fourths of all roads are in those countries. The left-side drivers are mostly in countries like England and the former colonies of Great Britain. Lefties are not just in small countries. Count India, Japan, New Zealand and Australia among dozens of others. Think about that. It is a lot easier to be different from the majority when your left side driving is on an island where there is no possibility of a head on collision at the border with a country that has right side drivers. There are a few spots – mostly between smaller countries with fewer drivers that can create border conflicts.

            Countries made a left-right choice long before there were automobiles. It had to do with the way people walked, rode horses and drove horse-drawn wagons. You will find the reasons in this wonderful web-site: http://www.i18nguy.com/driver-side.html

            Which style makes more sense today with cars and trucks? Early on, the engine, transmission and drive line were generally centered when most cars had rear wheel drive and the transmission shift-control lever was initially on the center of the floor. Only one seventh of the population is left handed. Thus the driver on the left side could shift with his right hand. Even when the shift control moved behind the steering wheel (three-on-the-tree), it was on the right hand side. The majority of drivers can use the dominant hand to operate the other controls in the center of the dash.

            We Americans are lucky that Europe and the United States dominated the development of motor vehicles. The other major manufacturer of cars and trucks, Japan, became a successful exporter to the USA and Europe because they had the sense to design their exported cars for the driver on the left side. Imagine how many Japanese car engineers had to drive “our” cars during development. Shortly after World War Two, General Motors did the opposite – they modified our vehicles for lefties in England, Australia and South Africa, where GM had business.