ie. If you are used to driving on the right hand side of the road and move to a left hand side driving country. Or vice versa.
I could not find any research on that question. I recently spent several weeks in the Bahamas, which drives on the opposite side as to which I am used to. I drove pretty much every day and I had to constantly be aware of the fact that my instincts were wrong.
I mostly drove a motorbike and did not know anyone that had a right-hand steering car.
I constantly felt like this, which is an image of Dagen H, the day that Sweden switched sides. Some of the details of that switch are not things I would have ever thought of. Such as having to buy new buses with the entry doors on the right side and moving the bus shelters to the other side of the road.
Haha, Dagen H was hugely succesful and there was less traffic accidents that day because everyone was prepared. It is one of my favorite thing to bring up though because the fact that we switched sides later means we weren't conquered by napoleon.
Can you expand on how the switch relates to not being conquered by Napolean? Was part of Napoleanic colonialism the implementation of left side roadways? I'm not sure how I would Google that and am interested.
From this wiki article... Maybe this has something to do with it!In Continental Europe, driving on the right is associated with France and Napoleon Bonaparte. During the French Revolution, a decree of 1792 created a uniform traffic law, requiring traffic to keep to the "common" right. A little later, Napoleon consolidated this position by ordering the military to stay on the right side, even when out of the country, so that everyone who met the French army had to concede the way. In the early 19th century, those countries occupied by or allied to Napoleon – the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain – adopted right-hand traffic. Britain, Sweden, Austria-Hungary and Portugal continued or adopted left-hand traffic.
If I remember correctly it was french army ettiquet to ride on one side because of how they carried weapons back then and because of that the armies in conquered territories had to switch. Or something like that.
After I mentioned that I thought I should tag #sweden mostly just to amuse you. :)
I am very glad you did. I was very amused.
It was getting a bit ridicoulous since we have land borders with several countries.
I come from the UK (RHD). We're pretty used to changing sides - pretty much all our neighbors are LHD, as is most of the rest of the world, so whenever we drive abroad we have to adjust. The only time I find the switch confusing is when I don't change vehicle. The eurotunnel has these signs for a couple of miles after the exit, which is sort of helpful, but it's still a weird transition to have my steering wheel suddenly next to the curb. If I change cars, though, it's completely intuitive. The design of the vehicle tells my brain what it should be doing, and my brain seems to comply. That said, driving bilingualism (we must be able to invent a good word for this!?) might be a peculiarly British thing. My (American) ex was a magnificent driver. He had the instincts of a cat, had been driving since his teens and could parallel park a pick-up truck on a dime. When we visited London together, I did most of the driving at first, while he told me how weird we were for driving on the wrong side (Counter-argument, by the way: It's to meet your opponent with your sword hand). After a week or so, he decided to give it a go. We switched sides. He started the engine... ...and drove the left side of the car into one of these:
So, yeah. Maybe it's not intuitive to everyone.
"Driving bilingualism" is now officially a term. I will contact the OED.
I went to England for the first time earlier this year. It was easier and harder than I thought it would be. The hardest part is having that knee-jerk reaction of which side to stay on. For example, one morning, pre-coffee, with zero people on the road, I turned right instead of left into a roundabout and proceeded out of the roundabout in the right hand lane, just like I would in the US or any left-driving country. It wasn't until I noticed headlights in my lane, far in the distance that I freaked out and realized I was driving on the wrong damn side of the road. Other cars help keep me aware of what I should do, when they weren't around I slipped into old habits fast!
I think it's something that would change person to person. This is all anecdotal, so it may be completely different for other people!0 When I went on a 5 week road trip through the US, all it took was a few laps around the block to get used to it for me. But I was definitely had to be very aware of keeping to the right at first. Having control on the 'wrong' side of the car is a bit tricky. (Especially in a Chevy Tahoe... Good Lord those things are huge...) Very unnerving feeling at first. But I think by day two or three I was pretty comfortable. The only thing that gave me grief was those crazy four-way stops. And some of the crazier highways. Girlfriend had to take over through Utah.
Two or three days seems really quick for anyone. But definitely it would vary by person. I was surprised it never clicked in for me in weeks. Getting hit by a car on the bike (in a parking lot, no big deal) a week or so in probably made me much more self-conscious about it though. Sounds like a great trip.
Huh, maybe I'm just a better driver than I thought :P I did do a bit of quad riding in Santorini as well... So I guess I wasn't going in completely blind... Getting hit by cars is never fun! And yeah, that'd definitely make me think twice about getting back into it! But I'm sure all it will take is practice. You'll get the hang of it in no time!
I just got back from a trip to the uk a few days ago. I've been several times, and driving gets easier every time. The first time I did it I was terrified for an hour or two. This most recent time the only trouble I had was drifting to the left side of the lane for a couple minutes until I got used to the new perspective. I'm so used to being near to the left side of the lane marker that it feels weird to be on the other side. Other than that the only funny thing is that I constantly walk up to the left side door when getting into the car. It's a habit that's hard to break, and kind of gets funny by the 20th time.
I was "capable" after a few hours, but never comfortable even after 3 weeks. I would always find myself drifting into oncoming traffic and then over correcting into the dirt :) I would still open the wrong door of the car when getting in occasionally. It was unnerving until the end, especially in unknown and densely roaded cities where lots of quick turns and lane changes were needed. I can't believe no objects or people were damaged during my stay! (Oh and they had those traffic circles which I was unfamiliar with too!!!) The funniest thing is that for several months after I got back from my trip, I still had a lot of funny habits and thoughts I had picked up from driving on the "wrong" side, so that I wasn't even perfectly comfortable back home for a couple of months.
There are rules you can follow to help you get used to it. Always keep the steering wheel in the middle of the road (which you do in either case, since the steering wheel is on different sides of the car in different drive areas) and stay close to the curb on your side of the road, because your sense of how far over into the other lane you are is a little off at first.