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I didn’t realize it was legal to drive left hand drive cars in the UK. Isn’t that generally less safe? I’m really surprised a company this large would end supp

I didn’t realize it was legal to drive left hand drive cars in the UK. Isn’t that generally less safe? I’m really surprised a company this large would end support for the right hand drive configuration.

sz4kerto 3y ago
It's also legal to drive right-hand drive cars across Europe. It's less safe, but not against the law.
- rob74 3y ago
  There's an urban legend around a medicine student who put a skeleton in the passenger seat of his RHD car and drove it around Germany...
inglor_cz 3y ago
In Czechia, where we drive on the right, I occassionally meet British-side cars. Rarely, but yes. (Corrected.) I suspect that already the fact that you drove on the other side for your whole life must mess with you. I certainly wouldn't dream of trying to drive in the UK, but I am the elusive below-average driver anyway.
- d1sxeyes 3y ago
  It’s less disturbing than you might think, especially if it’s an automatic. The worst bit is when you’re trying to overtake, or when you’re trying to parallel park (coming as someone who learned in left-hand drive cars in the UK, but has since moved to the EU where right-hand drive is the standard).
  - inglor_cz 3y ago
    CZ is, for some reason, a stick-drive country. Automats were very untypical here. Lately, I know of two people driving them, which is two more than during my youth. I am not even sure why, probably can be filed under the nebulous "cultural pecularities" category, or there are some historic reasons.
  - gcbirzan 3y ago
    Huh, I don't get the parallel parking one, at least in Bulgaria I regularly have to parallel park on both sides, I don't imagine it'd be that much different. I imagine roundabouts are Hell, though
- oniony 3y ago
  If you drive on the right, then most of your cars should be left-hand drive.
  - inglor_cz 3y ago
    True, my expression was confusing, I corrected it.
- rob74 3y ago
  You mean the elusive below-average driver who assesses their driving skills realistically? Because there are enough far-below-average drivers on the road who don't think twice about maybe not driving (or improving their driving)...
utybo 3y ago
I'm pretty sure you need that to be legal to let tourists get to the UK by car.
Mashimo 3y ago
> I didn’t realize it was legal to drive left hand drive cars in the UK. There is a tunnel from UK to France, would be weird if only British cars would be allowed to use it :P
- Denvercoder9 3y ago
  That's a train tunnel.
  - littlecranky67 3y ago
    But you can get your car on that train ;)
  - toyg 3y ago
    Those trains carry cars.
    - stephen_g 3y ago
      Trains do, yes, but not all of them - there are a whole bunch of different types of trains that use it - ones that are single deck for trucks (and has a small passenger car for the drivers because the truck decks aren't enclosed), ones that are mostly double deck for cars (and are enclosed, so people stay in their vehicles), high speed Eurostar trains that are just passengers/luggage and go to/from the major cities (the car and truck ones go from Folkstone to Calais and back), as well as some container freight trains.
  - tialaramex 3y ago
    As well as passenger trains from e.g. London, the channel tunnel carries car and truck trains, named Le Shuttle - which move either people in their vehicles, or for trucks, the vehicles and then a coach of drivers who can chat and eat food during the trip. These leave from nearer the tunnel on both sides.
  - timthorn 3y ago
    With trains that carry cars.
yurishimo 3y ago
Safety is tricky but I think in some situations, it definitely is more dangerous. Most countries will allow cars from the opposite driving side but you’ll pay for it with your insurance premiums. I’m also baffled they haven’t switched one plant to make right hand drive cars at least part time yet. I know the list of countries is small, but most of them are fairly wealthy. If they have so much profit margin, it should have been possible to retool a few interior pieces after a decade.
_joel 3y ago
Import market and EU residents ariving in their car by ferry/chunnel say hello
pavlov 3y ago
The Model S and Model X account for something like 4% of Tesla’s sales today. They are very niche models. With cost-cutting and margin improvement driving everything at Tesla now, it makes sense they’d discontinue the expensive special configurations of the niche models.
- rob74 3y ago
  But still, I mean, how much do they save? Both cars were already produced in that version, so the tooling for RHD already exists. Which means the only savings are from streamlining the production process (but I guess they have enough other options they need to keep track of) and maybe some simplification on the spare parts side (but most carmakers have already optimized this so the parts are mostly the same no matter on which side the steering is).
