Well, of course there are 1.5- and 1-lane roads anywhere, and certainly in the hills and mountains in CA.US. And where you have to pull over and stop to let an oncoming vehicle go by, you’d actually be in a better position to do that were you seated on the right while driving on the right, because you can see much better just how close to the edge of the road you can pull over to, without ending up 1000 ft down below in the bottom of the canyon. If you’re as close to the edge as you can get without the road giving way beneath you, and the other car can’t get by. . .well, the guy coming down is supposed to back up to where you two can pass, right? But I guess it really depends on who’s in the SUV, as to who backs up.
Here, in CA.US, it seems the rules go more according as the sword arm, as mentioned in the above posts, i.e., road rage. The last case mentioned in the news the other night was a motorcyclist against a truck. You can guess who won that one. . .well, neither, the biker in the morgue and the trucker up for manslaughter, I believe.
Still, in my experience, it is extremely uncommon in the US to have to stop for oncoming traffic, at least in urban and suburban areas. One-way streets in the US are wider than many two-way streets in Japan.
I admit I can’t really explain why it is easier to do this with the steering wheel on the ‘correct’ side (on the side of the oncoming traffic). But I have done it numerous times with both LHD and RHD cars on the exact same roads, and the difference is obvious. It may be because the oncoming car is a much smaller target to avoid than the edge of the road, so you want a better view of the oncoming car. Also, just because you got as close to the edge of the road as possible doesn’t mean there’s enough space left for the oncoming car to go through.
By the way, if you think my comparison is flawed because I didn’t compare the same model car in LHD and RHD versions - the LHD (wrong side) car I drove was smaller than the RHD car, so it should have been easier if anything.
In the days of wagons drivers held the reins with their strongest hand, more often than not their right. In order to center the reins between two horses the driver would sit odd to the left.
This also had the additional benefit of enabling the driver to better judge where his left front wheel was so it wouldn’t get hooked behind the front wheel of a passing wagon on a tight street.
The first steam and IC engine cars were actualy steered by a tiller which was centered on the front axle. Again, neccesitating the driver to sit on the left side so he could steer with his right.
When cars developed two-person front seats, the wheel/tiller naturally migrated to the left side. And it is still that way today.
Now this WAG sounds good, but it doesn’t explain why the Brits are all back assward.
