Why were right-sided driving cars ever made in the first place?

[SiempreTuna]

Fiat 500's in the US have a gearshift in the entertainment console, even the manual ones.

Weeell .. they're kinda in the dash in so far as the housing is part of the dash. We had a rental cinquecenta in Italy last year and it felt just like a floor mounted stick in use.

In my old Renault by contrast, the stick came out of the dash horizontally then bent up. Changing gear was a pull / push movement. Didn't make for slick changes, but then, it wasn't exactly a sports car

This isn't the same model Renault I had, but this is what the stick was like:

 

[MoodyBlues]

I think I've failed to make my point! Let me try again.

. Most people are right-handed.

. Shifting with the left [non-dominant] hand seems like a bad idea and illogical [to me].

. If cars in the UK [or anywhere else with RHD] had been designed logically, they'd look just like US [and everywhere else with LHD] cars: Driver on the left, gearshift to their right--IN THE MIDDLE of the vehicle.

I never meant that the driver should still be on the right but have the gears to their right. I meant that shifting right-handed makes more sense [again, TO ME, not necessarily to anyone else ], so it seems that the design should've followed from that premise, therefore putting the driver on the left so they could shift with their right hand.

 

[mikedt]

I think I've failed to make my point! Let me try again.

. Most people are right-handed.

. Shifting with the left [non-dominant] hand seems like a bad idea and illogical [to me].

. If cars in the UK [or anywhere else with RHD] had been designed logically, they'd look just like US [and everywhere else with LHD] cars: Driver on the left, gearshift to their right--IN THE MIDDLE of the vehicle.

I never meant that the driver should still be on the right but have the gears to their right. I meant that shifting right-handed makes more sense [again, TO ME, not necessarily to anyone else ], so it seems that the design should've followed from that premise, therefore putting the driver on the left so they could shift with their right hand.

I'm sure most people are right handed, but IMO shifting gears is not a precision thing, but it might be something one is used to though and a gear stick opposite side might seem strange. It's not like writing with a pen or eating with chopsticks. Operating a gear stick is something I can do equally will left or right side which I have no problem with, but I can't eat with chopsticks or do good handwriting left handed....LOL.

According to the Wiki, the UK has been left hand traffic since 1722, and many countries which had a significant a British influence, like India, Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong followed accordingly. China was left hand drive until fairly recently(1946). Actually it's quite interesting driving from Hong Kong or Macao into mainland Shenzhen or Zhuhai, because traffic does have to switch sides....

It is an offence to own and drive a wrong side vehicle, unless you're just visiting or on business for a short time.


Apparently there was discussion in the 1960s of changing the UK to right hand traffic to bring it in-line Europe. But of course that was too late, cars, buses and trucks significantly outnumbered horse drawn vehicles...

We Brits eat using both left and right hands, knife in right hand( but not in the mouth), fork in left, spoon in right. I know the American custom of holding the food with fork while cutting it using knife in right hand, and then switching the fork to the right hand to put the food in mouth.

Guitarists always always finger the chords with their non-dominant side and strum or pick with their dominant side. Basically if one is a southpaw, like Paul McCartney or Jimi Hendrix, play a left handed guitar.

BTW A friend of mine had a stroke which left him paralysed on left side, couldn't use left arm at all. He was able to drive an automatic right hand drive car no problem, because not changing gears and only using the shifter on the left side when the car was stationary for Park, Neutral, Drive and Reverse.

 

[MoodyBlues]

You know what's funny, Mike? After I broke my right wrist--and was unable to use my right hand for months--I became so good at doing things left-handed that even now, years later, I haven't reverted back to right-handed for certain things. Such as: brushing my teeth, pouring coffee, drinking coffee, certain toileting things , and more. Plus, I can eat left or right equally as well, and sometimes--just for the sheer fun of it--I write left-handed.

And with all that said, I still think RHD cars should've been made LHD! :laugh:

 

[Davdi]

Being a Brit I'm used to Manual gears and shifting with my left hand. But when I'm in mainland Europe (France, Italy or Spain) I Have no trouble shifting with my right hand.

