The question of the day. :)
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The question of the day. :)
Up to the late 1700's, everybody travelled on the left side of the road because it's the sensible option for feudal, violent societies of mostly right-handed people.
Jousting knights with their lances under their right arm naturally passed on each other's right, and if you passed a stranger on the road you walked on the left to ensure that your protective sword arm was between yourself and him.
Revolutionary France, however, overturned this practice as part of its sweeping social rethink. A change was carried out all over continental Europe by Napoleon.The reason it changed under Napoleon was because he was left handed his armies had to march on the right so he could keep his sword arm between him and any opponent.
From then on, any part of the world which was at some time part of the British Empire was thus left hand and any part colonised by the French was right hand.
In America, the French colonised the southern states (Louisiana for instance) and the Canadian east coast (Quebec). The Dutch colonised New York (or New Amsterdam). The Spanish and Portugese colonised the southern Americas. So The British were a minority in shaping the 'traffic'.
The drive-on-the-right policy was adopted by the USA, which was anxious to cast off all remaining links with its British colonial past
Once America drove on the right, left-side driving was ultimately doomed. If you wanted a good reliable vehicle, you bought American, for a period they only manufactured right-hand-drive cars.
From then on many countries changed out of necessity.
Today, the EC would like Britain to fall into line with the rest of Europe, but this is no longer possible. It would cost billions of pounds to change everything round.
The last European country to convert to driving on the right was Sweden in 1967. While everyone was getting used to the new system, they paid more attention and took more care, resulting in a reduction of the number of road accident casualties.
all these other countries are "stupid" too:
Anguilla
Antigua & Barbuda
Australia
Bahamas
Bangladesh
Barbados
Bermuda
Bhutan
Bophuthatswana
Botswana
British Virgin Islands
Brunei
US Virgin Islands Cayman Islands
Channel Islands
Ciskei
Cyprus
Dominica
Falkland Islands
Fiji
Gambia
Grenada
Guyana
Hong Kong
India
Indonesia Ireland
Isle of Man
Jamaica
Japan
Kenya
Lesotho
Macau
Malawi
Malaysia
Malta
Mauritius
Montserrat
Mozambique Pakistan Pakistan
Papua New Guinea
Seychelles
Singapore
Solomon Islands
South Africa
Sri Lanka
St Kitts & Nevis
St. Helena
St. Lucia
Surinam
Swaziland Tanzania
Thailand
Tonga
Trinidad and Tobago
Uganda
United Kingdom
Venda
Zambia
Zimbabwe
St. Vincent & Grenadines
Namibia
Nepal
New Zealand
source: http://www.2pass.co.uk/goodluck.htm
Hey...I wasn't saying anyone was stupid. :) This is a poll...I haven't even voted yet! :p
Clif
I didn't say that you called anyone stupid. guilty consciounse ? ;)Quote:
Originally posted by clifgriffin
Hey...I wasn't saying anyone was stupid. :) This is a poll...I haven't even voted yet! :p
Clif
I was stoped while driving a friends RHD car once.
The police officer was nice and keen enough to inform me that the steering wheel was on the wrong side, but he wasn't going to write me a ticket for that.
how about a new poll....
why are American cars all automatics?
a. because americans are to dumb to change gears.
b. because americans are lazy.
j/k :D
interesting info though swampy.... i always wondered that :)
I like the way the poll is going :D
xup....considering the fact that i am an american..there are tons of cars that are manual, but! i have to go with choice A....alot of people are to stupid to drive them
the scary thing is that in england if you take your driving test in an automatic you only get a licence to drive autos, in america I believe you can take the test in an auto and then jump in a manual and lurch down the street.
:eek:
Personaly I hate this thread.
"Why do Brits drive on the wrong side of the road?"
We drive on the origanal and correct side of the road, two main people made the rest of Europe drive on the right, Napoelon and Hitler.
They drive on the left in Japan, and they are very smart.
If the title "Why do Brits drive on the wrong side of the road?" is allowed I am allowed to call everybody who drives on the right a Nazi.
