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Dagen H: The Day Sweden Switched Traffic Sides

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Re: Dagen H: The Day Sweden Switched Traffic Sides

#11

Post by felipemnoa »

kinow wrote: post #6

Would be great to have - someday - everybody driving on the same side of the road. I wonder if space agencies have agreed to build space vehicles on a standardized side. I moved from a country that drives on the right lane, to one in the Commonwealth, driving on the left lane. It's interesting the amount of adjusting it takes for you as pedestrian to get used to which side to make sure to look to before crossing, and…

>>It's interesting the amount of adjusting it takes for you as pedestrian to get used to which side to make sure to look to before crossing

You should always look both ways regardless of which side a car is driving on. Reason is that bicycles sometimes drive in the opposite direction as cars. Also, sometimes cars, for whatever reason, will drive in reverse.

Re: Dagen H: The Day Sweden Switched Traffic Sides

#12

Post by chipperyman573 »

advantager wrote: post #8

On most mining properties in North America and elsewhere, driving is strictly on the left. This is because haul trucks have such large blind spots to their right side, it's best to give them a clear view of the side of the road (which may be a sheer drop-off). I've done a fair amount of driving on site, and it's a bit of a trip. Usually right after the main gate there is a cross-over point where you yield and switch…

Interesting, I didn't know about the blind spot problem for trucks. Is there a reason we drive on the right in America, then? I kind of assumed we just randomly picked it because neither answer solves a problem with the alternative (or the country we copied randomly picked, I don't know the full history), but it seems like there's a pretty solid argument to always drive on the left (at least, there's no reason to drive on the right)

Re: Dagen H: The Day Sweden Switched Traffic Sides

#13

Post by kraftman »

felipemnoa wrote: post #11
kinow wrote: post #6

Would be great to have - someday - everybody driving on the same side of the road. I wonder if space agencies have agreed to build space vehicles on a standardized side. I moved from a country that drives on the right lane, to one in the Commonwealth, driving on the left lane. It's interesting the amount of adjusting it takes for you as pedestrian to get used to which side to make sure to look to before crossing, and…

>>It's interesting the amount of adjusting it takes for you as pedestrian to get used to which side to make sure to look to before crossing You should always look both ways regardless of which side a car is driving on. Reason is that bicycles sometimes drive in the opposite direction as cars. Also, sometimes cars, for whatever reason, will drive in reverse.

I think they're referring to places like roundabouts where you can cross halfway and the traffic only comes from one direction. Cars would never reverse off a roundabout and it's illegal and pretty dangerous to bike into a roundabout from the wrong direction.

Re: Dagen H: The Day Sweden Switched Traffic Sides

#14

Post by dTal »

seppin wrote: post #3

Of all things why does this keep getting posted here? Curious

It's an interesting question. A theory that occurs to me is that much of modern computing is the way it is due to network effects and historical baggage. We all fantasize of ways we could be doing things better, if only we could have a clean start. For us, the story of an entire country seamlessly jumping from a local optimum to a global one is practically pornographic.

Re: Dagen H: The Day Sweden Switched Traffic Sides

#15

Post by paradisechris »

chipperyman573 wrote: post #12
advantager wrote: post #8

On most mining properties in North America and elsewhere, driving is strictly on the left. This is because haul trucks have such large blind spots to their right side, it's best to give them a clear view of the side of the road (which may be a sheer drop-off). I've done a fair amount of driving on site, and it's a bit of a trip. Usually right after the main gate there is a cross-over point where you yield and switch…

Interesting, I didn't know about the blind spot problem for trucks. Is there a reason we drive on the right in America, then? I kind of assumed we just randomly picked it because neither answer solves a problem with the alternative (or the country we copied randomly picked, I don't know the full history), but it seems like there's a pretty solid argument to always drive on the left (at least, there's no reason to dri…

If America drove on the left, the driver side would be on the right instead. This would only shift the truck blind spot to the other side meaning they would still drive opposite either way.

