← Continued from Page 2 of "Driving on the Wrong Side of the Road – Left- and Right-Hand Traffic"If you’re planning to travel abroad and you’re afraid that you may end up driving on the wrong side of the road when passing from one style to another, don’t be afraid, the whole switch takes place at the border.
There are only a few examples though and mostly of them concern states in Asia, Africa and South America, but most of the countries rely on the same methods to switch sides.
Moving from right-hand traffic to left-hand one or vice-versa can be easily done with the help of traffic lights and Thailand has already proved us that such a system indeed works. The Friendship Bridge that connects Thailand and Laos but also the bridge between Thailand and Burma adopted traffic light systems to warn motorists that they are about to change sides.
But the most logical method of introducing motorists coming from overseas into another driving style is probably one-way streets. Drivers thus have to drive for one kilometer or so on a one-way road and afterwards step into the new driving mode with the help of traffic signs and the same aforementioned traffic light systems.
Another interesting finding is that countries with left-hand traffic register less accidents and fatalities than those with right-hand driving. The explanation somehow makes sense.
If most people are right-handed, studies have shown that they also observe things in the front faster with the right eye, while the left one is generally believed to be the weaker one.
As a conclusion, in right-hand drive cars drivers observe oncoming traffic with the red eye and thus are able to notice dangers faster than the rest of the drivers.
Also, given the fact that they have to change gears with the left hand, when a manual transmission is available, the right hand, and thus the one that’s more powerful, remains on the steering wheel, providing faster reaction times in case of danger and better steering control.
And statistics somehow come to confirm all these suppositions. No less than 33,808 people were killed in traffic accidents in the United States in 2009, while in the United Kingdom there were registered only 2,222 fatalities in the same year.
Now let’s click “Next Page” once again to read a few “Did you know?” facts about both types of traffic.
There are only a few examples though and mostly of them concern states in Asia, Africa and South America, but most of the countries rely on the same methods to switch sides.
Moving from right-hand traffic to left-hand one or vice-versa can be easily done with the help of traffic lights and Thailand has already proved us that such a system indeed works. The Friendship Bridge that connects Thailand and Laos but also the bridge between Thailand and Burma adopted traffic light systems to warn motorists that they are about to change sides.
But the most logical method of introducing motorists coming from overseas into another driving style is probably one-way streets. Drivers thus have to drive for one kilometer or so on a one-way road and afterwards step into the new driving mode with the help of traffic signs and the same aforementioned traffic light systems.
Another interesting finding is that countries with left-hand traffic register less accidents and fatalities than those with right-hand driving. The explanation somehow makes sense.
If most people are right-handed, studies have shown that they also observe things in the front faster with the right eye, while the left one is generally believed to be the weaker one.
Also, given the fact that they have to change gears with the left hand, when a manual transmission is available, the right hand, and thus the one that’s more powerful, remains on the steering wheel, providing faster reaction times in case of danger and better steering control.
And statistics somehow come to confirm all these suppositions. No less than 33,808 people were killed in traffic accidents in the United States in 2009, while in the United Kingdom there were registered only 2,222 fatalities in the same year.
Now let’s click “Next Page” once again to read a few “Did you know?” facts about both types of traffic.
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