Talk:Left- and right-hand traffic

Mail delivery: LHD cars in LHT countries, RHD cars in RHT?

Do postal services in various countries consistently use LHD platform vehicles in LHT countries for local delivery, and the other way where traffic moves on the right? Access to curb boxes and wanting to avoid stepping into traffic would seem to be a fairly universal workflow and safety interest. - knoodelhed (talk) 00:02, 20 March 2024 (UTC)

In Australia, where we drive on the left, the postal service uses standard RHD vans on the roads, but domestic deliveries today are mostly done using these electric trikes. HiLo48 (talk) 03:39, 20 March 2024 (UTC)

In Canada and the United States of America, postal service vehicles, parking enforcement cars and garbage trucks are mostly right-hand drive, in order to give the driver direct access to the curbside (and the mailboxes); it is possible to reach mailboxes even with a left-hand drive car, but then the driver has to drive on the wrong side of the road.

In Sweden, where I live, postal service mostly uses right-hand drive cars, just as in the USA, in order to give the driver access to the mailboxes on the curbside (to the right in the driving direction). If Sweden would have left-hand traffic, just as the U.K. and Ireland, postal service would most likely have used left-hand drive cars; something notable is that left-hand drive cars were dominating in Sweden even before Högertrafikomläggningen ("the Right-hand traffic switch") on 3 September 1967, when Sweden used left-hand traffic, as opposed to Britain and Ireland where right-hand drive cars are dominating in order to give the driver clear sight over the side for oncoming traffic, and cars with the driver's seat on the curbside rather than the side towards oncoming traffic in Sweden (during the time with left-hand traffic) was a problem, as it tended to cause head-on collisions at attempts to overtake, due to the place of the driver's seat on the curbside, rather than the side towards oncoming traffic which would give the driver more clear sight over the oncoming traffic. 212.100.101.104 (talk) 08:39, 20 March 2024 (UTC)

In the UK (which is LHD), postal service uses standard RHD vehicles (as in Australia). However, street-cleansing vehicles (those which clear gulleys) are often LHD, to give the driver a good view of the curb. Mike Marchmont (talk) 08:08, 24 April 2024 (UTC)

The registration table is misleading

Whether cars can be registered with the steering wheel on the wrong side is not just a yes/no question. For example, in Australia, it depends on age. Specifically, Victoria requires "vehicles less than 30 years old to be right-hand drive in order to be eligible for full registration." I'm not sure what the best way is to set this out, but the current value of "yes" is misleading at best. Kremmen (talk) 04:55, 5 May 2024 (UTC)

Well, the obvious solution would be to add an explanatory footnote to the relevant entry. But, while you could easily do that yourself for Australia, Kremmen, it would be a daunting task to do it throughout the table. Still, it would be worth making a start. Mike Marchmont (talk) 07:47, 5 May 2024 (UTC)

LH/RH drive definition

The article says, "The terms right- and left-hand drive refer to the position of the driver and the steering wheel in the vehicle".

1) This is incorrect because, in a "left hand drive", the steering wheel and the driver are on the left side of the vehicle, while RH drive is the on the right side of vehicle.

2) The title and the images are referring to different reasons (title talks about "drive", while image depicts the traffic flow"). This leads to confusion in a reader.

To correct this, suggest to use the correct naming and usage. Thaejas (talk) 02:39, 27 October 2024 (UTC) Thaejas (talk) 02:39, 27 October 2024 (UTC)

Expanding the table

I'd suggest a few changes to the table "Worldwide distribution by country" –

• Add a sortable column "Continent/Subregion". This would enable the reader to group the countries of respective regions of the earth together, in order to see what the LHT/RHT distribution is there.
  • As a consequence, split France, as it refers to various French overseas territories and would therefore not fit into one Continent column.
• Make the columns "Date of switch" and (especially) "Notes, exceptions" unsortable. There is actually no reason to sort or group countries by these criteria.

so it might look like this

Country		Continent / Subregion	Road traffic	Date of switch	Notes, exceptions
Afghanistan		Asia (South)	RHT		Kabul adopted RHT 1955.
Albania		Europe (South East)	RHT
Algeria		Africa (North)	RHT		Part of France until 1962.
Andorra		Europe (West)	RHT		Landlocked between France and Spain.
Angola		Africa (South)	RHT	1928	Portuguese colony until 1975.
Antigua and Barbuda		Caribbean	LHT		These Caribbean islands were a British colony until 1958.
Argentina		South America	RHT	10 June 1945	The anniversary on 10 June is still observed each year as Día de la Seguridad Vial (road safety day).
Armenia		Asia (West)	RHT
Australia		Oceania	LHT		British colonies before 1901. Includes Australian external territories.
Austria		Europe (Central)	RHT	1921–38	Originally LHT, like most of Austria-Hungary, but switched sides after the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany.
Azerbaijan		Asia (West)	RHT
Bahamas		Caribbean	LHT		British colony before 1973. Caribbean island. Most passenger vehicles are LHD due to them being imported from the United States.
Bahrain		Asia (West)	RHT	November 1967	Former British protectorate. Switched to the same side as its neighbours. An island nation, linked by road to the Arabian mainland since 1986.
Bangladesh		Asia (South)	LHT		Part of Pakistan before 1971, which was part of British India before 1947.
Barbados		Caribbean	LHT		This Atlantic island state was a British colony before 1966.
Belarus		Europe (East)	RHT
France	Metropolitan France	Europe (West)	RHT	1792
	French Polynesia	Oceania (Polynesia)
	New Caledonia	Oceania (Melanesia)
	Saint Pierre and Miquelon	North America
	Wallis and Futuna	Oceania (Polynesia)
	French Guiana	South America
	Réunion	Indian Ocean
	Saint Barthélemy	Caribbean
	Saint Martin	Caribbean
	Guadeloupe	Caribbean
	Mayotte	Indian Ocean
Gabon		Africa (Central)	RHT		French colony before 1960.
Gambia		Africa (West)	RHT	1 October 1965	British colony until 1965. Switched to RHT on 1 October 1965 being surrounded by the former French colony of Senegal.
Georgia		Asia (West)	RHT		About 40% of vehicles in Georgia are RHD due to the low cost of used cars imported from Japan.
Germany		Europe (Central)	RHT
Ghana		Africa (West)	RHT	4 August 1974	British colony until 1957. Ghana switched to RHT in 1974, a Twi language slogan was "Nifa, Nifa Enan" or "Right, Right, Fourth". Ghana has also banned RHD vehicles – it prohibited new registrations of RHD vehicles after 1 August 1974, three days before the traffic change.
Greece		Europe (South East)	RHT	1926	Originally LHT (albeit unofficially) since independence. The establishment of the traffic code switched traffic officially to RHT traffic in 1926.

NB: The reason to write, e.g., Asia (South) instead of South Asia is the effect achieved by sorting. When written as above, the countries of each continent will be grouped together, e.g. Asia (Central), Asia (East), … Asia (West), etc. – instead of a geographically mixed list like South America, South Asia, South Europe, Southern Africa, etc.

Would it be acceptable to expand the table like this? Unless objections are raised, I'd start this workover in the near future.—Jochen64 (talk) 04:23, 1 December 2024 (UTC)