Driving on the wrong side of the road (was: London Squares)
 

Mark Brader:
Well, at least there are no longer any countries where it varies from one
part of the country to another.

Annabel Smyth:
Hong Kong drives on the left, but I don't think mainland China does....

Oops!

Well, at least there *weren't* any for some time before that!
--
Mark Brader, Toronto | I am a mathematician, sir. I never permit myself
| to think. --Stuart Mills (Carr: The Three Coffins)

Right hand traffic (was London Squares)
 

On Mon, 10 Jan 2005 23:19:21 +0000, Clive Page
wrote:

Ah, is that the reason? I've always felt that the northbound entry to
the M1 at J8 is by far the most dangerous that I've seen on UK motorways
- first you have to negotiate a rather sharp bend and then accelerate up
to the prevailing traffic speed, usually around 70 mph and merge, all in
about 100 metres, far shorter than anywhere else. I'm surprised that
there aren't more accidents there, and am amazed that the authorities
have never lengthened the slip road.

They need to lengthen the slip roads on service stations as well. The
worst are the oldest ones, which often have a give way right before
the slip road so you can't start accelerating until you're on it, and
most are far too short and often have tarmac in very poor condition.
Most need, IMO, to be twice as long as they currently are.

Downright dangerous, and the worst thing is that all you'd need to fix
it is a can of paint (and a slightly narrowed hard shoulder) in most
cases. I'm not familiar with J8 as I rarely go south of 13 by car,
but I suspect it's similar.

Neil

--
Neil Williams in Milton Keynes, UK
When replying please use neil at the above domain
'wensleydale' is a spam trap and is not read.

Driving on the wrong side of the road (was: London Squares)
 

On Mon, 10 Jan 2005 04:39:35 -0000, (Mark Brader) wrote:

Mark Brader:
Well, at least there are no longer any countries where
it varies from one part of the country to another.

John Rowland:
You've never been down Savoy Court near Aldwych, then.

Well, not in a car. But isn't it private property? That doesn't count.

Russell Lane, N20, has a section of dual carriageway with two
cross-connections. These connections are marked out for right-hand
running. In

http://www.streetmap.co.uk/newmap.sr...=newsearch.srf

the arrow is pointing to where one is (the one I use regularly).

Regards,

Clive

--
Clive R Robertson -- AS/400 Programmer.

Webmaster of http://www.osterleypark.org.uk/ -- this describes
a beautiful National Trust property in West London.

Driving on the wrong side of the road (was: London Squares)
 

In article , Michael Bell wrote:
I drove through Sweden about 3 weeks before the change-over to the
right. We drove over a bridge over an inlet in the coast from Norway and
there was a sign telling you to change sides. We stopped and looked round -
it's obviously a possibly dangerous manoevre, and not one you do every day,
and then drove over to the left side. It felt oddly naughty.

I'm a bit young to remember the changeover personally. I do know that
when I was constantly flying back and forth between Sweden and the UK
for job interviews, hunting down accommodation and so forth in London, I
got very, very confused as to which way to look when crossing the road.

I ended up just looking both ways before stepping onto the road...

3 years ago, I drove onto the ferry at Eckerö (Åland Islands) on the
way to Sweden and the money collector (a Finn by nationality) openly laughed
at my RHD car with its "wheel at the wrong side" (med hjulet på fell siden).

Med ratten pÕ fel sida. (The steering wheel has its own noun in Swedish)

He was in his mid 20s and cannot have remembered that Sweden once had
left-hand traffic.

I'm in my mid 20s as well - just with some interest in history and
transport. :-)

Niklas
--
"I figure that publicly acknowledged lunacy in politics is a trend that should
be encouraged to help undermine the stealthy political lunacy that has made our
country great."
-- Robert Sneddon

Driving on the wrong side of the road (was: London Squares)
 

In article , Niklas Karlsson wrote:

Med ratten på fel sida. (The steering wheel has its own noun in Swedish)

*ahem* på, even.

