Left Hand Drive

GreenHex · 26th July 2004, 16:16

Would'nt it be great if we drove on the right side? we would probably get all the cool cars from around the world...

And to all thosedamn; autorickshaw/ two wheeler/ Santro drivers it wouldn't make any difference since they drive on both sides of the road anyway...

mvk

RJK · 26th July 2004, 16:45

not practically possible.

Stratos · 26th July 2004, 17:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (GreenHex @ July 26 2004,14:46)]Would'nt it be great if we drove on the right side? we would probably get all the cool cars from around the world...

V currently drive on the left side of the road.. then why dont v see TVRs, Jaguars, Bentleys..oh yeah!! some Ferraris are made Right Hand drive too???

Changing the way of driving is not at all a solution to get cool cars!

Jaggu · 26th July 2004, 18:48

first learn to drive proper on either side of the road lol... my advice to janta..

GrimReaper · 26th July 2004, 19:25

This is actually a very good question. Ihad been thinking of this some time back and I think I would rather prefer it if India would have cars being driven on the 'right'-side of the road. The main factor being that most of the major manufacturers have plants set-up in mainly Left-Hand-Drive countries. We as Indians generally have to import a car from the UK if we need it to be RHD. Now due to the exchange rate currently, the British pound becomes very expensive for us. And on top of that there are a lot of excess duty etc. you need to pay in GBP in UK which just adds up unnecesarily to the bill. You need to remeber though that I am talking about cars which you cannot generally buy out here, like the AMG's, the M's and high-end Merc models even. I have noticed a lot of difference in conversions etc. in cars like the SL55, the 360, etc.

But in the end, It isn't really possible to implement Let-Hand drive as the norm.
But one thing they can do, is add the factor where before a red-light turns green, the orange light blinks in conjection witht he red so you know when to get ready as to increase mobility of cars and reduct traffic. I had noticed this recently in London and Dubai. I don't think I've given the accurate description, of the lights but that is all I could explain in words.

Rehaan · 26th July 2004, 19:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (GrimReaper @ July 26 2004,17:55)]But one thing they can do, is add the factor where before a red-light turns green, the orange light blinks in conjection witht he red so you know when to get ready as to increase mobility of cars and reduct traffic.

LOL,

That makes sense in theory Grim, but keep in mind this is india.

As soon as anyone sees that orange flash below the red they will be off the mark! (not to mention simultaneously there will be another idiot accelerating through the closing orange of the other signal instead of stopping) and you know the end of the story.
Incase you miss it, there will be a replay every hour on the hour, playing at signals all over the country. Soon comming to a car near you.

Remember how there was that countdown at the signal on peddar road for example (just outside ur house).
People used to go through the red as soon as there were 2-3seconds still left on the countdown.

cya
R

GrimReaper · 26th July 2004, 20:58

Ok! I have just done some calculations to prove my earlier point and here it is:
In the UK the SL600 costs 93,000 GBP = 93,000 * 85 = 79,05,000
In the US the SL600 costs $128,xxx (rounded off to 130,000) * 50 = 65,00,000

Remember the current rate for GBP is somewhere around 85.xxx and the current rate for USD is somewhat 47.xxx . Keeping that in mind you will notice that the ACTUAL price for the car in terms becomes more in Uk and less in US.
This also bear in mind is without taxes which I am not sure if you need to pay if your just directly importing it to your country itself.

And Rehaan I actually though of that, and was therefore reluctant to post it but thought it was a pretty good idea if used correctly, and hence was better off posting it.

GrimReaper · 26th July 2004, 21:02

Ohh and I forgot to add the main fact that in the estimated difference, you end up paying around 15 odd lakhs while ordering the car and hence pay more duty when the car finally arrives in India too. Also the price of 93,000 pounds is taken from Top Gear and the price for USD is taken from the MBUSA website.

GTO · 26th July 2004, 22:23

I think we ought to move this discussion to "shifting gears". Shift to the other side of the road why?? So that we see more exotics?? And they are more "affordable"?

For a breed that forms less than 1% of the vehicle population...fat chance

GTO

shravan316 · 26th July 2004, 23:00

I prefer sticking to the present style.....it doen't matter anyway....People drive in which ever way they want. There are many people who drive in the opposite direction on a one-way!!

