Gear dependancy and additional training

[NudeDiver]

I disagree ... every car on the road has its steering wheel in the same place (and uses a wheel for steering, as opposed to, say, a steering stick).

Here's a new concept vehicle from Mercedes that uses a stick, as opposed to a wheel (no pedals either):

http://ntho.posterous.com/future-mercedes-concept-car-wi-1

Every car has its gas and brake pedals in the same place and configuration, and its driving controls on the same side of the car.

Not true. Some cars are set up with left-hand driver cockpits, and some have right-hand driver cockpits. Not just an issue of country either - plenty of right and left-handed vehicles in the US, specifically, Jeeps.

Some cars use hand controls, rather than foot controls, for brake and gas, etc. Some cars have a gear shifter on the column, while some have it on the floor - and some don't have one at all.

Besides all of that is an issue of an interface, and interface standardization. It doesn't address "add-on" gear of various kinds, and the merits of whether adding it on creates (or might create) an a dependency on the part of the driver - or even if such a dependency us necessarily undesirable for one reason or another.

The OP had nothing whatsoever to do with DIR. Not sure why it's even part of this discussion.

Probably because some DIR guys use arguments relating to gear dependency and using gear to solve a skill problem as part of the rationale for the universe as they see it.

 

[Blackwood]

Yeah ... I know ... (I'm too UScentric today) ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Yah. I wasn't even meaning foreign.

Delivery trucks are often RHD. Some rarities (McLaren F1, for example) place the driver at the center, etc..

But it's close enough to "every" for your point to be made.

 

[Gombessa]

Yeah ... I know ... (I'm too UScentric today)...

That's OK, those crazy Brits and Aussies are just DIL

 

[b1gcountry]

Wouldn't we be DIL and they be DIR?

Relax people. Nobody's going to break into your house at night and steal your snorkel.

Tom

 

[NudeDiver]

Relax people. Nobody's going to break into your house at night and steal your snorkel.

I wish they would try. It would give me a chance to field test my new shotgun.

 

[Gombessa]

Wouldn't we be DIL and they be DIR?

I guess that depends on whether you're talking about the road or the car. I've always heard of the UK described as "driving on the left side of the road" and the cars themselves (like JDM autos and parts) described as "right hand drive." So we can't even get that down consistently.

 

[NudeDiver]

Wouldn't we be DIL and they be DIR?

If you have a Nike(tm) brand car, then it's just DI.

 

[Blackwood]

^^ nice one

 

[FritzCat66]

I tried driving on the left-hand side of the road once in a place where that's the norm and it was a bit disorienting.

I guess my left-hand driving skills are underdeveloped.

Now I'm worried that I might be too gear-dependent on a North American steering wheel arrangement.

Then again, I only have certs as Nitrous Driver and Advanced Open Road Driver... maybe there's a specialty course I need?

 

[NudeDiver]

I tried driving on the left-hand side of the road once in a place where that's the norm and it was a bit disorienting.

I guess my left-hand driving skills are underdeveloped.

Now I'm worried that I might be too gear-dependent on a North American steering wheel arrangement.

Then again, I only have certs as Nitrous Driver and Advanced Open Road Driver... maybe there's a specialty course I need?

I did it once in Australia. It was a bit freaky for me. I'm glad I was out in the middle of nowhere. Had I tried it in Sydney, I surely would have been in an accident.

I guess I'm too gear-dependent too.

But in any case - given that we can't even all agree to drive on the same side of the road, I dunno how we could all be expected to agree on the how and what we should dive with.