Why do all the cars in the world have the driver’s side of the car toward the center of the road? Wouldn’t it make more sense to have drivers exit to the sidewalk instead of the street?
You may have a point. Limos and taxis, when they do get the door for you always do so on the sidewalk side for safety reasons. And, while I’ve never seen any data on the subject, collisions of oncoming vehicles might do more damage to the “road centered” portion of the front end than to the passenger side.
I don’t think so. Many drivers have trouble judging the right hand side of the car in terms of its position on the road. This would just swap that problem to the left side where such uncertainty could result in a head on collision. The number of accidents of drivers exiting their cars is very low in my area. The driver generally has a very good view of traffic from both directions when exiting a curb parked car. Some areas solve this issue by using diagonal parking at the curb rather than parallel parking.
I don’t think so either. I like the idea of children (who can’t drive) exiting on the passenger side next to the sidewalk. It’s also easier to avoid head-on collisions if both drivers are situated in the middle of the highway.
It would make more sense as far as exiting, but I don’t think exiting is the reason for the position of the steering wheel. Perhaps someone can provide the real history behind it?
If all cars had the wheel on the other side (passanger side) and that was the way we all learned we would likely adjust. I had the occasion to drive a British car with the steering wheel on the wrong side in the US. It was wierd at first, but after a bit it was OK. Surprising what we can adjust too.
The reason may even go back to the old horse and buggy days.
It might make sense except not so much if you are the passenger. Despite driving on one side you are always free to get out on the other. A bit more acrobatics required for many cars but not too difficult most of the time.
That would certainly discourage passing on two-lane roads. You would not be able to peek around the car ahead of you to check for on-coming traffic.
I have a partial history lesson for you. I can tell you why the brits drive the way they do. It dates back to the middle ages, when knight would joust, the lance was held (mostly) on the riders right side, since most knights were right-handed. That put the opponents to each other’s right, they kept it that way. I do not know why we did it differently unless it was just because we didn’t want to be like the british.
To OP- not evry car and road are matched the way your post would imply. IIRC in the bahamas they drive our cars on the british side of the road, or did in the 1990s. Or maybe vice versa.
I think the steering wheel is positioned so that you have the best advantage in judging where oncoming traffic is. If the steering wheel were on the right in the US, knowing whether oncoming cars are in your lane or not would be more difficult.
And what if there is no sidewalk? I’d rather get out on the street side than in a muddy ditch.
I don’t know if it’s relevant or not but a driver’s perspective could be off a bit when it comes to oncoming traffic. As it is now one can kind of gauge the position of an oncoming car as you’re closer to the roadway centerline.
If one were driving from the passenger side and staring across the width of a hood it’s possible that drivers could misjudge the distance and we would have a lot of LF to LF collisions. Just theory anyway.
The garbage truck that picks up our trash has two steering wheels–one on the left and one on the right. There is only one man running the truck. When he picks up the garbage, he uses the right steering wheel. He lowers a mechanical arm that picks up the specially designed garbage container. The container is lifted up and then dumped into the truck. By driving on the right, the driver can line up the arm with the garbage container. When returning to the dump station, the driver sits on the left side and uses the left steering wheel.
The reason the US drives on the left is because if you were a farmer in the late 1700’s and you were driving a large wagon without a seat (which was common) you would sit on one of the rear horses. If you were right handed and want to use your dominant hand to control the horses you would sit on the left-rear horse. Then since you’re sitting on the left-rear horse you want the wagons coming at you to be on your left so you can avoid collisions.
France went through a left-to-right change about the same time it really started being an issue in the US. In France however it was mostly an effort for the revolutionary peasants to be different from the aristocrats that caused the shift. Napoleon conquering most of Europe did a pretty effective job of spreading the change.
Napoleon was a product f the French Revolution, and he was also LEFT HANDED! Hence, the world started to be divide between left and right hand drive.
The only country I recall having the steering wheel on the curbside was Sweden until 1967 or so (when they switch to the right side of the road like the rest of Europe) ; they drove on the left side in cars with steering wheels on the right side. It gave Swedes a broader choice in car buying.
In addition to being better able to judge your position relative to oncoming traffic, when you parallel park facing the same direction as traffic on the right side of the road, you can better see if the way is clear for you to pull out into traffic.
In New York, it is a traffic violation to park on the left side of the street on a two-way street. your vision is restricted when it comes time to pull out into traffic.