I know that many of you have driven LHD cars, but in nearly 40 years of driving I hadn't... until last Monday! I know some of you do it all the time, but here's my thoughts as a first-timer...
I was over in the Czech Republic, down in South Bohemia and wanted to get some photos of a narrow gauge line down there... I'd already travleed on it so wanted some passing shots... so decided to hire a car.
Now I've driven many thousands of miles over there but always in my (or a friends') RHD car so this was a new experience... So for those who haven't had a go here's some comments from a first timer!
At first I found judging the nearside quite difficult, as I suppose I was still thinking in RHD mode and so there wouldn't normally be any bit of my car to my right! Also I found it quite difficult to look to the right to check the rearview mirror, I found that I was using the drivers door mirror to check what was behind me... Then there was that gear change.. I started several times in 3rd because I wasn't used to stiring the 'box with my right hand and didn't pull it across enough!
Over the day things got easier, though I have to say the first hour was pretty nerve-racking... An interesting experience, but I think if I did it again I'd probably try to get an auto 'cause at least that makes one part of the experience easier...
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Whenever I rent a LHD car I specify an auto, one less thing to think about.
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I drive them quite frequently, once or twice a month, but I never stop looking out of the drivers door for the rear view mirror.
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I have not yet driven LHD car. But I'm sure when I'll do that, I'd go for auto.
Which one is more preferable?
Taking own RHD car to Europe or hire an LHD car locally?
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There is no need to specify an auto, it very quickly becomes second nature. If you dont normally drive an auto I wouldnt add that your driving overload to worry about.
As for taking your own or hiring, cost should be your only choice to worry about. Do whatever is cheaper or most convenient.
Last edited by: Zero on Fri 10 Sep 10 at 22:25
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I'm very comfortable driving a RHD car on the "wrong" side of the road, and as the missus would find it difficult to fly or use the train I'll probably stick with using my own car... I've no doubt it would get easier over time, I only had it for a day!
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>> As for taking your own or hiring, cost should be your only choice to worry
>> about. Do whatever is cheaper or most convenient.
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Stuff the cheapskate option, spend it before the kids or goverment get it. The kids don't need it and sod the government they will only give it to a freeloader.
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"I wouldnt add that your driving overload to worry about."
Yeah, and take your Satnav or borrow one, with your destination pre programmed in. The trip from the airport rental to the hotel is always the most stressful part of the holiday and will leave you on bad terms with your wife for the rest of the day.
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I possibly slightly prefer LHD cars. Can't begin to say why, just do. Controls feel more natural to me for some reason. Not very bothered either way though.
Not that it's going to happen, far too late now but on a personal level it wouldn't worry me if we switched to driving on the right but to be clear I wouldn't vote for it either. If you are doing it regularly, switching car sides or road sides is no hardship. Overtaking takes a wee bit more planning if your car has the wheel on the "wrong" side for whatever the local direction of travel happens to be but otherwise it makes little difference.
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I am quite happy to jump in and drive a LHD or RHD car without really a second thought.
I always however go to open the wrong door on a LHD car.
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senility is always a sad thing to come up against ;-)
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>> senility is always a sad thing to come up against ;-)
Senility delivers far worse than that.
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what you sit in the back and say
wheres the steering wheel :-(
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i prefer driving left hookers to right but my insurance these days forbades it
im with everyone else but mr perfect though and advise getting an auto so you concentrate on more important tasks than gear changes
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Whenever I drive a LHD car:
1) For the first few miles I try and change gear with the window winder - failing that, anything projecting from the driver's door - handle, arm rest...
1a) As a consequence I stall a lot.
2) My rear view mirror - located outside the car, somewhere above the top of the left hand window....is..... er,.....never there.
3) When returning after parking it, I always try to get in the RH door first.
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>>For the first few miles I try and change gear with the window winder
And change gear with something in the door pocket! ;>)
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I think this was my first proper drive in a left hooker.
Late 80s, had to take it from Mann Island, at the Pier head,Lliverpool to Southampton docks on trade plates. .....photo taken at Southampton.
Chevrolet ( I think ) harem van....on its way from USA to Saudi.
tinyurl.com/37cvl3y
Automatic, of course. Also my first experience of cruise control.....monster engine.