:)
TE
some people just take things to far....
did you ever see "the Blues Brothers"?Quote:
Originally posted by asheep_uk
I am allowed to call everybody who drives on the right a Nazi.
* follows the line out of the thread*
No I didn't, but I will now - does it have Nazis driving on the wrong side of the road?Quote:
Originally posted by TallGuyLittleCar
did you ever see "the Blues Brothers"?
* follows the line out of the thread*
:)
TE
no but as 2 neo-nazi's are about to die in their car they hold hands and confess their love for one another. its quite funny.Quote:
Originally posted by asheep_uk
No I didn't, but I will now - does it have Nazis driving on the wrong side of the road?
:)
TE
Okay, thank you - I will watch it.Quote:
Originally posted by TallGuyLittleCar
no but as 2 neo-nazi's are about to die in their car they hold hands and confess their love for one another. its quite funny.
:)
TE
Am I allowed to say that Hersheys sucks and its the worse chocolate ever ??
i'm having serious withdrawal symptoms - you cant even get Maltesers here lol <<<< now that's a crime !
:o
and thats my contribution to the thread as I don't drive :D
there ....
a
ps- asheepuk chill ! Just look at the rest of Europe. No one drives on the left yet we dont make fun of you Brits do we ? we accept you and cherish your eccentricities and weirdness as part of the diverse EC community that we are :D
i need a beer !
Quote:
Originally posted by asheep_uk
Personaly I hate this thread.
If the title "Why do Brits drive on the wrong side of the road?" is allowed I am allowed to call everybody who drives on the right a Nazi.
:)
TE
no
Fair enough.Quote:
Originally posted by david petley
no
:)
TE
I am right handed and just don't see myself driving on the left-hand side? :confused: I guess I have been driving for too long now. :p
Aria - I was going to post a poll about the types of chocolate between UK and US. I guess from your strong reaction, UK's chocolate wins. :D
nah I hate Cadbury's too - it's not even made with real cocoa just flavourings :(Quote:
Originally posted by tonytryout
I guess from your strong reaction, UK's chocolate wins. :D
I like Ritter (i think its German) and Swiss/Austrian/Belgian chocolate.
Especially their dark bitter ones like Lindt noir :):)
drool ....
a :p
I don't have a sweet tooth so generally I am not too bothered about stuff like chocolate. I agree though -- Swiss chocolate rocks.... :)Quote:
Originally posted by Aria
nah I hate Cadbury's too - it's not even made with real cocoa just flavourings :(
I like Ritter (i think its German) and Swiss/Austrian/Belgian chocolate.
Especially their dark bitter ones like Lindt noir :):)
drool ....
a :p
There are too many flavourings these days in UK -- jam, tea, coffee, cheese, etc. :mad:
yum, real chocolate. Those extra bitter double cocao blends are just the best.Quote:
Originally posted by Aria
nah I hate Cadbury's too - it's not even made with real cocoa just flavourings :(
I like Ritter (i think its German) and Swiss/Austrian/Belgian chocolate.
Especially their dark bitter ones like Lindt noir :):)
drool ....
a :p
I was in chocco heaven when I visited Germany and Belgium. I found this chocolate department store, 2 stories high....mmmmm, all chocolate (not the building guys, the products).
david p.
yep. chocolate should be bitter.
and it shouldn't drive on any side of the road.
Hi..
How did we get onto the subject of chocolate.
I too like the rum and hazlenut Ritter chocolate.
Back to driving.=:-
Why not be like Greece or Italy where drive where they
bloody well like.
Right, left, or just down the middle of the road. Any
direction in a one-way street. Keeps pedestrians on their
toes...
:D
at least us brits understand how to drive round corners
source: http://www.ihpva.org/pipermail/bike-...ry/000302.htmlQuote:
> Roundabouts replace lights for safety
>
> Move made for safety's sake, but pileups start piling up
>
> CLEARWATER, Fla., Jan. 18 - Carol Cullen had 15 years of dent-free driving
> under her belt when she steered a rented van last July onto a new circular
> intersection here. Seconds later, a delivery truck that was supposed to stay
> in the next lane plowed into the van, leaving Ms. Cullen unhurt but
> disoriented.