Shan2nu · 26th July 2004, 23:01

Nah, it's just not worth the effort.

Regards...
Shan2nu

vinaypro · 26th July 2004, 23:26

Left hand drive or Right hand drive is not problem!!! Its the ROADS.

aadix · 26th July 2004, 23:47

why was rhs chosen at first place??

lets not bother now!!

_Crazi4Speed_ · 27th July 2004, 00:17

I totaly agree we should move, but I also agree its not even possible, but what is possible is allowing LHD cars to be driven in this country, fine indians drive rough, but do you think having LHD would make them even worse, I dont think so, it does make sense that our country doesnt have the volume for any company to setup a manufacturing facility, but if we could buy LHD cars then probably someone would think about it. Also they could come up with a rule where, any car made in the RHD can not be imported LHD, but if the car is not made available and is more than 40,000$(keeping the homologation benchmark) then you can import it..there are many ways to see exotics and others in this country at a resonable price...

so basically dont change the road system, UK has crapy drivers and they have LHD/RHD cars on the road..so y cant we, we can put restrictions to stop dumping of cheap cars by putting a $$$ limit, this way it makes a ton of ppl happy and may be even the manufacturers who may want to setup facilities for export as well as local consumption..

I guess it can happen, but knowning the crappy govt we have and will cont to have this will also never happen, no matter how practical it is..

Also I had a question, is there no way to get LHD cars in India? I thought if you are transfer of residence you can get these cars

What is the rule now, how do I import a LHD car?? ofcourse besides bribe : )

Cheers

amit · 27th July 2004, 00:56

yes we should switch to LHD. RHD drive format is a british thing..instead of changing names of stations we should do something concrete so let's shift to LHD format.

Also, India will the easiest country in the world to make the switch. we anywaz drive following the LHD drive format.
Eg. the overtaking lane is the right most but ppl crawl in that lane and overtaking is done from the left lanes. Since we anywaz are following the LHD drive rules we might as well make the switch, what say? btw, that's one of the zillions of examples.

View Poll Results: Left Hand Drive - Should we switch to left hand drive?
YES!	11	16.67%
Why bother?!	55	83.33%
Voters: 66. You may not vote on this poll

26th July 2004, 16:16	#1
GreenHex BHPian Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Pune Posts: 55 Thanked: 0 Times	Would'nt it be great if we drove on the right side? we would probably get all the cool cars from around the world... And to all thosedamn; autorickshaw/ two wheeler/ Santro drivers it wouldn't make any difference since they drive on both sides of the road anyway... mvk Last edited by Rehaan : 25th May 2009 at 13:46. Reason: Old post edited due to language.
	() Thanks

26th July 2004, 16:45	#2
RJK Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Bombay Posts: 1,140 Thanked: 701 Times	not practically possible.
	() Thanks

26th July 2004, 18:48	#4
Jaggu Team-BHP Support Join Date: May 2004 Location: Bangalore Posts: 20,215 Thanked: 15,906 Times	first learn to drive proper on either side of the road lol... my advice to janta..
	() Thanks

26th July 2004, 19:25	#5
GrimReaper BHPian Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Mumbai, India Posts: 261 Thanked: 0 Times	This is actually a very good question. Ihad been thinking of this some time back and I think I would rather prefer it if India would have cars being driven on the 'right'-side of the road. The main factor being that most of the major manufacturers have plants set-up in mainly Left-Hand-Drive countries. We as Indians generally have to import a car from the UK if we need it to be RHD. Now due to the exchange rate currently, the British pound becomes very expensive for us. And on top of that there are a lot of excess duty etc. you need to pay in GBP in UK which just adds up unnecesarily to the bill. You need to remeber though that I am talking about cars which you cannot generally buy out here, like the AMG's, the M's and high-end Merc models even. I have noticed a lot of difference in conversions etc. in cars like the SL55, the 360, etc. But in the end, It isn't really possible to implement Let-Hand drive as the norm. But one thing they can do, is add the factor where before a red-light turns green, the orange light blinks in conjection witht he red so you know when to get ready as to increase mobility of cars and reduct traffic. I had noticed this recently in London and Dubai. I don't think I've given the accurate description, of the lights but that is all I could explain in words.
	() Thanks

