Talk:Left- and right-hand traffic
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LH/RH drive definition
editThe 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
editI'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
edit| 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.[citation needed] | ||
| 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)
Newfoundland
editNewfoundland was not a British colony in 1947. It has no border with the US, and its land border with Quebec had no car traffic, so that would not explain its switch 2607:FEA8:FF01:4FA6:F904:8AC1:758A:648D (talk) 13:31, 25 December 2024 (UTC)
Legend of historical map
editi can't find anything on the map corresponding to the yellow and puce of the legend. If you open the image, those colors don't appear in the multilinguistic legends 2607:FEA8:FF01:4FA6:F904:8AC1:758A:648D (talk) 13:38, 25 December 2024 (UTC)