Why right hand drive in Aus?

[XCoupe]

Was drunk the other night talking crap with the boys and someone came up with the question, Why did australia adopt cars with right hand drive when most of our very early vehicles, model T etc were predominately imported from the yanks with their left hand drive.

What made us decide on producing right hand drive vehicles?
i apologise if this topic has been covered before

Any ideas?

[Burnout]

British Colony - British ideas, rules, laws, regulations, etc.
There were road rules in Australia before cars.

[Yellow_Festiva]

Exactly... just following mother England.

You would think, that if the world simply decided on the 1 side, billions in R&D would be saved...

Thats a lot of food in mouths...

[Hunter]

I read an article about this once... its much more complicated than just us being a British Colony but it has a lot to do with it. Japan also drives on the same side as us but they're not a British colony: they did however have a lot of help from the British to build their railways back in the olden days and that carried through to motor vehicles.

Which is a good thing because cars which are converted to RHD from LHD often have the indicator stalk on the left side which is a pain in the butt!!! Japanese cars generally DON'T have this problem. My Mazda 3's indicators were on the right side which is a GOOD THING.

[GT0132]

Originally Posted by Hunter

I read an article about this once... its much more complicated than just us being a British Colony but it has a lot to do with it. Japan also drives on the same side as us but they're not a British colony: they did however have a lot of help from the British to build their railways back in the olden days and that carried through to motor vehicles.

Which is a good thing because cars which are converted to RHD from LHD often have the indicator stalk on the left side which is a pain in the butt!!! Japanese cars generally DON'T have this problem. My Mazda 3's indicators were on the right side which is a GOOD THING.

All the 70's English small Fords (Escort, Cortina and Capri) had indicators on the left hand side of the column too

[Jastel]

Being a British Colony we adopted British laws but why British drove on the left to start with has several theories

Most plausible one I think is in the horse and cart days people had to whip the horse, 90% of people are right handed and therefore sat on the right side of the cart, if they sat on the left and whipped, they would hit the passengers or the load in the cart, by sitting on the right side you had clear space to swing a whip.

When you wanted to stop and chat with an oncoming cart you parked right side to right side and it grew from there.

Another theory was your right arm was your sword arm and by passing on the right you could see that there was no threat. This was more for people riding horses but probably just carried on to carts.

The French picked the opposite side just to be different and years later America did the same. Obviously countries that shared borders usually drove on the same side leading to it spreading across the continents.

[troppo]

Originally Posted by Jastel

Being a British Colony we adopted British laws but why British drove on the left to start with has several theories.

What he said. Another theory I heard was it originates from jousting tournaments. As Jastel also said, 90% of people are right handed, so it's natural to pass on the left and keep potential enemies on your weapon bearing side.

[gz1]

Well there is a plan to change. After all it does make sense and would give us Australians access to cheaper cars as the bulk of the world is LHD.
However with all the cars already on the road there are more than a few problems.
For this reason the Government will be phasing in this change starting 01/04/09.
At midnight on 01/04/09, all trucks and heavy vehicles over 3 ton will make the change to drive on the right hand side of the road. Two weeks later this will be followed by the buses. After another two weeks any cars that are left would also drive on the right hand side. At this stage it is expected the conversion would be complete as there would be no bikes remaining.
Government officials are very excited as this conversion would also significantly reduce the traffic congestion in our cities.

[xtremerus]

Originally Posted by ozmale42

All the 70's English small Fords (Escort, Cortina and Capri) had indicators on the left hand side of the column too

Huh?????

[Rodp]

Originally Posted by ozmale42

All the 70's English small Fords (Escort, Cortina and Capri) had indicators on the left hand side of the column too

So does my Golf. Luckily my first car was a Brittish Escort so the indicator stalk on the left hand side didn't take much getting used to.

[gz1]

Along the same line why is it that aircraft have the pilot in command seating on the left side whilst helicopters have the pilot in command seating on the right hand side?.

[aquahead2001]

Originally Posted by ozmale42

All the 70's English small Fords (Escort, Cortina and Capri) had indicators on the left hand side of the column too

That's Incredable! I owned 2 Cortinas, a 1968 MkII 440 Sedan and 1966 MkI GT, mine must have been special as they had the indicators, high/low and horn button on the right, The MkII had the wipers on a little stalk on the left, just in front of the 4 speed column change gear shift. Can't remember what the MkI had for the wipers though...

[Bud Bud]

Don't know how true this is but legend also has it that when people where getting around on horse back many centuries ago, especially in the UK region and with most people being right handed, they usually wore their pistol on their right hip. It was customary to pass with each on coming horseman on each others right, so that the pistol was clearly visible to each rider, forming a truce of safe passage. As others have said, British colonisation would of helped spread this practice around the world.

In America however once pistols became rifles and stage coaches became the early West's version of today's large SUVs, it was not unusual for the drivers of those stage coaches to have to manage a team of 6 or more horses tethered together. Obviously it was also a bad period for holds ups as well so when passing unknown traffic, the drivers used to hold their shot gun under their right shoulder with their right pointer finger on the trigger while supporting the barrel across their left hand which was holding onto the reigns. This meant that they needed to set a pattern of passing to each others left.

Once cars came along and mixed with horses, I guess it was just easier for each country and culture to maintain the status quo.

As I said, I don't know how true all this is, but I was told this over thirty years ago.

