Why DO People Drive On The WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD...

[kg]

...In other countries? ;)

Here's why:

Why Some Countries Drive on the Right and Some Countries Drive on the Left

[pilvikki]

THAT is a great site! :dancer2:

i've been wondering about that bit extensively as i've bounced back and forth this summer. also, when my family moved to sweden, finland was RH, sweden LH. in sept 1967 they changed it back to RH. for a while that was ...interesting. for about a month nothing drastic happened as everybody expected everybody to screw up. then, after that people started to relax and oi vei...

looking it up i see that the swedes had a hard time deciding:

I Sverige fanns på 1700-talet en kunglig förordning att postvagnar skulle hålla till höger vid möte på väg. Denna förordning ändrades 1734 och vänstertrafik fastställdes. Förordningen upphörde att gälla 1868 och fram till 1916, då vänstertrafik åter fastställdes i en förordning, gällde praxis vilket innebar vänstertrafik av hävd. Högertrafik infördes den 3 september 1967.

by royal decree the postal carriers were to keep to the right when meeting anyone on the road. 1734 it was changed to LH. 1868 to the Right. 1916 to the Left. 1967 to Right. [not a translation.]

:crazy:

personally i'd prefer Left. why? well, it's to do with driving; being strongly R handed, i'm thinking it would make sense to shift with Left and steer with Right.

also: instinct. i'm not kidding, it's the same as people entering a room and almost guaranteed they will circle the premises to the Left. in a R hand drive car you have your heart on the 'safe' side. ditto walking a path on the L side.


still, got almost flattened by a doubledecker in london...

[pilvikki]

here's a good one: until 1921 in finland you technically did not overtake anyone... the one in front of you was required - by law - to yield by pulling over to the left in order to let you pass.

a bit like cross country skiing...

:shock:

[Ice.Maiden]

Whilst on the pot-holed roads of rural Turkey, ANY side's considered fair game! Only after much blasting of horns by both sides, or by the car following the leader and then the leading car responding with blasts also .. does someone finally slow down or allow an oncoming car that gets too close to have the right of way! Even worse when it's pitch black, because there's no street lighting. : (

[kg]

Myself, I prefer the center.

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[pilvikki]

that works really well here, as the secondary roads, nicely paved, btw., are so narrow that there is only the centre to drive on. no lanes, period.

[Ice.Maiden]

Same up here in parts. You have to crawl round sharp bends in case there's some whacking great farm vehicle heading your way.

[kg]

You have to do that here, in some places...even on the Interstate! :shock:

Talk about some honkin' big "implements of husbandry!"

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[pilvikki]

that's some serious machinery there... :shock:

:dance: they drive tractors around here without a care in the world. despite their paved sideroads not wide enough to double ride bicycles they've not clued into the high tech concept of - shoulders. you might find 2' of grass on a county road, none to 4" on the numerous 'bike lanes' bisecting the fields.

honestly! the speed limit is 90, meaning, well, you know... AND as you go zooming around a blind bend, there's farmer jean-pierre with his ancient tractor smack in the middle of the lane. will he pull over at the next bus lay-by or gravel pit? no,no, no! he'll just trundle along for the next 38 miles while the traffic piles up behind him and people take serious chances of just missing the oncoming traffic as they dart around.

[Ice.Maiden]

LOL at you both!

Blimey Glenn, that IS serious machinery!! Huge.

* no,no, no! he'll just trundle along for the next 38 miles .......

ROFL.

[pilvikki]

you know, when you're going down a one-way street and then have to make a left and you're sitting there, like, um, what am i doing...? :lol:

here they have a few intersections in town that i've still to figure out! let me see if i can find the spot for you...

nope, can't remember where it is, but if you hit google maps and take a look at carcassonne, you will come to a few spots where you'll just go ...wtf? then go to a streetview... and figure out who's got the right-of-way. :shock: but don't thnk too long about it, the gauls are not noted for patience....

[Ice.Maiden]

No time atm hun, but I WILL take a look. I'm just spending 5 minutes on here before taking an early night (for me). Got to travel to a funeral in a few hours time, travelling 80-odd miles in freezing fog and god knows what other weather en route. Even worse coming back, because it'll be dark and the temperature'll drop even further.

Let me see - you drive on the right over there don't you? Yep - I'll take a look when I've got some time to study it. Now which part of Carcassonne do I look at, or is it just a small place?

[pilvikki]

ooh, i'm so sorry; both for losing your auntie and the miserable trip as well.

carcassonne isn't that small, so... let's see... salvazar airport is a good start, we drive by it on route de montreal when we go into town. look at the intersection just north of it at Bd Henry Buffet and D6161. as for the map, a lot of places look complicated on the map, but aren't as bad when you see them, and vise versa.

buffet? there's a name for ya!

[Ice.Maiden]

Thank you. Everything went off well, but we decided not to stay because quite frankly, there were dozens of people there. We spent 2 hours just going round and commiserating with folk and being introduced to new ones. It was absolutely freezing, although sunny where we actually were, and I was halfway home again before my toes'd thawed out!

Anyway, had a look on the map, and had a bit of a problem there. It didn't recognise Boulevard Henry Buffet and D6161! Got everywhere else around the vicinity, and Route Montreal's amazing!

Buffet as a name? How do pronounce that - as in a buffet, or Buffy (the vampire!)?

[pilvikki]

:lmao1:

you probably have to turn your nose up when you say "buffy"?

if you toodle around any town around here, you'll see tons of signs, stacks of them! montréal >, salvazar>, limoix>, bram>, la force> etc. but BH! try finding a name for the rd you're driving on! tonight we were looking for a dominos pizzeria and surprise... the road changed names and it's one way. so.... what is it called now and how do we get back?

eventually saw a sign, with maybe 1½" letters, black on dark blue, and dirty. hey! thanks. thanks a lot! one is supposed to see that while driving?

we gave up and got the GPS to help us get on track.

[Ice.Maiden]

Good lord!! I've been through France by road quite a few times, but never stayed long enough to get the idea of what you're saying. How weird is it that road names aren't signed clearly! yep - sat navs DO have their uses! Did you eat your pizzas before you managed to get back home?!! : )

[pilvikki]

:lmao4: hell no! no eating in that car yet!

the place is like a rabbit warren with cars parked on the sides and you'd swear you'll ping off the next mirror! you know what those ancient towns are like! :o then add a few people spilling off the 6" sidewalks and by the time you pop out to a proper boulevard, your knees are jellied.

[Ice.Maiden]

Grin. I know what you mean, and some of those streets are VERY narrow aren't they? Well I hope your pizzas hadn't gone cold by the time you got back. Then again, you probably like them cold. I don't.

[StVandal]

Wow, I always figured it had something to do with wagon drivers sitting on the left and driving on the right to avoid crashing into other wagons, but I didn't know why the English preferred driving on the left. Well, I suppose in the U.K. you have the advantage over us of being able to wield a sword while you're running errands!
:lol:

And it makes sense that the French would make their decision out of spite. ;) (j/k)

[Ice.Maiden]

LOL! Over here, fencing's quite a popular pastime, and they start young.

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It doesn't matter which side of the road folk drive on, providing they have the steering wheel on the "correct" side, but I hate it when you have a left or right-hand steering wheel and then're expected to drive on an unfamiliar side of the road - left to left, right to right, etc. I don't like driving on a side I'm not used to anyway. In the Canaries, I gave it my first go, and crawled along a street. All seemed reasonably well 'til I came to a roundabout .... :bleh: