Right-hand vs. Left-hand - Why?

It also makes for a really good computer game. If you are that way inclined, or have a kid/nephew/friend who is, I'd recommend any of the 'Colin McRae Rally' games on the Playstation and Playstation2.

A major part of the driving technique is sliding sideways round corners - kinda like Speedway or Motocross on motorbikes.

A lot of the racing here in the UK is done over moorland and through forests. The popular places for it here are in Yorkshire, the Welsh mountains and the Scottish Highlands. The courses can be a mixture of tarmac roads, dirt tracks or just plain grass, which makes the tyre choices very important. Those Forest Service roads you mentioned sound ideal.

As for TV coverage, it'll probably be on one of the 'minority' cable/satelite sports channels, usually late at night! I think that the US has only been added to the WRC (World Rally Championship) circuit in recent years. Someone suggested that the fact that it is based on time-trials rather than a direct race means that it is less appealing to the average American sportsfan's psyche. Not sure how true that it is, but I suspect there may be some truth in that!

Headlights during the day?

Bike rider first and foremost, and so the habit has stuck with me into my car driving years.

I'd rather another driver said "look at that fool with his lights on" than "sorry I didn't see you"

I believe that Volvos have their side-lights fixed 'on' permanently, in true Scandinavian-logical-style!

As do all "European" motorbikes these days - e.g. my BMW - I'm very glad of that. It means I'll never forget to make myself visible.

KP

God Bless the Norsemen!

Well, that is not a correct description of the events.

Before WWI there was a "mixed" system i Austria. In 1914 a "einheitliche Linksfahrordnung" (uniform left-hand driving) was introduced in all territories of the Austrian-Hungarian Monarchy.

Already in 1919 some parts of the remaining Austria reverted to right-hand driving. It was also decided the a conversion should take place in the whole of the country before the 1 of December 1932 (Strassenpolizei-Grundsatzgesetz 1929). This law was, however, not implemented.

Already before "Anschluss" right-hand driving was introduced in Tyrol and Carinthia.

In the rest of the country the change took place in two steps: 1 of July 1938 and 19th of September 1938. The last date had to do with the vast tramway network of Vienna, which had to be rebuilt.

Thanks, and welcome to A2K, Anders Hanquist!


This map shows the dates, when right hand traffic was introduced in the various Austrian states:



More about that in Austria (in German) with some copied sources here.

Thank you for the nice map!

In the part of Austria which was seeded to Italy (Südtirol) right-hand driving was also established in 1919.

Some cities in Italy, however, kept left well into the twenties. Rome changed in 1925 and Milan in 1926.

In Austria, or "Ostmark" after the "Anschluss", the Nazis also used the change-over for political propaganda.

"Verkehrsgemeinschaft ist ein Stück nationalsozialistischer Volksgemeinschaft" was a slogan meaning something like "Traffic unity is part of the national socialist people's unity". Sounds even more odd in English.

My recall about Sweden changing to the right involved some fancy prepration. I thiink they gave six months to prepare
all drivers of the coming change.
New signs were made and then covered. They were uncovered on change day. Buses were altered to put the driver on either side. And on the given day or the changeover was done literally instantly.

Did you ever drive in England? I shippped a car home from London and did some white-knucle driving. Our (at the time)
young children were instructed to sing a little sitty that had the words - "keep left, keep left, keep left all the time" or some silly thing. Went through London. The turn abouts were frightening.

I have always marvelleld at British tour bus drivers who leave England and get off in France and begin driving through mountain, curvy, roads and through Paris, Rome etc. On the right.

Re: DTR Lights
As a Yank of Scots-Canadian and Scandinavian descent, I'm proud to point out that Canada has required Daytime Running Lights on autos sold in that country for decades, the result of which has been a substantial decline in highway fatalities. It has been noted in several surveys that autos with Daytime Running Lights are at least 20% more visible during daylight hours than those that don't offer the feature.

Here in the States, VW, Toyota, Hyundai and GM all provide DTR Lights, and I, for one, feel much safer with em than without. In fact, I have been driving with my lights on since the late 60s with added peace of mind and no serious loss in fuel efficiency.

love n peaces,
Jack

New Mexico written test
Does anybody know how many and what questions the test has in New Mexico?