I always wondered if this ever mattered at all to left-handed people. Like would it matter? Would you feel more confident about driving?
I know they also drive on different sides/lanes in some countries compared to the US where they drive on the right and wheel is on the left seat.
Would it impact you? Would you feel better with wheel on right side, driving right side while being left-handed or does it change when you have to drive on the left side as well?
This is assuming you are primarily left-handed but would also be curious if right-handed folk feel like driving on one side is easier/better than the other. I feel like I’d be very dyslexic if having to switch and drive on the other side I’m not normally driving in.
I’m left handed, and I grew up in Canada, currently living in Australia. I don’t drive differently at all.
I guess if I were to nitpick, I prefer driving on the left side of the vehicle solely because of where my cup holder is (centre console), but that’s a non-issue if I had a car with a cup holder by the vent at the side window here in Australia.
You get used to driving in your “non normal” side pretty quick. I like to sit as passenger in a car or bus a few times before I start driving in my “new” side again so my brain can readjust.
I regularly move between countries with different road side norms. Handedness is not an issue. Makes no difference.
Only problem is if you set off with no other cars on the road, to use as a cue, and so accidentally go on the wrong side until you see someone coming towards you.
I’m an American who lived in England for a couple years. It doesn’t take long to wrap your head around sticking to the left side of the road.
I drove both left- and right-hand drive vehicles there, mostly manual shift. That all came pretty easy.
The biggest challenge I faced was the narrow roads. The American mind struggles with driving so close to other cars, particularly on undivided roads. It always feels like a sideswipe is coming (particularly when you’re a passenger) until you get used to it.
So now, years later and back in the US, I’m still comfortable driving in close quarters with other vehicles. I get criticized by passengers sometimes. I don’t ride close intentionally, but I have to be mindful of it for others’ sake.
I am right-handed and grew up driving on the right side of the road (so wheel on left). I now live in a right-drive country. It makes no difference. I haven’t driven manual here so it might be weird learning to shift with my left hand (I drove manual in the US for 15+ years), but I could get used to it. If I ever needed to joust or shoot someone from my car, having my dominant hand be closer to the window is generally helpful (and why some say that driving on the left with the driver at the right became a thing).
In my childhood I learned having the driver sit on the left was so that the person riding “shotgun” would be better able to fend off attacks without elbowing the driver. (Probably starting before shotguns, because it would be even more important with a sword.) Although they could use the whole road/trail back then, it would make sense to pass an oncoming wagon on the side where the drivers could see how much room they had between them.
Fun theory
I am left handed. That would be irrelevant.
For anyone anywhere that wants to know how to drive on the “right” side of the road, here’s a tip. You don’t even need to know your left from your right. Just keep the steering wheel of the car closest to the middle of the road but not over the centre line, that’s it. You can now drive in any country without worrying what is the right way or wrong way.
I have driven left hand drive cars in countries that drive on the left side of the road and right hand drive cars where they drive on the right side of the road. It can be kinda confusing compared to cars that have the steering wheel on the correct side but you get used to it. The hardest part is passing other vehicles on 2 lane roads.
Where the wheel is makes no difference. It just has to be opposite to which side of the road you drive on.
What does make a difference are the pedals.
On a manual transmission car, you use your left foot for the clutch, which is the pedal that needs the most fine motor control.
And as a lefty, I also have more control in my left foot. So manual cars are actually set up for lefties.
On an automatic, the left foot does nothing, so they’re set up for right handed people.I don’t see how the pedals are any different than the wheel/shifter. You learn whatever it is. The gas and brake pedals definitely require precise control for a smooth ride. I’m right-footed (kick with my right) and right handed (throw with my right). My left foot handles the clutch just fine and my left hand does nearly all of the steering, regardless of transmission, in a left-wheel right-drive country. Shifting takes some accuracy and finesse, but only a handful of times per drive. Steering requires it all the time. I’ve also trained my left foot to drive a right-footed auto as well in case of emergency. The angle is wrong, but the competence is learned.
Sounds interesting. If you trained your left foot to operate the brake, would it not be better to always use it for braking in an automatic?
