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US going metric?



 
 
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  #211  
Old January 21st, 2004, 08:30 AM
Mark Brader
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Default Driving on the right (was: US going metric?)

Mark Brader:
All right, try it yourself. Google on "most populous countries" ...


1. China 1,286,975,468
2. India 1,049,700,118 Left
3. United States 290,342,554
...


Miguel Cruz:
For this to make much sense we'd need data on how many people in these
countries actually drive.


So you're telling Lynn Gianni that she asked the wrong question.
Those numbers were a response to her posting doubting my statement
that driving on the right is clearly dominant worldwide by *any*
measure.
--
Mark Brader, Toronto | "It was too crazy to be true,
| and too crazy to be false." --Tom Clancy

My text in this article is in the public domain.
  #212  
Old January 21st, 2004, 09:58 AM
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Default Driving on the right (was: US going metric?)

"Keith Willshaw" wrote in message ...
"Mark Brader" wrote in message
...


No, if you actually look at the statistics, you find that the right is
far more common by all measures. All of the Americas, all of continental
Europe, all of the former Soviet Union and China, and most of Africa
uses the right. While there are, of course, a number of populous or
otherwise important countries that drive on the left, all of them are
either island countries of have Indian Ocean coastline -- not a large
part of the world.


India is rather large as I recall and they drive on the left as does
Pakistan.
In Africa Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa,
Mozambique, Somaliland, Malawi, Botswana and Lesotho

In Asia Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand drive on the left

Finally as an exercise for the reader there is one US territory
where they drive on the left.


The virgin islands of course,
Ed in Australia

I wonder how many people know which it is ?

Driving on the left is somewhat more common for trains than for road
traffic, but that's a separate question.

I've seen no evidence to suggest that either is superior.


There really is no significant advantage to one or the other, provided
that *everything* is correspondingly reversed. For example, it would
be idiotic for a country that drives on the left to allow drivers to
turn *right* on red allowed after stopping. Nobody has actually done
that, but there are other such asymmetrical situations where countries
have used right-of-way laws that would make more sense if they drove on
the other side.


Actually I dont recall coming across the turn right on red
rule in Europe, it seems to be a US thing


Keith

  #213  
Old January 21st, 2004, 09:58 AM
Martin Rich
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Default Driving on the right (was: US going metric?)

On Tue, 20 Jan 2004 22:14:12 -0000, (Mark Brader) wrote:

Lots of good stuff including this reference


http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_021b.html


I don't know the exact balance of informedness and irony conveyed by
Cecil Adams, but the 'straight dope' site does include one
particularly outrageous statement

The last holdouts in mainland Europe, the Swedes, finally switched to the right in 1967 because most of the countries they sold Saabs and Volvos to were righties and they got tired of having to make different versions for domestic use and export.


Of course Swedish manufacturers still make right-hand-drive cars for
the British and other markets, just as French, German, Italian,
Spanish, Czech, Korean, and even American manufacturers make
right-hand-drive cars for some markets.

Also cars for the Swedish market had left-hand-drive even before the
changeover in the rule of the road (though nobody seems to know quite
why).

Moreover Japanese manufacturers, whose domestic market needed
right-hand-drive, didn't find the need to make left-hand-drive cars
any barrier to making massive inroads in the North American and
continental European markets.

Incidentally Lynn Guinni wrote:

Most autos are
manufactured in the country in which they are sold.


Surely this isn't true in many parts of the world (especially if you
think of the number of countries without a motor manufacturing
industry). It's probably true in the US and Japan, but is definitely
not true in Europe.

Manufacturers with sites both in Britain and in continental Europe
(Peugeot, GM, Toyota) make different models on different sites: they
don't just make right-hand-drive cars in Britain and left-hand-drive
cars on the continent.

Drifting off topic - sorry :-)

Martin
  #214  
Old January 21st, 2004, 12:41 PM
Mark Hewitt
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Default Driving on the right (was: US going metric?)


"Lynn Guinni" wrote in message
...

I doubt the benefit would be all that significant. Little other than
autos would be affected, and even them not so much. Most autos are
manufactured in the country in which they are sold. Moot point in any
case. It ain't gonna happen.


Wrong. If you want to consider things in a wider context i.e. most cars that
are sold in Europe are probably built in Europe and most cars sold in
N.America are built in N.America. Then this is probably true. However it
certainly isn't true in Europe. Cars come from all over and from several
different countries. e.g. In the UK if you buy a BMW it will have been built
in Germany, if you buy a Renault it will have been built in France. Both of
these countries drive on the opposite side of the road to that of the market
they are selling to.

I think the point you were trying to make is the RHD cars are mostly made in
countries which drive on the left and LHD cars made in countries which drive
on the right. Well this is most definitely, *not* the case.

Mark


  #215  
Old January 21st, 2004, 12:43 PM
Mark Hewitt
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Default Driving on the right (was: US going metric?)


wrote in message
om...
"Keith Willshaw" wrote in message

...
"Mark Brader" wrote in message
...


The virgin islands of course,


And I'm told my a friend of mine who went to visit there that they import
their cars from mainland USA and hence they are left hand drive. Certainly
not ideal when you are driving on the left! Hopefully the virgin islands
traffic situation is such that you don't need to see around vehicles to
overtake very often!

Have they considered switching to right side driving to bring it in line
with the rest of the USA?



  #216  
Old January 21st, 2004, 02:54 PM
me
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Default Driving on the right (was: US going metric?)

"Keith Willshaw" wrote in message ...
[snip]
Finally as an exercise for the reader there is one US territory
where they drive on the left.

[snip]

Isn't it one of the Virgin Islands? Strangely, IIRC, they drive
on the left, with cars that predominately have the "drivers side"
on the left.
  #217  
Old January 21st, 2004, 03:33 PM
Keith Willshaw
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Default Driving on the right (was: US going metric?)


"me" wrote in message
m...
"Keith Willshaw" wrote in message

...
[snip]
Finally as an exercise for the reader there is one US territory
where they drive on the left.

[snip]

Isn't it one of the Virgin Islands?


Some of to be accurate, IRC there are 3 major islands
in the American Virgin Islands and some more in the
British Virgin Islands

Strangely, IIRC, they drive
on the left, with cars that predominately have the "drivers side"
on the left.


Very probably.

Keith


 




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