Right hand drive leaves your left free while left hand drive leaves your right free assuming you agree that steering is more important than gear changes.
Especially since automatic gearboxes are plentiful but automatic steering not so much.
for RHD, "right on red" sounds better than LHD "left on red"
and I've noticed that right/left matches for train tracks, escalators, walking on the side walk.
and I've noticed that right/left matches for train tracks, escalators, walking on the side walk.
"Right on Red" sounds just wrong unless you are American I guess (Is the USA the only country where you can turn right while the traffic lights show red?).
Everywhere except the USA red is the colour of the political left.
Everywhere except the USA red is the colour of the political left.
It's important to keep in mind that all systems of measurement are, at their roots arbitrary. The erstwhile metric system had as its original reference of linear measurement the distance from the equator to the North pole divided by 10,000,000...a very "convenient" reference standard! After the first attempt to use said standard there was a rush eventually concluding in platinum-iridium bars precise to a tiny fraction of an RCH. Much, much later it was "reformulated" as 1/299,792,458 of the distance light travels in a second. Wait you say...it's all beautifully and rationally structured with the bedrock superiority of a decimal base for easy-peasy calculating. If we humans had evolved with 12 fingers, do you think we would still view the decimal system as supreme...of course not, it would be "base 12 baby!".
Fifty years ago, as a young engineer working in the Fastener Engineering Department (yes...really) at Chevrolet Engineering I got the assignment of creating a set of tools and training materials to help the "more senior" engineers with the transition to metric, which was in its early days then. It was an interesting few years and the work was crucial as we did all of the fastener purchasing and we bought individual parts in quantities of many, many millions per year. Oh, and in my woodworking projects today there is a mix, but I still am more apt to pick up an #8 x 1-1/2" woodscrew than a 4mm x 40.
Fifty years ago, as a young engineer working in the Fastener Engineering Department (yes...really) at Chevrolet Engineering I got the assignment of creating a set of tools and training materials to help the "more senior" engineers with the transition to metric, which was in its early days then. It was an interesting few years and the work was crucial as we did all of the fastener purchasing and we bought individual parts in quantities of many, many millions per year. Oh, and in my woodworking projects today there is a mix, but I still am more apt to pick up an #8 x 1-1/2" woodscrew than a 4mm x 40.
Nope...more related to what I can walk into the local big box hardware store and buy off the shelf. There is a section of metric machine screws and bolts but the wood fasteners are still inch-based.
Oddly enough, when visiting Australia, I had no trouble at all immediately switching over from right side to left side.
... with a chevrolet you need to drive on the middle line... you need all the width of the road to go straigth !
Six weeks after I passed my driving test in UK I went on a car holiday to Italy. Changing sides is dead easy.
Thatcher preferred blue dresses because red = communism.
Thatcher preferred blue dresses because red = communism.
Ha, the six meter long Chrysler Imperial LeBaron dwarfs that.
Attachments
The 1973 Imperial was offered only in LeBaron trim, with the final Crowns coming off the line for the 1970 model year. You had your choice of the $7313 two-door hardtop or $7541 four-door hardtop. All, naturally, were powered by a 440-cid V-8 with 215 horsepower at 3600 rpm.
I thought it was that big countries required traveling large distances, requiring a team of horses, so the driver would sit on the left so the whip in his right hand could be used on all the horses, in small countries, small distances only required one horse, so the driver would sit on the right, so they could use the whip without a passenger getting in the way.
In Canada you're allowed to make a right turn on a red light as long as you come to a full stop before the stop line first. And, of course, yield to other traffic, pedestrians, etc.
I'm pretty sure Australia allows turns on red as well.
That one blows my mind as well - especially considering the red scare, etc. One TV station early on decided to use red and blue and follow the British convention (red = left), but there was no agreement between stations on which party should have which colour. Then in the 2000 election the parties decided make the colours part of their brand and stuck with the current setup.
In Canada we use the British (and worldwide, ex. US) setup with red on the left, blue on the right.
Tom
And yet, people here will sit and wait for the light to change. That's when I lay on the horn. Scares the crap out of 'em. 🙂
jeff
While red is almost universally the colour of the political left blue is not as universally right.
In Germany for example the colour of the centre-right party (CDU or Christian Democratic Union) is black but that might be because of the Christian bit.
Until it was banned Germany had a tiny extreme right party called Freiheitliche Deutsche Arbeiter Partei (Free German Workers Party) which had the abbreviation FAP. Guess they were lucky to have been banned before the internet existed. 😉
In Germany for example the colour of the centre-right party (CDU or Christian Democratic Union) is black but that might be because of the Christian bit.
Until it was banned Germany had a tiny extreme right party called Freiheitliche Deutsche Arbeiter Partei (Free German Workers Party) which had the abbreviation FAP. Guess they were lucky to have been banned before the internet existed. 😉
Only allowed at specific intersections if a sign stating that is present, in New Zealand it is always illegal.
clarification "a right TURN" on a red light follow the same rules as having a stopsign. Nad it's not universal throughout the country or even within a state. ex its generally ok in NY state but not in NYC. NYC does their own thing - they don't even recognize handicapped stckers/plates unless issued by the NYC DMV.