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Transition between Left Hand Drive to Right Hand Drive

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the lynx
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Post by the lynx » Tue, 11 Jun 2013 2:50 pm

ecureilx wrote:
PNGMK wrote:The UK is going to switch to RHD under EU rules soon. Apparently the trucks will switch one week before the cars.
Did you mean UK will switch to LHD ?? as somebody who hails from a former Crown Colony .. I guess it's not gonna happen ..

what art though smokin ??
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driving_in ... ed_Kingdom

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Post by ecureilx » Tue, 11 Jun 2013 3:13 pm

the lynx wrote:
ecureilx wrote:
PNGMK wrote:The UK is going to switch to RHD under EU rules soon. Apparently the trucks will switch one week before the cars.
Did you mean UK will switch to LHD ?? as somebody who hails from a former Crown Colony .. I guess it's not gonna happen ..

what art though smokin ??
....


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driving_in ... ed_Kingdom
OK, UK is Like Singapore, people sit on the Right side of the car, and drive on the left side of the road.. = RHD, and rest of Europe is opposite = LHD

did it change ?? I am getting woozy here ..

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Post by JR8 » Tue, 11 Jun 2013 3:17 pm

PNGMK wrote:The UK is going to switch to RHD under EU rules soon.
I find that unlikely; do you have a link to further information? I mean considering it, beyond the vanity of EU politicians, what is the point of making people on an island state change where they drive? And consider the vast expense of introducing it (what do they do move all the road signs, traffic lights, and so on, on the night before D-Day?).

Most Brits despise the EU, and I suspect any such project would rapidly torpedo any government that even proposed it.

Do you recall the highly popular 'Keep the £' campaign, or the similar 'Hands off my pint' one (which campigned against the policy to make pubs go metric)? Well both of them succeeded in their aim.
PNGMK wrote:Apparently the trucks will switch one week before the cars.
[Can't tell if you're joking... :???: ]
Last edited by JR8 on Tue, 11 Jun 2013 7:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by zzm9980 » Tue, 11 Jun 2013 7:16 pm

I'm fairly confident he was joking with the last line. If anyone is smoking anything, it is squirrel as usual.

But taking the discussion seriously and focusing on this statement you made:
JR8 wrote: I mean considering it, beyond the vanity of EU politicians
What positive purpose(s) does the entire EU serve beyond stroking the vanity of its politicians (past, current, and future)? :cool:

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Post by JR8 » Tue, 11 Jun 2013 7:49 pm

zzm9980 wrote: What positive purpose(s) does the entire EU serve beyond stroking the vanity of its politicians (past, current, and future)? :cool:
Oh I completely agree. I've said it before it is just political vanity: Useless saps who couldn't get a job in the real world if they tried, demanding that their status is pumped up in global terms. The ultimate unelected, unanswerable 'upper senate' in Europe.

It is a vehicle for socialist administrations (France, Germany + accomplices), who want to stick it to the hated capitalist US, in an attempt to prove that a united socialist EU can be successful. It is the ultimate dick-waving competition... but with little mandate from the citizens, despite it being at their expense.

x-ref:
http://forum.singaporeexpats.com/sutra637780.html

and
http://www.google.com.sg/cse?cx=partner ... gsc.page=1

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Post by QRM » Wed, 12 Jun 2013 8:38 am

PNGMK wrote:The UK is going to switch to RHD under EU rules soon. Apparently the trucks will switch one week before the cars.
There have been a number of studies on this over the years, but the cost would be huge we are talking billions of pounds, all the buses will have to be changed, signs shifted, and the biggest cost would be digging up and changing all the slip roads on motorways. You have to also have to factor in the cost of fatalities, injuries during the transition period.
It can be done a number of countries have managed it, but it boils down to why and who will pay for it?

RE confusion over RHD and LHD, you have to go back to the early days of manual cars, in a RHD car you literally drive with your right hand on the steering wheel and your left on the gear knob same but opposite for LHD.

To solve the LHD RHD problem get a Maclaren F1 driver sits in the middle.