26th July 2004, 20:58	#7
GrimReaper BHPian Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Mumbai, India Posts: 261 Thanked: 0 Times	Ok! I have just done some calculations to prove my earlier point and here it is: In the UK the SL600 costs 93,000 GBP = 93,000 * 85 = 79,05,000 In the US the SL600 costs $128,xxx (rounded off to 130,000) * 50 = 65,00,000 Remember the current rate for GBP is somewhere around 85.xxx and the current rate for USD is somewhat 47.xxx . Keeping that in mind you will notice that the ACTUAL price for the car in terms becomes more in Uk and less in US. This also bear in mind is without taxes which I am not sure if you need to pay if your just directly importing it to your country itself. And Rehaan I actually though of that, and was therefore reluctant to post it but thought it was a pretty good idea if used correctly, and hence was better off posting it.
	() Thanks

26th July 2004, 21:02	#8
GrimReaper BHPian Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Mumbai, India Posts: 261 Thanked: 0 Times	Ohh and I forgot to add the main fact that in the estimated difference, you end up paying around 15 odd lakhs while ordering the car and hence pay more duty when the car finally arrives in India too. Also the price of 93,000 pounds is taken from Top Gear and the price for USD is taken from the MBUSA website.
	() Thanks

26th July 2004, 22:23	#9
GTO Team-BHP Support Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Bombay Posts: 70,512 Thanked: 300,691 Times View My Garage	I think we ought to move this discussion to "shifting gears". Shift to the other side of the road why?? So that we see more exotics?? And they are more "affordable"? For a breed that forms less than 1% of the vehicle population...fat chance GTO
	() Thanks

26th July 2004, 23:00	#10
shravan316 Senior - BHPian Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Bangalore Posts: 1,029 Thanked: 9 Times	I prefer sticking to the present style.....it doen't matter anyway....People drive in which ever way they want. There are many people who drive in the opposite direction on a one-way!!
	() Thanks

26th July 2004, 23:01	#11
Shan2nu Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Hubli - Karnata Posts: 5,533 Thanked: 125 Times View My Garage	Nah, it's just not worth the effort. Regards... Shan2nu
	() Thanks

26th July 2004, 23:26	#12
vinaypro Newbie Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Bangalore Posts: 16 Thanked: 0 Times	Left hand drive or Right hand drive is not problem!!! Its the ROADS.
	() Thanks

26th July 2004, 23:47	#13
aadix Senior - BHPian Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: hyderabad Posts: 1,597 Thanked: 14 Times	why was rhs chosen at first place?? lets not bother now!!
	() Thanks

27th July 2004, 00:17	#14
_Crazi4Speed_ BHPian Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Shuffling between chicago and delhi Posts: 764 Thanked: 4 Times	I totaly agree we should move, but I also agree its not even possible, but what is possible is allowing LHD cars to be driven in this country, fine indians drive rough, but do you think having LHD would make them even worse, I dont think so, it does make sense that our country doesnt have the volume for any company to setup a manufacturing facility, but if we could buy LHD cars then probably someone would think about it. Also they could come up with a rule where, any car made in the RHD can not be imported LHD, but if the car is not made available and is more than 40,000$(keeping the homologation benchmark) then you can import it..there are many ways to see exotics and others in this country at a resonable price... so basically dont change the road system, UK has crapy drivers and they have LHD/RHD cars on the road..so y cant we, we can put restrictions to stop dumping of cheap cars by putting a $$$ limit, this way it makes a ton of ppl happy and may be even the manufacturers who may want to setup facilities for export as well as local consumption.. I guess it can happen, but knowning the crappy govt we have and will cont to have this will also never happen, no matter how practical it is.. Also I had a question, is there no way to get LHD cars in India? I thought if you are transfer of residence you can get these cars What is the rule now, how do I import a LHD car?? ofcourse besides bribe : ) Cheers
	() Thanks

27th July 2004, 00:56	#15
amit Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Mumbai Posts: 3,717 Thanked: 449 Times	yes we should switch to LHD. RHD drive format is a british thing..instead of changing names of stations we should do something concrete so let's shift to LHD format. Also, India will the easiest country in the world to make the switch. we anywaz drive following the LHD drive format. Eg. the overtaking lane is the right most but ppl crawl in that lane and overtaking is done from the left lanes. Since we anywaz are following the LHD drive rules we might as well make the switch, what say? btw, that's one of the zillions of examples.
	() Thanks