 

[MoodyBlues]

Last night I was watching something...what the heck was it? :hmmmm: Oh, I know, Seconds from Disaster about a plane crash in the UK. Anyway, the vehicles were RHD, and this thought hit me that if given the opportunity to drive RHD, I'd be okay with it--I mean, after some adjustment time, of course.

The comments in this thread from people who've done both, and can switch without issue, are what actually made me come to this conclusion. I think it's like anything else, once you're used to it it's not a big deal.

I do wonder, however, about the ingrained 'driving thinking' that only increases as one's years...decades...of driving tick by. Say that I suddenly decided to move to London (a city my daughter absolutely loved when she lived there). I wonder how long it would take before my decades of American driving would take a back seat. Like in a crisis would my Americanized INSTINCT kick in or would my current environment kick in?

 

[Hadron]

Apparently there was discussion in the 1960s of changing the UK to right hand traffic to bring it in-line Europe. But of course that was too late, cars, buses and trucks significantly outnumbered horse drawn vehicles...

Sweden did swap around that time!

We Brits eat using both left and right hands, knife in right hand( but not in the mouth), fork in left, spoon in right. I know the American custom of holding the food with fork while cutting it using knife in right hand, and then switching the fork to the right hand to put the food in mouth.

But I do know a lot of Brits who, if they are only given a fork, will then use it in the right, even though they use it in the left normally. I've always found that odd.

Confession: I can use chopsticks in either hand, though probably not as skilfully as you with either of them.

 

[Hadron]

I do wonder, however, about the ingrained 'driving thinking' that only increases as one's years...decades...of driving tick by. Say that I suddenly decided to move to London (a city my daughter absolutely loved when she lived there). I wonder how long it would take before my decades of American driving would take a back seat. Like in a crisis would my Americanized INSTINCT kick in or would my current environment kick in?

Well I lived in London for a few years, and my advice would be not to bother driving there at all. The roads are crowded, parking is poor and there are charges to drive into the centre. On the other hand there is a lot of public transport - I used the Tube for almost everything, supplemented by buses and the occasional taxi.

If you did drive there I suspect your biggest acclimatisation problem would be that London drivers are a lot less polite in their driving habits than most American drivers.

The time that my driving habits caught me out most was the opening sequence of The Simpsons: the bit where we see Maggie driving the car, then pan out to see Marge sitting on her left. Now to me that still looked like Maggie was driving, and it took months before the penny dropped!

 

[Mehta23]

Sweden did swap around that time!

But I do know a lot of Brits who, if they are only given a fork, will then use it in the right, even though they use it in the left normally. I've always found that odd.

Confession: I can use chopsticks in either hand, though probably not as skilfully as you with either of them.

I've only just realised that I do that. Tbh if I'm not continually needing the knife I will swap and use the fork in my hand hand.

I used the Tube for almost everything, supplemented by buses and the occasional taxi.

If you did drive there I suspect your biggest acclimatisation problem would be that London drivers are a lot less polite in their driving habits than most American drivers.

:

But the tube is really cramped and too small for me to stand up in but I did notice that londoners seem to be less polite (they don't even say thanks to the bus driver :O)

 

[itsmykl]

I too broke my right wrist in my late twenties and learned many things left handed, and I suspect a left handed tendency in our heritage made my signature look almost the same left as right handed, though that may have been the underlying tendency causing my original right sig to lean left. LOL.

After many 30K miles per year driving, I had a chance about ten years later, early eighties, to drive a Volvo LHD car through much of Europe and end up after the night ferry in Great Britian.

It turned out, that after driving on the right for over 2k Kms , in an American left drive car and having been reinforced to 'normal', it was a real change, fortunately not hampered by a 'manual' but having to realize not only that the people on my left were the importance and that when I went around a left curve on the tiny country roads, I could not see far enough ahead to do anything except slow down so I could respond. Being on the inside left of a curve on narrow roads in a left side drive is the ultimate nerve-racking. Three days later I returned to the safe? US not to experience rightedness again.

And I hope so forty+ years later when I want what I know.

And watching a TV show can bring up questions, but having done it, is far more paramount to knowing.

