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I think the British were (are) sore about losing to the US so they decided to stick to driving on the opposite side of the car and the road just to be contrary. Hey, they did it to France, so it's probably true for the US and the other 3/4 of the world as well. Stubborn.
| I agree. | 32 | |
| I disagree. | 84 |
As a British person, I can tell you that this is not the case. We do it because if we were to do it otherwise, the poles would inverse, and America would explode.
Americans do not think about these clever things.
No one drives on the wrong side... without being stopped by police that is...
Without arguing about which country is better lets focus on you for a minute. Your life has so little meaning that you feel the need to go on the internet and post this crap. Think about this for a moment, if that is what you have to contribute to the world then I honestly feel that you should just kill yourself. Do you have a girlfriend? No of course not, why would any girl want to shag a guy who spends his time not only trolling but doing a shit attempt at it. Ask your parents if you were an accident, I bet you were. Once they realised what a waste of time you are I bet your dad curses the day he didn't finish on your mum's face instead of fathering such a shit human being.
That's still British :/ unless you have some issue with being called British?
I may be wrong, but I think the term "British" refers to Great Britain or the British Isles which includes Scotland and Wales and not just England. Hence English people muttering "harumph! I do bloody say, old chap!" and adjusting their angry monocles when people don't use the precise terms.
Darkoil, you're falling into a troll's trap.
...No use crying over spilled tea.
Sorry. I had to.
You're right, British does refer to Great Britain. I'm a Brit, I'm from Britain, I'm British :)
Because I'm British is exactly why I asked Darkoil that question. It's a strange thing for an English person to correct someone when they call them British, because if you're English you are also British.
In England, we tend to be content with the idea that we're part of a whole, and tend not to care if somebody refers to us in terms of that part or that whole. British, English - it doesn't really matter (unless it's sport). Wales and Scotland are more likely to identify themselves as Welsh and Scottish respectively, but plenty of English people call themselves British or Brits, especially internationally. So I wonder why Darkoil makes the distinction?
Anytime someone has a point that ruffles some feathers, they get called a troll. If you think I'm trolling then you've gravely underestimated my true trolling abilities. I only troll in real life anyway, ask my neighbors. No, wait, don't, then they may figure out why it appears that God has turned His back on them and is putting them to so many trials and tribulations.
One drives his vehicle on the left so as to keep the dominant right hand free for eating burgers.
I would have thought you Yanks would be all over that.
Lol, Americans are the only ones who drive on the wrong side, everyone else drives the same way. And the US beat england at nothing from memory, dumb dumb.
3/4 of the world drives on the right. That's hardly 'just' Americans. We kicked British ass to gain our independence in the Revolutionary War. If we hadn't we'd still be a British colony, wouldn't we? Most of the 1/4 left who drive on the opposite side are British and British colonies.
Do some research, dumb dumb.
Wait...what?....your telling me americans can tell left from right?..they're getting smarter. And yeah America is china now silly. And im pretty sure it was Spain, France and all of the netherlands fighting the Brits as well. "America" didn't win shit on it's own, it was 4 against 1 dumb dumb.
lol, there is no wrong side, just different sides.
Historically, though, people have driven on the left for two thousand years. It was so you could hold the reins in your left hand and keep your right hand free for a shield or sword.
If people leaving these shores decide to drive on a different side of the road, that's fine. If they then try to tell us that we're doing it wrong, that's fine. If they say we're doing it because we're petty, that's fine. We're not the ones making ourselves look bad. :)
I know the history behind it.
If you use the same logic about using your right hand, because most people are right handed, then it definitely makes more sense to drive on the left side of the car though. Your right hand would do the more complicated tasks like shifting and fiddling around with the radio, heat, a/c and all that. One other reason for riding on the left is because of the way you mount a horse, on the left. You could safely mount and dismount without jumping into the middle of the road. So you guys switched that completely. You get into your cars on the right. I think you have to choose, either you have to take all the historic logic behind it or none, you can't have it both ways. You'd have to drive on the left and your cars would have to put the driver on the left too.
I'd say completely the opposite. Given that most people are right-handed they should be using their most able hand to control the car. If it takes an extra second to tune in the correct radio station, no harm done. If there is loss of control of the car, though...
The driver must be on the inside of the road (side closest to oncoming traffic) in order to see past the car in-front to be able to tell if it is safe to overtake.