>
> "THE WHOLE WORLD is trained to look straight ahead,"
> says Ms. Cullen, who sets up promotional displays for Hilton Hotels Corp.
> "Now they've got us trying to stare around curves?"
> It seemed like a good idea at the time. The $8 million Clearwater
> roundabout would replace a dangerous tangle of streets and intersections
> often choked with beach-bound traffic. It would create an artistic entry
> point for visitors.
>
> CONFUSION REIGNS
>
> But since opening in December 1999, the roundabout has scared the
> wits out of drivers trying to navigate it. No one knows which cars are
> supposed to have the right-of-way. Some discombobulated motorists hug the
> right shoulder, making it hard for other cars to exit and causing backups at
> side streets. The wedding-cake-shaped fountain in the center has doused
> windshields and obstructed views of cars rounding the circle from the
> opposite side.
> So far, there have been more than 500 accidents at the roundabout,
> which was touted at its opening as the greatest ever built in the U.S. The
> site "has been very good for business," says James McKeever, manager of
> nearby Pinellas Auto Body & Service Inc, which had one of its own tow trucks
> hit there. The frequency of accidents is eight times higher at the
> roundabout than at the intersections it replaced. City officials say the
> crashes are less severe, primarily because cars are now moving more slowly.
>
> * Sign
>
> It's a similar story elsewhere. As traffic planners across the U.S.
> rip out stop signs to install roundabouts that can slow aggressive drivers,
> some cities are discovering that these so-called "traffic-calming devices"
> do exactly the opposite. Some drivers go the wrong way, figuring it's OK to
> turn left into the roundabout if you plan to hop off at the first side
> street. Trucks flatten curbs and landscaping. In some places, accident rates
> have surged after the installation of roundabouts, causing them to be razed
> in favor of old-fashioned traffic lights or stop signs.
>
> THE CIRCLE GAME
> Roundabout designers, a number of whom are British or Australian,
> grudgingly acknowledge that they have a lot to teach Americans about going
> in circles. In April 2000, officials in Claremont, Calif., demolished the
> town's only roundabout just eight months after it was installed, saying
> drivers found it bewildering. Driver confusion at two roundabouts near Las
> Vegas has put them on Nevada's annual list of the worst crash spots. A video
> called "Roundabout Rules of the Road" was broadcast in Nashville, Tenn., for
> several weeks last year after a roundabout opened on Music Row.
> In Clearwater, disoriented drivers smacked into each other or into
> the fountain at the an average of almost five a week. Tires squeal, horns
> honk and brakes screech as drivers try to make their way through the loop.
> The nearby beach is also harder to reach without taking a spin around
> the circle. "It's a monster, and I was an engineer myself," says retiree
> Bernice Lazar, who takes a nine-mile detour to avoid the roundabout.
> Roundabouts are the latest incarnation of the circular intersections
> that began in this country with New York City's Columbus Circle in 1905.
> Defenders claim the modern roundabout is a much-safer alternative to the
> traditional traffic circles typical of New England, which were usually
> larger rotaries that didn't slow cars much and gradually fell out of favor.
> The new roundabouts - based on a slimmed-down British version - are designed
> with a much smaller diameter, making the circle tighter and forcing drivers
> to lower speeds to about 15 miles an hour.
>
> FORCED SLOWDOWN
> The circles' defenders claim they are safer than typical
> intersections, since drivers are forced to navigate slowly. About 9,500
> fatal accidents occur at traditional intersections every year, according to
> the Federal Highway Administration. Several academic studies have shown
> declines in crashes where roundabouts were built, including in Europe, but
> federal officials say it depends on where and how the circles are built.
> "You can't just put these down everywhere," says Harry
> Campbell, the chief transportation engineer of Orlando, Fla., which spent
> $25,000 to build a small circle and then concluded that four $75 stop signs
> would have worked better. "It's like art," he says of the
> roundabout-building boom. "It evokes controversy."