Drove itself, although I do remember putting the right bit over a roundabout somewhere.
Went to Rawtenstall to collect an old Mustang. Collected the keys and jumped in to start it......no steering wheel, thought it was a bit bare in front of me ! Took a few seconds to twig what was wrong !
Ted
Last edited by: silence of the cams on Fri 10 Sep 10 at 23:32
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I have no difficulty driving a left-hooker. Being a front seat passenger in one though is just plain weird! :-)
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My first car was an imported 1961 LHD Beetle. Since then I've never really had a problem with LHD cars (or RHD either).
Visiting my bro-in-law's country place last month near Chaource, France, I found someone had provided him with an comfy old Renault 5 to tootle around in. He hasn't passed his test yet (at 40+) and the car is insured for anyone so I made it my job to use it for the bread and croissant run each morning. Everything seemed to fall to hand. On the second morning, after a bit of an Italian tune-up, I found it had enough ooomph to overtake a Dutch Panda with bikes on the roof.
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I drive LHD and RHD all the time - auto and/or manual - often during the same day. I don't find it a big deal. I think road positioning is actually easier when driving on the right with RHD but overtaking is a pain and not to be attempted when driving alone except with extreme care.
Everyone goes to change gear in the door pocket when unused to LHD but it doesn't last and some people say changing gear with LHD is more natural because most drivers are right-handed. I'm not.
I still go to the wrong door though, from time to time.
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"but overtaking is a pain and not to be attempted when driving alone except with extreme care"
Helps to have 300+ horses under the bonnet though Mike?
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The first time i did it i asked those in the car to shut up and let me drive it didn't take very long to get the hand of it and by the end of the day was most comfortable with it.
It's been a few years now and id do the same again quiet please get comfy drive on.
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My first two cars, both in London, were LHD and one was in urgent need of structural welding. I didn't have a driving licence at first but then I got an Irish one for a quid and a forgery and a couple of fibs by someone else.
LHD is very good for skimming the nearside, crap for overtaking. At present I am driving a RHD car in a drive-on-the-right country. Same thing.
If like some people you have arthritis in an arm or shoulder you may prefer the gearlever to be on the other side of you. Rolls-Royces and Bentleys used to have a RH gearchange of course. Or you could get an automatic if you can afford a big car or can tolerate the driving characteristics of a small auto.
Sallasyme squire. At the end of the dye, knowImean? It must be quite difficult at first to drive a steam traction engine, but no doubt one would improve with practice.
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Mike H
>>I think road positioning is actually easier when driving on the right with RHD <<
Interesting comment since IIRC you are full time resident in France. As a mere 33% resident I totally agree with this comment. However most of the other local expat residents do not agree with me. I find RHD particularly useful in 'tight' villages where there there are unpredictable gulleys, steps, ramps, rocks etc at the side of the road.
I believe that after 40 years of driving on the left that you aquire an innate sense of 'lhs awareness', that is not easy to replace with 'rhs awareness', even after several years of living on the other side.
The overtaking issue is not a major issue if you are laid back and fully immersed in the local culture of the South where everything , (apart from local driving), is conducted at a slower pace.
Last edited by: pmh on Sat 11 Sep 10 at 20:56
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>>Then there was that gear change.>>
I used to bang my left hand on the door trying to change gears on occasions.
One other point is to ensure that you concentrate from start to finish about your position on the road - it's all too easy for people to have a lapse of concentration, especially when starting off in the morning or after a break and, for instance, end up on the wrong side of the road.
It happens even to very experienced drivers whilst driving a LHD vehicle.
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Yes, it's easy to do in an absent-minded moment. But something, perhaps a lorry coming the other way, soon reminds you.
Actually a few hours after arriving in France my wife nearly walked under a car crossing the road to a lunch place. A bit like my near-miss today with the scooter kamikaze, damn little carphound. But I would probably have been in the wrong.
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As I left a Scottish RSPB site today I noticed the direction arrows painted on the road either side of the exit for the benefit of our continental visitors. Quite common here as lack of traffic can mean a mistake may not be obvious until you meet someone coming the other way.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Sat 11 Sep 10 at 22:10
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A good decade or so ago I had to collect a customer from her home in MK and bring her back to the Mercedes dealership in Bedford in her own car. ISTR the car had a problem which only manifested itself when hot, hence the long journey to warm it through and provide proof of a cure.
