I came across this article in the “Recent Additions” bit on the front page and didn’t see the very very small fonted date. I thought it was, therefore, a recent addition! Quite a logical assumption that.
Standardisation of everyone driving on the left will never happen. I still maintain that there is no real need. After all, most vehicles are the same chasis, gearbox and engine wise, its just a few cosmetic differences on the inside and slight jiggling over of controls (Yes, not entering into any details - what’s the point? But people on this list are soooooooo incredably pedantic and love nit-picking, so I’m sure I’ll get a HUGE list of differences - really - there’s NO POINT OR NEED!). And if so, then it’s only the countries that are Lefties that are going to get this cost passed to them; wonder if this is why UK cars cost 10,000% more than in the rest of Europe?!?! Even left hand drive American cars are being sold in the UK now, so they have made the switch and appreciate that the lefties market is HUGE.
Personally, I wouldn’t call Europe a “small sample.” There must be many millions of drivers in Europe, surely? I knwo there are suppost to be 25 million in UK, so guesses on Europe must be approaching 200-ish million. Also, I never said “WE WERE THE SAFEST” I said we were “AMONGST THE SAFEST” (see earlier comment on nit-picking) so just because there are THREE European countires better than us there are still TWENTY countries worse! I’m not advocating comparisons with any other areas of the world, as most European countries are 1. small 2. densly populated 3. congested roads and 4. have passionate and fast drivers! You’ve only got to look at the stupid reps in their BMW’s going down the M40 motorway at 140+mph (for those that don’t know, the legal speed limit is 70mph) and you’d swear they thought it was an Autoban in Germany! (No speed limits on certain sections.) Who say’s we are anti-European?!?!
Metrification on the other hand SHOULD happen in a global market. It is the only way forward, surely? Actually, here’s a question: why are people so against it? It is very logical and easy to grasp.
200 million people is a large sample, but 25 countries is a small sample, only marginally statistically significant. And two left-driving countries out of that 25, only one of which has a remarkable safety record, is something no statistician would touch with a three-meter pole. You might be able to support the notion that the UK is doing something significant that most of Europe is not, such that the UK’s roads would be safer. But even if you do demonstrate that (which is not completely ironclad: Even if everyone had identical policies, someone would be fourth place), it remains to be shown that driving on the left is a significant factor. And with only three first-world countries which drive on the left, I doubt very much that that can be proven, even if it is true.
It breaks it down to (roughly) 2/3 of the world’s drivers driving on the right and 1/3 driving on the left.
Given that the world is not, in fact, a democracy and there are very few, if any, countries that will actually change their internal policies because the rest of the world does it different, then Billy Bob’s opinion that it is a simple matter of clinging to tradition is pretty irrelavent. Even if it didn’t require MAJOR administration, engineering, re-education and lots amd lots of money, most countries probably wouldn’t change their side of the road simply because, well, who cares how they do it in <insert country name here> because we don’t live there!
I have lived in both the UK and the US and, quite honestly, I find it no more difficult to drive on one side or the other in either manual (stick) or automatic vehicles. It has never confused me and I don’t think that one method or the other is superior.
I do find it odd, however, that Billy Bob’s question was obviously meant to deride the British. It is, after all, the US, not the UK, that are (using his word) ‘clinging’ to the Imperial measurement system (the Brits have converted to metric but, as I understand it, sometimes also give Imperial comparisons for those that are more comfortable with it). And, for the record, the British Imperial and US imperial measurement systems are similar but not the same. And no, I really don’t care why it’s that way. I’m guessing that someone remembered something wrong a few hundred years ago and it spread, but I really don’t care.
There is no such thing as “US Imperial”. There is the Imperial system, and there is the US system. (The word for the two taken collectively is “English”.)
Ok … my mistake … the Imperial measurement system and the US measurement system are still not the same. Hopefully you can understand my small confusion in naming given the commonality of many of the measurement names and the fact that it would, at least on the face of it, seem that the US measurement system is based on the Imperial measurement system. I apologise for using the word ‘Imperial’. Thank you for removing the nit
Your knowledge on the subject of weights and measures is extremely impressive, although it would be more accurate to say that the system of weights and measures which was used in the UK was reviewed and renamed to the 'Imperial System of Measurement" by the UK Weights and Measures Act of 1824. It was originally standardised by the Magna Carta in 1215 and subject to periodic reviews, the UK Weights and Measures Act of 1824 being but one of those reviews, although it did create a new standard that was introduced throughout the UK and its colonies. Of course, the US was independent by then and so the new system was not adopted by them and they had developed their own standards which were based on the English system of measurements that was used prior to independence. There is a wonderful little article at;
for anyone that wants to know more. Personally, I feel that this nit has now been sufficiently picked and if we continue to pick it then it will just become a scab. It truly overjoys me that I have now learned so much about something that, as I indicated in my first post, I don’t actually care about.
Interesting as that is, though, my point was that Billy Bob’s seeming assertion that the UK was clinging to an outdated system was somewhat invalid and that it was ironic that he was apparently deriding the British for something that they were not doing but the US still is doing. Just in case you missed the point. A lot. :rolleyes:
