[LargeFormat] RE: Left side of the road country

[LNphoto]

I've never gotten to drive on the left side of the road (well LEGALLY)
but I have driven on the right side with a right hand drive car.

http://home.twmi.rr.com/buick.jpg

Les
On Friday, November 21, 2003, at 10:23  PM, Diane Maher wrote:

> I went to the UK last year and was told by a lady who lives in 
> Australia
> to just keep the driver to the center of the road and I should be fine.
> That is the way we drive in the US, i.e. with the driver to the center
> of the road, but most of the time, people freak out about driving on 
> the
> wrong side and don't see it any other way except right or left.  It was
> an interesting experience, though I did scare one guy who rode with me.
> The other guy who rode with me was just fine with my driving.
>
> I did have some problems with knowing exactly where the left edge of 
> the
> car was, plus I didn't have a clue regarding what the various gears (1,
> 2, 3) on an automatic are for (Hey, I live in the Midwest, all the 
> roads
> are flat!) and I never got the bright lights sorted out.  I drove
> through N. Wales at 3 am holding the bright lights switch on.  I think
> it took half an hour to go 9 miles.  Oh well, once I was on the 
> highway,
> I was fine again.
>
> I found that the gears had something to do with going up and down steep
> hills.  It turns out that I was trying to do the bright lights
> backwards, but one doesn't think about that at 3 am.
>
> Diane :)
>
> A serene state of mind is a clear heart without ill feelings or a 
> guilty
> conscience.  It gives one the ability to surpass his own skills.
> Schwarz Bruder - Mobile Fighter G-Gundam
>
> -----Original Message-----
>
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Wed, 19 Nov 2003 22:16:42 -0800 (PST)
> From: Brock Nanson <brock@nanson.org>
> To: largeformat@f32.net
> Subject: Re: [LargeFormat] RE:  Left side of the road country.
> Reply-To: largeformat@f32.net
>
> What I find is that I naturally want to sit my butt in the same wheel
> rut,
> regardless of which side of the car the steering wheel is on!  What 
> that
>
> means is that when I go to a RHD country, I tend to hug the shoulder.
> After a few hours that tendency starts to go away, but I have to be
> aware
> of it until it does!
>
> I don't think I'd want to find out what my instinctive response to a
> crisis would be.  Not sure which way I'd swerve, or if I'd wind up on
> the
> wrong side of the road.
>
> The wheel rut /butt cheeks problem isn't peculiar only to me... My 
> first
>
> trip to Australia lasted 8 hours.  Landed at midnight and by 8 AM my
> travel buddy had fallen victim to this problem.  Asphalt was up several
> inches from what little shoulder existed and when the left wheel 
> dropped
>
> over, he overcorrected, lost control, and found the only gum tree in 
> the
>
> field next to the road.  100 km/hr to zero faster than possible even
> with
> ABS brakes.  Lined my side of the car up with the tree pretty well ;-) 
> -
>
> He walked away and I waited for the jaws of life.  There was a silver
> lining - I met my future wife while in hospital!
>
> I've driven many 1000 km's since that time without a problem, but
> having been bitten once, I'm more than twice shy...
>
> Brock
>
> On Wed, 19 Nov 2003, john frost wrote:
>
>> When I was over there for the f32 workshop, Ada did all the driving.
> She
>> wanted me to drive, so I clumb in, looked up the street, then across
> the
>> car to the outside mirror, and discovered that the bicycle path I was
>> looking at was too narrow for that other car, and us to! I don't
> believe
>> that I had even started the engine before she pulled me out and she
>> drove the 2 weeks we were there. She never had a problem, but I sure
>> did. She kept clipping grass on the berms, and the mailboxes and power
>
>> poles were hiding in there, too.
>>
>> john (:>))) it warn't too bad after I quit watching the road !!!
>>
>> Jim Hemenway wrote:
>>> For me it's those rotaries, (roundabouts).  I'm used to the counter
>>> clockwise circling here in New England but encountering the first
> one in
>>> the UK was scary and very confusing.
>>>
>>> Jim - http://www.hemenway.com
>>>
>>>
>>> Alan Davenport wrote:
>>>
>>>>
>>>>> Anyone have thoughts on this --- is this do-able -- cost??  My
> desire
>>>>> for
>>>>> this is not to avoid having to drive on the wrong side of the road
> (I
>>>>> often
>>>>> do that here :( - but, it was to have the advantage of a local
> guide
>>>>> and (if
>>>>> I'm fortunate) perhaps an extra back to help pack some camera
> equipment
>>>>> in --- A necessity if I take both the 4x5 and 8x10 for sure.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> It isn't as big a problem as you imagine.  Remember that the
> steering
>>>> wheel
>>>> is also on the other side of the car, so it takes very little time
> to get
>>>> accustomed to the arrangement.  Foot pedals are the same as you're
>>>> used to.
>>>> Of greater concern may be what to do if you meet a lorry (truck!)
> on
>>>> one of
>>>> those little lanes with a stone wall on either side. You may be
> taking
>>>> "your
>>>> half" out of your side of the road, but when the lorry's half
> amounts
>>>> to more
>>>> like 2/3 of the road... scary stuff no matter which side you're on.
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Vincent Dobson" <manitec@bellsouth.net>
> To: <largeformat@f32.net>
> Sent: Wednesday, November 19, 2003 11:07 PM
> Subject: RE: [LargeFormat] RE: Left side of the road country.
>
>
>> No,
>>
>> I have no problem at all driving there.  I was just wondering the
>> feasibility of hiring a guide/driver to take me to those quaint no
> tourist
>> spots.
>>
>> Vince Dobson
>> Visions In Nature
>> www.VisionsInNature.com
>>
>
>
>
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