I know there must be a logical answer to this, but why is the steering wheel on a car on the side that you don’t drive on. Here in the UK for example I drive on the left and my steering wheel is on the right. I would have thought it would make sense to put it on the left because the time I most need a good view is when I’m turning right, and the left hand side would give me a better angle. Plus I’ll almost always be parking on le left side of the road, so having the drivers side be on the left would mean it would be easy to get out.
By putting the driver towards the centre of the road, he/she can see oncoming traffic better and, when turning right (in the UK) has a view of the rhs unobstructed by their passengers. Try going to France in your right-hand-drive car and see how much you enjoy overtaking.
Yep, also in France, even when you’re not overtaking you’ll be weirded out by all that metal to your left which you never realised was there when you were driving in Britain ( in other words, trying to judge how close the oncoming traffic is speeding by you). But the main reason is overtaking (some people buy those little rear-rear-vision mirrors for this purpose - they sit on the rear parcel shelf and you look at it via your main mirror to view the oncoming traffic).
The above are the only real reasons (also maybe chivalry in the old days), but they are compelling ones. Otherwise, you’d be on the left. Train in most countries, for example, have the driver usually on the same side as the side of the “road” they use.
I’m in the UK and I have a left hand drive car. Parking at the side of the road and getting out right onto the pavement is great. But looking right for oncoming traffic at roundabouts is harder, as is overtaking. It also makes parking in gated car parks (where you grab a ticket and the barrier lifts) a right pain in the arse.
I drove a US car in the Cayman islands, and had the distinct feeling of driving while in the ditch on the side of the road. Roundabouts were extremely interesting and passing was a joy. However, after a few days it became less intimidating, but still not very safe. You couldn’t judge the distances between you and other cars or you and roadside objects very well.
The mining company I worked for used a different set of reasons for deciding what side to drive on in its open pit mines, everyone drives on the left with US vehicles that place the driver on that side. All vehicles on the mine site did it but it was primarily done for the haul trucks, the big Tonka toy looking things that haul up to 300 tons of ore in the bed. Cost is the primary reason as the driver can more easily see the edge of the road and not run the tire over rocks and debris on the shoulder that will damage them. When tires cost in tens of thousands of dollars the savings wasn’t insignificant. The secondary reason was safety as they aniticpated collisions between trucks and when two haul trucks hit head on both drivers survived since it was the right side of each truck that hit the other.
Having driven RHD cars here in the states (old british sports cars) I can give you two reasons for having the wheel on the "Other side:
Pulling out to pass on a two lane road. You can’t see on comming traffic until you are all the way out. If there were a car headed the other way, your first clue would be the large CRUNCH as you hit head on. This is considered a not a good thing
Pulling out from a parallel parking space. Looking over your shoulder only give you a view of the Chevy truck grill behind you. You have to rely on that tiny mirror way over there.
Padeye, there’s not much on the shoulder that would damage a haul truck tire that isn’t already on the road, apart from increased grade or uncompacted ground which would reduce cycle times. Apart from the safety issue you mentioned, with the drivers able to see the shoulder, they can successfully stay close to it and hence reduce the width that the haul road needs to be dozed to in order to be just wide enough (with a safety margin) to allow two haul trucks to pass each other. Less time building roads equates to big bucks.
The geology of Arizona and New Mexico open pit copper mines may be a little different than you are used to. I’ve driven the mines a few times and there is a lot of jagged debris on the shoulders. The company did an analysys of right side vs left side tire damage and replacement that indicted shoulder damage on the right side and switching to the left resulted in an even bigger tire savings than the estimates.