How do you change from right-hand traffic to left-hand traffic?

[Joey D]

One thing that has always puzzled me is how do the boarders work at countries where one drives on the left and the other the right (or vice versa)? I think the best person on these boards to have experienced this is Rue since Hong Kong drives on the left and I think main land China drives on the right. There must be other examples out there but I don't know which countries drive on what side, especially in Africa. I would have to imagine there is some system in place or otherwise it would be a giant cluster at the boarders.

 

[wfooshee]

I know you've seen this before, so take it in the spirit of fun with which it is intended.

Which side do we drive on?

The very first hit has all your answers. Turns out that most of the left-hand drive countries (Great Britain, Ireland, Japan, Australia, and many Pacific countries) are islands, so they don't share people who rent rooms. I mean boundaries. (boarders vs borders )

Great Britain went to a lot of trouble to build this miles-wide moat on their border with France, just for such problems as this.

According to the article, Thailand is notable in that 90% of its borders are with countries that drive on the other side of the road.

To answer the question, they have traffic lights, traffic circles, one-way streets, stuff like that, to separate the traffic and bring it back together on the correct side.

 

[Max Powers]

How about this, though...

Generally in the United States most people walk on the right hand side of the sidewalk, hallway, etc. In a country where they drive on the left side of the road, is it the opposite?

 

[jeppo]

In Australia we walk on the left side of the footpath, but here in Singapore they're more likely to walk in the middle of the street

 

[Dijital Majik]

How about this, though...

Generally in the United States most people walk on the right hand side of the sidewalk, hallway, etc. In a country where they drive on the left side of the road, is it the opposite?

Here in Britain, we stand on the right of escalators, but in Japan it's left. Felt like a tourist getting in the way of people the first time I got on one when I got home.

Maybe some of our (very) older Swedish members remember what it was like before they switched to the right (or wrong ) side...overnight I might add.

 

[ASH32]

Here in Britain, we stand on the right of escalators, but in Japan it's left. Felt like a tourist getting in the way of people the first time I got on one when I got home.

Maybe some of our (very) older Swedish members remember what it was like before they switched to the right (or wrong ) side...overnight I might add.

All the escalators that I have been on I stood on the Left, I am sure of that. Maybe London is backwards ( I have never been ) it wouldn't surprise me. We also walk on any side of the road here, although people tend to keep left in corridors and on stairs.