Whats the configuration. in Europe. Is first upper left or upper right. ?Are they 4 speed?
Floor or column. ? Or do all exist.
I didn’t have too much trouble adjusting to driving in Japan, although I did find myself concentrating quite a bit at each intersection. Where I ran into trouble was coming back to the US and thinking I could fall back on instinct, only to discover that driving on the left had become my new instinct.
As an American driving in London, I found that judging the size of the car and its position on the road while sitting on the right side took some adjustment. Perhaps I was focusing too much on the left handed shifting.
gonzomax, right-hand drive cars are essentially the same as whatever you get in the states - nothing is reversed; just the position of the driver’s seat is on the other side of the car. Pedals - same, gearshift - same, shape of gears - same, number of gears - depends on the car, same as the US.
I learned how to drive a U.S. Postal delivery truck here in the States. It had an automatic, but driving from the right side of the vehicle while staying on the right side of the road did take a little getting used to.
A buddy of mine moved to Chicago from Dublin about 20 years ago. He was in a car and turned left into the left lane right in front of a cop. He apologized and explained so the cop let him off with a warning. (this was right outside the Abbey and the cop was well aware of the large number of Irish immigrants in that neighborhood)
One week later, same intersection, same turn, same cop:) No warning but the ticket apparently left a mark as he said he never did it again.
I like “sight picture”, that’s a good term for the change of perspective. Shortly after moving to the UK I was driving along the M25 in my American car. I was overtaking people so was in the right lane. A cop came up behind and flipped on his lights. My first instinct was to pull over to the right, which is the shoulder of the fast lane :eek: Once I’d pulled over properly I had a nice chat to the cop. He’d just pulled me over since I still had Texas plates on the car and he wanted to make sure I knew I had to re-register and check that I had insurance. I mentioned my almost pulling over to the wrong side, and he said tourists from the US and the continent do it all the time!
So the position of the gears on the shift is the same for LHD and RHD? I.e., first gear is always top left?
Yes, that’s correct. My personal-experience sample size of RHD cars is rather small (1!), but other evidence leads me to understand that it is representative.
Indeed, as I said four posts above yours.