- youngtaff 3y ago
  Yeh but the S is still the only good looking Tesla
  - dzhiurgis 3y ago
    "Good looking" isn't Tesla's goal. It's all about making more cheaper EVs. There are many other amazing luxury EVs nowadays if you are into flexing.
mcintyre1994 3y ago
I guess it’d be legal to drive them for Europeans who drive here (via ferry or channel tunnel). We used to drive both ways quite often when we lived in/had family in Germany etc, and would keep using our car there. The bigger part of that is probably commercial lorries etc. doing deliveries both ways. I’m surprised if it’s legal to sell a left hand drive in the UK though.
- InCityDreams 3y ago
  Company i worked for, we drove lhd and rhd: part of the particular job. We also had to deal with dog-leg gears - from either side.
tjungblut 3y ago
How to you think trucks would cross the channel to deliver goods? Swap the steering column in the tunnel?
rmu09 3y ago
For me, the worst thing would be "muscle memory". Never had a problem driving a rental car with right-hand-drive in the UK or Ireland. Different thing was the bicycle, after stops, I often forgot to start driving on "the other side", and I suspect I would be just as easily fooled in a car with left-hand-drive.
ben-schaaf 3y ago
They aren't in Australia - not as a new car anyway. They've already announced they won't be selling them here.
simonblack 3y ago
It's legal, but no way would I drive a left-hand drive car on the left side of the road and vice-versa. Saw lots of UK right-hand-drive cars tootling around France, and even been driven in one there. But no way would I consider doing that myself, or the reverse in the UK. To pass anybody, you have to take the whole of the car out from behind the car in front of you to see whether it's safe enough to pass, instead of the normal 'just enough across for the driver to see ahead'.
- sacnoradhq 3y ago
  It's just inherently less safe because all of the subtle differences related to interaction with road design.
- seanmcdirmid 3y ago
  You’ll find a lot of RHD cars in the Russian Far East (> 50%) as well because Japan makes cars older than 5 or 6 years unusable and so they have to be exported.
- tasuki 3y ago
  > To pass anybody, you have to take the whole of the car out from behind the car in front of you to see whether it's safe enough to pass Well, you don't have to. I agree with you that taking the whole car out would be very dangerous. But in many circumstances, you could take the car in (closer to the side of the road) and look ahead on the other side of the car you want to pass. Of course this requires either a long straight line stretch or a long and mild inside turn. And not much traffic. Fwiw, I would also not drive a car with the wheel on the wrong side of it can be at all helped.
alibarber 3y ago
I am British but now live in Finland, I've driven extensively in both countries and have taken my European (LHD) car to the UK, it's not that hard. I had a harder time not knowing the local languages of the countries in Europe we crossed in order to interpret signs.
gumballindie 3y ago
It is legal but insurance is more expensive and you need to dim daylights so the right light doesnt blind oncoming drivers.
bb123 3y ago
It is legal to drive a left hand drive car here, but I'm also surprised it's legal to sell one new. It is definitely much less safe. I was in a near fatal accident with a left hand drive truck who didn't see me in his blindspot because the steering wheel was on the wrong side.
bloqs 3y ago
Famous example in the UK in the last couple of years: the US spy Anne Sarcoolas killed a teenager on his motorcycle driving on the wrong side of the road and then fled the country.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- sph 3y ago
  Road accidents are plentiful, the vast majority from cars correctly configured driving on the correct side of the road. The Sacoolas fiasco is famous because she was protected by the US government because she's a CIA asset, while they should have put her arse in jail.
sacnoradhq 3y ago
Mail carrier vehicles are usually opposite drive vehicles for the convenience of accessing mailboxes.
em-bee 3y ago
i believe it was always legal to drive, but you probably could not register a car locally if it wasn't built for the appropriate side. at least in some EU countries this was the case, until the EU decided that this violated the free trade within europe because a car from a left-side country could not be sold to someone wanting to register it in a right-side country. there was a court-case against poland and lithuania, and according to that, the countries could not prove that traffic safety was affected. but apparently, it is also no problem to import and register these cars in the US. japan or australia also seem to allow right-side cars with a local registration, so not allowing that seems to be the exception rather than the norm.

sz4kerto 3y ago

It's also legal to drive right-hand drive cars across Europe. It's less safe, but not against the law.

rob74 3y ago
There's an urban legend around a medicine student who put a skeleton in the passenger seat of his RHD car and drove it around Germany...

inglor_cz 3y ago

In Czechia, where we drive on the right, I occassionally meet British-side cars. Rarely, but yes. (Corrected.) I suspect that already the fact that you drove on the other side for your whole life must mess with you. I certainly wouldn't dream of trying to drive in the UK, but I am the elusive below-average driver anyway.

d1sxeyes 3y ago
It’s less disturbing than you might think, especially if it’s an automatic. The worst bit is when you’re trying to overtake, or when you’re trying to parallel park (coming as someone who learned in left-hand drive cars in the UK, but has since moved to the EU where right-hand drive is the standard).
- inglor_cz 3y ago
  CZ is, for some reason, a stick-drive country. Automats were very untypical here. Lately, I know of two people driving them, which is two more than during my youth. I am not even sure why, probably can be filed under the nebulous "cultural pecularities" category, or there are some historic reasons.
- gcbirzan 3y ago
  Huh, I don't get the parallel parking one, at least in Bulgaria I regularly have to parallel park on both sides, I don't imagine it'd be that much different. I imagine roundabouts are Hell, though
oniony 3y ago
If you drive on the right, then most of your cars should be left-hand drive.
- inglor_cz 3y ago
  True, my expression was confusing, I corrected it.
rob74 3y ago
You mean the elusive below-average driver who assesses their driving skills realistically? Because there are enough far-below-average drivers on the road who don't think twice about maybe not driving (or improving their driving)...

utybo 3y ago

I'm pretty sure you need that to be legal to let tourists get to the UK by car.

Mashimo 3y ago

> I didn’t realize it was legal to drive left hand drive cars in the UK. There is a tunnel from UK to France, would be weird if only British cars would be allowed to use it :P

Denvercoder9 3y ago
That's a train tunnel.
- littlecranky67 3y ago
  But you can get your car on that train ;)
- toyg 3y ago
  Those trains carry cars.
  - stephen_g 3y ago
    Trains do, yes, but not all of them - there are a whole bunch of different types of trains that use it - ones that are single deck for trucks (and has a small passenger car for the drivers because the truck decks aren't enclosed), ones that are mostly double deck for cars (and are enclosed, so people stay in their vehicles), high speed Eurostar trains that are just passengers/luggage and go to/from the major cities (the car and truck ones go from Folkstone to Calais and back), as well as some container freight trains.
- tialaramex 3y ago
  As well as passenger trains from e.g. London, the channel tunnel carries car and truck trains, named Le Shuttle - which move either people in their vehicles, or for trucks, the vehicles and then a coach of drivers who can chat and eat food during the trip. These leave from nearer the tunnel on both sides.
- timthorn 3y ago
  With trains that carry cars.

yurishimo 3y ago

Safety is tricky but I think in some situations, it definitely is more dangerous. Most countries will allow cars from the opposite driving side but you’ll pay for it with your insurance premiums. I’m also baffled they haven’t switched one plant to make right hand drive cars at least part time yet. I know the list of countries is small, but most of them are fairly wealthy. If they have so much profit margin, it should have been possible to retool a few interior pieces after a decade.

_joel 3y ago

Import market and EU residents ariving in their car by ferry/chunnel say hello

pavlov 3y ago

The Model S and Model X account for something like 4% of Tesla’s sales today. They are very niche models. With cost-cutting and margin improvement driving everything at Tesla now, it makes sense they’d discontinue the expensive special configurations of the niche models.

rob74 3y ago
But still, I mean, how much do they save? Both cars were already produced in that version, so the tooling for RHD already exists. Which means the only savings are from streamlining the production process (but I guess they have enough other options they need to keep track of) and maybe some simplification on the spare parts side (but most carmakers have already optimized this so the parts are mostly the same no matter on which side the steering is).
youngtaff 3y ago
Yeh but the S is still the only good looking Tesla
- dzhiurgis 3y ago
  "Good looking" isn't Tesla's goal. It's all about making more cheaper EVs. There are many other amazing luxury EVs nowadays if you are into flexing.