And in a final thought, I think the suggestion that the normally right handed gladiator needed to have his right hand free for the sword leaving the 'gear box' off to his left is a great suggestion for how the English accepted that possibility if true. Of course the maiden at the gladiators left side was also right handed and how did that play into decisions? Just a random thought.

 

[PaulS]

Being born in the UK I'm used to right hand drive but work a lot in Europe and it's amazing how fast the mind and body adapt to left hand driving even swapping from a right hand drive car to a left hand side one.

Possibly anecdotal but I've seen several historical programs that claim that after the American War of Independence the US armies and then the people decided to ride on the right as an act of defiance against the British who rode on the left.

The,"Automatic Gearbox" was invented by,"Lazlo Biro"<Hungarian> of ,"Biro" pen fame.
Laszlo Biro - Everything2.com

My 7.5 groats

 

[dibblebill]

I've heard that about a LOT of things insofar as customs in the US go that run parallel to that thought, Paul. Its silly, if it is true.

 

[Screech]

I think the foot work of timing throttle/clutch requires more precision than shifting. There are only 4 to 7 positions you are aiming for with the stick. And at least the foot work is for the same locations for 99+ percent of the cars out there. I know there were some rally race cars from the mid eights that swapped the clutch and brake location, not sure if that stuck around or was phased out.

 

[itsmykl]

I like the thought that the Americans were so smart after the Revolution, and with nothing else to think about, as to snub the British by coming up with something so clever as to generate driving on the other side of the road. If we all repeat this and post it on other sites, it will become fact. :bike:

 

[PaulS]

Some good reading,

Why do some countries drive on the right and others on the left ?

However remember this famous quote,

"Not everything you read on the Internet is accurate" Julius Caesar

 

[SiempreTuna]

.. that article seems to be saying: aristocrats want to drive on the left while peasants want to drive on the right

 

[zuben el genub]

My Spitfire and a lot of Triumphs did that. The dashboard was symmetrical so stuff could be swapped.

I have a Brit son-in-law. His dissertation about the way Yanks drive is funny. My daughter had trouble with the way the Brits use the emergency brake. With the sportier passenger cars, I can see it - the brake lever was in between the seats.
With my truck, it's under the dashboard.

 

[SiempreTuna]

With my truck, it's under the dashboard.

How on earth do you do a handbrake turn

My brother learned to drive in the army and apparently they were required for the advanced test (which he did the day after his regular test). Something to do with being able to get of tricky situations - particularly relevant for deployments to Northern Ireland at the time.

 

[gregg1100]

Some late 50's British cars had a right side gearshift- between the door and seat. Had a little cutaway at end of seat base.
These were the Riley 2.6 and Wolseley 6/90.
At a time when a fair few British cars had column change, on left side of wheel, this right side shift took a bit of getting used to. Probably most automatics had a column change to late 60's, early 70's.
Apart from that, it's easier for us, lol.
Why were left sided driving cars ever made in first place?

 

[Davdi]

I had a Wolseley 6/90 many moons ago (early 1970s when it was just cheap transport), with a steering-column shift which, on a nearly 20 year old car had become very loose with age. This made for an interesting game of 'hunt the gear'.

 

[exninja]

Anyone see the recent Top Gear where they went to Burma? They drive on the right side but also have RHD cars. Now THAT'S a nightmare. Left turns would be terrifying. They pointed out that the buses let you out INTO THE STREET. No gracias!

 

[mikedt]

Anyone see the recent Top Gear where they went to Burma? They drive on the right side but also have RHD cars. Now THAT'S a nightmare. Left turns would be terrifying. They pointed out that the buses let you out INTO THE STREET. No gracias!

Yeh Burma, or Myanmar, is a small and very much emerging market country. I'd suspect that most vehicles are imported from probably India, which is a drive on the left country. Also I believe Burma changed sides in the 1970s, which is comparatively recent.

Hong Kong and Macau are drive on the left places, while mainland China is drive on the right. However it is illegal to import and sell a wrong side vehicle in both HK and Macau. So the only wrong side vehicles one sees, are only there for a short term and have mainland Chinese number plates.