Left hand or right hand ?

Mar 23, 2005 11 Replies

Sorry chaps but I've had a complete mental block ! Is a LH drive car one with the steering wheel on the Left (Nearside) or one with the steering wheel on the right (offside)....Or does it refer to the side of the road the car is adapted to drive on (I think I've finally lost it !!!) Regards


On the left.

You drive on the left with a right hand drive car. Hence nearside and offside.

You're having a laugh ain't ya?

anon ( snipped-for-privacy@anon.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Clue :-

Continentals drive LHD cars. We drive RHD cars.

Imagine sitting in your car.

Ah, but in LHD cars nearside and offside are the opposite!

And you drive LHD cars with your right hand; your left hand/arm hanging out of the window.

Peat ( snipped-for-privacy@ntlworld.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Umm, not quite...

In a LHD car in the UK or a RHD car on the continent, nearside is the driver's side - it's the one near the kerb.

Yes, which is why you use them. Saying left or right as regards the car depends on whether you're the driver or looking at it from the front.

No it doesn't. The left of the car is the left of the car. The right hand of a person doesn't change places if you look at him from the front or the back!

Rob Graham

The message from Johannes H Andersen contains these words:

One of the great advantages to being a driving instructor - your left arm gets brown too.

Might be to you. But try questioning a few pedestrian witnesses to an accident. "I saw the car swerved to the left into the oncoming traffic"

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