> The controversy erupted quickly in Clearwater. As the pileups piled
> up, some drivers began adopting survival techniques that reduce the
> efficiency of roundabouts, like straddling both lanes at once to avoid side
> collisions. Angry drivers flooded city hall and local newspapers with
> complaints.
>
> MISSING ARROWS
> And some roundabout rules don't make much sense, including permitting
> cars to exit from the inside lane. At the most notorious exit point in the
> Clearwater circle, there still are no arrows on the pavement to point
> drivers in the right direction. On busy beach-going days, the roundabout has
> handled more than 50,000 vehicles, much more than the 32,000 it was designed
> for.
> Clearwater is trying to turn things around. The fountain has been
> turned off and is likely to be demolished, and changes to lane markings give
> drivers a better idea of where to aim. The most recent accident reports also
> offer some encouragement: 23 crashes in the final three months of last year
> compared with 49 in the same period in 2000.
> Michael Wallwork, a transplanted Australian who helped design
> Clearwater's roundabout, pins much of the blame on drivers. "A lot of the
> opposition to roundabouts comes from a very simple bias," he says.
> "Americans are fed a diet of speed all the way from freeways to residential
> streets."
>
> Copyright © 2002 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
> All Rights Reserved.
>
LOL :D :D
:doughnut:
Public opinion seems to dictate that us Brits "are smarter than Americans"
But we didn't need a poll to tell us that did we....;)
9 out of 10 owners say their cars prefer driving on the left.
9 out of 10 americans are gonna kick j4mes ass when they read his post
I would comment on this, but my car has never expressed a preference for either, to my knowledge.Quote:
Originally posted by swampy
9 out of 10 owners say their cars prefer driving on the left.
I'd agree, except that I voted that they were out of distaste for the presumptive nature of the poll (stupid me!)Quote:
9 out of 10 americans are gonna kick j4mes ass when they read his post
jg
In a recent public pole in england. brits were asked who the most significant british person of the 20th century was. Princess Diane got the honors.Quote:
Originally posted by j4mes
Public opinion seems to dictate that us Brits "are smarter than Americans"
LOL :DQuote:
Originally posted by swampy
9 out of 10 owners say their cars prefer driving on the left.
9 out of 10 americans are gonna kick j4mes ass when they read his post
Question: Do british co-pilots sit on the left and vice versa?
;)
for ford and gm and a few others:Quote:
Originally posted by swampy
9 out of 10 owners say their cars prefer driving on the left.
cars for the U.S. and LHD market are made with the left wheels being slightly closer together than the right.
Cars for the U.K. and RHD market are made with the right wheels being slightly closer together.
At least thats the way it was back around the 70's.
airplanes have duel controls.... the captain can sit in either :pQuote:
Originally posted by clifgriffin
LOL :D
Question: Do british co-pilots sit on the left and vice versa?
;)
90% of people who take part in television polls never get off their butts and do any real research or experience what life has to offer.Quote:
Originally posted by TallGuyLittleCar
In a recent public pole in england. brits were asked who the most significant british person of the 20th century was. Princess Diane got the honors.
Ah yes, the recent tv poll of "Great Britons" run by the BBC do you mean?
The one that hasn't finished yet and in which only 4 (one of those being Diana) out of the possible 10 in the poll have had their case put forward?
The one where other candidates are Newton, Elizabeth I, Lennon, Nelson and Churchill, but they haven't had their cases put forward yet?
Other than that poll, I can think of no other large scale poll run recently that involves a large amount of the british public.
Tony Blair was in there too......sums up the quality of that poll then.
but they left out
William Lyons, David Brown, Jim Clark, Sterling Moss....
lol :DQuote:
Originally posted by j4mes
Tony Blair was in there too......sums up the quality of that poll then.
i begin to think my leaving the UK was bad timing- now that Tonys popularity ratings have plummeted and he's promising (again) to extend the pubs licences across the UK, I'm prepared to bet he'll be talking about relaxing the laws of smoking marijuana just before the next general election to gather those precious votes :D
daaaarn lol !
a
If anyone cares:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/program...ons/list.shtml
exactly.