mcintyre1994 3y ago

I guess it’d be legal to drive them for Europeans who drive here (via ferry or channel tunnel). We used to drive both ways quite often when we lived in/had family in Germany etc, and would keep using our car there. The bigger part of that is probably commercial lorries etc. doing deliveries both ways. I’m surprised if it’s legal to sell a left hand drive in the UK though.

InCityDreams 3y ago
Company i worked for, we drove lhd and rhd: part of the particular job. We also had to deal with dog-leg gears - from either side.

tjungblut 3y ago

How to you think trucks would cross the channel to deliver goods? Swap the steering column in the tunnel?

rmu09 3y ago

For me, the worst thing would be "muscle memory". Never had a problem driving a rental car with right-hand-drive in the UK or Ireland. Different thing was the bicycle, after stops, I often forgot to start driving on "the other side", and I suspect I would be just as easily fooled in a car with left-hand-drive.

ben-schaaf 3y ago

They aren't in Australia - not as a new car anyway. They've already announced they won't be selling them here.

simonblack 3y ago

It's legal, but no way would I drive a left-hand drive car on the left side of the road and vice-versa. Saw lots of UK right-hand-drive cars tootling around France, and even been driven in one there. But no way would I consider doing that myself, or the reverse in the UK. To pass anybody, you have to take the whole of the car out from behind the car in front of you to see whether it's safe enough to pass, instead of the normal 'just enough across for the driver to see ahead'.

sacnoradhq 3y ago
It's just inherently less safe because all of the subtle differences related to interaction with road design.
seanmcdirmid 3y ago
You’ll find a lot of RHD cars in the Russian Far East (> 50%) as well because Japan makes cars older than 5 or 6 years unusable and so they have to be exported.
tasuki 3y ago
> To pass anybody, you have to take the whole of the car out from behind the car in front of you to see whether it's safe enough to pass Well, you don't have to. I agree with you that taking the whole car out would be very dangerous. But in many circumstances, you could take the car in (closer to the side of the road) and look ahead on the other side of the car you want to pass. Of course this requires either a long straight line stretch or a long and mild inside turn. And not much traffic. Fwiw, I would also not drive a car with the wheel on the wrong side of it can be at all helped.

alibarber 3y ago

I am British but now live in Finland, I've driven extensively in both countries and have taken my European (LHD) car to the UK, it's not that hard. I had a harder time not knowing the local languages of the countries in Europe we crossed in order to interpret signs.

gumballindie 3y ago

It is legal but insurance is more expensive and you need to dim daylights so the right light doesnt blind oncoming drivers.

bb123 3y ago

It is legal to drive a left hand drive car here, but I'm also surprised it's legal to sell one new. It is definitely much less safe. I was in a near fatal accident with a left hand drive truck who didn't see me in his blindspot because the steering wheel was on the wrong side.

bloqs 3y ago

Famous example in the UK in the last couple of years: the US spy Anne Sarcoolas killed a teenager on his motorcycle driving on the wrong side of the road and then fled the country.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
sph 3y ago
Road accidents are plentiful, the vast majority from cars correctly configured driving on the correct side of the road. The Sacoolas fiasco is famous because she was protected by the US government because she's a CIA asset, while they should have put her arse in jail.

sacnoradhq 3y ago

Mail carrier vehicles are usually opposite drive vehicles for the convenience of accessing mailboxes.

em-bee 3y ago

i believe it was always legal to drive, but you probably could not register a car locally if it wasn't built for the appropriate side. at least in some EU countries this was the case, until the EU decided that this violated the free trade within europe because a car from a left-side country could not be sold to someone wanting to register it in a right-side country. there was a court-case against poland and lithuania, and according to that, the countries could not prove that traffic safety was affected. but apparently, it is also no problem to import and register these cars in the US. japan or australia also seem to allow right-side cars with a local registration, so not allowing that seems to be the exception rather than the norm.