Drive safely!

[airboatr]

I of mind it's because of the predominate right hand that puts the driver on the left side of the vehicle.

In shipping the steer oar was on the right side off the ship "starboard" .... sterman or steerboard,
the left was port used for loading - used to protect the right side of the ship from damage.
more importantly the right arm. The point is , right hand free to funtion the controls.

I admit I didn't fully understand the shipping rule untill after a search to find a answer to the question purposed by Pete.

But I think it's the most reasonable solution to a growing problem in that time,and it had to be dealt with.

but then again if I grew up driving rightside I would think that normal, maybe..


Also a few responses come from not American Cousins... But Brothers once removed..... and so...

[Jon.M]

I did some googling and one explanation for some early American cars being right hand drive despite them driving on the right is that that the most important control other than the steering wheel was the brake which would have been hand operated and mounted outside the car. You would use your dominant right arm to haul on the brake lever.

Jon

[PeteH]

From Garry's link above:-

"When inventors began building "automobiles" in the 1890's, they thought of them as motorized wagons. As a result, many early cars had the steering mechanism-a rudder (or tiller), not a wheel-in the center position where the side of the road didn't make any difference. Lay points out that technical innovation created the configuration we are familiar with in the United States:

"However, with the introduction of the steering wheel in 1898, a central location was no longer technically possible. Car makers usually copied existing practice and placed the driver on the curbside. Thus, most American cars produced before 1910 were made with right-side driver seating, although intended for right-side driving. Such vehicles remained in common use until 1915, and the 1908 Model T was the first of Ford's cars to feature a left-side driving position."
By 1915, the Model T had become so popular that the rest of the automakers followed Ford's lead."

This seems to me the obvious explanation as to why there are so many RHD cars in the film.

As to why RHD or LHD, from all the explanations discovered it seems to be a case of "take your pick". Just remember which country you're driving in!

Pete

[nigelb]

AFAIK Gibralta ias the same as the UK so the means crossing the road at the border

So I do need new glasses?

Myabe not, according to this site: http://www.brianlucas.ca/roadside/

"In Gibraltar, some buses are RHD, with passengers entering a doorway behind the driver. This is in spite of the fact that local cars are LHD, except for UK and Japanese used imports and British forces Land Rovers. Gibraltar changed to right hand traffic in 1929, but everything else looks British (number plates, road signs and traffic lights). (Ken Westmoreland)"

Optometrist appointment cancelled!

This site has a lot of info, some duplicated from sites already mentioned. It even has Savoy Court listed as the exception to left hand driving in the UK.

Nigel²