Brewmaster
Wheeler
Reged: 09/06/06
Posts: 100
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Everyone always seems to want to point out the negatives of Right side driving. What about the positives? Three things pop to mind right away and I'll mention the first here.
From a safety standpoint I would have to say that a RHD vehicle in North America is much safer than the equivelent LHD vehicle. Everyone points out that "Passing on the highway is dangerous in a RHD vehicle." But what about a head-on collision? Usually it's Left-side to left-side. Or in other words, driver to driver. But now the driver of the RHD vehicle has a much greater chance of avoiding serious injury.
Anybody got any others?
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Kelvin
91 Pajero Exceed - Controls mounted curb-side for convenience
82 Mercedes 300SD
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IggyB
Getting the Wheeling Fever
Reged: 02/10/02
Posts: 86
Loc: Calgary, Alberta Canada
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You should do some research into laws, if any, regarding driving a LHD in England or a RHD from Limeyland in Europe. 
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redbull
Body Damage is Cool
Reged: 04/28/06
Posts: 1410
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Good thread, I'm getting tired of justifying the safety of my RHD vehicle choice. I've been across the English Channel many times, and there are hundreds of RHD vehicles going to LHD Europe, and LHD vehicles going to RHD England daily.
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1991 Mitsubishi Pajero XP TD LWB family hauler.
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sasnydley
Body Damage is Cool
Reged: 06/25/04
Posts: 1369
Loc: Fl Sarasota area
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But where does a vehicle usually get T-Boned on the right side of car. So in that sense not quite as safe.
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'90 Black Monty "1"LS,'95 Monty "2" SR , 1990 Yamaha TW 200, 2000 VW Jetta TDI!
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Clead
Mudrunner
Reged: 10/05/06
Posts: 469
Loc: Vancouver, B.C., Canada
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There's a giant thread over at the Int'l JDM page at Ih8Mud.com regarding the CBC article
BC government is at it again
This is a quoted list of RHD positives from user Previa Diesel there/
Quote:
1. Cyclists coming up on the right is a major concern when making right turns in urban areas. In a LHD vehicle the only safe way to check for this is for the driver to look back over his right shoulder, thus loosing sight of what is happening in front of his vehicle. This method is actually specified in the commercial driver training manual. In a RHD vehicle the driver only has to drop his vision to the right hand mirror for an instant and he can see everything to his right rear without losing sight of what is happening in front of his vehicle.
2. When turning left in a LHD vehicle the left side windshield pillar is much closer to the driver’s eyes and therefore blocks more of his field of view (FOV). In a RHD the windshield pillar is farther away and therefore blocks much less of the FOV. That windshield pillar can easily obscure a pedestrian when turning left through an intersection for example. Futhermore, when turning left in a LHD the area of worst visibility is the LH rear. The LH driver's door frame and pillar* being very close to the driver’s eyes in a LHD vehicle, block the view to a great extent, even when the driver looks back over his left shoulder (and not many do). In a RHD however (some ricers excluded obviously) the LH door frame and pillar are much farther away and block much less of the view. The driver in a RHD also does not have to turn his head as far to look to his left rear, allowing his peripheral vision to cover more of the usual blindspot to the LH rear. I don’t have the software to produce drawings illustrating this, but it should be obvious from a ‘bird’s eye view visualization
*ie: the rear side frame of the driver's door and the pillar between the front and rear doors (if any)
3. At night it is much easier to see and follow the white line on the RH (curb) side of the road than trying to see the yellow line in the center against the headlights of oncoming traffic. By avoiding looking directly at the oncoming headlights the driver’s night vision is better and he is more likely to see pedestrians, cyclists, animals or other hazards on the RH (curb) side which are less easily noticed by drivers in LHD vehicles. Furthermore, most accidents at night probably occur between vehicles and hazards on RH (curb) side of the road.
4. In a head-on collision the impact is most likely to occur on the left front side; being seated on the right the driver is less likely to be injured and injuries if sustained are likely to be less serious.
5. When parallel parking in a RHD the driver has a much better view of the curb and the LH rear of the car in front of him. This means faster and better parking with less obstruction of the curb lane and the dangerous and illegal swerving into adjoining lanes around vehicles trying to parallel park that we see so much of today.
6. In a RHD vehicle the driver gets out of the vehicle on the curb side rather than the road side. Obviously much safer for the driver as well as cyclists and other drivers. No more doors suddenly opening into traffic or following vehicles illegally swerving into adjoining lanes, or cyclists running into doors suddenly opened in front of them.
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I am now officially a Pajero owner.  .
1992 Exceed w/winter pkg, roof tray, bounceys, the works :)
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rxinhed
The Mitsubishi Parts Guy
Reged: 02/21/05
Posts: 5936
Loc: Gerber, CA
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This thread has some merit. I purchased a US Postal Jeep (RHD) and drove it for one year before selling it. I lived in southern California at the time and my travels were generally on the highway, some mountain roads, etc., with a few trails thrown in.
I hated going to McDonald's, for example...you'll have to think about that.
As far as increased/decreased safety on the road from a head-on collision point-of-view...so what? There are more side and rear impacts than head-on collisions. Without airbags, that point is moot. You're still getting messed up regardless.
Seeing the fog line: yes, you're closer to it, so you see it better. But, are you drifting into on coming traffic and about to cause a head on collision?
Passing: On a two-lane (one direction each lane) road, you often cannot see around the vehicle ahead of you and will be taking a chance causing a head on collision. On a multi-lane highway, passing is like any other time.
The reasons for having LHD or RHD vehicles in any one country as the standard is for uniformity. Not the Orwellian 1984-type, but so you're not mixing apples and oranges. If you're in the African or Australian bush, what would it matter?  But if you're locale is the metropolitan (Los Angeles) arena, I can say that I've now thought twice after experience.
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1987 Raider (Roxy), 1988 Mighty Max turbo (Pearl), 1987 Ramcharger (Ryan), Sundry parts and parts cars
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redbull
Body Damage is Cool
Reged: 04/28/06
Posts: 1410
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I've already had to defend my choice to drive a RHD vehicle, and I haven't even started driving it yet!
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1991 Mitsubishi Pajero XP TD LWB family hauler.
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jeepdriver
Body Damage is Cool
Reged: 11/05/03
Posts: 1005
Loc: Atlanta, GA
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Tomorrow, Jan. 30, marks my twentieth year with the U.S. Postal Service, driving RHD vehicles the entire time. I have done some highway driving in both the old AM General DJ5's and the newer LLV's...passing was best done from a few vehicle lengths behind the one I was passing, for improved vision. On normal city streets, passing was done with extreme caution.
The USPS produced a film for employees to watch, called "Room To Live", touting the safety of the DJ5 vehicle. Yes, there was room to "live" in a DJ5, if the driver managed to survive the crash. Those things were dangerous, partly due to the skinny 13" tires, narrow wheels, and top heavy construction. They were never meant to be a passenger vehicle, and buyers of surplus vehicles who used the DJ5 as such often found that out the hard way.
The USPS stopped selling surplus DJ5's a few years ago; even to USPS employees, such as rural route cariers. Most have been crushed. I know of half a dozen still running around metro Atlanta, GA in excellent condition; as these were basically hand picked and then practically restored before being pulled from service and sold years ago. This was done by one of the big shots at the VMF (vehicle maintainance facility)for some of his friends and relatives.
I heard a rumor that a few of them came with a cargo area full of spare parts, too.
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Too many 4x4's, not enough time or money
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