As for France, I would not think it would have been unusual for the French to do the opposite to England just on pure spite alone!

[the_scotsman]

Originally Posted by ozmale42

All the 70's English small Fords (Escort, Cortina and Capri) had indicators on the left hand side of the column too

That's still the case with most (if not all) British/European cars. The indicators are on the left.
Have a look at any Mondeo, Focus or Fiesta for example.

That's one thing I noticed when I moved over here 7 years ago, the indicators being on the damn right!

[zetec]

Originally Posted by Hunter

Which is a good thing because cars which are converted to RHD from LHD often have the indicator stalk on the left side which is a pain in the butt!!! Japanese cars generally DON'T have this problem. My Mazda 3's indicators were on the right side which is a GOOD THING.

If I had a 5 cents for every person that goes on about this pointless argument I'd be a billionaire. It's insignificant. I owned a manual focus with lhd indicator, it means nothing, it's not dangerous, it's not hard to adapt and it's a pointless waste of breath to even care about it.

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by zetec

If I had a 5 cents for every person that goes on about this pointless argument I'd be a billionaire. It's insignificant. I owned a manual focus with lhd indicator, it means nothing, it's not dangerous, it's not hard to adapt and it's a pointless waste of breath to even care about it.

Agreed. I drive a truck that has the indicators and wipers on the opposite sides to the ones on the Barge.

[JG66ME]

Stems back to the Roman Empire. Solid evidence that the Romans used the left side of the road. This was true in all of Europe up until the early part of the last century. Reason you ride to the left is so that on a horse your sword or lance is to the right.

The Americans where the ones that started the shift. Somthing to do with the way they drove wagons and using the right hand for whipping the horses while sitting on the left gave them better control.

Britain never changed and all of the Empire followed Britains example except for Canada. In Canada up untill about the 1920 some states drove on the left and some the right. They then changed to be in line with the US.

A lot of Europe also drove on the left. Sweden changed as late as the 1960s. In France and Holland the trains still run to the left. Italy also used to drive on the left.

Hope this helps.

Steve

[northiam]

1904 Ford Model B Touring

I beleive the US were RHD too until 1908

Originally Posted by XCoupe

Was drunk the other night talking crap with the boys and someone came up with the question, Why did australia adopt cars with right hand drive when most of our very early vehicles, model T etc were predominately imported from the yanks with their left hand drive.

What made us decide on producing right hand drive vehicles?
i apologise if this topic has been covered before

Any ideas?

It's because Napoleon was left handed and he had easiest access to his sword/jousting like activities if he was on the right side of the road.

Ironic that it passed onto the USA given their absolute LOVE for the French.

[Paxton]

Originally Posted by Shounak

It's because Napoleon was left handed and he had easiest access to his sword/jousting like activities if he was on the right side of the road.

Ironic that it passed onto the USA given their absolute LOVE for the French.

Believe it or not, France is the USA's oldest Ally. The Frogs helped fight the Poms in the US Civil war.

[northiam]

Originally Posted by Paxton

Believe it or not, France is the USA's oldest Ally. The Frogs helped fight the Poms in the US Civil war.

You mean the war or indenpendance!

The Poms helped the confederate south by suppiling arms during the civil war.

[Paxton]

Originally Posted by northiam

You mean the war or indenpendance!

The Poms helped the confederate south by suppiling arms during the civil war.

Yeah, that. :gren:

Not being American, I can't be expected to know exact details. In the same Vein that many Americans think that Sydney is Australia's capitol.

Originally Posted by Paxton

Yeah, that. :gren:

Not being American, I can't be expected to know exact details. In the same Vein that many Americans think that Sydney is Australia's capitol.

Isn't it?

[flappist]

Originally Posted by Paxton

Yeah, that. :gren:

Not being American, I can't be expected to know exact details. In the same Vein that many Americans think that Sydney is Australia's capitol.

Yeh but most Sydneysiders think that too.

[uranium_death]

If we once followed England, then I am glad of the following things that we have since changed:

We get our teeth straigtened
We believe in baths/showers/hygeine
Don't use "Jolly Good" to described everything
Sit around a table drinking tea out of dainty little china cups while reading about the latest knickerbocker sale at Marks and Spencers.

Food for thought...

But I like driving on the left hand side of the road...used to it...and if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

[xalent]

Its coz Maccas drive through windows are on the right hand side....

[Matty4]

Originally Posted by xalent

Its coz Maccas drive through windows are on the right hand side....

This is the most logical and well thought out explanation so far...
Brilliant..............

[Riksta]

Originally Posted by xalent

Its coz Maccas drive through windows are on the right hand side....

Oh god now I need to dry my eyes from the tears of laughter.

Short, sweet, and truthful!!!

[TC200six]

Originally Posted by XCoupe

Why did australia adopt cars with right hand drive when most of our very early vehicles, model T etc were predominately imported from the yanks with their left hand drive.

Back in the days when we had a lot of Yank cars in Australia, they were converted to RHD.

In the 1920's most cars that were imported from America were assembled in RHD by local agents, (e.g. Peels Limited in Brisbane) Their wooden body's were built locally while the other parts, such as the engine and chassis were imported. We go to car clubs, all American vintage cars that were originally imported when they were new are all right-hand drive. Anything which is Left-hand drive has been recently imported.

[TE50pilot]

Found this on the web. It attempts to explain.

http://www.amphicars.com/acleft.htm