That’s me, for twelve weeks. Hand surgery, and my non-dominant (left) hand is useless right now (in a hard plastic splint to keep fingers and thumb immobile). Damn, I had no idea how much I used to do with it! I’m constantly surprised by another easy task made almost impossible by having to do it purely right-handedly.
Huh? I open my driver side door with my left hand (in U.S., left-hand drive) because I keep my hand on the handle to control how far the door opens/prevent the wind from catching it/etc. If I used my right hand, and held on, my arm would be in the way of entering the vehicle.
That’s what’s meant by whichever is more functional - you open the driver’s door with your left hand and presumably the passenger door with your right, because that’s more functional whether you are right or left handed.
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I agree, but the way I read **Hampshire’s ** post was that one opens the door with the hand it swings away from. Full disclosure: I’ve had no Pepsi yet today so my Blood Caffeine Level and associated reading comprehension may be low.
I like my 2017 Chevy Malibu very much, but the USB port is badly positioned under the dashboard where it can’t easily be reached and you can’t easily see which way the plug should be oriented. The trunk also lacks an internal handhold to pull when you want to close it. Two annoyances in an otherwise-great car.
Wow,
I agree with this. It really is like a magnet exists in the floorboards of my car to attract anything I drop. You would think that they would have designed something that corrals the item more toward the center cup holder or some tray.
I would also like to see a simple design which just sits up under the front seats on the floor. I am tired of anything i put on my backseat floor ending up under my front seat forcing me to go around to the back seat and reach under/thru to retrieve it.
The King of the On/Off Ramp Fustercluck: I-35 lower level in Austin. On-ramps have an incredibly short, curvy beginning with a slight rise, coupled with the concrete barrier to the left to contain freeway accidents. I say “beginning” because you can’t see that there is more dedicated lane - well, another shared one, even shorter than usual - just out of sight. If you’re a local, you know to accelerate through that blind curve so you have plenty of time to take your chances on the cross-stream merge. However, newbs don’t know this, so they go slow up the ramp. Now they can’t merge and have to wait for an opening, so you have a very good chance of plowing into them. This is why Molly Ivins said “The secret to happiness in Austin is to never drive on I-35.”
Really, I don’t know why people aren’t killed on a daily basis.
I saw a guy with this same complaint pitch this product on Shark Tank: https://www.amazon.com/Drop-Stop-Original-Patented-Filler/dp/B00BYH6C1E
That’s the more natural way to open the door when exiting from the driver seat, too. However exiting that way is now considered wrong.
I have been told (but no official verification) that if you take a behind-the-wheel test for your license here in Illinois, you’re marked down if you open the door to exit the vehicle with your left hand. Instead you are supposed to use the “Dutch reach” – cross over with your right hand to open the door. This forces you to look over your shoulder for oncoming bicycles and alerts you to not open the door in their path.
I periodically try to remember to open the door like this, but using my left hand is such an ingrained habit and I’m always thinking about other things…
Uhhh, I thought (and originally replied to the thought) of it being opening the door from the outside. Until I read **Anny Middon’s ** post I had never heard of this “Dutch reach.”
Uh, no. The vast majority of toilets I’ve ever seen have the flush handle on the left side of the tank. I’ve seen very few with push buttons, and I’ve never seen a toilet with the flush handle on the right.
Car manufacturers are really proud of touchscreen controls, but it seems like anything that requires you to take your eyes off the road would be a bad thing.
About 25 years ago I lived in a city that had those on the lights. I always kept a bright flashlight handy. If I pointed it at the sensor and clicked the switch on and off quickly, I could get the lights to go green for me.
Fuck handedness for toilets. How about toilets in public places that don’t have handles at all, but a foot pedal? Sorry, but I’m doing a number on your john and have to flush while I’m still sitting on it, and now I have to grab the foot pedal with my hand to flush it.
Or the ones with no handle at all but just in IR sensor behind your back which flushes when you get up to leave. I’m still sitting here, you stupid toilet! Now you have to fish around behind you for the little tiny button next to it that will flush it, or try to lean to the side to get it to trigger.
This is the point I tried making starting in post 32. I don’t understand how hard it is to flush a toilet with either my left or right hand, and it doesn’t matter which way the lever is pointing. It’s one of the easiest mechanical manipulations to make.
Right. It’s like saying every door with the handle on the left side is also “poorly designed.”
:dubious: Why do you have to flush while sitting on it?
Sometimes you have to flush twice. As the middle-school joke goes, it’s a long way to the cafeteria. 
It’s called a courtesy flush. You know more is on the way, but you flush the current output so everyone else, including you, doesn’t have to smell it.
Yes, that’s what I meant. If the door swings to the left, away from your left hand, you use your left hand.