Re: Dagen H: The Day Sweden Switched Traffic Sides

#16

Post by seppin »

dTal wrote: post #14
seppin wrote: post #3

Of all things why does this keep getting posted here? Curious

It's an interesting question. A theory that occurs to me is that much of modern computing is the way it is due to network effects and historical baggage. We all fantasize of ways we could be doing things better, if only we could have a clean start. For us, the story of an entire country seamlessly jumping from a local optimum to a global one is practically pornographic.

Interesting take, thanks.

Re: Dagen H: The Day Sweden Switched Traffic Sides

#17

Post by ip26 »

chipperyman573 wrote: post #12
advantager wrote: post #8

On most mining properties in North America and elsewhere, driving is strictly on the left. This is because haul trucks have such large blind spots to their right side, it's best to give them a clear view of the side of the road (which may be a sheer drop-off). I've done a fair amount of driving on site, and it's a bit of a trip. Usually right after the main gate there is a cross-over point where you yield and switch…

Interesting, I didn't know about the blind spot problem for trucks. Is there a reason we drive on the right in America, then? I kind of assumed we just randomly picked it because neither answer solves a problem with the alternative (or the country we copied randomly picked, I don't know the full history), but it seems like there's a pretty solid argument to always drive on the left (at least, there's no reason to dri…

Edit: redundant

Re: Dagen H: The Day Sweden Switched Traffic Sides

#18

Post by kenneth »

chipperyman573 wrote: post #12
advantager wrote: post #8

On most mining properties in North America and elsewhere, driving is strictly on the left. This is because haul trucks have such large blind spots to their right side, it's best to give them a clear view of the side of the road (which may be a sheer drop-off). I've done a fair amount of driving on site, and it's a bit of a trip. Usually right after the main gate there is a cross-over point where you yield and switch…

Interesting, I didn't know about the blind spot problem for trucks. Is there a reason we drive on the right in America, then? I kind of assumed we just randomly picked it because neither answer solves a problem with the alternative (or the country we copied randomly picked, I don't know the full history), but it seems like there's a pretty solid argument to always drive on the left (at least, there's no reason to dri…

The fact that we drive on the right is the precise reason why trucks have less of a blind spot on the left. (We place the driver's seat closest to the center of the road, while on a mine site it's better to be close to the edge of the road.)

If we drove on the left and built cars accordingly, then you'd see mine site tricks driving on the right.

Left and right are not inherently different in any way (except I guess for people being right-handed more than left-handed, though has little effect.)

Fun story: I was surprised recently by visiting one country that did things a bit differently: Burma. They drive on the right and have for 50 or so years… but they use mostly left-hand drive cars. So you'll see the driver's seat close to the curb. Took me quite a few taxi rides to figure out what that uncanny feeling was. (Also, they're one of the few countries with a timezone offset by a half hour increment)

Re: Dagen H: The Day Sweden Switched Traffic Sides

#19

Post by cududa »

ip26 wrote: post #17
chipperyman573 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting, I didn't know about the blind spot problem for trucks. Is there a reason we drive on the right in America, then? I kind of assumed we just randomly picked it because neither answer solves a problem with the alternative (or the country we copied randomly picked, I don't know the full history), but it seems like there's a pretty solid argument to always drive on the left (at least, there's no reason to dri…

Edit: redundant

That’s discussed in the article

Re: Dagen H: The Day Sweden Switched Traffic Sides

#20

Post by moltar »

kenneth wrote: post #18
chipperyman573 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting, I didn't know about the blind spot problem for trucks. Is there a reason we drive on the right in America, then? I kind of assumed we just randomly picked it because neither answer solves a problem with the alternative (or the country we copied randomly picked, I don't know the full history), but it seems like there's a pretty solid argument to always drive on the left (at least, there's no reason to dri…

The fact that we drive on the right is the precise reason why trucks have less of a blind spot on the left. (We place the driver's seat closest to the center of the road, while on a mine site it's better to be close to the edge of the road.) If we drove on the left and built cars accordingly, then you'd see mine site tricks driving on the right. Left and right are not inherently different in any way (except I guess f…

Burma is a fascinating story. They switched, like Sweden, but without planning.

The reason? A fortune teller said the country would be prosperous.

And now people exit the bus into the traffic instead of the sidewalk. Because nobody has the money to replace the buses or cars.

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