The left and right indicator stork is a still a pain, in the mini we have the switch its on the left and the Toyota its on the right.

At least these days they swap windscreen wipers, in the early days even though the car was RHD the wipers were designed for LHD, so you would always be hunched over like quasimodo trying to get a view through the clear arc on the window.

Though not as painful as motorbikes, on some bikes the brake is on the left while others its on the right!
Last edited by QRM on Wed, 12 Jun 2013 8:54 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by PNGMK » Wed, 12 Jun 2013 8:51 am

ecureilx wrote:
PNGMK wrote:The UK is going to switch to RHD under EU rules soon. Apparently the trucks will switch one week before the cars.
Did you mean UK will switch to LHD ?? as somebody who hails from a former Crown Colony .. I guess it's not gonna happen ..

what art though smokin ??
It was an old joke....

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Post by bgd » Wed, 12 Jun 2013 10:25 am

QRM wrote: Though not as painful as motorbikes, on some bikes the brake is on the left while others its on the right!
Some vintage bikes perhaps but I think since the 1970s all bikes have a standard control layout, i.e. brake on the right for manual transmission. I’d be interested if you could point to any current models that are non-standard.

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Post by QRM » Wed, 12 Jun 2013 10:39 am

bgd wrote:
QRM wrote: Though not as painful as motorbikes, on some bikes the brake is on the left while others its on the right!
Some vintage bikes perhaps but I think since the 1970s all bikes have a standard control layout, i.e. brake on the right for manual transmission. I’d be interested if you could point to any current models that are non-standard.
It was an old BSA 650 when I nearly came a cropper!

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Post by Strong Eagle » Wed, 12 Jun 2013 11:09 am

QRM wrote:
bgd wrote:
QRM wrote: Though not as painful as motorbikes, on some bikes the brake is on the left while others its on the right!
Some vintage bikes perhaps but I think since the 1970s all bikes have a standard control layout, i.e. brake on the right for manual transmission. I’d be interested if you could point to any current models that are non-standard.
It was an old BSA 650 when I nearly came a cropper!
You have to go waaaaaayyyyyy back for that... along with the old suicide clutches.

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Post by sundaymorningstaple » Wed, 12 Jun 2013 12:35 pm

Yeah, my old '52 Harley 45ci flathead with the foot clutch (not suicide) left side tank shifter. Also my old '73 850 Norton Commando was old style right hand shift (Mk II). The '75s 850s made the change to new US Reg left side shift.
SOME PEOPLE TRY TO TURN BACK THEIR ODOMETERS. NOT ME. I WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW WHY I LOOK THIS WAY. I'VE TRAVELED A LONG WAY, AND SOME OF THE ROADS WEREN'T PAVED. ~ Will Rogers

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Post by Hannieroo » Thu, 13 Jun 2013 4:54 pm

We are not going to start driving on the wrong side of the road, like French people.

I find having the mirrors on the correct dude helps, it's not like driving a rh car on a lh road. You will get freaked out by all of the cars that appear to have no drivers.

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Post by the lynx » Thu, 20 Jun 2013 11:18 am

zzm9980 wrote:
Hidy Ho wrote:It's the turns that gets me and if there are any roundabouts (which I haven't seen in SG), then I'm doomed!!!
There is one about 300m west of Parkway Parade where Marine Parade Road meets Amber Rd (Haig Rd).

That's one more minor annoyance for the OP: Roads in Singapore like to change names. A lot. Why Haig Rd must turn into Amber Rd for about 200m before it ends is beyond me. Or, Sims Way -> Mountbaten Rd -> East Coast Rd -> Upper East Coast Rd. It's all the same damn road. Why is one section "Upper" anyway? It doesn't go up a hill, and it isn't any farther north than the section immediately to its west without the title. Why the hate? The first time I was looking for it, I stupidly assumed when I was on East Coast Rd, Upper East Coast Rd must be to the North.
My latest pet peeve:

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Why two different roads of the same name?!

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