I'm a Brit and I live in Sweden; you soon get used to driving on either
side of the road, though not at the same time. Yes, it was the Swedes
who flipped over in the 1960s, although their cars have always been
left-hand drive.
Swedish joke: the Norwegians have decided to change over to driving on
the left. They don't want it to be too much of a shock so it's going to
be a gradual process. For the first three months, the rule for driving
on the left will only apply to heavy trucks (think about it).
Adam Turner
RICHARD.JACKSON@nene.ac.uk wrote:
> >Dan McNamara wrote:
> >>
> >> Hello all,
> >> Need an answer to a question. Why do the people in England (and
> related
> >> countries) drive on the left side of the road and the U.S. drive on
> the
> >> right? Wouldn't it have made more sense for car manufacturers to
> >> standardize world wide? Know this sounds trivial, but I cannot
> think of a
> >> single reason. Thanks
> >> Dan McNamara
> >> Bowling Green, Ohio
> >> mcnamara@wcnet.org
> >> "95 Miata"
> >> "62 TR4"
> >> "86 SAAB 900S"
>
> >Let me see, It seems like sometime in the '60's maybe the 70's when
> >Japan broke down and converted to driving on the right side of the
> >street. THat's "right" as opposed to "left", not "right" as opposed
> to
> >"wrong". Although som might argue the latter. Anyway it caused
> traffic
> >tie-ups and accidents for a great long time before the people got
> used
> >to the change.
>
> I thought the Jap's drove on the left still, don't you mean the Swedes
> who
> converted???
>
> >Anybody who has ever driven in England after having learned to drive
> in
> >the US, can appreciate how awkward it is to get used to. And the
> >inverse is also true.
>
> On the odd occassion I've driven in Europe(ie NOT Britain, that'll set
> Odd off
> again :-)) I always found it quite easy to adjust, just took a little
> thought
> at big junctions thats all.
>
> >Since practicaly all the rest of the world is
> >driving on the right now, it would be up to the Brits to initiate the
>
> >change.
>
> According to the site that was named there is still a third of the
> world
> drivin' on the left.
>
> >For a country that still has a monarchy, that's a large change to
> make.
>
> Ya just jealous!!!! :-) :-)
>
> >Joe Curry '63 Spit (right-hand drive, but woefully still no
> doors)
>
> Eh, how come your steering wheels on the proper side then??? :-)
>
> Rich
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