Which side

[oldagepensioner]

Back in the late 70s my then boss believed that we would all be driving on the right in 15 years time.Well here we are still driving on the left after over 45 years along with the rest of i believe about 35% of the world.My question is quite simple,will we ever end up driving on the right.I know the confusion and cost will be horrendous but it is one of the things i have heard would be part of the price for rejoining the EU.Mind you at 71 all bar a few days its unlikely to happen in my lifetime.

[E-bmw]

No, there are several "island nations" around the world that still drive on the correct side of the road.

[thebraketester]

No. This country cannot even maintain its current infrastructure. Imagine them trying to change everything over to LHD. Never gonna happen.

[FredAstaire]

As a thought experiment....how would you do it?

Overnight change? Phased? Whats the phasing? etc

Would we have to swap motorway sides?

[The Mad Monk]

Drivers with surname A to J would swap at, say, midday on Monday and to avoid confusion or congestion, surnames K to Z would swap at midday on Tuesday, just to keep everything nice and neat.

[ajm_ph]

oldagepensioner said:

Back in the late 70s my then boss believed that we would all be driving on the right in 15 years time.Well here we are still driving on the left after over 45 years along with the rest of i believe about 35% of the world.My question is quite simple,will we ever end up driving on the right.I know the confusion and cost will be horrendous but it is one of the things i have heard would be part of the price for rejoining the EU.Mind you at 71 all bar a few days its unlikely to happen in my lifetime.

That EU thing sounds completely made up. Cyprus and Ireland are currently in the EU, and they drive on the left.

And no, this won't happen. There are about 35 million cars on the road, which would all have their wheel on the "wrong" side. Any political party that suggested it would be crazy.

[thebraketester]

The Mad Monk said:

Drivers with surname A to J would swap at, say, midday on Monday and to avoid confusion or congestion, surnames K to Z would swap at midday on Tuesday, just to keep everything nice and neat.

Except those with adaptive controls, they stay on the left until the Friday.

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

The Mad Monk said:

Drivers with surname A to J would swap at, say, midday on Monday and to avoid confusion or congestion, surnames K to Z would swap at midday on Tuesday, just to keep everything nice and neat.

I heard everything over 3.5 tonnes on day 1, the rest on day 2. *(Unless they are green)

Sweden did it in 1967. Probably less cars then

[oldagepensioner]

2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:

The Mad Monk said:

Drivers with surname A to J would swap at, say, midday on Monday and to avoid confusion or congestion, surnames K to Z would swap at midday on Tuesday, just to keep everything nice and neat.

I heard everything over 3.5 tonnes on day 1, the rest on day 2. *(Unless they are green)

Sweden did it in 1967. Probably less cars then

I knew one of the European countries had done it in my lifetime and they did it overnight.As you say less cars back then but also less roads.On the EU thing it was something i saw in a thread about rejoining in which it was believed we would have to take the euro instead of the pound,join the Shengen The bank of England would lose its current high status in the world of banking and we would not get any rebates or the power of veto that we had before.I am pretty sure there was a lot of other things but that is a whole different topic.

[oldagepensioner]

The Mad Monk said:

Drivers with surname A to J would swap at, say, midday on Monday and to avoid confusion or congestion, surnames K to Z would swap at midday on Tuesday, just to keep everything nice and neat.

That would make me one of the first then.

[ajm_ph]

oldagepensioner said:

On the EU thing it was something i saw in a thread about rejoining in which it was believed we would have to take the euro instead of the pound,join the Shengen The bank of England would lose its current high status in the world of banking and we would not get any rebates or the power of veto that we had before.I am pretty sure there was a lot of other things but that is a whole different topic.

Yea, I'd trust what you read on internet forum threads about the EU about as much as I'd trust a 10 year old's take on quantum physics.

[AndySheff]

2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:

I heard everything over 3.5 tonnes on day 1, the rest on day 2. *(Unless they are green)

Sweden did it in 1967. Probably less cars then

And oddly enough they were using LHD cars ?!

[Granadier]

AndySheff said:

2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:

I heard everything over 3.5 tonnes on day 1, the rest on day 2. *(Unless they are green)

Sweden did it in 1967. Probably less cars then

And oddly enough they were using LHD cars ?!

I believe they had to replace the country’s entire fleet of buses though.

I only realised the other day that Gibraltar drives on the right as it has a land border with Spain. It’s obvious really but hadn’t occurred to me. Seeing photos of LHD British-style police cars was a bit weird.

[Pica-Pica]

E-bmw said:

No, there are several "island nations" around the world that still drive on the correct side of the road.

Japan being one of the largest.

[oldagepensioner]

ajm_ph said:

oldagepensioner said:

On the EU thing it was something i saw in a thread about rejoining in which it was believed we would have to take the euro instead of the pound,join the Shengen The bank of England would lose its current high status in the world of banking and we would not get any rebates or the power of veto that we had before.I am pretty sure there was a lot of other things but that is a whole different topic.

Yea, I'd trust what you read on internet forum threads about the EU about as much as I'd trust a 10 year old's take on quantum physics.

There are some very clever 10 year old's out there.

[E-bmw]

Pica-Pica said:

E-bmw said:

No, there are several "island nations" around the world that still drive on the correct side of the road.

Japan being one of the largest.

Except Australia, which is a little bit bigger.

[hidetheelephants]

AndySheff said:

2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:

I heard everything over 3.5 tonnes on day 1, the rest on day 2. *(Unless they are green)

Sweden did it in 1967. Probably less cars then

And oddly enough they were using LHD cars ?!

There were lots of cars, the importation of LHD cars from europe and the US meant a lot were already compatible with driving on the right. Neighbours Norway and Finland driving on the right meant driving on the left in Sweden caused a lot of accidents with visiting motorists, plus the relative lack of highways with complex junctions meant converting was not much more complicated than swapping lots of road signs. Changing the UK would be expensive and altering motorway junctions would be time-consuming, it's hard to see a commensurate upside.

[ST3.14159265358979323846]

As well as moving the signs around converting to kms. How many would think London had suddenly got further away.

[Bobtherallyfan]

Farage would be apoplectic…..almost worth doing to see he might explode.

[cliffords]

I drive in France very often . After a long period away I returned and went out one morning to the local shops to get some bits .
I went about 1.4 miles in total.
I was alerted when I stopped in a Waitrose car park by another driver who had followed me .
On the correct side of the road , unlike me .