Right hand drive vs. left hand drive

[elbee]

I've wondered this for several years and it occoured to me that I could get the answer here so here goes.

In america, our left hand drive cars have the pedals set-up as gas & brake are your right foot and the clutch is your left foot. The gears are set-up as 1st is the upper left, second is down, third is up and to the right, etc. How are the right hand drive cars set up? Are the pedals the same and are the gears the same? I traveled abroad when I was younger but I guess this didn't occour to me until later. I imagine that the big circle in front of the driver works the same no matter where you are; turn it to the left and you go left, turn it to the right and you go right. Sorry for asking such a dumb question.

[gibbon]

ermmm ....

[marrsbar]

only difference is you change gear with your left hand in a right hand drive car and your right hand in a left hand drive car. the pedals and gears are set up the same other than that. imagine if the pedals were opposite? people would be breaking instead of accelerating and accelerating instead of breaking all over the place!

[AmRov]

FWIW, I don't think this is a dumb question. I think, however, that all that stuff is the same -- I've seen other posts in here to that effect. But hopefully our British mates will be kind enough to confirm for ya.

What I find fascinating is the concept of shifting with your left hand... can't imagine it myself, but I guess if you never knew any differently, it wouldn't feel odd.

[Tonyt3]

Itsnot such a daft question if you've never been abroad.

The answer that the only difference is that you use the other hand is too simple actually. When changing gear in the UK, 1st gear is selected with your left hand by pushing the stick to the left and pushing it forward. In America, you don't push the stick away, you pull it towards you with your right hand and then push it forward. Doesn't sound like much of a difference on the face of it, but some people find it very hard in the UK to put a Cooper S into reverse gear, especially women drivers, as they find it hard to get the leverage to push it so far away and forward. American drivers do not have this issue.

Many American visitors to Britain get worried about renting a right hand drive shift stick, worried that its going to be just too much to learn how to drive a right hand drive manual car on the 'wrong' side of the road. However, this is just not really relevant, you will find it very 'natural' to swap sides when driving. The most disconcerting thing is getting in the 'right' side of the car in the first place.

[elbee]

so it's all the same except you're sitting on the other side, thus the gear shift is switched. I find it's easier to put it in reverse if you slide the stick between 5th & 6th, then yank it to the left and up to reverse. It's amazing how much more leverage you get with the extre 1/4" of movement. I would think it's awkward to do it with your left hand. It's easier to use your right hand (most people's power arm) to pull it toward you as opposed to your weaker arem to push it away from you. Did that make any sense?

"The most disconcerting thing is getting in the 'right' side of the car in the first place." That's because it's the wrong side! ha ha ha

And while I'm at it with the international questions; has anyone ever been in the Southern Hemisphere and seen a toilet flush clock-wise? Definatley something I want to see in my lifetime.

[Johnny225]

Sorry all of you overseas! But I have to say I prefer the American gear shift style, having driven both. Having 1st gear the farthest away from you just doesn't feel right.

elbee,as others have said, the brake, clutch and gas pedals are in the same order, but the shifter is the same as the U.S., only with the seat on the other side.

[ninethreeeleven]

I have a question about this as well.... There are some people in America that want Japanese (and maybe European) imported cars that are Right Hand Drive (RHD), but others that scream at them and tell them it is unsafe, especially when taking left hand turns at big busy intersections.

My question, and assumption, is that not all of Europe drives on the left side, and this being true, there must be people driving RHD on the left as well as right sides of the road. If anyone knows the answer----> is it terriblely hard to drive a RHD or LHD vehicle on the opposite side of the road?!?!?

[Quentin]

no, it is not. problem is, when overtaking a truck (..or lorry...) in a LHD car in GB and vice versa, it
is very hard to have a look what´s coming in front of it...another topic are the lights, since you will light out the wrong side of the road. Therefore you have to buy stickers, when only on a journey, or new hedlights, when buying a car with the steering "on the other side" then you are used to.

just one last word...you get used to sit on the other side very fast from my point of view. takes a few
hours to make it a routine, but then it is fun. (i always tried to pull the handbrake while searching
for the lever in the door...)

