It is known that driving on the left is safer for most people, why do most countries drive on the right?

Question

Driving on the left is correct for right-handed people the great majority, here is why:

When changing gear in a UK car with the steering wheel on the right , this is of course correct in the UK etc for driving on the left--------your left hand changes gear and your right hand stays on the steering wheel, (this is safer for right handed people.)

The reverse is the case in countries where one must drive on the right.-- in other words if you live in the USA you hold the steering wheel with your left hand and change gear with your right hand because of course the steering wheel is on the left in the USA--------this is dangerous if you are right handed.

Bicycles: Bike riders are in real danger in countries where driving on the right is mandatory again assuming you are right handed----Try mounting a bike in the USA and you will find yourself in the stream of traffic when getting on the bike---- try it yourself---------: Mounting a bike in the UK is done from the sidewalk by right handed people who find it easier to put their right leg over the bike. , Much safer and this must have saved many lives.

Reversing up a steep drive: My drive in the UK is very steep----------when I reverse out I hold the steering wheel with my right hand and look over my left shoulder to the rear window. In a USA car you must hold the steering wheel with your left hand and look over your right shoulder to look out of the rear window.. So you must reverse with your left hand on the steering wheel.. Or stick your head out of the window if you want to use your right hand on the steering wheel. ---Dangerous for the 82% right handed majority.

Right handed people who are also "right eyed" have the traffic coming toward them on their right in left hand driving areas , which is the way "right eyed" people are able to react better. When overtaking on a right hand driving USA road the right eyed/handed driver looks in the mirror with the left eye and also views the oncoming traffic with the left eye. A change of gear is sometimes needed to overtake so he/she is driving left handed while changing gear with the right hand and looking in the mirror and oncoming traffic with the left eye. Of course the gear change should in theory be completed before pulling out but this in practice is not always the case. The prevalence of automatic gear change in the USA may not be just luxury after all but necessity

Part Time Cynic, I recommend you read at least the "right eyed" part several times, also try shooting a rifle using the opposite side to the one you normally use.. My details are not a “rant” they are an explanation aimed at open minded people. This is supported by science and the article is based on a UK New Scientist readers letter from a UK scientist who was working on the subject .

This is no "rant" it needs an explanation and your use of "rant" indicates a state of denial

CLIVE H, I like your answer refering to mounting a horse from the wrong side which driving on the right makes one do.
Of course the same applies to modern people mounting a bycycle.It is dangerous for people to mount a bike while standing in the trafffic stream, this is one of the main reasons why driving on the left is correct for most people.

JetDoc,I have provided the proof, please feel free to read it

http://uk.geocities.com/[e-mail]/Driving.htm

hotdogseeksbun, please show me a link or some proof about left handed people in the states having more collisions. I do not believe it is true. Left handed people drive on the right in the USA and this is the correct side for them but not for the right handed majority

hotdogseeksbun. Please read the whole article, the facts are there. Do one of the tests for example:

Try using a rifle but sighting through the opposite eye to the one you normally use
Or try another, try getting on a bicycle from the opposite side to the one you normally use, take care though you could easily fall.

I am sorry to say that your government is keeping this from your education system because it is a gigantic mistake to drive on the right for right handed people, meaning most people.

The above comment was for JetDoc

JetDoc, The explanation is in the link I provided, this is hard facts. Simply read the explanation

JetDoc, The explanation is in the link I provided, this is hard facts. Simply read the explanation

Fred C, at least you admit you have to be taught to lift your left leg over a bicycle if you are in the right handed majority, so we are making some progress; we do not need that teaching because we mount a bicycle from the UK side walk. I ask you again to try a rifle from the other side. "Right eyed" and "left eyed” has nothing to do with “how you were taught” it is natural instinct to use left or right and this is determined by the brain before birth , I guarantee whoever taught you to shoot never mentioned which eye to use. I am not writing "baloney" it I simply use established information from experiments.

I visit Canada often and I will give myself some amusement next time watching people getting onto bicycles and also driving at 70 mph using their left hand as they tune the radio.

Answer 1

You are right and it is about time the world was given the facts. It makes no sense to change gear with the right hand

People in L/H driving countries have known this for a long time. Napoleon was left handed and he caused this right handed driving disaster because it is better for left handed people to drive on the right.

Now governments in RH driving areas keep this a secret to avoid embarrassment.

Answer 2

There doesn't seem to be any actual evidence of driving on the correct side of the road being safer than driving on the wrong side of the road.

I don't see any problem driving on the left and being left handed and I doubt anyone who is right handed has trouble changing gears with their right hand.

With power steering or a small car there isn't an issue as to which hand is on the wheel just as long as there is a hand on the wheel because they just don't require any strength.

Besides, when Sweden changed from driving on the left to driving on the right their accident rate actually went right down as everyone became more cautious (then it went back up to the pre-changeover rate).

