THE RIGHT-HAND DRIVING RULE

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22491, 27 August 1938, Page 22

THE RIGHT-HAND DRIVING RULE

TO THE EDITOR Or THE PRESS. Sir,—The opinions of Mr Fred W. Johnston on motoring matters are entitled to the greatest respect, but his criticism of "Experienced Driver" and his arguments in favour of the righthand rule are not convincing. Whatever may be said of "Experienced Driver's" experience as a critic, the substance of his letter certainly shows no lack of calm and cool consideraThe fact that the right-hand rule was adopted many years ago after mature consideration gives it no infallibility, nor does it place the rule beyond criticism. Nor does the opinion of the American traffic expert given in 1925 in favour of the corresponding rule there .-•ar.ry much weight now, because in spite of his opinion the opposite rule appears to be still in force in America and elsewhere. In any case, the extract quoted by Mr Johnston

obviously refers to intersections usually controlled by a traffic officer, and is directed towards the free flow of traffic rather than the prevention of accidents. The primary object of a rule such as this is to prevent accidents, which in New Zealand usually occur not at busy intersections, but where two cars only are concerned. The rule only operates when there is a possibility of collision, and in such a case the angle of view will be approximately 45 degrees from either car to the other, and will be found not to vary greatly within reasonable ranges of speeds. The driver on the right will see the other car through his windscreen, for, as a simple experiment will show, a car on the left which cannot be seen through the windscreen will be either so far away that a collision is impossible, or going so fast as to make the observance of the rule impracticable. The driver on the left, however, has to look through his side window, and his vision may also be obstructed by the door pillar.

If a driver is keeping as near as possible to his left, as required by the regulations, he has no room to turn further to his left, in an effort to give way to a car on his right, and once he is on the area of the intersection he is directly in the path of the other car. If, however, the same situation arises with a car on his left, he has the whole width of the road he is on and half the area of the intersection as well to swing to his right before coming" into the path of the other car at all. It is true that he will then be in the path of cars on his right, but it must be remembered that they under a left-hand in their turn give way to him.—Yours, etC " N.M.IZARD. August 23, 1938.