That way you wouldn’t have to move your right foot over for emergency braking and could react faster.The angle is wrong and the brake pedal sits a bit higher up/closer to you than the gas pedal. In practice, my left foot tends to continually tap the brake due to this while also tiring my left hip inductor muscle, though I’m sure this would be fixed with practice. If you see a car randomly tapping their brake lights without ever slowing down or holding them on while accelerating, chances are, their left foot is hovering on the brake a little too close. Holding the gas isn’t such a big deal because you’re already holding it all the time. Oscillating between 35-40% gas isn’t as noticeable as 0-5% brake, especially with flashing the lights.
From a safety standpoint, while youd be able to get a ~250ms advantage by having your left foot ready on the brake, you’re not going to leave it there. It’s probably going to rest on the foot rest like it always does because the floorboard is arranged like that to hold a neutral leg position. While this kills the speed advantage, it also loses another major advantage: positive placement of your feet. When you use your right foot for the gas, you know exactly where the brake pedal is in relation. When you float your right foot against your seat to flex your knee, you lose that positive location. If you have to panic brake, you now only have a pretty good idea where the brake pedal is. It works out 99.999% of the time. When it doesn’t, we get videos of “runaway” cars plowing through buildings. It’s usually someone mistakenly mashing the gas pedal because they lost their foot location references. So while you could train your left foot, it has to cover twice the distance - more room for error. It’s also pretty cramped in there with current designs, so when I’ve tried exsctly this, I had a tendency for my right foot on the gas to cause interference with the brake pedal being depressed.
There’s definitely times in racing where left foot braking is used at times when you need gas and/or brake in rapid, planned succession/concurrence. Yes, there’s times for gas and brake together. Most cars are 2 wheel drive, all cars are 4 wheel brake. This means you can alter the balance of the car by applying both pedals. I’ve driven 40mph go karts with left foot brakes. Even though I lay competitive lap times, I don’t think the left brake is a significant contributor. It’s just a compact design choice rather than a performance point. The pedal heights are equal though, unlike normal cars. But that’s not to say it’s a bad design, just that normal cars aren’t designed that way, so the benefits are lost, or even become a hindrance. Perhaps the pedal box design is a carryover from when the standard transmission was standard
There is a difference. You shift with your left hand instead of your right.
Does it make any difference to a right handed person?
The challenge is merely from what you’re used to, not your handed-ness.
For me, driving on the other side of the road is OK on large roads with limited access. But my ego has no issue handing the keys to my Brit friends once we’re across the channel. I can drive to the city, but dammit engrained habits/perspectives are hard to overcome, and driving in a city isn’t a place to do it.
I could see it being a little easier from a shifting point of view, except anyone who learned to shift right handed - even a left handed person - would find shifting on the other side challenging at first.
Watch Top Gear when they have Americans on - its always something they laugh about.
As a lefty, I would hate having to control the shifter with my left hand; it feels a lot more natural on the steering wheel. Furthermore, I don’t understand why right hand drive cars don’t have mirrored transmissions. Having first gear be away from you would be so weird.
Also I prefer to play guitar right-handed as well, because why would I want to have my dominant hand do the strumming? It makes a lot more sense for me to do the fretting with my left hand, since it is more difficult than strumming.
Well, I’m a pilot and flight instructor. My handedness didn’t really impact transitioning to flying from the right seat.
I think your passengers would be happy to hear that. lol
I’ve driven both sides and there’s no difference, it just takes a little to adjust. I prefer a gearstick on the left, though, since my dominant hand is better at micro movements with the wheel and gear shifting is such a basic action. But really, the difference is barely noticeable.
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I live in the USA and have driven LHD and RHD manual cars. It didn’t take more than a few minutes of driving RHD before my brain adapted and it wasn’t really that strange or awkward.
I’m left handed. I’m used to driving on the right side of the road. I have driven on the left one week in Namibia.Fairly easy to adapt to finding the stick shift with your other hand. Bit harder getting used to the driving on the other side of the road but still not that difficult as long as you’re not tired.
No, it does not matter where you put the wheel or which side your drive on. It’s a matter of what you’re used to. I use the computer mouse in the right hand, and I shoot right handed.
I drove on the left for about fifteen years then changed countries and have about fifteen years experience on the right.
My only problem is confusing my left and right, my brain just swapped everything over.