The car was a manual LHD Mercedes 190. I'd never driven a left hooker before (and haven't since!) but whilst the swapping-over of the controls was quite easy to adapt to, the knack of positioning the car on the road as though I were in the passenger seat took a while longer to perfect.
The lady customer insisted, outside her house, that I chauffeur her and her two teenage boys back to the dealership. A most nerve-wracking, but ultimately successful journey.
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As Zero says: - I am quite happy to jump in and drive a LHD or RHD car without really a second thought. I always however go to open the wrong door on a LHD car.
My experience exactly. I drive LHD overseas at least eight weeks a year and never have a problem driving or parking. In fact sometimes I think I drive better! Also you frequently get to drive cars not seen in the UK.
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Last time I drove a lhd car, it came with added pressures. It was a 1990 Corvette, thankfully auto, but damn they are wide, I collected it from a country house in deepest Sussex, all narrow lanes. Its so close to the ground you have no hope of judging an extremity at all and to add to the fear factor, it was the property of that twit from Roxy Music who is a bit shouty at the best of times.
I wont be rushing out to drive another.
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Ditto in New Zealand, Old Navy. The Roads authority have painted white arrows in the road after every narrow bridge, layby, or tourist attraction... A cheap way of trying to reduce accidents I guess, cheaper than sorting out a lot of the crappy roads around here :-)
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In my previous job i got to transport a large number of LHD vehicles and became quite adept at close manouevring, and getting RR's between the narrow decks without tyre/wheel damage not easy for everyone..;)
However with lower LHD cars getting out especially with restricted door opening room would have me falling out twisting round and getting in a right old mess where a RHD with similar restricted door opening room was no trouble, leaning out of the N/S window to see where the wheels were wasn't easy either, always been the same too not just as joints (mine) got stiffer as age crept up.
Do others find getting in and out of especially low 2 door LHD's a performance?
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If you want to have fun in a LHD car, drive alongside (and on the right of) a RHD car at the same speed, both with the driver's window open, and hold hands with the other driver. It works best if you have prior agreement with the other driver!
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Why no one invented a car where you can easily swap steering & pedals to either LHD or RHD easily?
I understand it may not be a 5-min DIY job, but even visiting dealership for moving steering to other side, before a continental journey would have been good.
I understand there are some specialized garages which can convert LHD to RHD (and vice versa) but those are usually permanent conversions.
Last edited by: movilogo on Sun 12 Sep 10 at 08:14
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>> Why no one invented a car where you can easily swap steering & pedals to either LHD or RHD easily?
Might be wrong but i've got it in my mind my grandpa converted a Fiat Uno in a day? How likely is that?
I can still remember that car, it lived on for a few years in RHD form once converted then was sold.
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I converted an opel kadett from left to right,ive only just remembered about it,it was the same shape as a chevette but had the superior opel engine and auto box with the big brushes covering the gate and no clutch cable to worry about,the pedals must have been easy to do as i cant recall any problems but i did have a donar car at the side for things like crashpad
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...fun in a LHD car...
When brother was in the RAF in Germany he had a LHD Taunus - a Cortina.
When I was a front seat passenger during his visits to this country, I used to wave with both hands at oncoming drivers.
The shocked look on some of their faces amused us greatly.
I think the effect was heightened by the fact the car was identical externally to a UK-spec Cortina.
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Best fun I've had with the old GMC pick-up was when previous partner's Rottweiler came along as a passenger, sitting happily upright on the seat, enjoying the trip and causing serious double-takes from everyone who passed us!
When I first bought the truck, I drove it back from Whitchurch (Salop) to Carmarthen, via Llandrindod Wells. The first hour or so I had a bit of difficulty keeping the correct side of the white line, given that, as mentioned above, one's instinct is to be closer to it.
Overtaking can be a hazardous occupation if one has no passenger, but it simply means reading the road ahead more carefully and planning a manoeuvre well in advance.
I have on occasion embarassed myself by getting in the "wrong" side", thankfully the truck has a bench seat and column change so it doesn't really cause a problem; it does however confuse marshals at car shows and the like, although why they expect something that is so obviously American to be anything other than LHD I really don't know.
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First time in a LHD car - Old Navy
