It only took me about a week to become used to driving on the left side of the road here in NZ. Probably because I lived in England for a year and drove on the left there, but that was back in the late 80’s. So far, I’ve only goofed up once, and that was a few days after arriving. I exited the motorway and merrily went down the side road on the right side, until an approaching truck in the same lane as me tipped me off to my error.
More difficult is getting used to the turn signal lever being on the right side of the steering wheel. Our car has the windshield wiper on the left side, so you can tell when I want to turn by the fact that I turn the wipers on. We all still do it from time to time, but it still makes us laugh when we do it.
Even though I’ve driven on the right side most of my life, I actually think it makes more sense to drive on the left side. When I lived in England, someone told me that the reason people there drive on the left is from the old days of horses. If you are on a horse and riding on the left side of the road, when you meet another person riding toward you, you can shake hands much more conveniently. Or have a sword fight I suppose, for that matter.
Interestingly, people in New Zealand also walk on the left. In England, they could not make up their minds, probably because of the close proximity to the rest of Europe, which drives (and walks) on the right. Japan, which also drives on the left, also does not have a clear preference for walking. But here in New Zealand, people definitely walk on the left side.
Today, we were at Franz Joseph Glacier, and the trail to see it was one of the busiest walking paths we have yet seen in NZ. And many of the people walking on it were tourists from various places around the world. It was interesting to see how people negotiated which side of the path to walk on. Some people stubbornly stayed on their side (right or left) and expected you to go around them on the other side. Others tried to accommodate oncoming pedestrian traffic. I was one of the latter.
I still sometimes walk on the left. I suppose it was from the time I spent in Australia. They walk on the left there too. It made since to me, I guess because I am left handed.
Comment by Mindy Carson — 7 Mar 2005 @ 6:50 am