Answer 3

Driving on the left here in UK makes sense historically when you consider that in order to get on and off a horse it is necessary to mount your beast on it's left-hand side.

In carrying out the above operation[s] the rider is stepping onto and off the left hand verg of the road and is thus in a safe location.

In those countries where traffic drives on the right, historically this would have meant a rider mounting and dismounting in the centre of the road - a dangerous location.

One of the first countries to take to driving on the right was the newly formed USA following the War of Independance. This was probably more a two finger salute to the Brits than anything else.

They and others who drive on the right are stuck with their problem.

NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT

You will probably have heard by now that the EU has finally bowed to British pressure and is going to allow UK to keep the Mile, the pound weight, the :Pound Sterling, the fathom and just about every other mad English measurement we all love.

How did the yard come about then? Actually the King decided the argument. He stretched his right arm out and had a piece of string measure from his centre right finger to the tip of his nose. This, declared HM, is the English yard, which is half my height of 6-feet.

Science has nothing what-so-ever to do with English measurements of weight or distance. It's all to do with magic, tried and tested methods and years of blazing arguments settled by the King or in the courts of England.

Who needs science to measure from here to there? Only the Frogs. But, as we won the Napoleonic Wars and defeated the Frogs and just about everyone else in Euro-land, I do not see why we should not continue to have what is afterall the finest example of English madness.

The railways in UK are actually measured in 'chains' [22 yards - a cricket pitch length] and not in meters.

Blimey! Really? Yes.

Answer 4

The answer about riding/walking on the right so that you can present your doninant side for your sword in order to battle any oncoming threat.

Countries that suffered conquests by Napoleon were made to use the right of the road. The French aristocracy previously used the left hand side of the road to travel and peasants were forced to travel on the right, however as Napoleon marched across Europe he enforced right hand side travel.

The reason Napoleon decreed that his troops should march on the right-hand side of the road was as follows. During the Napoleonic period vast numbers of troops were moving around Europe. When two columns passed each other on the narrow roads of the time, with their muskets or pikes slung over their right shoulders, these weapons would crash into each other and cause disruption and delay. The obvious solution was to make the troops march on the right-hand side of the road so that the weapons were slanted away from the approaching column.

Answer 5

Where is the proof for your allegations? I believe millions of people around the world negotiate their vehicles safely every day while driving on the right side of the roadway. If you can't come up with some hard and sure statistics to prove your point, then you are just wasting our time!

ADDED: Again... Where is your proof? Your link mentions a 30-year old study about right/left preference, but no mention of any real factual scientific study that investigates the difference in safety between right and left side drivers. Opinions are like... well, you know what they are like, and everyone has one! GIVE ME SOME HARD FACTS!

Answer 6

But there are some alternatives:
With a left hand drive car, your right hand is not only changing gear but pushing all the little control buttons in the central console. Its quicker to use your right hand than your left and thus safer. Also, if you are right about right eys beeing better, then with a left hand drive you use your right eye to direct movements for controlling buttons on the central console which must be safer. Mostly these days all critical controls including cruise control, audio, wipers and lights are all on the steering wheel anyway. As you mention, most cars in the USA are automatic but not so in Europe. It is not dangerous at all to hold the wheel only with your left hand as nearly all cars have power assisted steering.
As a bike rider too, we try and avoid parking the bike in the traffic stream but pull off the road, often parking at right angles to the road. In that case typically mounting from the left hand side of the bike you stand facing the oncoming traffic on the right lane which is safer than having it behind you.
Safest way to reverse is with both hands on the wheel and use your mirrors to see backwards, even with a trailer. If you do look over your right shoulder, then you are using your better right eye (in your opinion) to see backwards. I dont agree that a right eye is better and I use mirrors all the time as twisting is dangerous for neck and back.

The most dangerous country for driving in Europe is Portugal and that has nothing to do with driving on left or right.

Answer 7

At one time all countries drove on the left,it goes back to when soldiers rode horses,if they passed an enemy on the road they could both fight with swords in their right hand.

Over the years some of them changed,not for the better obviously.

Answer 8

I've not read the whole rant. But I have driven for best part of 25 years now. Both on the continent and in England. I have no problem adjusting to which side of the road i am on.
What does get to me is 'right' of way' road systems they have, roudabouts (in some European countries you have to give way to those coming ON to the roundabout) and in Holland the worst is the motorways. You have to slow down to allow traffic to join the motorway!

Answer 9

This is drifting away from the main point, but the idea of soldiers on horse back passing on their right side to fight is non-sense. We fight to the left from the right, over the horse's neck. Also, I'm predominately right handed, left-eye dominant. I aim with both eyes open, one on target, one on sights.

Answer 10

Tend to disagree here.If a car comes at you head on a right hand dominant person will tend to turn to the right and go off the road vs a head on collision.
Here in the States lefties are more often in head ons.