4 ms·

What is the long term benefit of UK and Ireland switching to right hand driving? I guess it would make life easier for HGVs that's the only class of vehicles th

by mantap 7y ago

What is the long term benefit of UK and Ireland switching to right hand driving? I guess it would make life easier for HGVs that's the only class of vehicles that regularly uses both systems. For everyone else it would be a lot of pain and little to no benefit.

djaychela 7y ago
I would think if -every- country changed to driving on the right, all cars could be LHD, and that would make vehicle design and supply chains simpler and lower cost? Depending, of course, if people are actually driving in the future, but having thought a bit about it maybe in the near future there won't be the need to have a physical connection to the steering rack or pedals so switching the driver's side will be easier and simpler in the future. Buying a car from anywhere in the EU or wherever would be a lot easier, as it is a lot of 'grey' imports in the UK tend to be from Japan, I think, as they're RHD and have interesting vehicles in good condition.
- jboles 7y ago
  IIRC it becomes difficult to register cars in Japan because of emissions standards once they are a few years old. That's why so many end up in Australia/NZ/UK.
JetSetWilly 7y ago
I can't think of any apart from marginal production costs for right hand drive. I can think of negatives though. For one, people for the most part are right eye and right hand dominant. That means that they can drive better on the left side of the road - if you look at racing cars where the driver can drive in any orientation, they generally historically had the gear stick on the left because you want your right hand on the steering wheel. Having your dominant right eye have a better field of view of the road and oncoming lane helps too. Despite being one of the more densely populated countries in Europe, UK accident rates are well below almost everywhere else in Europe let alone the world. I don't think this is because UK road infrastructure is superior to eg. German road infrastructure - I think it is because we drive in a more "natural" position. Driving on the left would mean chaos in the short term and then make our accident rates slightly worse for all eternity afterwards. Not really worth it?
- mattmanser 7y ago
  Think it's more likely because we stick to the rules more than most countries. For example I was in Italy a few weeks ago and there's some weird risks they take where they think it's fine to cross the other lane of traffic when turning even when something's close and barrelling at them at full speed. A few seconds saved where a small distraction in the other driver could cause a side on collision. I'd also be interested to see how those rates compare historically, I only drive occasionally and it's very noticeable that the UK is now plastered in speed cameras compared to even 10 years ago.
  - JetSetWilly 7y ago
    Not so sure because it also holds for highly rule-abiding countries like Japan, the Netherlands, Germany etc.
    - mattmanser 7y ago
      Interesting! Sounds like a compelling argument then, and a tragic happenstance so many places chose the wrong side.
tzs 7y ago
I don't know if switching what side of the road they drive on would have any benefits, but switching which side of the car the steering wheel is on could. Around 89% of people are right handed, and 11% are left handed. With the steering wheel on the right, as it is in most left side driving countries, most drivers have their most nimble hand on the door side, and their least nimble hand on the interior side. But the door side only has a few things that you need to interact with--the handle to open the door, the lock button, maybe some power windows buttons. These are all things that do not require any finesse to operate. The interior side has whatever is on the center console, and possibly a gear shift, and is also the side on which any interaction with the passengers take place. It's where the stupid touch screen is on cars so equipped. It's the side where you want your dominant hand.
- mantap 7y ago
  This could be largely mitigated by adding voice control for the center console functions, and probably should be for safety purposes. "Hey car, turn on the air conditioning".
- jfk13 7y ago
  Don't you want to keep your dominant hand on the (rather important) steering wheel while you're using the other hand to adjust the volume of the radio, change gears, turn on the heating, or whatever?
  - ken 7y ago
    I think it really makes no difference for the steering wheel. I've never been in a situation where my left hand was in any way inadequate to the task of steering my car. (Well, one case: when driving a heavy vehicle at low speeds with no power steering. But in that case, my right hand is also unable to steer it on its own! Getting the truck out of the parking lot is a two-handed job.) My intuition is that I would generally prefer to keep my left hand (less dextrous) on the steering wheel (only one moving part, controlled by big sweeping movements), and use my right hand (better at fine motor control) for tasks involving moving/pressing/twisting smaller controls.
BurningFrog 7y ago
My trip to Australia taught me that driving on the side you're not used to is very difficult at first, and definitely a safety hazard. If the whole world drives on the same side, international travel involving driving becomes safer and some unknowable number of lives will be saved. But long before that could ever happen self driving cars will become the norm, and human driven vehicles will be considered a savage ancient custom you can't believe we used to do.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