[T13 Fighter]

I was wondering about this just this morning - I was cleaning my MG and sitting in the passenger (left) seat and i tried changing gears with my right hand, it felt a bit odd but i was sure i could get used to it. so thanks for asking the question it saves me from asking it.

[Martin L]

You do get used to it very quickly

The problem that is more apparent in RHD cars then LHD cars is that I find the pedal placements in particular for RWD cars is the transmission tunnel intrudes quite a bit into the footwell. Take a BMW 3 series for instance. On a RHD car there's nowhere to rest your left foot when not using the clutch as the transmission tunnel is in the way
In a LHD car this just isn't an issue as your right foot is always on the gas and doesn't need space for you to "rest" your foot and your clutch foot is on the door side which has far more room.

[lespurgeon]

First - ninethreeeleven
Europe outside of UK drives on the right. Far as I know only, UK, Japan, India, Australia, and NZ are on left. There are quite a few continental cars in the UK and visa-versa. Visability is a bit of an issue - but I'm sure people who drive the "wrong-sided" cars are quite used to it and compensate. Remember riding around in a VW van from Germany that was owned by some folks I was visiting 20 years ago. Having just arived from the US, it appeared perfectly normal to me, driver on the left, but driving on the left. Took a cople of days to realize that wasn't the norm.

I agree remembering which side to get in is a problem.

Now what I found strange was driving 3 on the tree shifting with left hand in India - that hand should be the turn signal up there. Aside from a little trial, I just leave the driving there to others.

[Oldpaint]

Having a RHD car in the US (no not a mini), I find that it requires some thinking when making the shifts. (screwing it up leads to the inevitable "first time driving? question from the passenger). Especially since my other car is also a manual but the customary LHD. The difference in the clutch pedal feel is also weird.

Visibilty to pass is a problem except when I have a passenger to give the all clear. Large tall trucks are easier because I can look underneath. Merging with traffic is difficult because the racing harness prevents my shoulders from turning.

I haven't tried my luck at a toll booth yet.

A good point is that I can drive very far to the right in my lane so as to stay away from oncoming traffic. Also parallel parking is a breeze.

-My MCS will be here in early May and I'm looking forward to still another shift pattern and different clutch.

[andyupnorth]

I've both driven my RHD cars on the Continent and hired LHD . It's definitely easier to rent, then you are sitting on the right side of the car for overtaking and changing gear with your right hand takes about 10 mins to get used to. The only problem is getting in the wrong side of the car, looking a prat, and trying to nonchalantly get out and walk round to the correct side while pretending to onlookers you meant to do that. To be fair I never found it a great problem either to drive my RHD cars on the right hand side of the road, especially on motorways.

Incidently, I had a colleague once who insisted that since most of the world was right-handed it was logically safer to drive a RHD car as you would always have your stronger hand in contact with the wheel while the weaker one changed gear. I often wondered if anyone had done any studies looking at this.

[BruceK]

I've got both a LHD new MINI and a RHD classic Mini in my garage, and I've also driven quite a bit in the UK so I am very used to switching back and forth. As others have said above, it is very easy and natural to do.

The only thing that is completely weird to me is driving an older RHD car that still has the turn signal lever at the 3 o'clock position. Apparently, some time in the late 1970's and early 1980's most car manufacturers began building only one kind of steering column for both LHD and RHD cars they made: one that had the turn signal lever at 9 o'clock. Must have made manufacturing sense to just make one part, and it seems most of the RHD world has adapted over time. When I restored my classic 1965 Mini about 6 years ago, I kept it as RHD (would have been easy enough to switch to LHD had I want to do so), but I made sure I changed the turn signal from the 3 to 9 o'clock positions to keep my sanity intact.