Driving on the Left 1

[friartuck]

I often wonder why we in the UK and our friends in Australia and New Zealand drive on the left and the rest of the World drive on the right.

Does anyone know why this came to be?

Friar Tuck of Sherwood

 

[crossframe]

IRstuff,

Agreed. However both of those aircraft were developed many moons after that sort of technical difficultly had been worked out. I was thinking more of Igor himself trying to get a working prototype.

 

[IRstuff]

re: garbage cans, and mail boxes.

That's not really a problem. In fact, have you noticed that the Jeep-like mail delivery vehicles are driven steering wheels opposite to the other cars.

TTFN

 

[friartuck]

Trashcans? Other side of the street?

Now youv'e lost me.

Whats that got to do with left hand drive??

(sorry for being thick)





Friar Tuck of Sherwood

 

[epoisses]

joking......

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

friartuck ... In North America we have to transport our trash cans (garbage bins) down to the curb for pick-up. In some areas they have to be left on one side of the street only, so that the Garbage Truck only has to make one pass without the driver crossing the street.
Not sure how it's done in the UK now ... do the garbage men still come onto the property to do the pickup & then return it?

 

[friartuck]

You sure have some lazy bin men.

We make 'em fetch the damn things.

However, our bin men (in Nottingham anyway) are peculiar in other ways. They won't take a bin with the lid slightly open (in case there are needles sticking out (yes, youv'e guessed it, sadly enough there are druggies here too..)

Also, due to our recycling policies, we have to sort the rubbish out into paper, glass (clear, brown, green etc), garden waste, plastic etc.

It takes ages to do and collections are every 2 weeks.

I really don't know why we pay so much local tax, we certainly don't get very good value for money.

Sorry for moaning, but at least we don't have to cross the street...



Friar Tuck of Sherwood

 

[haggis]

friartuck,

I wish I had seen this thread earlier. The answer to the whole thing is simple:

We drive on the right side of the road because you drive on the wrong side.

Haggis

 

[friartuck]

Haggis

But we sit in the car on the Right side, and you sit on the WRONG side.

Perhaps the answer is to sit in the middle???



Friar Tuck of Sherwood

 

[jmw]

Only if Maclarens become somewhat cheaper.


JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[franzh]

To throw a wrench in the works;
Why did the British use positive ground (earth) for their automobile electrical systems, and some large trucks still used positive ground up through the mid 70's, while most of the world used negative ground. In the US, some early 6 volt systems used positive ground, while other manufacturers used a negative ground. I remember more than once touching bumpers of cars with their bumpers while connecting jumper cables when starting them, plenty of sparks.

As for the trash bin collections, thank the Unions. I recently saw three "sanitation engineers" lift a trash bin to see how heavy it was, then refuse to take it because it was too heavy. Something about a 40 lb. rule.
Franz

eng-tips, by professional engineers for professional engineers
Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips Fora.

 

[friartuck]

Our bin men don't lift bins any more. We use wheelie bins.
However they refuse to collect the bin if the lid is not firmly closed....

PS we have 4 bins. One for main waste, one for recycling, one for garden rubbish and a fourth because they only collect fortnightly , so the bin gets full. Plus we also have plastic bags to use for the paper recyling rubbish.

Friar Tuck of Sherwood

 

[GregLocock]

In our assembly plant we now have a 15lb limit for repetitive lifting. The demonstrable improvement in back injury rates may even pay for the hassle.

Positive earth - beats me.



Cheers

Greg Locock

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

 

[jmw]

We recently had the case of a postman who successfully sued the post office because the amount of post in a post box weighed too much and he hurt himself when he emptied it.
What happened to training?
What happened to brains?
Why try to take it all in one trip?
The increasingly litigeous UK with its imitation of US legal practices seems to have a negative effect.
Incidentally, we also had the case where the postman refused to empty one post box because someone had put their entire club/society members mail-out in it.
Twilight zone?
Now imagine trying to get these bozos to change from driving on the left to driving on the right...


JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[weh3]

On my one trip to London, things got so confusing with all the single-lane and one-way streets and cars driving on the left, that I was very grateful for the lettering embedded in every crossing, either "Look Right" or "Look Left".

It is a good thing that the definitions of "right" and "left" are universal. Or are they? What exactly are "right" and "left", anyway?

For the majority of people, the right hand is the right one to use, and it is almost universal (English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese) that "rights", as in "the rights of Englishmen", use the same word as for the right hand.

Latin dexter means right hand, but rectus is right as in straight. Even "straight" contains the word "right". A square is a right-angled figure, and some one who tries to live RIGHTeously is often called a square, or straight, or strict, which latter term is also related. A strike or a strake is a straight mark, like a stripe. By His stripes we are healed justified and made RIGHTeous. A ruler is a straightedge, and a ruler administers rights or justice, and a justified line is a straight line. I could go on, but it is enough to see that the idea of rightness is ingrained in the human consciousness.

As for driving, who is to say which is left and which is right. I prefer to drive on my own right, but it is a matter of habit by now. By the way, isn't (or wasn't) South Africa a Commonwealth nation, and don't they drive on the left? What does that do to the island theory?

Regards,
William

 

[Boathouse]

When I moved to the States I found the hardest thing about driving to get used to was the rearview mirror not being where hundreds of hours of preconditioning driving said it should be...I kept taking furtive glances at the door post.

I believe the helicopter pilot positioning is due to the fact that with the U.S. rotational direction (being predominant in the early days certainly), the right hand skid/wheel hangs a little lower in the hover BUT I stand/sit/kneel to be corrected on that one

 

[0707]

It is an English stubbornness.

 

[duck0601]

I thought helicopter pilot positioning had to do with the placement of the collective. If the pilot sits on the right, then you can get by with one collective contol, and irritate the co-pilot only on rare occasions. If the pilot sits on the left, you either need two collective controls, or the majority of pilots need to learn fine motor control with the left hand, which for some of us would be nigh on impossible.

 

[crossframe]

Dissatisfied with responses here, I posted this query in the Rotorcraft engineering Forum The best explanation is in line with Boathouse - it was a visibility issue, but the motor-skills issue certainly didn't hurt.

As far as duck0601's point, this may have been true in the very early days of helicopters, but dual control complexities have long since been worked out. I believe all "modern" helicopters have complete and separate controls for each seat. This would allow the pilot to sit in either seat, however the visibility (and plain ol' habit) issue would remain.

 

[duck0601]

The last helicopter I worked on was the venerable H-3. I suppose the helicopter pilot now sits on the right for the same reason we in North America drive (or, are supposed to drive) on the right side of the road and the Brits (Blokes?, UKers?) drive on the left. Tradition.