[fosters son]

The 'Is is time to go metric' has made me think that is it time to go the whole way and swap sides to the road, go left hand drive. I dont know why but when i have been on the continant, i have always thought that it just seems to make more sense.
And it isn't impossible; in Sweden a few years ago they completly changed their road system in one night to the continental standard

Please Discuss

 

[DonQui]

many countries drive on the left. And if the UK actually shared a land border, then I would think you should change. But you don't. You can't drive off the island, so keep it as is

 

[Gareth]

I would've supported it 40 years back. I'm not sure it's practical these days. It's cost an arm and a leg too, so I'd expect the EU to offer to fund such a project before I even considered supporting the idea.

 

[jorgen]

fosters: the change in Sweden was done in 1967.

I found this very amuzing website about this subject:
http://users.pandora.be/worldstandards/driving on the left.htm

A total of 74 countries have left-side driving, including India and Japan (I didn't know that).

 

[Zim Flyer]

No and it isn't just the UK that drives on the left hand side, I know alot of commwealth countries in Africa do as well.

Driving on the left is the norm for millions of people around the world.

 

[fosters son]

some people talk about in 10 or 20 years a road bridge being built between England and Farnce. Do you think they may consider it then?

 

[Gareth]

Nope. Interestingly the Channel Tunnel service tube is keep left and the trains travel on the left too. A road bridge would probably also be keep left and you'd switch at Calais.

 

[Boards]

Hell no. Keep it the way it is. What possible purpose would it serve to suddenly change which side of the road we drive on? I've often wondered if the EU in its bid for total compliance will ever make us convert to the right.

 

[Frog]

some people talk about in 10 or 20 years a road bridge being built between England and Farnce. Do you think they may consider it then?

if that is done then it would be much better to simply build a junction at one end where cars would switch sides, like the road in Hong Kong which connects to the mainland.

 

[future.architect]

not realy practial is it

 

[Leeds No.1]

if that is done then it would be much better to simply build a junction at one end where cars would switch sides, like the road in Hong Kong which connects to the mainland.

Or take one lane over/under the other lane via a bridge.. or tunnel to keep continuous flow.

 

[sweek]

Well no, that's never a good idea. You could change the right side into the right side though.
And well, I don't think it'd really be worth it. Compared to changing to metric, this doesn't really have much advantages since the country is geographically seperated.

 

[CharlieP]

Driving on the left is actually more sensible and safer, since most people are right-eyed.

 

[Zim Flyer]

Driving on the left is actually more sensible and safer, since most people are right-eyed.

There is alot of truth in that, at my recent eye test I noticed when I had the patch on, the vision in my right eye was rubbish compared to the left which proved that for most of my life my right eye has done more work.

 

[Metrolink]

If what you are saying is true about most people being right eyed true, isn't it at least eqully as important for people to have their good eye on the much more vunerable cyclists and pedestrians than cars?

 

[Latic]

Pointless fact alert:

The reason most countries drive on that right is simply because we drive on the left. Bascially they did it to piss us off!

 

[JDRS]

so I'd expect the EU to offer to fund such a project before I even considered supporting the idea.

It sounds like the sort of thing the EU would fund :crazy:

Changing the sides of the road would serve no purpose other than to cost a hell of a lot of cash.

 

[Gareth]

^^ The EU would never in a million years shell out the amount of funding needed. Certainly not to the British.

 

[NothingBetterToDo]

The reason why we drive on the left dates back hundreds of years..........when people rode around on horseback and swords were more widly used.....it made sense to ride on the left hand side of any roads or tracks that there where..........bascially, if you needed to attack somone approaching you with your sword it would be easier to swing (as most people are right handed)........does that make sense??

anyway......as somone else pointed out, the only reason why the rest of europe and the USA doesnt drive on the left is purely to be different than us.

Anyway, we arent the only country to drive on the left........Australia, NZ, Japan, India , Ireland and most african countries, just to name a few.........also drive on the left.

 

[CharlieP]

Not most African countries...