Just wondering if the British mailmen are in the opposite boat of our mailmen, regarding the location of the steering wheel???
- Jinx
From the looks of this page, no (of course, in the only really clear photo showing right hand drive, the truck is on a one way road keeping right - oh well).
(Is it back to being called Royal Mail again from Consigular or whatever…) :rolleyes:
British postmen drive on the same side of the road as everybody else here (it would be dangerous to have it any other way). The steering wheel is right in front of them, which seems to be standard for motor vehicles of all kinds.
Hope this helps.
If not you’re going to have to clarify your question.
Was Consignia. Back to Royal Mail now though. Was never called anything else but Royal Mail/Post Office/GPO by anyone but their own HQ and standup comedians.
Arggh! Anti link encoding! Curses, foiled again! I’d seized control the Royal Mail if it wasn’t for you meddling kids…
Eh, just google “Royal Mail Van”, pick the Freefoto.com ones, and off you go.
Although the guy with the British objects for use with Trainz is pretty cool too.
I’m still unclear what problem your guys have with their steering wheels, but perhaps it’s worth adding that vans are not generally used to deliver mail to individual addresses over here. They are in rural locations, but in cities you’d only see a van if it was delivering mail in bulk between depots or large items such as parcels.
Mail delivered to addresses is done either on foot or by bicycle, so there is no steering wheel to worry about and it doesn’t matter which side of the road they’re on. Also you should realise that we don’t have those mail boxes you have at the side of the street. We have slots in our doors for the mail to be delivered through, so it’s not possible to deliver mail from inside a vehicle – the postman has to walk right up to your front door to deliver it.
Right Hand Drive Jeeps
Your source for export jeeps to New Zealand… 
Many US Postal routes are designed so the carrier just sits in his truck and puts the mail in a street side mailbox at each house (hence the street side mailbox). It is more efficent for him/her to sit on the street side of the truck/jeep/van to deliver right into the mail box, so Postal Trucks are usually RHD in our fair LHD land… (and hence the question: on a rural Royal Van route - if they use street side mailboxes, would they use LHD vans).
They don’t use street side mailboxes anywhere in this country that I’m aware of. Mr/Ms Postie will still have to walk up to your door to deliver. So the position of the steering wheel is of no abnormal significance.
OK, perhaps I should have used the word curbside mailbox in my previous post, but since I didn’t you guys are free to use it elsewhere.
I dote upon RHD postal vehicles because I knew a guy from the stage crew (yes, the Stage Crew) who had a RHD jeep, painted black. For maximum effect he had a yellow gumball light on top, and I think massive chromed airhorns.
Kind of fit his personality…
Aha! -New Zealand has curbside mailboxes!
New Zealand Post information on Rural Delivery and such
Now we just have to wait for a postie from New Zealand Post to respond
Streetside/kerbside*, we still don’t have 'em. Imported LHD vehicles can’t be just for NZ postal use either surely? I know we do have a Doper who works for Australia Post, so perhaps he’ll be along to say whether they have those mailboxes there too (my guess is that they must).
*Correct spelling this side of the water.
Streetside/kerbside*, we still don’t have 'em. Imported LHD vehicles can’t be just for NZ postal use either surely? I know we do have a Doper who works for Australia Post, so perhaps he’ll be along to say whether they have those mailboxes there too (my guess is that they must).
*Correct spelling this side of the water.
[hijack to end all hijacks] An American tourist was walking in a small village in England when he saw a postman with bicycle on a street on the other side of a stone-walled meadow.
The postman delivered the mail on that street then lifted his bicycle over the wall, climbed over and started to ride across the meadow. All of a sudden the tourist saw a bull get to his feet and start after the postman. The postman sped up and pedalled furiously with the bull gaining at every step.
About 10 feet from the wall on the tourists side he leaped off the bike, threw it over the wall and dived over head first. As he lay there gasping for breath with the bull snorting and bellowing on the other side of the wall the American looked down and said, “He almost got you that time.”
The postman, between gasps replied, “He almost gets me every time.”[/hijack to end all hijacks]
If it’s any help - On a recent trip to the UK I did notice that street/gutter-cleaning trucks (yellow water tankers with brushes and tubes pointed at the ground) had the steering wheel on the “wrong” side.
Even more obscure - here in HK, it is illegal to have a vehicle with the steering wheel on the left, unless you are a diplomat. Even the commie red Chinese army vehicles have the steering wheel on the left, unlike in China proper.
In suburban Australia, our letterboxes (mailboxes) are outside, but not quite “kerbside”. They’re usually on the front boundary of one’s property, but that’s typically three or four metres from the road (the strip of grass/dirt/footpath between the boundary and the road is council land). There’s no way a van could get close to a letterbox (short of driving on the grass or footpath). Our mail is instead delivered by posties on little motor bikes, who can drive up the footpath or verge.
We do have mail vans, but I’m haven’t noticed whether they are LHD or RHD. Calling TheLoadedDog…
Hemlock: I’ve noticed street-sweepers that are LHD or dual-control here too.
All the NZ Post trucks doing rural delivery I’ve ever seen have had the steering wheel in the usual place. It’s usually subcontracted out I think. There’s often big gaps between delivery points. If that makes sense.
I used to do pamphlet deliveries. I noticed that, due to the configuration of some people’s front yards, the postie would take a shortcut from one letterbox to the next. Leaving a trail across the lawn - in the drier months, it became quite pronounced.
Same with the garbage trucks that empty the Wheelie bins.
As the recipient of NZ Rural Post for many years and a rural driver, in general the postie either has an assistant, a front bench seat and polished bum, long arms, or uses hazard lights and drives on the wrong side of the road. In most rural situations this is acceptable, but on the main roads it can be more risky.
Left-hand drive vehicles are frowned upon, and special permits for import of LHD vehicles are required AFAIK.
Simon Blakely
The UK doesn’t have a problem with LHD cars, I had no problem importing my American car, and even took my driving test in it. Most of the Smarts you see on the road (more than 2 years old) are LHD as well. As long as it can pass an MOT they don’t much care where the wheel is.