Must fix my editor settings...

Niklas
--
"My grandmother is over eighty and still doesn't need glasses. Drinks right out
of the bottle."
-- Henny Youngman

London Squares
 

In message , Paul Terry
writes
In message ,
Martin Underwood writes

Which countries still drive on the left?

Not Gibralter.
I was about to ask about Gibraltar earlier in this thread.

I knew that it drives on the right but did it *ever* drive on the left
and change later? Anyone know?
--
Ian Jelf, MITG
Birmingham, UK

Registered Blue Badge Tourist Guide for London and the Heart of England
http://www.bluebadge.demon.co.uk

Driving on the wrong side of the road (was: London Squares)
 

In message , Clive R
Robertson writes
On Mon, 10 Jan 2005 04:39:35 -0000, (Mark Brader) wrote:

Mark Brader:
Well, at least there are no longer any countries where
it varies from one part of the country to another.

John Rowland:
You've never been down Savoy Court near Aldwych, then.

Well, not in a car. But isn't it private property? That doesn't count.

Russell Lane, N20, has a section of dual carriageway with two
cross-connections. These connections are marked out for right-hand
running.

There's a reverse to that situation near Paris.

When you come off the motorway from Central Paris for Versailles and
turn left over the bridge to go into the town, you are momentarily on
the left hand side of the carriageway (for maybe 75m?). The
"crossover" at the end of the section is controlled by traffic lights.
--
Ian Jelf, MITG
Birmingham, UK

Registered Blue Badge Tourist Guide for London and the Heart of England
http://www.bluebadge.demon.co.uk

Driving on the wrong side of the road (was: London Squares)
 

In message , Michael Bell
writes
3 years ago, I drove onto the ferry at Eckerö (Åland Islands) on the
way to Sweden and the money collector (a Finn by nationality) openly laughed
at my RHD car with its "wheel at the wrong side" (med hjulet på fell siden).
He was in his mid 20s and cannot have remembered that Sweden once had
left-hand traffic.

I once came back to my UK Citroen 2CV on a French car park to find a
security guard peering in through the window.

When I said hello he said that he was just admiring the car (obviously!)
and then asked whether or not it had been expensive for me to have the
steering wheel moved! He'd obviously never considered the concept of
exporting!
--
Ian Jelf, MITG
Birmingham, UK

Registered Blue Badge Tourist Guide for London and the Heart of England
http://www.bluebadge.demon.co.uk

London Squares
 

In message , Mrs Redboots
writes
India, Pakistan, Hong Kong - not sure about mainland China, though.
Which countries did Michael Palin visit on the recent "Himalaya" show?
I know most of the cars one saw were right-hand drive.

Nepal drives on the left but bought some second hand trolleybuses from
China which were (may still be?) plying the streets of Kathmandu picking
up passengers from the middle of the road.......
--
Ian Jelf, MITG
Birmingham, UK

Registered Blue Badge Tourist Guide for London and the Heart of England
http://www.bluebadge.demon.co.uk

London Squares
 

"Arthur Figgis" ] wrote in message
...
On Mon, 10 Jan 2005 00:19:51 +0000 (UTC), "Terry Harper"
wrote:

Nigeria made the change, and lorries and buses changed first, then cars a
few days later. They did however keep cars off the road for those few
days....

But they must have a horrendous road safety record there, given the
number of widows and orphans who e-mail me details of millionaire TOP
OFFICIALs who have died in TRAGIC AUTOMOBILE ACCIDENTs.

They did, and probably still do. Playing chicken with heavy trucks on a
single lane road doesn't work, and the result is usually an overturned car
on the hard shoulder. Probably makes running a scam preferable to driving a
car for a living:-)
--
Terry Harper, Web Co-ordinator, The Omnibus Society
75th Anniversary 2004, see http://www.omnibussoc.org/75th.htm
E-mail:
URL: http://www.terry.harper.btinternet.co.uk/