Right. But if the argument is that it's more correct because it was historically the right way, but ignore the reasons WHY it was historically 'right', then it isn't exactly more 'right' then, is it?
The British defied France by keeping on driving on the left, and are 'proud' of that. It's my contention that they are still just doing it to be contrary and defiant.
Driving on the left makes sense on a horse, and when using a sword, but we drive cars now and don't use swords while driving, so the old reasons why it was correct are no longer correct and in fact exactly the opposite. The controls of cars should be on the driver's right so they can use their dominant hand for the more complicated controls. If the driver sits on the left, with the controls on their right, then it's correct to drive on the right side of the road.
To them, you are probably the one driving on the wrong side. I always thought it seemed like driving on the left side of the road would make more sense for some reason, and after reading Dappled's post, I must agree. I have also always thought that steering wheels in vehicles should be in the middle of the vehicle like a go-cart or something. I like symmetry :)
I saw something about this in a Bill Bryson book. He claimed it had something to do with the cart makers in the US setting out their seating arrangements differently. This at a time when it didn't matter on which side of the road you drove on. later it became more practical to have evryone on the left because the carts were already built favoring this. No mystery or provokation involved.
Sweety , England came first along with most of the other world so the wierd ones are the ones who drive like America that they say we drive contrary to be diffrent so stop talking before you know the facts . They are auctully considered normol anyone who drives like America on the apposing side is techniclly considered the wrong way so your backwards on that , not saying England is better .
In Roman times everybody walked on the left side of the road, because roman soldiers had their shield in their left hand. The Romans conquered the majority of Great Britain, which explains the driving thing.
Napoleon changed that shit up in all countries he conquered, but he failed to conquer Britain.
http://brianlucas.ca/roadside/
"This is an attempt to list which side of the road people drive on around the world, and to find some reasons why."
Cars, trains, boats, pedestrians, aircraft...
This site has it all. Read it if you're interested.
Here, I have an idea. We make a new law, that In countries where they drive on the left side of the road, we have all the automobiles drive on the right side for a trial period of two weeks. If that works, then we make all the lorries, double-deckers (buses) and motorcycles do the same.
Are you honestly insinuating that any country could pass a law that forces another country to change something which isn't hurting anyone? Forgive me for bursting your bubble, but "we" (presumably you're talking about the US) cannot pass a law effecting another country that supersedes the laws of that country. The US isn't internationally sovereign, thankfully.
Also, how could you have automobiles driving on one side of the road and lorries, buses and motorcycles driving on the other side for two whole weeks? The lorries and buses would crash into the cars because they're each travelling in opposite directions on the same road! That pilot test would result in madness on the roads.
Why would it matter anyway? Why not let some countries do things differently? What is the problem with that?
I only intended this in a humorous way, but you do raise some interestimg points.
Firstly, with existing laws that keep traffic on the same side of the road, there is still madness in many places.
Secondly, the US has and continues to pass laws that does affect (please notice the 'a') other countries laws and effectually does supercede that country's laws. Many people have been arrested and extradited to the US for violations of these laws, even if they have not broken any laws in their home country, and sometimes have never set foot in US territory. Team America, World Police.
I don't care that they do it, nor do I wish to make them change, I'm just pointing out that it's all a tantrum and childish defiance. Most people don't think about this, and it's no big deal but it's silly. British people do this sort of thing all the time, I think it's a cultural thing.
It's really not - ask most British people and they won't have a clue about the history of driving on the left. There was never any kind of contrarian motivation behind it. We don't get into our cars every day and excitedly seize the opportunity to defy France.
Oh and the US adopting the drive-on-the-right policy was actually to express their independence from Britain. So you're shooting yourself in the foot declaring we do it to be contrary (which is wrong) when historically it's you doing it to be contrary.
Anyway I don't know why I'm bothering, you're either a troll and therefore a knobhead, or just a knobhead.
yes , it is not the british that are contrary its America . So you are backwards . Also America came out after the brittish so that statement makes no sense in asking either .
You know nothing of Us history , they have no reason for copying America that would be stupid as America was the one who won , and if anything are the britts known for being Rebels ? its America so that is highly unlikely as well , if anything it has to be America and thier is so many flaws in what you are saying . No they did not change to be diffrent from America . Also most countrys other than for the us and a handful of others drive on that side of the road , so that means America is the wierd ones with that handful of area's . This makes no sense at all .No .