by mantap 7y ago

djaychela 7y ago

I would think if -every- country changed to driving on the right, all cars could be LHD, and that would make vehicle design and supply chains simpler and lower cost? Depending, of course, if people are actually driving in the future, but having thought a bit about it maybe in the near future there won't be the need to have a physical connection to the steering rack or pedals so switching the driver's side will be easier and simpler in the future. Buying a car from anywhere in the EU or wherever would be a lot easier, as it is a lot of 'grey' imports in the UK tend to be from Japan, I think, as they're RHD and have interesting vehicles in good condition.

jboles 7y ago
IIRC it becomes difficult to register cars in Japan because of emissions standards once they are a few years old. That's why so many end up in Australia/NZ/UK.

JetSetWilly 7y ago

I can't think of any apart from marginal production costs for right hand drive. I can think of negatives though. For one, people for the most part are right eye and right hand dominant. That means that they can drive better on the left side of the road - if you look at racing cars where the driver can drive in any orientation, they generally historically had the gear stick on the left because you want your right hand on the steering wheel. Having your dominant right eye have a better field of view of the road and oncoming lane helps too. Despite being one of the more densely populated countries in Europe, UK accident rates are well below almost everywhere else in Europe let alone the world. I don't think this is because UK road infrastructure is superior to eg. German road infrastructure - I think it is because we drive in a more "natural" position. Driving on the left would mean chaos in the short term and then make our accident rates slightly worse for all eternity afterwards. Not really worth it?

mattmanser 7y ago
Think it's more likely because we stick to the rules more than most countries. For example I was in Italy a few weeks ago and there's some weird risks they take where they think it's fine to cross the other lane of traffic when turning even when something's close and barrelling at them at full speed. A few seconds saved where a small distraction in the other driver could cause a side on collision. I'd also be interested to see how those rates compare historically, I only drive occasionally and it's very noticeable that the UK is now plastered in speed cameras compared to even 10 years ago.
- JetSetWilly 7y ago
  Not so sure because it also holds for highly rule-abiding countries like Japan, the Netherlands, Germany etc.
  - mattmanser 7y ago
    Interesting! Sounds like a compelling argument then, and a tragic happenstance so many places chose the wrong side.

tzs 7y ago

I don't know if switching what side of the road they drive on would have any benefits, but switching which side of the car the steering wheel is on could. Around 89% of people are right handed, and 11% are left handed. With the steering wheel on the right, as it is in most left side driving countries, most drivers have their most nimble hand on the door side, and their least nimble hand on the interior side. But the door side only has a few things that you need to interact with--the handle to open the door, the lock button, maybe some power windows buttons. These are all things that do not require any finesse to operate. The interior side has whatever is on the center console, and possibly a gear shift, and is also the side on which any interaction with the passengers take place. It's where the stupid touch screen is on cars so equipped. It's the side where you want your dominant hand.

mantap 7y ago
This could be largely mitigated by adding voice control for the center console functions, and probably should be for safety purposes. "Hey car, turn on the air conditioning".
jfk13 7y ago
Don't you want to keep your dominant hand on the (rather important) steering wheel while you're using the other hand to adjust the volume of the radio, change gears, turn on the heating, or whatever?
- ken 7y ago
  I think it really makes no difference for the steering wheel. I've never been in a situation where my left hand was in any way inadequate to the task of steering my car. (Well, one case: when driving a heavy vehicle at low speeds with no power steering. But in that case, my right hand is also unable to steer it on its own! Getting the truck out of the parking lot is a two-handed job.) My intuition is that I would generally prefer to keep my left hand (less dextrous) on the steering wheel (only one moving part, controlled by big sweeping movements), and use my right hand (better at fine motor control) for tasks involving moving/pressing/twisting smaller controls.

BurningFrog 7y ago

My trip to Australia taught me that driving on the side you're not used to is very difficult at first, and definitely a safety hazard. If the whole world drives on the same side, international travel involving driving becomes safer and some unknowable number of lives will be saved. But long before that could ever happen self driving cars will become the norm, and human driven vehicles will be considered a savage ancient custom you can't believe we used to do.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]