"Richard J." wrote in message
news
Martin Underwood wrote:
"Niklas Karlsson" wrote in message
...

Ever noticed those white oval plates with GB on them? Ever thought how
their owners managed to drive in LHD countries? The idea that you would
have to scrap all RHD cars if we changed the rule of the road is absurd.
Yes, there are some problems, and overtaking on narrow
single-carriageway roads without a passenger to help you is nasty , but
I've never had a problem on a motorway apart from paying at the péage
where the kiosk is on the British nearside.

If I had to drive in mainland Europe, I'd always hire a car locally and
wouldn't contemplate taking my own RHD car over there - especially if I was
on my own and didn't have a passenger in the front seat who could check the
door mirror for overtaking traffic as I would if I was driving an LHD car.
Having to take my eyes off the road ahead while I checked and checked again
in the opposite mirror (or even over my left shoulder, peering between the
door pillars) is just too dangerous. I know plenty of people do it, but not
me.

RHD cars would effectively be priced out of the market, firstly because
their resale value would be much less than for an equivalent LHD car, and
secondly because the insurance would be so much greater... because insurance
companies perceive "wrong-sided" cars to be a much greater risk. OK, so the
problem would gradually decline as old RHD cars were replaced with new LHD
cars, but it would take a long time. Realistically, you'd need to combine
the changeover of cars and roads: without a change of cars, there'd be no
incentive to change the roads as there'd be resistance from people like me!

If we'd done it several decades ago, it would have been feasible, but
nowadays it's not a realistic option. What a shame that The World didn't
agree right from the outset of the motor car to drive on the same side of
the road - but there were issues of national pride at stake, especially
Napolean's policy of "if everyone else does it one way, we in France will do
it the other way" (I'm paraphrasing, but you get the gist). It's always
intrigued me that America chose to drive on the right, given the large
number of British people who settled there. No doubt the number of
immigrants from other European countries swayed the argument.

Which countries still drive on the left?

- UK/Ireland, obviously
- Channel Islands
- Australia
- Malta
- Gibraltar? Or does that drive on the left like Spain?
- Japan (I wonder why)

What about former British colonies like India? I *think* they still drive on
the left.

Anywhere else?